Spirituality in the global age: theory of religious cycles and its implications

Abstract

In modern times there have been numerous at-tempts by scholars to theorize about religion. Most of those theories reduced religion to other spheres of social activity – social, economic, or psychological. Now, in the 21st century, those radical predictions about the “death of God” seem shortsighted. After a temporary retreat reli-gion came back with increased influence, power, and, unfortunately, violence. What are the pre-conditions for a peaceful evolution of religious institutions? Are religious systems simply power structures that inevitably involve violence and abuse, and to eradicate the war should we also get rid of religion? Those and many other related issues concerning religion’s role in society be-come especially important in our time of the increasing globalization. This paper looks at religion in the global age through the prism of the theory of religious cycles that is outlined by the author. According to his approach, in the course of its evolution, every historical religion goes through specific and almost identical stages of growth. Based on a distinct correlation be-tween sacred scriptures and traditions, the author distinguishes six such phases – formative, or-thodox, classical, reformist, critical, and postcritical. Also, in the course of its expansion reli-gious system undergoes two types of crises – structural and systemic. The author applies his theory of religious cycles to the analysis of such world spiritual traditions as Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. The study reveals astounding similarities in the evolution of those faiths, offers a different perspective on moderni-ty and predicts the rise of new religious move-ments with globalist teachings and institutions.