Rels. 205 Lecture 3.2Institutionalized Rituals

Lecture Outline for Part One of Rels 205.01

Week 1Lecture 1 What is “Religion”?Lecture 2 Studying “Religion”Week 2Lecture 1 Ritual and the Study of ReligionLecture 2 Religious and Secular Traditions

Week 3Lecture 1 Religious Traditions

Lecture 2 Institutionalized RitualsWeek 4Lecture 1 The Meaning of MythLecture 2 Sacred SentimentsWeek 5Lecture 1 Changing WorldviewsLecture 2 ReviewWeek 6 Reading WeekWeek 7Lecture 1 First in class test

CREED - PIETY

Community

CulturePlays - Language

IdentityCalgary Hungarian RC Church

Preserving Cultural HistoryCardinal Mindinsky

Spreading the Word

Christian Art

Jewish Art

 The Jewish Rider (1985), oil on canvas by R.B. Kitaj

The Shiviti

Buddhist Art

Hindu Art

Islamic Art

Religious Institutions

• Church

• Sect

• Denomination

• Cult

• Revitalization Movement

Ideal Types

An ideal type is an approximation that allows for comparisons across culturesand over time. No “ideal type” exists in it’s pure form. The key is to identify commonfeatures and that are shared by different institutions and choose a cluster of attributesthat make up an ideal type.

The Church

Theologically “Church” is used to designate the community of believers.

Max Weber (1846-1920)

Theological Definitions

Church: the word used to translate the Greek word "Ekklesia“ employed in the New Testament to designate the community created by the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Theologically, "Church members" are those people who participate in baptism, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, gather together for common worship, and the celebration of Holy Communion.

The Church as Ideal Type

St. John’s Atherton

Sociologically “Church” is used by to refer to a religious organization that is universal in its scope and includeseveryone living in a specific geographic area.

Heresy

Heresy: in its loose sense it refers to the conscious, willful, rejection of any doctrine held to be normative by a group or institution. Generally heresy is regarded by Christians as the willful rejection of any truth taught by the Church that is seen as essential for the maintenance of Orthodox Christianity such as belief in the Deity of Christ or the Holy Trinity.

Sect

A sect is an exclusive group that breaks away from a major religious tradition by limiting membership to “true believers.” Sects live in tension with the parent tradition and society .

Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923)

Cult

Cults are small religious groups in high tension with established religious traditions and society generally.

Rodney Stark (1940-)

Dangerous Cults

New Religious Movements

In the popular culture cults are associated with brainwashing and suicide.

Therefore, many sociologists, like prefer to use the more neutral term New Religious Movements.

Denomination

From the Latin – “to name.” The term is for religious groups that share the characteristics of both churches and sects. H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962) The Social Sources of Denominationalism (1929)

H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962)

Revitalization Movements

Revitalization movements are religious movements that set out to revive a religious tradition.