Formulation of the claim
Renewing religious reason is a modern necessity so that religion does not become marginalized and fade away.
Explanation
Arkoun links the continued vitality of religion within the public sphere to its capacity for intellectual renewal, not to mechanical repetition. Renewal here is not a theoretical luxury, but a condition for preventing religion from becoming a discourse stripped of effectiveness.
In this sense, modernity in Arkoun’s view appears as a context that compels a reconsideration of the tools and methods of religious understanding, not an abandonment of religion itself. The aim is to prevent a separation between religion and contemporary life by opening religious thought to broader possibilities for understanding and critique.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom lies at the heart of Arkoun’s theses on critiquing Islamic thought and rebuilding a more fruitful relationship between religion and modernity. It is directly connected to the book’s effort to expose the limits of closed intellectual formations and to push toward humanizing religious reading and freeing it from stagnation. It is therefore not an isolated statement, but part of a broader argument that sees religious reform as passing through the renewal of the very conditions of thought.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be taken to mean a break with religion, nor should it be reduced to an organizational or homiletic appeal. Nor does it mean that renewal is merely a formal improvement; rather, it concerns a deeper transformation in the way religion is understood and represented within the modern age.