Rels. 205 Lecture 3.2 Institutionalized Rituals

Lecture Outline for Part One of Rels Week 1 Lecture 1 What is “Religion”? Lecture 2 Studying “Religion” Week 2 Lecture 1 Ritual and the Study of Religion Lecture 2 Religious and Secular Traditions Week 3 Lecture 1 Religious Traditions Lecture 2 Institutionalized Rituals Week 4 Lecture 1 The Meaning of Myth Lecture 2 Sacred Sentiments Week 5 Lecture 1 Changing Worldviews Lecture 2 Review Week 6 Reading Week Week 7 Lecture 1 First in class test

CREED - PIETY

Community

Culture Plays - Language

Identity Calgary Hungarian RC Church

Preserving Cultural History Cardinal 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 cultures and over time. No “ideal type” exists in it’s pure form. The key is to identify common features and that are shared by different institutions and choose a cluster of attributes that make up an ideal type.

The Church Theologically “Church” is used to designate the community of believers. Max Weber ( )

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 includes everyone 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 ( )

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 ( ) The Social Sources of Denominationalism (1929) H. Richard Niebuhr ( )

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