Secularization and Religious Movements

Abstract

The rise of new ecclesial movements represents something new that changes the scenario of modern society. Secularization, traditionally at the centre of sociological analysis, ceases to be the only possible interpretation of the religious situation in our contemporary society, and – at the same time – the religious dimension ceases to be reducible to the mere outcome of the processes of social conditioning and a simple reaction to the hardships of life. In the light of such reductive visions, the explanation of ecclesial movements was almost always reduced to an analysis of the organizational forms and institutional strategies. Nowhere was brought interest to the reasons of belief and joining, as they have never been taken into account the explicit reasons that founded the movement. This has resulted in a clear underestimation of the figures of the founders and their specific charisms. In fact, precisely in the context of a secularized society, it is impossible to understand the dynamics of membership and affiliation if no reference is made to both the explicit intentions of the movement, as to the role of those who founded and inspired them.