The Metamorphoses of God

From fundamentalisms to new spiritualities

Essay

European Prize for French-Language Writers 2004

Presentation

It was long believed that progress in modernity came at the cost of a decline in religion and a disenchantment with the world. Many phenomena call this movement into question and allow us to speak of a "return of God." Frédéric Lenoir rejects the image of modernity and religious sensitivity as independent of one another. He shows that we are in fact experiencing an individualization and globalization of religion that translates into a "re-enchantment" of the world and a "spiritual nomadism" evidenced by a profusion of diverse spiritualities. At the same time, we are witnessing an awakening of identity within the great traditions and a return of certainties in various forms: fundamentalisms, extremisms, sectarianisms. It is these astonishing paradoxes of the contemporary religious scene that the author explains here, striving to understand their historical roots since the Renaissance.

Translations

Spain: ALIANZA EDITORIAL
Italy: GARZANTI LIBRI Srl
Tunisia: NATIONAL TRANSLATION CENTER

What the press says

"In The Metamorphoses of God, Frédéric Lenoir brings order to what appears to be ambient disorder and summarizes, in a clear language not given to all sociologists, his long years of research; he unravels the skein of religious fact at the dawn of the 21st century and in particular of the new Western religiosity. In a concern for pedagogy and intellectual relevance, he combines the perspectives of the sociologist, the philosopher, the anthropologist, the historian, and even the theologian. An interdisciplinarity that makes this four hundred page book a reading pleasure." Le Monde des religions

"This book traces, in the background of its demonstration, a history of Western spirituality. Erudite, it is written in a style that is very pleasant to read... We will once again admire Frédéric Lenoir for his courage and his talent in the presentation of his ideas." Acropolis

"The fruit of field surveys and scholarly research, this book seeks to break with circumstantial observations by reconstructing this movement of recomposition, this observation of return, over the long term... an invitation throughout its pages not to make the wrong debates." La Croix

“A landmark book…” Le Nouvel Observateur