Le Paradigme De La Mort De Dieu Dans Les Sciences Humaines De Le Religion (Religious Historiography ‪)‬

Abstract: An extension of Enlightenment philosophy, the epistemology of suspicion developed progressively, with Nietzsche, Marx and Freud as its main definers. The basic premise was that God does not exist. The hedonistic philosopher Nietzsche attacked the practice of asceticism as a way to Heaven, while Marx viewed God as the soul of soulless societies, the opium of the oppressed. For Freud and Wilhelm Reich (The Sexual Revolution), belief in a purely imaginary being was a neurosis. This essay traces the diffuse presence of this epistemology dominating religious historiography and expands on the idea that, regardless of their beliefs, anthropologists of the religious have an obligation to recognize the effects of belief on populations under study. Resume: Prolongement de la philosophie des Lumieres, l'epistemologie du soupcon s'est elaboree progressivement: Niestzsche, Marx et Freud en furent les principaux definisseurs. L'idee que Dieu n'existe pas en est le postulat de base. Chez Niestzsche, philosophe hedoniste, l'ascetisme en vue du Royaume est pourfendu, cependant que Marx considere Dieu comme l'ame des societes sans ame, opium des opprimes. Freud et Wilhelm Reich (La revolution sexuelle) qualifieront de nevrose la croyance en un etre purement imaginaire. Retracant la presence diffuse de cette epistemologie regnante dans l'historiographie religieuse, cet essai etoffe l'idee que, croyants ou incroyants, les anthropologues du religieux ont l'obligation de reconnaitre les effets de la croyance sur les populations etudiees.