ABSTRACT
The concept of secularization appears as the most ambiguous and contradictory as regards the sociological approach to the religious phenomenon. To retrace the itinerary of its destiny may be enlightening so as to grasp some salient aspects of the current debate. It derives from the Latin saeculum, which, much later than the classical age, becomes “secularization.” The application of such a criterion is not, however, an exclusive prerogative of the Christian world. Even in the world of the pagans themselves, as otherwise defined, we have seen, as pagans, there are echoes of a similar kind. Choices occur in a situation diverse from that of the past, especially as regards the visibility or invisibility of systems of attitudes and behavior. The chief result of invisible religion is precisely the internalization of every decision related to the cosmos considered to be sacred.
