SALVATION OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF THE CHURCH?

Abstract

A thorough transformation of religion is taking place. One aspect of this is the emergence of a new religiosity, called by Anton van Harskamp "new-religious longing", 1 which moves largely outside traditional churches. In theology one speaks in this context of the de-institutionalization of religion. This new religiosity exists not just as an individual longing. It also is borne of social ties (e.g., networks) and may lead to new, often shorter-term forms of faith community. Thus in the new religiosity too one can speak of organization on a social level. Perhaps we may even speak of new forms of religious institutionalization.2 Thus the central question in this article is: In what ways do new forms of religious institutionalization develop outside the institutonalized churches? A second, related question is how we can evaluate those forms theologically. These questions cannot easily be taken up in current practical-theological research into new religiosity. It is often examined one-sidedly, "from inside to outside".3 Then one looks "from the church toward society", with a more-or-less explicit intention to arrive at theories about the revitalization of the existing church.4 In this article, I try to get beyond thinking in terms of church revitalization, because that approach ultimately focuses too one-sidedly