Emmanuel Todd on the Three Phases in the Evolution of Religion
Typology
This summary is from ChatGPT:
Emmanuel Todd's book "La Défaite de l'Occident" outlines a theory of how religious forms of consciousness shape human thinking and action through three distinct phases:
1. The Religious Phase:
Key Features:
Active Belief Systems: In this phase, religious belief systems are fully operational and influential in shaping the behavior, ethics, and societal structures of people.
Role of Protestantism: Todd emphasizes the significant impact of Protestantism on the modern world. Protestant ethics, with a focus on individual responsibility and mass literacy, played a crucial role in the development of Western societies. The spread of literacy through religious texts facilitated greater social mobility and economic development.
Sociological Impact: The religious phase is marked by cohesive moral frameworks and community structures grounded in shared beliefs. These beliefs guide individual and collective actions, contributing to the stability and growth of societies.
2. The Zombie Religion Phase:
Key Features:
Residual Ethical Influence: In this intermediate phase, formal religious beliefs may have waned, but the ethical and moral principles derived from these beliefs continue to influence human behavior. People might not actively practice religion, but their actions and societal norms are still shaped by these ingrained values.
Cultural Persistence: Todd describes this phase as one where the cultural residue of religion still persists, even if the explicit belief in religious doctrines has diminished. This can be seen in the lingering influence of Christian ethics on Western societies, even among secular populations.
Sociological Consequences: The zombie religion phase represents a transitional period where traditional values still provide a semblance of social order and moral guidance, preventing a complete descent into moral relativism or chaos.
3. The Degree Zero of Religion:
Key Features:
Nihilism and Moral Vacuum: In the final phase, the ethical and moral principles derived from religious belief systems are no longer operative. Societies reach a point of moral and spiritual nihilism, where there is a loss of meaning and purpose.
Societal Decline: Todd argues that this phase leads to a societal crisis, characterized by increased nihilism and suicidal tendencies. Without the guiding principles of traditional religious ethics, societies struggle to find cohesion and direction.
Implications for the Modern World: This phase reflects Todd's broader critique of contemporary Western societies, where the decline of religious and moral frameworks has led to various social and psychological maladies, including increased rates of suicide and societal fragmentation."
Examples
Emmanuel Todd:
"A three-stage sequence can describe the disappearance of the religious framework in our societies: active religion (belief and regular practice), zombie religion (disbelief with the survival of moral and social values), and zero religion (nothing left). I first applied this sequence to Christianity, in its various forms—Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox. I then extended it to the two related monotheisms, Judaism and Islam, more specifically its Shiite component. Thus, for Scandinavia, for example, we can describe a sequence of "active Protestantism, zombie Protestantism, zero Protestantism." For Iran, we have the same sequence but incomplete: "active Shiism, zombie Shiism," without ruling out the possibility of "zero Shiism" in the future. For Israel, we can already describe a complete sequence: "active Judaism, zombie Judaism, zero Judaism."
The case of Israel, like that of the United States, forces us to delve deeper into historical analysis because new religions have emerged in these two countries: crazy evangelicalism in the U.S. and ultra-Orthodox Judaism in Israel. These are indeed religions, but they are innovations—post-Christian in one case, post-Jewish in the other. Never in the history of Protestantism had we seen such a cool god, dispensing monetary rewards without morality; never in Jewish history had we witnessed the exponential growth of a group of idlers living off state subsidies and their wives' labor while endlessly circling the Torah. These two new religions share the common trait of having rejected the work ethic of Protestantism or Judaism. However, these two innovations are not the most important if we seek to understand the religious phenomenon after Christianity or after Judaism."
(https://substack.com/inbox/post/167278786?)
Translated from the French by DeepSeek.