Paul Bramadat

About our Director

I am interested in the ways we imagine religion and spirituality when we talk about health, diversity, security and civil society. Most of my work concerns religion, spirituality, and secularity in North America and Western Europe, although I am increasingly interested in the relationships between these societies and global forces.

My most recent research and teaching interests revolve around modern postural yoga in North America. I’ve just finished a book entitled The Body Settles the Score: Yoga and the End of Innocence. It will be published by McGill-Queens University Press early in 2025.  

I am also nearly finished working with my colleagues John Borrows and David Seljak, on an edited volume we put together on the ways Indigenous spiritualities show up in and are engaged by the Canadian public arena. The authors we have gathered for this book explore the ways Canadian society responds to Indigenous claims and practices connected with health, law, land use, land protection, rituals, and education. This book will be published with the University of Toronto Press in 2025.

I received my PhD in religious studies from McMaster University (1998), my MA in religion and culture from McGill University (1993), and my BA in religious studies from the University of Winnipeg (1990). I taught in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Winnipeg from 1998 until 2008. In addition to directing the CSRS since 2008, I hold teaching appointments in the Department of History and the Religion, Culture and Society Program at the University of Victoria.

My first book, The Church on the World’s Turf (Oxford 2000), examined the ways religious sub-cultures can thrive in largely secular environments. Other books include: Religion and Ethnicity in Canada (Pearson 2005), and Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada (University of Toronto Press 2008), both edited with David Seljak; International Migration and the Governance of Religious Diversity (McGill-Queen’s University Press 2009), edited with German sociologist Matthias Koenig; Spirituality and Hospice Palliative Care (SUNY 2013), edited with Kelli Stajduhar and Harold Coward; and Religious Radicalization in Canada and Beyond (University of Toronto Press 2014), edited with Lorne Dawson; Public Health in the Age of Anxiety: Religious and Cultural Roots of Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada (University of Toronto Press 2017) edited with Canadian scholars and scientists, Maryse Guay, Real Roy, and Julie Bettinger; and Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces (Bloomsbury  2021), edited with European sociologists, Mar Griera, Julia Martínez-Ariño, and Marian Burchardt; and Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality, and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest, edited with Patricia O’Connell Killen and Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, published by the University of British Columbia Press.

My articles have appeared in Social Compass, Religion, State and Society, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Canadian Ethnic Studies, Studies in Religion, Ethnicities, Ethnologies, and the Journal of International Migration and Integration, as well as magazines such as Canadian Diversity, The Ecumenist and Canadian Issues. I am also an Associate Editor at the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.  

Books

2025. The Body Settles the Score: Yoga and the End of Innocence. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press. In press. 

2022. Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest. Paul Bramadat, Patricia O’Connell Killen, Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, eds. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 278 pp.

2021.  Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces. Bramadat, Paul, Mar Griera, Julia Martínez-Ariño, Marian Burchardt, eds. London: Bloomsbury. 328 pp. 

2019. La santé publique à une ère marquée par le doute - Origines religieuses et culturelles de l’hésitation des Canadiens face à la vaccination. P. Bramadat, M. Guay, J. Bettinger and R. Roy, eds. Sherbrooke: University of Sherbrooke Press. French version of Public Health in the Age of Anxiety (2017).

2017. Public Health in the Age of Anxiety: Religious and Cultural Roots of Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada. Paul Bramadat, Maryse Guay, Julie Bettinger and Réal Roy, eds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 398 pp.

2014. Religious Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond. Paul Bramadat and Lorne Dawson, eds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 332 pp.

2013. Spirituality in Hospice Palliative Care. Paul Bramadat, Kelli I. Stajduhar and Harold Coward, eds. Albany: SUNY Press. 210 pp.

2009. International Migration and the Governance of Religious Diversity. Paul Bramadat and Matthias Koenig, eds. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press. 340 pp.

2008. Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada. Paul Bramadat and David Seljak, eds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 444 pp. 

2005. Religion and Ethnicity in Canada. Paul Bramadat and David Seljak, eds. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.  252 pp. [Reprinted in 2009 by the University of Toronto Press.]

2000. The Church on the World’s Turf: An Evangelical Christian Group at a Secular University. New York: Oxford University Press. 205 pp.

Articles 

2024. Christianity and Reverential Naturalism Engage a World in Peril: A Dialogue Between Disciplines. Co-authored with John Thatamanil. Social Compass. Accepted (2023) and in press. 16 pp.

2022. Walls and Borders: Theology and Regionalism After Religion. Journal of Interreligious Studies: 34: 12-17.

2021. You Are Here: Mapping Religious Studies in Canada. Studies in Religion (September): 1-2.

2019. A Bridge Too Far: Yoga, Spirituality and Contested Space in the Pacific Northwest. Religion, State and Society 47 (4). 491-507.

2014. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Refugee Settlement and Religion in British Columbia. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 82 (4): 907-937.

2013. Vaccine Hesitancy: An Overview. Co-authored by Eve Dubé, Caroline Laberge, Maryse Guay, Paul Bramadat, Réal Roy, and Julie Bettinger. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics 9 (8) 1–11. 

2013. Windows into the Canadian Approach to Managing Religion: Refugee Policies and the Office of Religious Freedom. On-line Working Paper #22 from the RECODE Responding to Complex Diversity in Europe and Canada Project. 6530 wds.

2012. ‘If perhaps only in Canada’: Reflections on Christian Joppke’s Citizenship and Immigration. Ethnicities 12 (6): 11-16. 

2011. Religion, Race, and Remembering: Indo-Caribbean Christians in Canada. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 79 (2): 315-345.

2011. They were always such nice boys: Religion, Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond. Our Diverse Cities 8: 54-58. 

2009. Socio-economic conditions – Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal for Social Research 2: 227-234.

2008. Religion and Public Policy in Canada: An Itinerary. Studies in Religion 37 (1): 121-143.

2005. Toward a New Politics of Authenticity: Ethno-Cultural Representation in Theory and Practice. Canadian Ethnic Studies 37 (1): 1-20.

2005. Religion, Social Capital and “The Day that Changed the World.”  Journal of International Migration and Integration 6 (2): 201-218.

2001. For Ourselves, Our Neighbours, Our Homelands: Religion in Folklorama’s Israel Pavilion.  Ethnologies 23 (1): 211-232. 

2001. Shows, Selves, and Solidarity: Ethnic Identity and Cultural Spectacles in Canada. Canadian Ethnic Studies 33 (3): 78-98.

1996. Reflections on the Effacement of Women: An Examination of Irigaray's Critique of Levinas. The Journal of Religion and Culture 10 (Spring): 30-46. 

1992. The Jewish Argument Against Homosexuality in Focus in Love and Sex by Robert Gordis. The Journal of Religion and Culture 6 (Spring): 27-42. 

Chapters in Books

2022. Religion, Discrimination, and the Canadian Experience: Lessons for Elsewhere? In Social Discrimination, Spirituality and Religious Beliefs: A Challenge for Anthropologists and Social Workers. Alberto Montes and Fina Antón, eds. Granada: University of Granada Press. Pp. 251-268.

2022. Wellness in the Wild: Reverential Naturalism in the Pacific Northwest. In New Spiritualities and the Culture of Well-being. G. Mossière, ed. Berlin: Springer. Pp. 135-151.

2022. Come from Away but Here to Stay: Religion and Migration in Contemporary Discourse. In Religion and Migration. R. Ramji and A. Marshall, eds. London: Bloomsbury. Pp. 273-288.

2022. Religion, Spirituality and Irreligion in The Best Place on Earth. In Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest. Pp. 3-22.

2022. Reverential Naturalism in Cascadia: From the Fancy to the Sublime. In Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest. Pp. 23-40.

2022. Conclusion. Co-authored with P. O’Connell Killen. In Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest. Pp. 241-253.

2021. Religion, Culture, and the Politics of Vaccine Hesitancy: Perspectives of Parents, Pundits, and Physicians. In The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Medicine, and Health. D. Lüddeckens, P. Hetmanczyk, P. Klassen, and J. Stein, eds. Milton Park: Routledge. Pp. 450-463.

2021. A Bridge Too Far: Yoga, Spirituality and Contested Space in the Pacific Northwest. In Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces. Pp. 79-94.

2021. Introduction. Co-authored with co-editors. In Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces. Pp. 1-16.

2020. Afterword: Women and Religion in Global and Local Perspective. In Women and Religion in the International Arena. Morny Joy, ed. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing. Pp. 295-300.

2020. Complicating Religious Identities through the Social Relations of Prayer. Co-authored with Rachel Brown and Sylvia Collins-Mayo. In Prayer as Transgression: The Social Relations of Prayer in Healthcare Settings. Sheryl Reimer Kirkham, Sonya Sharma, Rachel Brown, and Melania Calestani, eds. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. Pp. 122-137.

2019. Defiant Subjects: Radicals, Refugees, and Refuseniks. In Modern Subjectivities in World Society: Global Structures and Local Practices. D. Jung and S. Stetter, eds. London: Palgrave Studies in International Relations. Pp. 127-147.

2018. He Said, We Said: Religion in the York University Controversy of 2013-2014. In A Critical Analysis of Religious Diversity. J. Borup, W. Hoverd, and L. Kuhle, eds. Leiden: Brill. Pp. 208-229.

2017. Introduction: Seeking a Better Conversation. In Public Health in the Age of Anxiety: Religious and Cultural Roots of Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada. Pp. 5-15.

2017. Crises of Trust and Truth: Religion, Culture, and Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada. In Public Health in the Age of Anxiety: Religious and Cultural Roots of Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada. Pp. 16-55.

2017. Continuing the Conversation. Co-authored with J. Bettinger and M. Guay. In Public Health in the Age of Anxiety: Religious and Cultural Roots of Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada. Pp. 355-65.

2017. Appendix. Co-authored with J. Bettinger and M. Guay. In Public Health in the Age of Anxiety: Religious and Cultural Roots of Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada. Pp. 365-376.

2017. Growing Up and Getting Along During a Cosmic War: Youth Radicalization and Religious  Minorities in Canada. In Immigrant Youth in Canada: Theoretical Approaches, Practical Issues, and Professional Perspectives.  S. Wilson-Forsberg and A. Robinson, eds. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Pp. 288-305.

2016. Managing and Imagining Religion in Canada from the Top and the Bottom: 15 Years After. In Religion and the Exercise of Public Authority. B. Berger and R. Moon, eds. Toronto: Hart Publishing. Pp. 61-78. 

2014. The Public, the Political and the Possible: Religion and Radicalization in Canada and Beyond. In Religious Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond. Pp. 3-34.

2014. Conclusion. Co-authored with Lorne Dawson. In Religious Radicalization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond. Pp. 301-314.

2013. Introduction. Co-authored with Kelli I. Stajduhar and Harold Coward. In Spirituality in Hospice Palliative Care. Pp. 1-11.

2013. Religion, Spirituality, Medical Education, and Hospice Palliative Care. Co-authored with Joseph Kaufert. In Spirituality in Hospice Palliative Care. Pp. 60-85.

2013. Conclusion. Co-authored with Kelli I. Stajduhar. In Spirituality in Hospice Palliative Care. Pp. 164-171.

2013. Between Secularism and Post-Secularism: A Canadian Interregnum. Co-authored with David Seljak. In The Secular State and Religious Diversity: Secularism, Tolerance, and Accommodation.  A. Laliberté, B. Berman, and R. Bhargava, eds. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Pp. 97-119.

2011. Immigration. In Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Wade Clark Roof and M. Juergensmeyer, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage. Pp. 545-546. 

2009. Religious Diversity and International Migration: National and Global Dimensions. In International Migration and the Governance of Religious Diversity. Pp. 1-28.

2008. Charting the New Terrain: Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada. Co-authored with David Seljak. In Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada.  Pp. 1-40. 

2008. The Discourse of Loss and the Future of Christianity in Canada. Co-authored with David Seljak. In Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada. Pp. 380-400. 

2005. Beyond Christian Canada: Religion and Ethnicity in a Multicultural Society. In Religion and Ethnicity in Canada. Pp. 1-29. 

2005. Toward a New Story about Religion and Ethnicity in Canada. Co-authored with David Seljak. In Religion and Ethnicity in Canada.  Pp. 222-234.