A General Theory of Secularization by David Martin (review)

160 BOOK REVIEWS enriched by traversing the terrain between Jerusalem and Benares, but it is hard to see how they would have been changed fundamentally. The most valuable thing Berger could do for us now would be to go beyond delineating our religious situation and sketching the broad options and to take up in print and in detail the task of responding to the heretical imperative. In a sense, A Rurrwr of Angels was a superior book inasmuch as it involved a rudimentary effort of this type in its final chapters. With The Heretical Imperative, the scope of theology has been clarified and broadened, but the real philosophical and theological labor remains to be accomplished. MICHAEL J. KERLIN La Salle College Philadelphia, Pennsylvania A General Theory of Secularization. By DAVID MARTIN. New York: Harper and Row, 1978. Pp. 841. The author's contribution to understanding the process of secularization is very significant. One of the essential points of his analysis is expressed by him in the following words: " I want to suggest under what conditions religious institutions, like churches and sects, become less powerful and how it comes about that religious beliefs are less easily accepted " (p. H) . He stresses also the important difference between religious beliefs and religious institutions. For him religion is " a creature of the realm of symbol, feeling and meaning " (p. 13) . He has constructed an empirical theory of secularization. Through the whole book, we see sacred and secular in constant dialectical and dynamic interaction. Revolution is one of the outcomes of this dialectical process. Whether this revolution is an act which divides internally or unites society against something external is crucial to the process of secularization . In his words, " almost every revolution tends to move to extremes, and extremes directed outwards draw off extremism directed inwards . The frame acquired by America revolting against England, Holland, against Spain is one of unity against oppression, whereas the frame acquired by France is one of disunity between one Frenchman and another " (p. 16) . Religion has a tendency to be identified with a particular political position. When religion and political institutions are " independent " or in a state of equilibrium, and conflicts are not superimposed one on the other, secularization is in a state of" sleep". It is quite like Vulcan Vesuvius for the time being. But Vulcan may be reactivated anytime, showing his power. So can secularization. The author analyzes different models which reflect the relationship be- BOOK REVIEWS 161 tween political and religious institutions. Monopoly is one of them. Where there exists one religion possessed of a monopoly, society necessarily splits into two warring roles, one of which, obviously, is dedicated to religion (for example: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, France). All Orthodox societies have also approximated the Monopoly Model. Similarly where there are two or more religions, or distinct forms of the same religion, monopoly is not established. The second model is called "Duopoly," in which the Protestant Church is the major partner (England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.). The third model may be called The Mixed Model (Holland, Germany and Switzerland) . The fourth model the author called The Pluralistic Model. The United States is a good example of the last. In this last model society does not split into warring groups but into competing although mutually tolerant parties each supported by the various denominations . In the Orthodox monopolistic countries there usually is visible an instance of extreme collision between Church and State. In Russia, for instance, this is visible where society is secularized; the Church is not. Based on degrees of pluralism, maximal in America and minimal in Russia, the author suggested that religious pluralism is strongly associated with the stability of pluralistic democratic regimes and religious monopoly with the incidence of militant secular religions. Religion in the United States is formally excluded from school and state because its pattern is federalist both in politics and religion. Social order is legitimated by a civil religion. The universalization of dissent permits religion to take on as many images as there are social faces. In the society with the right-wing pattern the Church usually initiates the movement towards differentiation from the presence of political authority . In the left...