The meaning of the concept in this book
The concept of the true religion refers to the position that monopolizes religious truth in a single correct religion, thereby leading to mutual exclusion among religions. It is presented here as one of the historical roots of excommunication and theological competition, rather than as a neutral description of religiosity.
Its place in the book’s argument
The concept serves the book’s argument by tracing how a religious discourse comes to exclude others when it ties truth to purity and singularity. It is therefore linked in Arkoun’s thought to the medieval conception that confines truth to a single religion and makes of “the true religion” a historical structure that generates forms of mutual exclusion.
How it works within the atlas
The concept appears within a network of related issues that explain its formulation and effects: it intersects with the idea that the true religious discourse produces mutual exclusion, and with the formulation the true religion produces mutual exclusion; it is also tied to its historical specification in the true religion in the Middle Ages and to the perspective that confines truth to a single religion. Through these connections, the concept shifts from a doctrinal phrase to an explanatory node within the atlas.