The Idea
The text presents the return to religion not as a return to a past cut off from the present, but as a phenomenon generated within modern societies themselves. This means that modernity does not automatically eliminate religion; rather, it may give rise to new forms of its presence. Yet this return does not always remain innocent, since authoritarian forces can exploit it and turn its moral effect into an instrument of influence.
Concise Formulation
The return to religion: linked to the experience of the Enlightenment in modern societies
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This claim occupies an important place in the construction of the argument, because it prevents the reader from interpreting the religious phenomenon in a simplistic way based on a direct opposition between religion and modernity. The book insists that reality is more complex, and that religion returns within modern social and political conditions. In this way, the text connects historical transformation with the possibility of deviation in the use of religion.
Why It Matters
Its importance lies in the fact that it changes the way contemporary religiosity is viewed. The issue is no longer a raw return to origins, but a new formation that requires critical reading. This helps to understand Arkoun as concerned with how religious meaning is produced within history, rather than as issuing a final judgment on belief or rejection.
Brief Evidence
The “return to religion” emerges in modern societies as a concept linked to the experience of the age itself, not as a return to a past detached from it. The point here is that modernity does not automatically eliminate religion, but may generate new forms of its presence. Yet this return can also be politically instrumentalized, thereby losing its innocence.
Reading Questions
- Why does the text not consider the return to religion a simple opposite of modernity?
- How can authoritarian forces benefit from a religious discourse that is originally moral in character?
Degree of Documentation
High: the claim appears in a clear location within the book’s material.