Definition, Contributions and Limits of Marcel Gauchet’s Concept of Secular Religion

This article aims to highlight Marcel Gauchet’s personal contribution to the concept of “secular religion”, while noting the limitations it faces. After clarifying the hermeneutical issues underlying discussion of “political and secular religions”, we show how the intermediate position adopted by Gauchet traces a middle way between, on the one hand, supporters and, on the other hand, opponents of this controversial religious category of totalitarianism.