Introduction

Statistical and sociological changes in the religious landscape yield the result that traditional religious convictions have in recent years gained momentum and the project of religious liberalism did not triumph as expected. in the UsA, the “liberal” mainstream Protestant churches have since 1965 lost an average of 4.6 per cent of their membership every five years, whereas conservative or classical Christian communities have seen an increase of 8 per cent during the same intervals. ¹ in Catholicism, a parallel shift from liberalism to traditionalism can be seen within the church. Thus a shift from liberalism to traditionalism is not only an Asian, African, or middle eastern phenomenon, but is taking place in late modern Western culture. Although the change may not surface in all societies in a similar way, the new traditionalism is shaping the religious communities around the globe. ²