HISTORY AND FUTUROLOGY OF RELIGION (Philosophical and Civilizational Aspect)

Abstract

Purpose of the article. The purpose of this study is to present a philosophical and futurological investigation of religion as a dynamic and self-developing phenomenon of human civilization. The authors seek to demonstrate that religion does not disappear under the influence of modernization and technology, but rather transforms, acquiring new forms of spirituality, meaning, and communication in the era of artificial intelligence, digitalization, and global cultural shifts. Particular attention is devoted to a comparative-civilizational analysis of the evolution of religious consciousness in the East and West, as well as to exploring possible scenarios for its future.

Degree of research elaboration. The relationship between religion and the future remains insufficiently developed in Russian philosophy. Traditionally, religion has been studied in historical-philosophical and sociological contexts (Toynbee, Berdyaev, Jung, Fromm), whereas its futurological dimension has long remained peripheral. In Western thought, this topic has been actively discussed in the works of R. Stark and W. Bainbridge, R. Unger, Y. Harari, Ch. Taylor, H. Campbell, and L. Floridi. In Azerbaijani and post-Soviet humanistic scholarship (A. Abbasov, E. Mammadov, E. Nasirov), there have been attempts to integrate religious issues into the context of civilizational and technological development; however, a systematic futurological model of religion as a phenomenon of spiritual self-renewal has not yet been fully developed.

Methods and methodology:

The research is based on an interdisciplinary methodology that includes:

Philosophical–ontological analysis (Berdyaev, Jaspers, Heidegger);

Civilizational–historical approach (Toynbee, Huntington, al-Farabi, Ibn Khaldun);

Futurological forecasting (Turchin, Morin, Batin);

Comparative and hermeneutic analysis of religious texts;

Elements of the sociology of religion and post-secular theory (Berger, Habermas, Casanova).

Methodologically, the study is grounded in the principles of non-linear development, synergetics, the interrelation between the rational and the sacred, and the concept of a “post-secular synthesis,” in which faith is regarded as a form of intellectual and cultural adaptation of humankind to new conditions of existence.

Novelty of the research:

1. For the first time in the national philosophical literature, a systematic definition of “futurology of religion” is proposed as a philosophical direction exploring the potential evolutions of the sacred in the future world.
2. A classification of seven scenarios for the future of religion has been developed (secular-technological, neo-religious, digital, post-religious, traditionalist, techno-theological, and eco-religious), based on a comparative analysis of Western and Eastern civilizational models.
3. It is shown that religion should be understood not as a relic of the past but as a mechanism of cultural self-renewal, capable of integrating the achievements of science, technology, and humanistic values.
4. The concept of the “techno-sacred” is introduced — a new form of spirituality emerging at the intersection of artificial intelligence, media environments, and the philosophy of consciousness.
5. The idea of a “religion of Humanity and the Earth” is proposed as a possible metaphysics of the twenty-first century, uniting the noospheric and anthropological dimensions of faith.

Conclusions

Religion, while undergoing a crisis of traditional institutions, enters a phase of transformation — from dogmatic to dialogical, from external to internal, from ecclesiastical to digital.

The process of secularization does not mark the end of faith but leads to the pluralization of the sacred - the emergence of numerous new spiritual practices and identities.
The future of religion will be defined not by opposition to science but by their mutual integration: religion increasingly becomes a domain of ethical oversight and humanistic regulation of technology.

In the civilizational context, one can anticipate the hybridization of religious forms, in which Islamic rationality, Eastern mystical tradition, and Western ethics of reason may converge into a new metaphysics of the unity of humanity, nature, and intelligence.

The futurology of religion thus opens the way toward a philosophy of the spiritual future, in which faith retains its role as a meaning-giving foundation, and religious thinking becomes a form of self-awareness of human reason in the age of posthumanism.