SUMMARY: The article attempts to develop the model of «pure religion* as an ideal para­digm, useful for depicting relations between christian faith and modern society, and as an al­ternative to the model of «incarnated religion». To do that, it takes as its point of departure such authors as Pascal, Molinos and Fenelon, who at the dawn of the modern period (17th century) and prior to the social and cultural transformations of that era, outlined a redefini­tion of the christian experience in view of vindicating its absolute character, its specific diffe­rence, its distinctiveness with regard to reason, morality, social organisation or the necessity of personal realisation.