true that in many such countries institutional Christianity is on
the retreat, with declining numbers of those practising religious
observance regularly, there are signs that religion is reasserting
its role in society in a reconfigured shape. In terms of Christianity,
there has been a remarkable flourishing of various evangelical
groups, many of which espouse fundamentalist brands of belief
(Kepel 1994: 100–34). Other successes have been in the domain
of esoteric cults, such as the increased adherence of western
Europeans or north Americans to eastern religions like Buddhism,
or the revival of what are variously termed indigenous religions,
nature religions, or neo-paganism.^6 Such developments in the west
seem to evidence the desire among some to return to religious
basics. They might be seen as mirroring trends in the Islamic
world, for example, where various movements dubbed ‘funda-
mentalist’ have attracted considerable support, sometimes in the
face of stiff state-sponsored opposition (Kepel 1994: 13–46).
Objections that western industrialized nations are somehow
immune to such fundamentalism do not convince. In recent times
the United States has seen the powerful political alliance of
conservative Republican politicians and the evangelical, funda-
mentalist Christians of the self-proclaimed ‘moral majority’
(Kepel 1994: 117–23). Indeed, even institutional Christianity may
not be as terminally ill as is widely assumed. While attendance
at church services may be in decline, other areas of church activity
are flourishing. In recent years in Britain, for example, there has
been vigorous competition for places in schools run by, particu-
larly, the churches. Many of those competing to send their
children to such institutions do not profess any religious beliefs
themselves – indeed, this has been part of the problem – but they
see in religious schools a bastion of educational standards that
they perceive to be in decline in secular state-run schools. More
recently, the phenomenal success of Mel Gibson’s film The
Passion of the Christ(2004) and the huge crowds that gathered
in Rome after the death of pope John Paul II and for the election
of Benedict XVI (April 2005) have shown that there remains aWHAT IS EARLY CHRISTIANITY?
26