The Critical Potential of the Concept of Implicit Religion

Abstract

This article is an attempt to assess the meaning of being critical in a cultural, scientific, and religious sense. By focusing on implicit religion, the paper discusses various areas in which its critical potential becomes obvious. These areas reach from situations in which developments in implicit religion account for considerable modifications of explicit religion and the cultural environment, to the many instances in which the concept of implicit religion has a critical impact on the perception of reality. The main concern of the paper is the critical potential of the concept of implicit religion as a searching device which permits us to see, and thus to come to a more accurate evaluation of what is going on, in the study of religion, in religious developments, in different forms of religious interaction, and with regard to various attitudes which at first sight do not appear to be religiously relevant.