The study of religion, as an interdisciplinary field, mobilizes various theories, methods, and analytical approaches to explore and analyze an event, film, a building, religious practices, beliefs, institutions, and experiences. That being so, I propose to make a critical analysis of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral through the theoretical lenses of Emile Durkheim, Mircea Eliade and Clifford Geertz. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Notre-Dame de Paris is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages and is distinguished for its size, antiquity, and architectural interest. Notre-Dame, whose foundation stone was laid in 1163, was built on the ruins of two earlier churches. (Britannica)
What views does each of these three religious theorists have of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral and how does each of them understand its fire that took place on April 15, 2019, and its complete restoration in November 2024? Their various approaches allow us to understand religion not only as a set of beliefs, but also as a social, historical, and cultural phenomenon. A combination of theories is often needed to understand the complexity of religious practices and their impact on individuals and societies.
Analyzing the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral through the theoretical lenses of Émile Durkheim, Mircea Eliade, and Clifford Geertz reveals different dimensions of its cultural, religious, and social significance.
Émile Durkheim
For Émile Durkheim Religion is seen as a social force that promotes social cohesion and reinforces collective norms as he points out that “religion is something eminently social. Religious representations are collective representations which express collective realities.” (Durkheim, 9) That being so, Durkheim would see the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral as a central institution that fosters social cohesion and represents the collective consciousness of French society. Durkheim strengthens his understanding of religion by explaining that “By gathering together almost always at fixed times, collective life could indeed achieve its maximum intensity and efficacy, and so give man a more vivid sense of his dual existence and his dual nature.” (Durkheim, 164-165) Moreover Durkheim points out that, “The very fact of assembling is an exceptionally powerful stimulant. Once the individuals are assembled, their proximity generates a kind of electricity that quickly transports them to an extraordinary degree of exaltation.” (Durkheim, 162) His concept of the sacred and profane remains central. This is what leads him to define religion as “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them.” (Durkheim, 14-15)
As a place of worship and a cultural symbol, the cathedral embodies the sacred, creating a distinction between the sacred and profane. According to Durkheim, the world of the profane is the one in which a human languidly lives his daily life, whereas the world of the sacred is the one you cannot penetrate without abruptly entering relations with extraordinary powers that excite you to the point of delirium” (Durkheim, 164) Given that as defined by Emile Durkheim, “The rites are a manner of acting which take rise in the midst of the assembled groups and which are destined to excite, maintain or recreate certain mental states in these groups,” (Durkheim, 9-10) Rituals performed within Notre-Dame, such as Masses and public ceremonies, serve to unite individuals under shared beliefs and reinforce a sense of belonging to the Catholic and national communities.
Regarding the fire that destroyed the cathedral in April 2019, Durkheim would see the Notre-Dame fire as an event that temporarily disrupted the collective consciousness of French society but also generated a moment of collective effervescence. The fire mobilized national and international solidarity, as seen in the outpouring of grief, donations, and calls for restoration. Notre-Dame, as a sacred symbol of shared identity, underscores its importance in maintaining societal cohesion and how its partial destruction unified communities in mourning and rebuilding efforts.
Thus, the analysis of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, its fire and its restoration through the theoretical lens of Emile Durkheim allows us to understand its role in social integration, the unifying effect of the fire and its disruption of collective identity.
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade focuses on the role of the sacred in human religious experience and on myths and rituals as ways of connecting humans to transcendental realities. When it comes to the analysis of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, what is Eliade’s view of the Notre-Dame de Paris? How does he understand its fire and restoration?
Stating that “There are privileged places, qualitatively different from all others (…) there are holy places…,” (Eliade, 163) For Eliade the Notre-Dame de Paris is seen as a holy place, a sacred space that connects the mundane to the divine. Again, in Eliade’s lens the Notre-Dame is a space where there is the manifestation of the sacred, this is what he calls “hierophany” when he states that “Every sacred space implies a hierophany, an irruption of the sacred that results in detaching a territory from the surrounding cosmic milieu and making it qualitatively different.” (Eliade, 164) The cathedral serves as a space where the sacred becomes manifest, illustrated by its use for religious rituals and pilgrimages. Notre-Dame’s architecture, such as its stained glass and gothic spires, could be analyzed as symbolic of humanity’s yearning to transcend the earthly and connect with the eternal. As for the symbolic dimension of the elements that make up the architecture of Notre-Dame, Eliade opined that “a sacred place constitutes a break in the homogeneity of space, this beak is symbolized by an opening by which passage from one cosmic region to another is made possible, communication with heaven is expressed by one or another of certain images, all of which refer to the axis mundi.” (Eliade, 166)
The destruction of the Notre-Dame de Paris by fire was an event which, seen in Eliade’s lens, can be understood as a rupture in the sacred space of Notre-Dame. When there is a rupture in the sacred space, it affects both the contact with the transcendent and the existence in the world as Eliade declares “Life is not possible without an opening toward the transcendent, in other words, human beings cannot live in chaos. Once contact with the transcendent is lost, existence in the world ceases to be possible.” (Eliade, 166) He might analyze the emotional and spiritual reactions to the fire as evidence of the cathedral’s role as a place where the divine manifests. The widespread mourning and the commitment to rebuilding could be interpreted as attempts to restore the sacred and reestablish the connection between the community and the divine. Durkheim would have emphasized the unifying effect of the fire and its rupture of collective identity.
Thus, the analysis of the Notre-Dame, its fire and restoration through the theoretical lens of Mircea Eliade allows us to understand its sacredness as a link to the divine, the spiritual rupture caused by the fire and the attempt to restore sacredness through its restoration.
Clifford Geertz
To Begin with, Clifford Geertz defines Religion as a “system of symbols” (Geertz, 59) that makes sense of the world through narratives, rituals, and practices that define cultural values. That being, Geertz would analyze Notre-Dame as part of a symbolic system that conveys meaning through its rituals, architecture, and narratives. The cathedral could be seen as a cultural text that represents the moral and ethical values of Catholicism. He might focus on how the symbols within Notre-Dame (e.g., the cross, altars, and statues) establish enduring moods and motivations, embedding religious meanings deeply within the cultural fabric of French society. Geertz means by symbol “any object, act, event, quality, or relation serves as a vehicle for a conception – the conception is the symbol’s meaning” (Geertz, 59)
In Geertz’s lens the fire that destroyed Notre-Dame could be seen as an event that disrupted the symbolic system embodied by Notre-Dame. The cathedral functions as a repository of cultural and religious symbols, and the fire highlighted its role in shaping collective moods and motivations. “A motivation is a persisting tendency, a chronic inclination to perform certain sorts of acts and experience certain sorts of feelings in certain sorts of situations…” (Geertz, 62) By interpreting the event of the fire at the cathedral and its restoration, Geertz might emphasize how the event reactivated symbolic narratives about resilience, heritage, and faith, demonstrating how deeply Notre-Dame’s symbolism is embedded in the cultural fabric of France and beyond.
Thus, the analyzing the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, its fire and its restoration through the theoretical lens of Clifford Geertz draws our attention to the meanings conveyed through the Notre-Dame symbols and the reactivation of symbolic narratives tied to Notre-Dame.
Together, Emile Durkheim, Mircea Eliade and Clifford Geertz perspectives show that Notre-Dame is not only an architectural masterpiece but also a complex symbol of faith, power, and culture that operates at the intersection of religion and society. Through these perspectives, the Notre-Dame fire emerges as a multidimensional event, embodying themes of loss, resilience, power, and cultural significance.
Joseph Lava 