RELIGIOUS TRADITION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE POSTSECULAR PARADIGM

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to conceptually identify the primal foundations of religious tradition and demythologize the “victory of modernity over tradition”; comprehension of the realities of modern religious life and socio-cultural aspects of the reformation of the Ukrainian society. Methodological principles of the study are traditionalism, religious and synergistic anthropology, hermeneutics and philosophical symbolism. Scientific novelty. At the end of the XX – beginning of the XXI century, the world is experiencing an institutional and socio-cultural return to religion, although the primal meanings of the religious tradition are lost in the context of the post-secular paradigm. We are witnessing vulgarization, creation of various distorted forms of religious beliefs. These are certain “religions” that seek to adapt to a rational, profane dominant outlook in today’s Western world. But, after any test of history, the religious tradition will always remain the ontological principle of man, society, people and humanity in history, the metaphysical basis of culture’s existence. In the socio-cultural dimension, religious tradition remains the primary means of reproduction and transfer of spiritual values without which any culture cannot be imagined. The religious tradition is capable of enhancing collective identity, contributing to the sustainable development of society, especially amid spiritual crisis and political transformation. Conclusions. Trends in the post-secular world show that newly created religious movements that depart from tradition give rise to an unstoppable force of destruction, such as extremism. It is the gap and disproportion between the primal spiritual content of culture and its representative forms that is one of the main causes of the spiritual crisis. Ukraine must develop an internal resilience to the modern challenges and listen to its own spiritual specifics.