RELIGIOUS INNOVATION AS AN INDICATOR AND FACTOR OF SOCIAL DYNAMICS

Abstract

The paper searches for relevant interpretation of a religious innovation as an indicator and a factor of social innovation. It is noted that the opposition of old and new religions accepted among experts as carriers of reactionary and modernist social tendencies does not allow to notice and correctly interpret the numerous manifestations of modern religious activity which fall out of this stereotypic scheme filled with ideological connotation s. The author concludes that the religious innovation is a cumulative result of the efforts to reproduce religious practices in the changing historical conditions. Only such understanding of a religious innovation allows apprehending the potential and the social importance of numerous manifestations of religious life in the modern society, realizing the religious practices as a source of social development.