Chapter 17 Flashcards
A process of decline in the influence of religion. Can refer to levels of involvement with religious organizations (rates of church attendance), the social and material influence wielded by religious organizations, and the degree to which people hold religious beliefs
Secularization
An activist Catholic religious movement that combines Catholic beliefs with a passion for social justice for the poor
Liberation theology
A set of beliefs adhered to by the members of a community, incorporating symbols regarded with a sense of awe or wonder together with ritual practices. Do not universally involve a belief in supernatural entities
Religion
A belief in one or more supernatural deities
Theism
Large bodies of people belonging to an established religious organization
Churches
Religious movements that break away from orthodoxy
Sects
A religious sect that has lost its revivalist dynamism and become an institutionalized body, commanding an adherence of significant numbers of people
Denomination
Fragmentary religious groupings to which individuals are loosely affiliated but that lack any permanent structure
Cults
The sense that our own abilities as human beings are taken over by other entities
Alienation
That which inspires attitudes of awe or reverence among believers in a given set of religious ideas
Sacred
That which belongs to the mundane, everyday world
Profane
Worldly thinking, particularly seen in the rise of science, technology, and rational thought in general
Secular thinking
A theoretical framework within the sociology of religion that argues that religions can be fruitfully understood as organizations in competition with one another for followers
Religious economy
Belief in a single god
Monotheism
Belief in two or more gods
Polytheism
A set of religious beliefs through which a society interprets its own history in light of some conception of ultimate reality
Civil religion
The broad range of religious and spiritual groups, cults, and sects that have emerged alongside mainstream religions
New religious movements
Associations of people who join together to seek to spread a new religion or to promote a new interpretation of an existing religion
Religious movements
The inspirational quality of leaders that makes them capable of capturing the imagination and devotion of a mass of followers
Charismatic
Religious movements that seek to enhance followers’ ability to succeed in the outside world by helping them unlock their human potential
World-affirming movements
A general term to describe the diverse spectrum of beliefs and practices oriented on inner spirituality. Paganism, Eastern mysticism, shamanism, alternative forms of healing, and astrology are examples
New Age movements
Religious movements that are exclusive in nature, highly critical of the outside world, and demanding of their members
World-rejecting movements
Groups who exercise control over their members by making them subsume their individual identities in that of the group, compelling them to adhere to strict ethical codes or rules, and sometimes forcing them to withdraw from activity in the outside world
Total institutions
Religious movements that emphasize the importance of inner religious life and spiritual purity over worldly concerns
World-accommodating movements
The linking of strongly held religious convictions with beliefs about a people’s social and political destiny
Religious nationalism
A period during which the political influence of established religions is successfully challenged
Disestablishment
A form of Protestantism characterized by a belief in spiritual rebirth
Evangelicalism
Evangelists who are highly anti modern in many of their beliefs and adhere to strict codes of morality and conduct
Fundamentalists
