"Informed by critical readings of Hannah Arendt, Hans Belting, Pierre Bourdieu, Jacques Rancière, Max Weber, and Simone Weil, this book is a landmark study of the role of materiality in the maintenance of Catholic privilege in a contested public sphere and a very welcome contribution to the debate on secularism."

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

“In The Privilege of Being Banal, Oliphant has found a rich site to explore pressing questions of the privilege of Christianity in a secular age. Writing in the wake of the burning of Notre Dame, her vivid prose transports the reader into the nave, sacristy, crypt, and vaults of a monastery turned Catholic art space. Oliphant shows that the privileges of banality enjoyed by Catholicism require work, money, and the curation of history. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to better understand the affordances of Christianity in debates about the politics of art and heritage in multireligious, self-declared secular societies.”

Pamela E. Klassen, author of 'The Story of Radio Mind'

“Subtle. Sophisticated. Engaging. In this book on French Catholicism, Oliphant offers a penetrating look at the intersections of art, religion, and secular modernity. In the best tradition of anthropology, she provides a kind of figure-ground reversal, revealing Paris—and the powers that be—in a new light.”

Matthew Engelke, author of How to Think Like an Anthropologist