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The world of Christendom is full of different churches and beliefs. Who are all of these groups? Where did they come from? What do they teach? Are they consistent with what God intended through Jesus Christ? A STUDY OF DENOMINATIONS is a handy guide for Christians as they strive to talk to people in their lives about matters of faith. It accomplishes this by exploring the doctrines of various Christian denominations and movements compared with the teachings of the Scriptures. It is divided into four parts: Part I - Discussions of denominations Part II - Various movements within Christianity Part III - Frequently discussed doctrines Part IV - Early movements in Christianity
American society is culturally diverse with a variety of religious denominations, sects, cults, and self-help groups vying for members. This volume analyzes nine of these groups, chosen both for their intrinsic interest and because they illustrate a variety of sociological concepts. The groups included in this study are: Heaven's Gate, Jesus People USA, the Love Family, The Farm, Amish Women, Scientology, El Niño Fidencio, Santería, and Freedom Park. The contributors are social scientists with first-hand knowledge of the groups they examine.
In the 1980s, Erika Bornman’s family join, and ultimately move, to KwaSizabantu, a Christian mission based in KwaZulu-Natal, which is touted as a nirvana, founded on egalitarian values. But something sinister lurks beneath ‘the place where people are helped’. Life at KwaSizabantu is hard. Christianity is used to justify harsh punishments and congregants are forced to repent for their sins. Threats of physical violence ensure adherence to stringent rules. Parents are pitted against children. Friendships are discouraged. Isolated and alone, Erika lives in constant fear of eternal damnation. At 16, her grooming at the hands of a senior mission counsellor begins. For the next five years, KwaSizabantu wages emotional, psychological and sexual warfare on her, until, finally, she manages to break free and escape at the age of 21. Escaping a restrictive religious community is difficult, but rehabilitation into ‘normal’ life after a decade of ritual humiliation, brainwashing and abuse is much more painful, as Erika soon discovers. She cannot ignore her knowledge of the grievous human-rights abuses being committed at KwaSizabantu, and so she embarks on a quest to expose the atrocities. Mission of Malice – My Exodus from KwaSizabantu chronicles Erika’s journey from a fearful young girl to a fierce activist determined to do whatever it takes to save future generations and find personal redemption and self-acceptance.
Viewing the world with abhorrence, members of utopian sects isolate themselves from its influence. As this book, first published in 1975, shows, they seek to establish and promulgate radically distinctive forms of society according to what they claim to be God’s blueprint and which they believe are destined by his intervention and their example to spread throughout the world. Rooted in the sociology of religion and more particularly in the concepts of sectarianism and communitarianism, this study presents an analysis of three sects: the Shakers; the Oneida Community; and the Bruderhof. The author examines the origins, religious conceptions, social structure and composition, modes of social control, and development of each group; and in a concluding chapter he discusses the utopian sect as a distinctive social form.
First Published in 1984, The Section on Muslim Sects in Kit?b al-Milal wa '1-Nihal by Muhammmad b.'Abd al-Karim Shahrastani who died in 1153. Identified as indispensable as a servicebook, this is a useful addition to Muslim theology and provides a translation into English of Shahrastani's Kit?b al-Milal wa 'l-Nihal. The part of the al-Milal is translated which deals with Muslim sects.
The Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements offers a multinational study of Islam, its variants, influences, and neighbouring movements, from a multidisciplinary range of scholars. These chapters highlight the diversity of Islam, especially in its contemporary manifestations, as a religion of many communities, theologies, and ideologies. Over five sections—on Sunni, Shia, Sufi, fundamentalist, and fringe Islamic movements—the authors provide historical overviews, analyses, and in-depth studies of large and small Islamic and related groups from all around the world. The contents of this volume will be of interest to both newcomers to the study of Islam and established scholars of religion who wish to engage with the dynamic label of Islam and the many impactful movements of the Islamic world.
This volume analyses the transformation of social sectarianism into political sectarianism across the Arab world. Using a framework of social theories and socio-historical analysis, the book distinguishes between ta'ifa, or 'sect', and modern ta'ifiyya, 'sectarianism', arguing that sectarianism itself produces 'imaginary sects'. It charts and explains the evolution of these phenomena and their development in Arab and Islamic history, as distinct from other concepts used to study religious groups within Western contexts. Bishara documents the role played by internal and external factors and rivalries among political elites in the formulation of sectarian identity, citing both historical and contemporary models. He contends that sectarianism does not derive from sect, but rather that sectarianism resurrects the sect in the collective consciousness and reproduces it as an imagined community under modern political and historical conditions. Sectarianism and Imagined Sects is a vital resource for engaging with the sectarian crisis in the Arab world. It provides a detailed historical background to the emergence of sect in the region, as well as a complex theoretical exploration of how social identities have assumed political significance in the struggle for power over the state.
A major, perhaps the major, focus of early research on New Religious Movements (NRMs) was on the people who joined. Most of the field's pioneer researchers were sociologists. However, the profile of NRM members had changed substantially by the twenty-first century -- changes largely missed because the great majority of current NRM specialists are not quantitatively oriented. Sects and Stats aims to overturn the conventional wisdom by drawing on current quantitative data from two sources: questionnaire research on select NRMs and relevant national census data collected by Anglophone countries. Sects and Stats also makes a strong argument for the use of longitudinal methods in studying alternative religions. Additionally, through case studies drawn from the author's own research projects over the years, readers will be brought into a conversation about some of the issues involved in how to conduct such research.
This volume asks why Jewish groups - Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes and the Dead Sea Scroll sect - flourished during the Maccabean era. The objective is to discover the connections between context and consequence, which will explain why sectarianism was so prominent then.