Les Marges du christianisme

The dictionary contains 188 entries written by 41 contributors.^[1][2] The volume's introduction has several sections, written by several authors. The first section, written by Chantin, notes how more prominent figures in fringe religious history were rarely discussed, and were excluded in earlier volumes in the series. In defining the volume's scope, they limit it to groups are people that are related to Christianity (even if in opposition to it) excluding other faiths. It defines the "margins" of Christianity, and notes that inclusion in the volume depended on the figure's distance from traditional movements as well as their "audience or representativeness".

The categories of "sects", "dissidences" and "esotericism" are defined; the volume also criticizes the term "sectes" (French for "cults") for being imprecise and lending to a media frenzy in some cases, hence its presence in quotations in the title. As a result of the influence of the counterculture of the 1960s on some of these groups, the chronological upper limit on inclusion in this volume was set at 1970 instead of 1962, as in the other volumes; the lower limit in both cases is the year 1800. They define three personality types of the profiled figures: conservative, reformist and innovative. Statistically analyzing the profiled personalities, Chantin notes a low percentage of women (at 9%) and a large percentage of "visionaries", as well as certain figures that are connected to many others. Vignot includes is a history of recent marginal religious developments in France as well as Apostolic Church succession.

The second section, written by Bernard Vignot, includes a history of recent marginal religious developments in France as well as Apostolic Church succession. Régis Ladous covers the margins of Protestantism in specific, connecting them to new religious movements. The history of attempts to found a "secular religion" in the 18th century is followed by Patrick Cabanel, all of which he deems as failures. Paul Airiau follows the history of millennialist movements and their relationship with the Church; Jacques Maître [fr] then discusses the concept of "visionary mysticism"; the phenomenon of people claiming contact with the supernatural, from whom they receive some sort of divine message. Following this, Jean-Pierre Laurant defines and follows the history of the term and usage of the word esotericism, describing esoteric works as mainting a strong connection to Christianity. Serge Caillet discusses the history of "initiatory societies", including Neo-Templarism (Knights Templar revival movements) from its founding in the 19th century to the 1990s, as well as Rosicrucianism, and masonic organizations and rites.

A bibliography section for the introduction is included. Then follows the alphabetical dictionary entries, as well as an index.

The work was published in 2001 by Éditions Beauchesne [fr].^[3] It is the tenth volume of the Dictionnaire du monde religieux dans la France contemporaine, a series of encyclopedic dictionaries which focus on religious aspects.^[4] It was edited by Jean-Pierre Chantin, who had previously written his thesis on the Jansenists.^[2] Chantin had studied at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3.^[1]

Les Marges du christianisme received a positive critical response.^[1][2][4] Jean Séguy, writing for the Archives de sciences sociales des religions, described it as a "pioneering work" that opened up new avenues,^[1] while Denis Pelletier described it as an "invaluable tool".^[2] Pierre-Yves Kirschleger said it was a "balanced title" and praised the variety of the entries included.^[4] Bernard Joassart praised the volume's comprehensiveness, including figures he considered as "serious" as well as genuinely marginal or dangerous figures,^[5] though Séguy argued that those included in the volume had "links with one another [that are] difficult for the present compiler to grasp".^[1]

Joassart said the book was not only aimed at researchers, but that it would also be useful to Christians trying to "grasp realities that any Christian may encounter" that were initially difficult to comprehend. He praised the book as valuable due to its tone, lacking irony or mockery of the groups discussed.^[5] Pelletier called the concept at the root of the volume "problematic". He said that while using the marginality of the contents to define it helped it to escape the typical "monolithism" of French religiosity, by defining the content as being at the margins it paradoxically only further centered Catholicism.^[2]

Several reviewers praised the introduction.^[1][2] Pelletier said the introduction was Chantin giving "ample space to some of the specialists he has surrounded himself with."^[2] Séguy singled out Cabanel's introductory segment as "illuminating" and Ladous' as "exemplary", and said most contributors to the volume had an "undeniable knowledge of the movements or groups to which the individuals they deal with belong." He however criticized Vignot's introductory section for its usage of the cult concept and for not demonstrating familiarity with the concepts it addressed.^[1]

• Rousse-Lacordaire, Jérôme (2002). "Bulletin d'histoire des ésotérismes". Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques (in French). 86 (2): 260. ISSN 0035-2209. JSTOR 44408726.
• Vallin, Pierre (2002). "Les Marges du christianisme". Études (in French). 396 (3): 430–431. ISSN 0014-1941. Retrieved 29 October 2024 – via Cairn.info.