ABSTRACT
In Religion in Modern Europe: A Memory Mutates Grace Davie paints a picture of societal changes that were in motion at the time when the twentieth century turned into that of the twenty-first. In light of Religion in Modern Europe, the author will first look at the way that Davie uses a theory of memory in her analysis on the current changes in the European religious landscape. Religion in Modern Europe is very much inspired by the French studies on social memory and especially by those of Daniele Hervieu-Leger. Davie concludes her book in a discussion where 'the concept of memory is pushed to its logical conclusions to reveal the full potential of this way of working'. In writing about religion as 'a chain of memory' or as 'a memory that mutates', Hervieu-Leger and Davie seem like solitary voices in the sociology of religion.
