Two Modern Concepts: Religion and Secularization

<p>Contemporary debates on religion and secularization rest partially on the polysemy of these terms. This paper provides a short history of both and make the following claims: 1. Religion and secularization are modern concepts; 2. Secularization is a complex, diverse, plural, non teleological...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Eduardo Zazo Jiménez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 2018-12-01
Series:Bajo Palabra
Online Access:https://revistas.uam.es/bajopalabra/article/view/10364
Description
Summary:<p>Contemporary debates on religion and secularization rest partially on the polysemy of these terms. This paper provides a short history of both and make the following claims: 1. Religion and secularization are modern concepts; 2. Secularization is a complex, diverse, plural, non teleological process; 3. Religion is a highly problematic concept, arosen in a very specific stage (XV-XIX centuries in Europe), so it is difficult to apply to other cultures and periods of time. For that reason, “religion” should be understood as an analytical tool for studying social life.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> religion, secularization, modernity, secularity, history of religions, world religions.</p>
ISSN:1576-3935
1887-505X