RELS 161 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Ernst Troeltsch, New Religious Movement, Eileen Barker
31 Mar 2016
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Contemporary problems in religion & culture: winter semester notes. In the sociological classifications of religious movements in english, a cult is a religious or social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices. By the 19th century new connotations: extreme worship/excessive devotion. What differentiates a religious cult from a religion? (are all religions cults, are all cults religions?) Differences in relationship to larger society (the way in which society responds to cult, and how the cult responds to society) Weber: three types of authority: traditional (ex. royalty- nothing inherent within the person, bloodline relations, charismatic (ex. Building in part on weber, ernst troeltsch described a church-sect continuum. Allied w the state & w/ the secular powers (overlap of church & secular powers ex. politics, government) Church"s have a religious monopoly (total control) (no competition-heresy, no choice to be different, either w the church or against it) Diversity managed internally through new groups within the church (ex. orders of monks/nuns)
