In the third decade of the effort at improvement

An excerpt from the lecture “Renewal: in the third decade of the effort at improvement”.

In this Prishtina Talks presentation, Justinian Topulli reflects on three decades of effort at improvement and religious renewal among Albanians. Beginning from the sociological view — the distinction between traditional society and modernity, and the secularist thesis that religion would retreat as reason advanced — Topulli explains why the expectations of the classical sociologists (Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Freud) were never borne out, and why modernity, rather than making religion disappear, brought a global renewal of it.

The presentation examines what is particular about the Albanian case (communism did its heaviest damage to Islam, because of elites with a Christian background), the part the family played in keeping faith alive, the dynamic between the large religious institutions and the small groupings, and it reflects on the enthusiasm and the mistakes of the first generation of preachers after the system fell.

Some of the points covered: 📌 Why the secularist thesis failed, and religion was renewed 📌 The vertical (divine) and horizontal (social) dimension of keeping faith 📌 Why Islam was hit hardest by communism in Albania 📌 Ismail Kadare, and Ramiz Alia's mistake over the mosques 📌 The family as the keeper of identity under communism 📌 The large institutions against the small, flexible groupings 📌 Youthful drive, Arab enthusiasm, and unintended mistakes

📍 Prishtina Talks