Classical And Contemporary Classifications Flashcards
What are 3 features of a church?
Claim monopoly over truth
Acts as a conservative force
Generally supportive of the state
What are 3 features of a sect?
Exclusive (small)
Radical views/radical movement
Charismatic leader
What are 3 features of a denomination?
Tendency towards conservative
Separate from the state (but don’t reject it)
Less hierarchical than the church
What are 3 features of a cult?
Small
Short-lived
Charismatic leader
What is the first point of evaluation for classical classification? And who?
Stark and Bainbridge
Religious organisations do not always fall into four different types. Better placed on a continuum.
What is the second point of evaluation of the classical classification?
Typology does not allow you to categorise religious organisations.
What is an NRM?
New religious movement
Refer to collecting a broad range of religious and spiritual groups which have emerged in western countries. Wide range of diverse groups, recruit from different backgrounds.
What types of NRMs is there?
World-affirming (affirmative of the world)
World-rejecting (rejection of the world)
World-accommodating (accommodating of the world)
Middle-ground (organisations which fit in more than one)
What are 3 features of world-affirming movements?
Lack rituals and control
Offer to unlock spiritual power and cope with modernity
Seek wide membership
What are 3 features of world-rejecting movements?
Highly critical of wider society Demand significant lifestyle changes Dress code - fundamentalism Seen as deviant Example - Sect Claim monopoly over truth
What are 3 features of world-accommodating movements?
Try to rediscover spiritual purity
Focus on inner religious life
Carry on with existing lifestyle
What is a NAM?
New Age Movement Phenomenon of the 1980s and 1990s Tend to be middle class people and mostly female No formal structure Like a world-affirming movement
What is Sheila-ism?
Where people construct their own belief
What is value consensus?
A shared/agreement of norms and values (functionalist view)
What are 3 reasons for why sects are short-lived?
Charismatic leader dies
Second generational problem
The views are too radical
