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Secondly, they found that sects (religious organizations with a high level of tension with their surrounding sociocultural environment) tended to have a higher rate of growth, and a higher level of commitment than churches (religious organizations with a low level of tension with their environment). The third trend is that over time, sects transform themselves into churches, lowering their demands on members and as such lessoning their tension with their environment.
As they follow American history, they show how these trends affected the growth and/or decline of the fortunes of various churches, both Protestant and Catholic. I must admit to have been absolutely captivated by this book. Not only do the author make an excellent case for their theory, but also the book itself is compelling reading. I was especially interested in what the authors had to say about how denominations change, and what it means.
I greatly enjoyed this book, and recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Christian church in the United States.
Starting with Colonial times, it reviews the quantitative analysis and the qualitative conclusions as well. It determined that much beginning from these times on has been distorted by bias and not using the best census material available.
They deduce that successful church movements base their focus on otherworldliness, starting out thus as sects which grow. The tendency however is to eventually make minor concessions to the culture, thus shifting the emphasis away from what gave them success, high tension with their culture towards lowered levels. This cyclical pattern they have found repeated over and over, the sects becoming churches thereby giving birth to new sects that revitalize the church and grow.
The pattern begins with the upstart Baptists and Methodists outgrowing the established Congregationalists, etc. Then themselves, especially the Methodists losing their dominant position to new groups.
Their conclusions are fascinating, disputing much of the established findings of scholarly American Christian history. Rather than finding the changes in churched American as attributable to sudden cultural/societal glitches, rather the authors find "a long, slow and consistent increase in religious participation form 1776 to 1926--with the rate inching up slightly after 1926 and then hovering near 60 percent. Second, they conclude that the primary factor is what they term "the sect-church process" (roughly sketched out above) in supporting the progress in America.
The future? They place confidence in humans as "rational beings, not puppets enslaved to the strings of history and always have the capacity to choose." Their surveys and literature they use suggest that American will continue to want and find or start movements which maximize otherworld rewards sufficient to inspire sacrifice.
One must remember this is sociology speaking, not theology. Theology of the best kind tells of God's unfolding plan of salvation (heilsgesitche) which will occur exactly as God has planned. True faith, belief and membership in this salvation is His doing through His church, where His Word and Sacraments are truly spoken and distributed.
The 214 years of American religious history covered by this book represents the transformation from a time when as a nation most people took no part in organized religion, to a time when nearly two-thirds do. The continual founding of new religious movements during this two-century period has allowed for a freshness that could not be controlled by institutionalized religion.
The control exercised by established churchlike religious organizations in the past actually led to their decline. They could not survive in a free market religious economy. Methods of establishing control included identifying a state-endorsed church, controlling who could be ordained and serve as pastors, and having a non-congregational polity or form of governance.
While it may seem to be a contradiction, it the high expectations that religious organizations--particularly congregations--place on individual believers that results in a tenacious and growing church movement. What was true in 1776 is still true in 2000 and beyond. To discover the secrets of past and future success and vitality, purchase and read this book.
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Despite, my personal feelings coinciding with the book, I have read it several times and have recommended it to several friends, including one of my teachers- it is a must-read book!
50 years my father fought against the Japanese. Now they are his in-laws. What a co-existence of opposites! This is a wonderful book about how a man can fight against a whole country and then 40 years later fall in love with the people and the culture he fought against. Be ready for an emotional ride and a wonderful ending.
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This book has everything. It is perfect for somebody who has started to dabble in stocks and is looking to become a little more sophisticated.
I will read this book multiple times and keep it as a desk reference. Everything is so organized right where you need it! It even gives you a few sentences of background to give you a feel for why things are the way they are. It explains where things got their names from. It is a GOOD BOOK.
I would not recommend this book for a total novice. It might be a little too much. But for somebody who has seen all these terms banging around for a while, this clears stuff up so much.
The organization is amazing. It just all fits together like never before.