In this Q&A series, we speak with faculty to learn more about the work they do, as well as what they love about engaging with College students. This month we chat with Courtney Bender, the Ada Byron Bampton Tremaine Professor of Religion. In addition to teaching courses such as “American Religions in extremis,” Bender is a co-chair of the recently formed Faculty Advisory Committee on the Humanities. She began teaching at Columbia in 1999, after earning her Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton.
How did you first become interested in your area of study?
I went to a small liberal arts college and one day a friend said, “This ‘War and Peace’ class looks really interesting; come with me.” And it was phenomenal — it was about everything from pacifism to just war theology, and all of the ways that religions grapple with violence. I was hooked. And then from there I got completely drawn into the capaciousness of religious studies, where there isn’t one way of thinking about what a human is, or what’s valuable about life, or what we think about the future. It’s about how all those ideas inform people’s decisions.
What have you gained from your experience working with College undergrads?
I often teach a course in my department called “Theory,” which includes some classical texts — we teach Freud, we teach Durkheim’s Elementary Forms of the Religious Life and some Marx — and we talk about how all these thinkers understand religion as a concept. The relation between rituals and beliefs, psychological perspectives. All of these questions.
And it’s just amazing to me that no matter how many times I’ve taught that Durkheim text, there’s a student who comes in with an insight or reading that I have never heard before, that I have not myself considered. Columbia students are such good readers, they remind me that the texts are still alive, you know? These are not just these old things that we recapitulate again and again; they’re actually occasions for thinking something new in a new context. What I have gained from my students is a reminder that these texts and this work that we do is really powerful and ongoing. We’re sparking ideas, and their ideas spark something for me, too.
I’ve been at Columbia for a long time so I will say another thing: I’ve learned from students that being driven and goal oriented doesn’t mean you don’t care for others around you. There’s a lot of competition here, but I think there’s a real sense of care that the students have for community, and for each other. I have seen it practiced again and again, even when students disagree — especially when they disagree.
What’s something new or innovative that you did as part of your teaching this year?
I’ve actually had a long-standing practice of students reading work aloud every week — it builds class conversation. They write 1,000 words for me each week, and I make comments before class. In class, we begin with their pages and questions. They share, or I call on them. And I mean, even if students drift toward AI, they still have to read and explain what they’re thinking in class in real time. And I usually guide them very minimally: From what was said, the other students take the ball and go from there. Even first-years are ready to go, just like that!
So maybe that’s not innovative, but I think it’s a helpful practice — it takes some time on my part and on their part, but the learning does happen.
What’s something a new student would find exciting about your class?
I would say two things: First, I am surprised by the regularity of conversations about AI in my classrooms, even if it isn’t the topic I planned for. The study of religion often focuses on what makes us human, and how religious traditions have also always grappled with situating the human within relations between human and non-human consciousness, be it animal, spiritual or technological. So I suppose the fact that these discussions happen is not too surprising. AI comes up in the theory course when we talk about religion and technology; I also have colleagues who teach courses on religion and media and religion and the future, where AI becomes more front and center for obvious reasons.
And then there’s the seminar I’ve just finished teaching this Spring, “American Religions in extremis”; students have a lot of ideas about what that title means. It’s not about religious extremism, it’s not really about cults, but throughout the semester we do look at groups that have been given that designation and then it’s really about — why? We’re trying to shake students out of a sense that they already know what religion is, and that they already know that there’s a distinction between “good” and “bad” kinds of religion. They’re thinking about where these ideas come from, and should we change them? Should we have a different way of thinking about citizens around us who choose different lives?
We work really intensely with the source material and we’re asking a lot of questions, and there’s a turning that happens. Students think differently about the world at the end of the semester.