religious organisations Flashcards
Troeltsch - church scope and organisation
- large formal religious organisations with a hierarchy of profession, paid officials
- will guard it’s monopoly on religious truth and will not tolerate tolerate challenge
- monotheistic, aim to be the only form of religious organisation recognised by society
Troeltsch - church as a conservative force
- churches accommodate themselves to the secular order in society, closely related to the state
- churches are likely to be ideologically conservative and support the status quo: tended to be aligned to ruling powers and have supported the political and economic objectives of ruling classes and factions
Church membership
- universal, embracing all members of society and offer to minister to the religious needs of everyone regardless of whether or not the individual consciously embraces the religion
- do not have to demonstrate their faith to become members, no membership tests or qualifications
- accept and affirm this world
- members are from all different classes in society
Criticism of Trolestch
Bruce (1996) development of religious pluralism in societies undermines the maintenance of the church type of religious organisation. It is more difficult for the state to lend support to one religion and a single set of religious beliefs as no longer reinforced by all groups in society
There are several examples of ‘churches’ which do not fit the above definition:
- The Church of England does not have universal membership.
- Many churches today do not claim a monopoly on the truth, they tend to be tolerant of other faiths.
Stark and bainbridge - denominations scope and organisation
- large membership
- have a hierarchy of full time of full time or part time paid officials
- do not claim monopoly of the religious truth, prepared to tolerate and cooperate with other religious organisations.
Brierley - Denominations membership
- Brierley - denominations do not have a universal appeal in society eg Britain in 2000, Methodists a claimed 384,527 and there were 21,243.
Neibuhr - denominations relationship to society
- Like churches, denominations draw members from all sections of society: they are inclusive
- not usually so closely identified with the upper classes, have members with the working class and lower middle classes.
- Unlike churches, a denomination does not identity with the state and believes in the separation of church and state.
Criticisms of denominations
The concept may be too broad to be useful. There is disagreement over whether certain religious organisations should be classified as sects or denominations.
Troeltsch - sects scope and organisation
- sects have characteristics that are almost diametrically opposed to churches
- they are both smaller and more strongly integrated than other religious organisations
- like churches they believe they posses a monopoly of the religious truth
Bruce - sects attitudes toward society
- their attitude towards the world state and society may be indifferent. They have no desire to control and incorporate these forms of social life, tend to avoid them
- members are expected to withdraw from life outside the sect but at the same time wish ultimately to see changes take place
- Bruce states that the first sects in modern Europe were formed when groups of people broke away from a more established religion, because of disagreement over how that religion was interpreted.
Sects membership
- is normally by choice rather than by birth - conscious commitment has to be given to join
- entry involves a period of probation followed by some sort of testing before an individual is given full membership
- connected with the lower class looking for some kind of religious solution
Criticism of sects
Wilson - Accepts that troeltschs description of sects may have been accurate in relation to European countries, until quite recently. However it does not account for or adequately describe the proliferation of sectarian groups in Europe and the USA in recent decades
There are very few religious organisations which tick all of the above boxes, meaning the category might be too exclusive to be useful.
wallis - scope and organisation
A cult is descried to possess belief systems that do not usually involve a God or gods and often will tolerate and accept alternative belief systems. However, many cults lack clear guidelines and demands of followers due to the poor structure many possess
bruce - attitudes towards society
- Cults have more individualised belief systems, open to individual interpretation, due to pluralistic legitimacy; no exclusions for heresy & lack of fixed doctrine.
- “loosely knit group organised around some common themes and interests but lacking any sharply defined and exclusive belief system”.
Niebuhr - membership
- Unlinked to state, deviant, short organisational existence (people acquire ‘techniques’ and leave)
- led by ‘practitioners’ or ‘therapists’ who claim special knowledge, MC, middle-aged ‘crisis’,
- mostly women (organismic deprivation i.e. chronic health issues).
- Little social control/demands of members
criticism of cults
Heelas - NAM scope and organisation
heelas - NAM beliefs
- believes the central features of the New Age is a belief in self spirituality. People with such beliefs have turned away from traditional religious organisations in the search for the spiritual and instead have begun to look inside themselves
- no monopoly of truth
Drane - NAM attitudes to society
• Western societies are turning against:
institutions and belief systems associated with the Enlightenment. Modern rationality, which followed from the Enlightenment, produced such disasters as the First World War, the Holocaust, the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming.
• People have lost faith in institutions such as the church
• The churches had ‘an uneasy relationship with Enlightenment values’ they adapted to those values. The churches are therefore viewed with suspicion and distrust.
• Disillusioned with the inability of the churches to satisfy their craving for spirituality, New Agers seek to develop their own spirituality
Niebuhr - growth + formation of sects
• sects are breakaways from traditional churches
• they rarely last more than a generation
• they decline because the move my loses momentum when the leader dies or the 2nd gen don’t have the same intensity of belief
• they develop because they are successful and therefore need a hierarchy to manage the membership = denomination
wilson - contradicting Niebuhr
• not all sects follow pattern, depends on response to ‘what shall we do to be saved’
• conversionist sects - aim to convert large numbers of people, are likely to grow into more formal denominations
• adventist sects - await salvation, must hold themselves seperate from the world and this prevents compromise to denomination
Weber - marginality
• sects arise in groups who feel they are not receiving just status.
• Sects offer a theodicy of disprivilege - a religious explanation for their position. E.g. as a test of faith with future rewards.
• The sect offers the ‘community’ that is missing from the mainstream.
stark and bainbridge - marginality
• argue sects form when members of a church compromise beliefs to fit in - deprived members break away to safeguard original message.
• World rejecting sects offer the deprived the compensators they need.
• In contrast the privileged attract to world accepting churches that express their status and earthly rewards.
wallis - relative deprivation
• Subjective feeling of deprivation unrelated to actual status.
• Wallis - materially advantaged people who feel the world is lacking in authenticity and warmth may turn to sects for a sense of community.
bruce - social change
• Periods of rapid change undermine established norms producing anomie.
• Those most affected by this disruption may turn to sects. E.g. the Industrial Revolution and the birth of Methodism
offered clear norms and the promise of salvation.
• Bruce sees the growth of some sects and cults as a response to modernisation and secularisation, cults are less demanding.
Drane - explaining the growth of the new age
• Western societies are turning against institutions and belief systems associated with the Enlightenment. Modern rationality produced disasters as the First World War, the Holocaust and global warming.
• Although the churches had ‘an uneasy relationship with Enlightenment values’, they adapted to and largely adopted those values and therefore viewed with suspicion and distrust.
• Disillusioned with the inability of the churches to satisfy their craving for spirituality, New Agers seek to develop their own spirituality.
• Drane sees this change as part of a move towards postmodernity. The New Age is a symptom of the extreme relativism of knowledge
Bruce - explaining the growth of the new age
•claims the new age appeals most to affluent members of society particularly the university-educated middle classes working in the expressive professions
• They may have experienced personal development themselves and therefore find it plausible to believe that there is the potential for further development
• People who have been exposed to a belief in individualism, modern societies are relatively egalitarian and democratic, so the views and beliefs of individuals are given more acceptance than before, whereas the views of experts and traditional authorities are regarded with more scepticism.
