著者

藤原 聖子

出版者

東京大学文学部宗教学研究室

雑誌

東京大学宗教学年報 (ISSN:2896400)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, pp.27-43, 1998-03-31

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In the 1980s many scholars of religion admitted that the debate over secularization had come in an impasse. By that time the secularization thesis had generated a multitude of criticisms, but most critics were satisfied with presenting counter-evidence represented by new religious movements and fundamentalism. What was most awaited was a comprehensive alternative theory. The situation shows little evidence of change in the 1990s. Although there are two contending new trends, namely, rational choice theory and post-colonial cultural theory, neither of them has succeeded in forming a theory of secularization both innovative and compelling. After surveying these recent discussions, this paper attempts to present a new theory by rehabilitating one of the most controversial components of secularization theory : the rise of unbelief. Employing some general theories of modernization, I reinterpret "unbelief" as an outcome of a certain irreversible change in modernization. From another perspective, I propose a relationalistic approach as opposed to an atomistic approach, which underlies "differentiation" theory, the best accepted part of secularization theory. The atomistic approach is also related to the dualism of "the sacred" and "the profane" as quantitative categories, which has caused scholars to overlook qualitative-systematic changes in modern religious phenomena.