Abstract

ASSMANN, Jan. World religions and the theory of the Axial Age.Translated byMarco Ornelas. Estud. sociol [online]. 2022, vol.40, n.119, pp.325-348.  Epub Dec 02, 2022. ISSN 2448-6442.  https://doi.org/10.24201/es.2022v40n119.2297.

In this article, Assmann echoes the criticism of “book” religions made at least 130 years ago by Max Muller. But he does so in an extremely remarkable way. He incorporates the fundamental idea of religion as a language that communicates with various technical devices (rituals, spells, and of course alphabetic writing that will end up constituting a canon, a religious semantics proper) with definitive consequences for the modes of religiosity and for the forms which cultures acquire. Assmann clearly defines world religions as transnational religions subject to missiological approaches and, therefore, capable of being fully incorporated into postcolonial studies. We are also facing a text where religious and scientific semantics have a fortunate encounter.

Keywords : world religions; axial age; cultural memory; religious semantics.