«La città secolare» nel dibattito sociologico

The article discusses the main flaws of Harvey Cox’s apologia pro libro suo. First, Cox gives an incorrect view of the sociological debate on secularization. What is new for him is not new at all, e.g. the distinction between secularization and secularism, which goes back at least to the 1960s. Second, he doesn’t really deal with the consequences of his earlier speculations on the back of the idea of «religionless Christianity» that contributed to what has been called «a collective nervous breakdown» on the part of Christian intellectual elites since the late 1950s. Finally, he overlooks the empirical and theoretical reasons that militate against his plea for a both secular and religious ecumenism.