Prof. Jörg Jörg Stolz is invited by the Collège de France assembly, at the suggestion of Prof. Thomas Römer.
Leading sociologists of religion have argued that European secularization is a global exception (Berger et al., 2008; Casanova, 1994; Davie, 2006). According to these researchers, Europe is exceptional in that it exhibits high levels of secularity, while religion in the rest of the world is flourishing. Moreover, as European secularization was caused by contingent historical conditions that are unlikely to be replicated elsewhere, it cannot serve as a model for what will happen to religion worldwide in the future. To apply such a theory of secularization to non-European contexts would therefore be to commit an act of Eurocentrism (Gauthier, 2020; Müller, 2020).
Other researchers, however, argue that secularization theory is generally applicable (Bruce, 2002; Inglehart, 2021). In their view, European countries are indeed among the most secularized in the world, but their level and process of secularization can be satisfactorily explained by a theory that sees countries as secularized with increasing modernization.
In this cycle of four lectures, I pose the question of how much empirical evidence exists to affirm that secularization is a predominantly European and exceptional phenomenon, or a global process. First, the various classical and modern theories of secularization from Weber (1988 (1920) and Durkheim (1985 (1912), 7thedition ) to Norris/Inglehart (2012 (2004)) are presented. Secondly, we present the empirical advances of recent decades concerning secularizations and revivals at a global level (Molteni, 2021; Stolz, 2020). Thirdly, we devote considerable space to discussing various cases that are sometimes seen as contradicting a global theory of secularization. We discuss the case of France, the case of the United States, and Pentecostal, Orthodox, and Islamic revivals (Martin, 2002; Pew, 2017; Portier & Willaime, 2021; Roy, 2006; Stolz et al., 2021; Voas & Chaves, 2016). Finally, we look at the very important place of fertility and its influence on secularization and the worldwide revival of religion (Pew, 2015).
