Desecularization: A Conceptual Framework

It has been more than a decade since Peter Berger famously introduced the concept of desecularization to denote a variety of manifestations of the worldwide resurgence of religion. He described desecularization as counter-secularization and offered an innovative view of the vitality of religion vis-a-vis global modernity. Studying the interplay of secularizing and counter-secularizing trends and forces, Berger wrote, is a most important task of the sociology of religion. Looking back at Berger’s energetic formulations, one could expect that they would inspire an explosive growth of studies focusing on counter-secularizing trends and attempting to uncover desecularization patterns across cultures and societies. This would have meant a massive shift of focus in research within the sociology of religion. The shift, however, has been slow to emerge. Recent studies of the resurgence of religion and its influence on societies worldwide have generated mounting evidence in support of