J. PIERRE THE DEADLOCK IN THE DEFINITION OF RELIGION: ANALYSIS AND BEYOND The problem surrounding the definition of religion leads today to a deadlock. On the one hand, methods that de-construct the religious object would like to capture its specificness. On the other hand, the hermeneutists end up, by trying to capture the religious from within, paraphrasing it with a tautological perspective. This article elaborates a theoretical frame which can be used to understand the structure of this deadlock and allowing it to go beyond this by what the author calls a «primitive morphology», that is, a reflection on the fundamentals and on the conditions for the possibility of a meaning. D. HERVIEU-LÉGER RELIGION, OBJECT STRAYED AND RECONSTRUCTED: ON THE STEPS OF RESEARCH This article is part of the contemporary debate that tries to define the boundaries of religion. It attempts to comprehend the process by which modernity appears to be draining all religious systems structure of the plausible, and by which, simultaneously, new forms of religious belief develop. The goal of this research is to create a tool of analysis by which modern religion could be constructed as an object of sociology. The author undertook this task using as the core of the analysis the element that is common to all forms of beliefs, that is, the reference to a legitimizing authority stemming from a tradition. R. LAPOINTE THE SPIRITUAL POWER OF RELIGIOUS SOCIOLOGY Amongst the practices that ensued from sociology as inspired by Auguste Comte, the «Religion of Humanity» holds a central 1
role. Since, sociology (of religion) must preoccupy itself with the principles established by Comte within all of the other forms of religion. Thus, sociology must, on the one hand, compare the application of Comte s theory with its practice, and on the other hand, revise and improve the doctrines so that the «spiritual power» as held by the learned may become more efficient. 2
L. VOYÉ ON THE RELIGIOUS OBJECT This articles stems out of the present paradoxical context, where there is a separation from the official Church institutions while at the same time there is a «return» to religion. It suggests an approach that lies outside of the traditionally accepted definition of religion. This, on the one hand, will allow us to examine what is the role of the religious representative of the institution, while, on the other hand, trying to capture the meaning behind the different groups and networks that are invading this field. Based on concretes experiences, this article should be able to discern what is and for whom is this religious resurgence making sense today. C. RIVIÈRE RITUALS: ON THE FRINGE OF THE SACRED After carrying research in the field of religious anthropology in Africa, the author undertook to explore the behaviors that incorporate a sacred or religious connotation in the «profane» Western society, in particular the creation of myths and rituals in the political sphere and in various aspects of daily life. Within political rituals, relationships of deference unfold with a symbolical reference to a kratophany that is, to a manifestation of mightiness. The ritualisation of elements of daily life (for example eating, appearances, sports or work) is explained by the enchantment that such a ritual offers within a given social context where all the links, the codes and the obligations have been mapped out. G. MÉNARD THE STRAW KNOT AND THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE. FROM A RELIGIOLOGIC POINT OF VIEW, CONSIDERATIONS ON AN OBSCURE OBJECT 3
Our present conception of religion, somehow linked to the legacy of the christian belief and stemming from the etymology of the latin word «religare», is defined as «what links the humans to the divine transcendence». But another etymology older and closely linked to the material world of the word «religio» leads us toward a definition less narrow and possibly more appropriate for our time. It evokes those straw knots that used to tie together, in the roman antiquity, the pillars of bridges. The chief of the priests, viewed as the exclusive one having the power to transgress (to unite two dies of a river separated by the gods from where the title «pontifex») was responsible for the execution of these knots. Today, we could try to seek out the new straw knots and the new pontiffs D. JEFFREY PROLEGOMENA TO A RELIGIOLOGY FOR EVERYDAY LIFE This text gives a summary of the first theoretical works of the author on the religious rituals within a perspective of a «religiology for everyday life». He insists first of all on the pertinence of the religiologic outlook in order to understand some of the most ordinary activities of everyday life. He then undertakes to demonstrate that religiosity is related to, on the one hand, the ritualizing the personal and collective transformations of life, and, on the other hand, the necessity of perpetuating rituals in order to regulate the taboos surrounding life and death, order and disorder, anguish and joy, suffering and serenity, fear and security, and so on. A. METTAYER BECOMING AN OBJECT FOR THE SALVATION OF THE SUBJECT S DIGNITY. A PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE JOHANNINE EXPRESSION «THE DISCIPLE THAT JESUS LOVED» 4
The aim of this text is not to determine whether it is better to be a subject (sub-jectum) or to be an object (ob-jectum). Excluding what may be one s preference, the choice of being subject or object usually does not occur without considering the dignity of the honest citizen. The Gospel of John allows us to observe how a disciple, seen as a cherished object of Jesus love, can resist becoming a desiring subject, when offered a mother to love. G. ROCHAIS MAKESHIFT EXEGESIS Biblical exegesis does not construct its object: it draws to make it visible. Its object, the biblical text, is always present. The author gives a brief summary of the role of the exegete: understanding and interpreting a biblical passage so that someone else can read it. Comparing the role of the exegete to that of a makeshift-artist, he describes the different stages of the exegesis process, which oscillates between an insight toward the text and the intuitions of other possibilities, intuitions that will have to be verified with the appropriate methods. Finally, the author explains what exegesis contributes to the field of humanities: it borrows from humanities a number of notions, yet enhances them by allowing a return to the sources, to the text itself. 5
R. LEMIEUX SEEK OUT THE OBJECT: THE QUESTION OF ETHIC IN THE RELIGIOUS SPHERE If we consider religious studies from a methodological point of view (that is, by the distance that should be placed between a subject and an object for the purpose of scientific analysis), we should not be surprised by the conflicting interpretations that emanate from science since it constantly reexamines the topic of subjectivity. Religion reflects the human reality, whether we look at it with a fascination for the otherness or as a symbolic legitimization for the established order. That it is today emancipated from the traditional institutions and available at different levels, it does not change the general idea which generates ethical requirements for science: it must take into account the relativity of its own productions. J.-M. LAROUCHE RELIGION AND ETHIC: VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF DISLOCATION In the last few years, religion and ethics have been seen as having a resurgence. In this context, specialists in these fields have raised questions pertaining to the construction and to the definitions of their own specific objects. However, the question of connecting religion and ethics has been largely left aside. This article will examine the scholarly undertakings in religiology and in ethicology in order to illustrate their «dislocation». The text will also present a recent attempt at «joining» ethics and religion, an example that illustrates clearly the theme of this particular issue, the construction of the religious object. J.A. PRADES ETHICS OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND OF DEVELOPMENT: A SPECIFIC CASE REFLECTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A RELIGIOUS OBJECT 6
In the midts of the crisis that surrounds the environment, the author attempts to understand the religious principles that guide society when facing difficult moral decisions. This article offers the reader a summary of Weber s «Spirit of Capitalism» along with an attempt at interpreting the principle of integration (Durkheim) on the economic ethics of the ecological movement. In doing so, it then hopes to contribute to the construction of today s religious object, sacred and characterized by an anthropocentricism that develops between two important axes: individuality and universality. 7
M.-M. CAMPBELL A WAR OF RELIGION OR CULTURAL ECUMENISM? NOTES ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOLOGY AND THEOLOGY The object of this article is to clarify, with the benefit of historical hindsight, the dynamics between religiology and theology. Both fields are often considered as asymmetrically opposed whereas they both refer to the same object. Putting forth a definition of both terms, the article will give a retrospective of their development, and will evaluate the actual situation of both fields, elaborating a model that will reflect their complementary nature as well as that which is particular to each. M. CLÉVENOT CONCERNING LES HOMMES DE LA FRATERNITÉ. A POSTMODERN HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY This article recalls the context and the perspectives within which the author has undertook his writings on the postmodern history of Christianity, Les Hommes de la Fraternité. This vast undertaking is part of a movement where a number of people believe that the perpetuation of christianity must remain alive, with a consideration to its historical legacy. It did so while pursuing the following aims: avoiding westernization, breaking with the monolithic «history of the Church» where the roman orthodoxy seems to erase all trace of contradictions, separating the history of the christians from the often exploited holy status of some, isolated from the remaining of the humanity. M. DESPLAND THE CONCEPT OF RELIGION: FOR A REASONED CHOICE The author has, in his previous works, established that the concepts of religion that circulate within the public at large as 8
well as within the scientific community are drawn out of specific cultural molds. The concept of religion should be constructed in a conscious manner, capable of encouraging communication (Habermas). Two specific problems can be noted here: images played a major role in the spreading of religion in Quebec and religion was lived as a practice; the «religiologist s religion», a discourse built for the intellectual purpose, exists solely because of a caesura. The role of religion in the traditional civility must become a subject of research; this may help to clarify contemporary problems of identity and to the construction of a new civility in Quebec, where immigration is non-negligible. n 9