Europe, a seedbed of religions. The role of critical tradition in the renewal of religious forms

The concepts and rhetoric characterising today's debates on the issue of the return of the religious, date from a century ago. The turn of the 20th-century saw the joint emergence of a world market of religions, an awareness of the Christian roots of Europe, an individualisation of religious feeling and global secularisation under the influence of scientific debate. These parameters are still relevant today. This article discusses the general theory of religions by the German-American sociologist Martin Riesebrodt against the yardstick of this context. Criticising this theory, it proposes to consider criticism of religion as actively participating in the dynamics of the religious rather than opposing it. Cultural globalisation has turned Europe into its arena because during its history, Europe has regularly produced new religions and new forms of the religious, while equally regularly calling them into question and criticising them, which has necessarily encouraged their renewal. Adapted from the source document.