Les historiens français du fait religieux et la sécularisation

This paper portrays the uses of the notion of secularism in the field of French academic history. It traces back the genealogy of secular ideas, the establishment of specific scientific institutions for the study of secularization processes, as well as the influences from other disciplinary areas that have had an impact on this theme in history –and despite the resistances of historians themselves. The very identity of the field has first been circumscribed by the creation of a specific terminology but addresses a number of problems relating to historical investigation, that are at the very heart of this paper. Once accepted the theory of secularization, the historians’ contribution to the field has been a major one, even if such unanimity about secularization paved the way to other problems.