The Typologies of Weber and Troeltsch / Les Typologies de Weber et de Troeltsch. - article ; n°1 ; vol.50, pg 111-127

Helen Ralston.

Description

Archives des sciences sociales des religions - Année 1980 - Volume 50 - Numéro 1 - Pages 111-127
17 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Archives-des-sciences-sociales-des-religions
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1980
• Nombre de lectures: 48
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Helen Ralston
The Typologies of Weber and Troeltsch / Les Typologies de
Weber et de Troeltsch.
In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 50/1, 1980. pp. 111-127.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Ralston Helen. The Typologies of Weber and Troeltsch / Les Typologies de Weber et de Troeltsch. In: Archives des sciences
sociales des religions. N. 50/1, 1980. pp. 111-127.
doi : 10.3406/assr.1980.2207
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0335-5985_1980_num_50_1_2207Are/i Sc soc des Rel. 1980 50/1 juillet-septembre) 111-127
Helen RALSTON
THE TYPOLOGIES OF WEBER AND TROELTSCH
Case Study of Catholic Religious Group in Atlantic Canada
Cette étude tend prouver que les typologies Eglise-secte de
Weber et de Troeltsch continuent de jouer un rôle important dans
la compréhension des groupes religieux chrétiens contemporains
Cette thèse est démontrée partir du cas une communauté
de base qui est constituée en 1972-1973 au sein un diocèse
catholique traditionnel du Canada atlantique et qui se veut expres
sion de la théologie et de la doctrine sociale de Vatican II
constate que le groupe présente des caractéristiques prédomi
nantes de type secte tout en demeurant intégré un diocèse catho
lique de type Eglise
Sociological studies of religious organizations in the Catholic Church of
English Canada have been surprisingly few in number with the result that
Catholicism in this country is often regarded as French-Canadian pheno
menon Moreover there seems to be little awareness among sociologists at
least in this country of the impact of the Second Vatican Council and of the
ideology of post-Vatican II theology on among other things the structure and
processes of interaction of English Catholic religious groups and the relationship
of these religious groups to the larger society
This observation does not imply that sociology of religion has not concerned
itself with the study of religious organizations The large body of literature in
the church-sect frame of reference demonstrates quite the contrary Indeed one
hesitates with some trepidation to add few more pages that might presume
to say anything new Virtually all the work that has been done has taken as
its starting-point Ernst seminal work The Social Teaching of the
Westhues 1976 makes this point in his analysis of the adaptation of the Catholic
Church to Canadian society Millet 1969 noted the failure to use religious data in the
Canadian census as basis for research in the sociology of religion and the lack of refinement
analysis of religious organizations he proposes the concept of minority church
to describe religious groups that might be expected to become sects but maintain church-like
characteristics through links with an international community Crysdale Montminy Wheat-
croft and Urbano 1974 bear witness in their bibliography to the lack of study of the
English Catholic Church in Canada
Ill ARCHIVES DE SCIENCES SOCIALES DES RELIGIONS
Christian Churches and the classic distinction he made between the church the
sect and mysticism 1931 pp 331-343 993-994 Troeltsch 1931 433)
however disclaims originality for the and points to the work of Max
Weber and others such as Georg Simmel Although church-sect theory has
come under heavy criticism recent literature in the sociology of religion demons
trates continuing and even growing interest in the perspectives of Weber and
Troeltsch for an understanding of the relationship between religion and society 3)
It is my argument in this paper that both Troeltsch and Weber in their
conceptualization of the nature and basis of religious organization and
analysis of the relationship of religious groups to the larger society still have
significant contributions to make to our understanding of the relationship betweeïi
contemporary Christian religion and society 4)
As noted already church-sect theorizing has generally taken
perspective as its starting-point with much less attention being given to According to Swatos 1976) therein lies the major source of many
of the difficulties that have beset attempts to understand religious groups Swatos
makes the point that Troeltsch is theologian with theological question
namely the problem of relating types of religious experience to the varieties
of social teachings with which they might be correlated 1976 133 Weber
on the other hand is sociologist attempting to solve sociological problem
SWATOS 1976 134 primary focus is upon the historical development
of modern secular European society and upon the general rationalization of life
Troeltsch sees Christianity as first and foremost matter of practice he
is concerned with the significance of Christian thought and life for solving the
problems of practical life 1931 pp 19-20 1010 In terms of this theological
project Troeltsch has developed triple typology of religious organizations the
Church the sect and mysticism as the three main types of the sociological
development of Christian thought 1931 993 Church and sect he sees as
logical result of the Gospel and notes that only conjointly do they exhaust
the whole range of its sociological influence and thus also indirectly of its social
results which are always connected with the religious organization 1931
Most noteworthy has been the work of Niebuhr 1929 and Pope 1942 in
American society Clark 1948 in Canadian society Many attempts have been made to
develop more refined typologies than simple dichotomy of church and sect for example
Becker 1932) Mann 1955) Johnson 1963) Gustafson 1967) and Yinger 1970)
In general the critics suggest that the church-sect typologies are meaningless
orientation or an inadequate tool that is no longer applicable to the analysis of modern
religious organizations cf. for example Johnson 1957 1963 Eister 1949 1967 1973
Goode 1967a 1967b Gustafson 1967 Yinger 1970 Dittes 1971 Snook 1974 trans
lation of further comments by Weber 1973 on church sect and mysticism however
elicited whole issue of Sociological Analysis 1975 devoted to consideration of the Weberian
and Troeltschian perspectives More recently Swatos 1976 has presented brief but
succinct summary of early elaborations of church-sect theory and of some current positive
developments since the for example Martin 1962 Wilson 1966 1967 1971
Robertson 1970 Johnson 1971 Wallis 1975 Swatos 1975 Swatos 1977b makes the
point that church-sect theorizing must always be within historical context
Swatos 1977a 202 raises the question of the usefulness of the concepts church-
sect for empirical research Robertson 1977 199) in his debate with Swatos concedes
that church-sect typologizing can contribute to an understanding of the relationship between
contemporary religion and society
112 RELIGIOUS GROUP
pp 340-341 Mysticism as type of religious organization is seen as later
development where groups are formed on purely personal basis ... for
example] around spiritual directors and deeply experienced leaders and where
stress is laid upon the mutual fellowship of hearts such groups are formed
and reformed naturally and easily according the situation in any given place
1931 746 993 Until recently when several writers cf STEEMAN 1975
GARRETT 1975 GUSTAFSON 1975 addressed themselves to triple
typology the concept of mysticism has been largely neglected in the sociology
of religious organizations or congregations Attention has been focused almost
exclusively on his distinction between church and sect as dyadic framework
for the analysis of religious groups
In conceptual framework the Church is universalistic it is able
to receive the masses and to adjust itself to the world 1931 993) its
members are born into it its priesthood and hierarchy hold the keys to the
tradition of the Church to sacramental grace and ecclesiastical jurisdiction and
represent the objective treasury of grace 338 The sect on the other hand
is voluntary society composed of strict and definite Christian believers bound
to each other by the fact that all have experienced the new 993)
the group is usually small in the numbers and these aim at direct personal
fellowship between the members of each group 993) their attitude toward
the world may be indifferent tolerant or hostile 331) the office of the
ministry is not based upon ecclesiastical ordination and tradition but upon
religious service and power ... and therefore can devolve entirely upon laymen
342)
According to Troeltsch the three types of religious groups are identified
with different social classes Although the church is directed towards compelling
all the members of society to come under its sphere and influence 1931 338)
the fully developed church utilizes the state and the ruling classes and ...
becomes dependent upon the upper classes 331 The sects on the other
hand are connected with the lower ... they work upwards from below
and not downwards from above 331 Finally mysticism forms refuge
for the religious life of the cultured masses 994)
definition of the church and sect appear in the context of his
discussion of voluntary and compulsory associations and of hierocratic orga
nizations as organizations which enforce order through psychic