Such - Religious Organisations Flashcards
types of religious organisations
-denomination
-sect
-cult
-church
CHURCH: Scope and organisation Troeltsch 1931
-used church to refer to a large formal religious organisation with a hierarchy of professionals
-tend to be monolithic
-guard its monopoly on religious truth and will not tolerate challenges to religious authority
CHURCH: hierarchy and bureaucracy
-churches have large complex bureaucratic structures and hierarchies (resemble business organisations)
-power in the form of policy and decision making is concentrated at the top eg c of e led by Archbishop of Canterbury
CHURCH: professional clergy
-churches have professional salaried clergy who undertake training
CHURCH: membership
-try to embrace all members of society ( any classes)
-individuals do not have to demonstrate their faith to become members of church, often born into it eg baptism
-very little or if any membership tests or requirements
Troeltsch 1931 - church acting as a conservative force
- a church usually stabilises and determines the political order eg roman catholic church in the Middle Ages had educational + political functions
-churchs in support of status quo
A03 Evaluating the church
-sloss argues the church may not be relevant due to: almost half of the uk population identifies as having no religious affiliation
-rapid growth of other religions in the uk such as islam and hindu
DENOMINATIONS: what are they, Moore 1988
-sects that have become respectable in the eyes of the middle class society
-membership is usually democratic with all members having a say in the affairs of the denomination
-there is no claim that the clergy have supernatural powers
-lies in-between church and a sect eg baptist
DENOMINATIONS: scope and organisation Stark and Bainbridge 1985
- like churches they have a large membership eg 1 mill pentecostals
-national organisations
-also have hierarchy and full time paid officials
DENOMINATIONS: membership
-like churches they have large membership and draw from all sections of society
-not exclusive organisations so no membership test
-people choose to join eg evangelism or born into it eg methodism
DENOMINATIONS: differences from churches
-dont closely identify with upper class (normally wc mc)
-denomination does not identify with the state and approves the separation of church and state
-denominations do not claim a monopoly of the religious truth
SECTS: what are they, Moore 1998
-usally small in membership and very exclusive in their acceptance of members
-place great stress of conformity and obedience to the rules of the sect
eg Jehovah witness
-sects were originally groups which broke away from the dominant religion in a. society due to a disagreement over the interpretation of the religion
-eg the people temple Jim jones
SECTS: scope and organisation Troeltch 1931
-smaller and more strongly intergrated
than other religious organisation
-like roman catholic church they tend to believe they possess a monopoly of the religious truth
SECTS: hierarchy and bureaucracy
-unlike churches they are not organised through a hierarchy
-central authority usually exists through a charismatic leader (some claiming a divine relationship with god)
SECT: membership
- membership of a sect is usually by choice and not birth
-entry normally involves a period of probation followed by some testing before they can fully join
-sects tend to appeal most to the poorest sections of society: people who are looking for some kind of religious solution to moral and social problems
