Abstract:

Simmel thought that the culture crisis in modern society is reflected in the control objective culture takes over
the subjective culture and life，which is manifested by social unrest and the pursuit of material. Cultural forms，originally a
means，in turn，become a much sought after ultimate goals. The essence of this cultural crisis lies in the contradiction between
the restrictions life activities impose and the cultural forms which are restricted. Simmel proposed the aesthetic and religious
approaches to remove this contradiction. The former is the quest for transcendent beauty through common emotional sharing
among individual lives，which is a bottom up“push-up”approach. The latter connects people’s with life itself by establishing
a common transcendent idea of God，which is a“pull-up”approach. With the two-way effects，individuals in various cultural
forms will be able to shake off the external shackles and reach a general understanding of transcendental existence，thus develop
from pursuing alienation like money，etc. to seeking the true substance of life. So they will regain the sense of transcendent
beauty and life. Simmel replaced personal religion with conventional religion and achieved individual identity in a highly
differentiated society，which laid the theoretical foundation for the sociology of religion.

Key words: Simmel, cultural crisis, aesthetic redemption, religion