New Religions and Secularization. Methodological Impasse
Voprosy filosofii July 10, 2026 Pavel G. Nosachev
The article reviews the theoretical foundations of New Religious Movements (NRMs), New Age studies, and Western Esotericism, highlighting that their advancement is hindered by contradictions in defining each field. In NRM studies, the category of "newness" has lost descriptive precision; New Age phenomena suffer from uncertain boundaries and a lack of unified interpretive principles; and Western Esotericism encompasses mutually exclusive definitions. As a productive alternative, the author proposes Charles Taylor's concept of secularization from *A Secular Age* (2007), which frames secularization not as religious decline but as a shift in belief conditions within the "immanent frame." Taylor's model helps overcome fragmentation by situating new religious phenomena within the broader transformation of Western spiritual life.