Secularization – Just a Myth or a Modern Myth of Origin? Thomas Luckmann’s Contribution to the Critique of Secularization

The article discusses Luckmann’s conceptualization of secularization as a myth of modernity. The term “myth” has a double meaning: it can be used to express something counter-factual, but it can also be perceived as a story of origin. The latter use distinguishes Luckmann’s work from other criticisms of secularization theory that label secularization as an ideology or a combat concept. The “myth of secularization” does not per se contradict analyses of religious decline. However, the close link that Luckmann creates between religion (instead of religious capacity) and the human and societal condition as such, insinuates such contradiction.