Sect#In Christianity

File:Catalogue of Sects.GIF

The word sect originates from the Latin noun secta (a feminine form of a variant past participle of the verb sequi, to follow) which translates to "a way, road".

{{cite web

| url = https://www.etymonline.com/word/sect#etymonline_v_23088

| title = sect (n.)

| work = Online Etymology Dictionary

| publisher = Douglas Harper

| access-date = 10 May 2022

| quote = mid-14c., "distinctive system of beliefs or observances; party or school within a religion," from Old French secte, sete "sect, religious community," or directly from Late Latin secta "religious group, sect in philosophy or religion," from Latin secta "manner, mode, following, school of thought," literally "a way, road, beaten path," from fem. of sectus, variant past participle of sequi "follow," from PIE root *sekw- (1) "to follow." Confused in this sense with Latin secta, fem. past participle of secare "to cut" (from PIE root *sek- "to cut"). Meaning "separately organized religious body" is recorded from 1570s.}} Figuratively, it signifies a (prescribed) way, mode, or manner. Metonymously, sect refers to a discipline or school of thought as defined by a set of methods and doctrines. The various modern usages of the term stem largely from confusion with the homonymous (but etymologically unrelated) Latin word secta (the feminine form of the past participle of the verb secare, to cut).

{{Main|Church-sect typology}}

Sociologists have developed various definitions and descriptions for the term "sect." Early scholars like Max Weber and Ernst Troeltsch (1912) were among the first to define sects within the church-sect typology, viewing them as voluntary associations of individuals who meet specific religious qualifications. Unlike churches, membership in a sect is not inherited at birth; rather, it arises from a person's voluntary acceptance of the sect's doctrines and disciplines, which requires ongoing validation from both the follower and the sect itself. Sects often attract individuals from marginalized or underprivileged social groups and typically form from schisms within established churches that align with the dominant social order.{{Cite book|last=Dawson|first=Lorne L.|url=|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0199588961|editor-last=Clarke|editor-first=Peter B.|pages=|chapter=Church-sect-cult: Constructing Typologies of Religious Groups|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199588961.013.0030}}

Sects frequently critique liberal trends within mainstream denominations, advocating for a return to what they view as authentic religious practices. Their beliefs and practices are usually more radical and ethically strict than those of mainstream churches, acting as a form of protest against the prevailing societal values. The American sociologists Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge argue that sects present themselves as authentic, reformed versions of the faith they have separated from, maintaining a high degree of tension with the surrounding society.{{Cite journal|last1=Stark|first1=Rodney|author-link=Rodney Stark|last2=Bainbridge|first2=William Sims|author-link2=William Sims Bainbridge|date=1979|title=Of Churches, Sects, and Cults: Preliminary Concepts for a Theory of Religious Movements|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1385935|journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|volume=18|issue=2|at=125|doi=10.2307/1385935|jstor=1385935|issn=0021-8294}} They further assert that sects have, in contrast to churches, a high degree of tension with the surrounding society.{{Cite book|last1=Stark|first1=Rodney|title=The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation|last2=Bainbridge|first2=William Sims|publisher=University of California Press|year=1985|isbn=0520048547|location=Berkeley|author-link=Rodney Stark|author-link2=William Sims Bainbridge}} Other sociologists, like Fred Kniss, suggest that sectarianism is best understood through the lens of what the sect opposes. Some religious groups may be in tension primarily with other co-religious groups of different ethnic backgrounds, while others may conflict with society at large rather than the church they originally separated from.{{Cite book|last1=Kniss|first1=Fred|title=Sacred Assemblies and Civic Engagement: How Religion Matters for America's Newest Immigrants|last2=Numrich|first2=Paul D.|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2007|isbn=9780813541709|location=New Brunswick, N.J.}}

Sectarianism in the sociology of religion, is sometimes defined as a worldview that emphasizes the unique legitimacy of a sect's creed and practices, often heightening tension with broader society by maintaining strict boundaries.McGuire, Meredith B. "Religion: the Social Context" fifth edition (2002) {{ISBN|0-534-54126-7}} page 338

In his book The Road to Total Freedom, the English sociologist Roy WallisBarker, E. New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction (1990), Bernan Press, {{ISBN|0-11-340927-3}} describes that a sect is characterized by "epistemological authoritarianism": meaning it has an authoritative source for determining heresy. According to Wallis, sects claim to have unique and privileged access to truth or salvation, and their followers often view those outside the group as being in error. In contrast, Wallis describes cults as being marked by "epistemological individualism," {{Cite book|last=Wallis|first=Roy|url=https://archive.org/details/roadtototalfreed00wallrich/mode/2up|title=The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=1977|isbn=0-231-04200-0|location=New York|author-link=Roy Wallis|archive-url=}}{{Cite journal|last=Wallis|first=Roy|date=1975|title=Scientology: Therapeutic Cult to Religious Sect|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/003803857500900105|journal=Sociology|volume=9|issue=1|pages=89–100|doi=10.1177/003803857500900105|s2cid=144335265 |issn=0038-0385}}

The corresponding words for "sect" in European languages other than English – Sekte (German), secte (French), secta (Spanish, Catalan), sectă (Romanian), setta (Italian), seita (Portuguese, Galician), sekta (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, Latvian, Lithuanian), sekt (Danish, Estonian, Norwegian, Swedish), sekte (Dutch), sekti (Finnish), - szekda (Hungarian), секта (Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian), σέχτα (Greek) – refer to a harmful religious sect and translate into English as "cult".{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

{{Main|Schools of Buddhism}}

File:Japanese buddhist monk by Arashiyama.JPG sect]]

The Macmillan Encyclopedia of ReligionJones, L., Eliade, M., & Adams, C. J. (Eds.). (2005). Encyclopedia of religion (Second edition.). Macmillan Reference USA. distinguishes three types of classification of Buddhism, separated into "Movements", "Nikāyas" and "Doctrinal schools":

• Schools:
• Theravada, primarily in South Asia and Southeast Asia;
• Mahāyāna, primarily in East Asia;
• Vajrayāna, primarily in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Mongolia and the Russian republic of Kalmykia.
• Nikāyas, or monastic fraternities, three of which survive at the present day:
• Theravāda, in Southeast Asia and South Asia;
• Dharmaguptaka, in China, Korea and Vietnam;
• Mūlasarvāstivāda, in the Tibetan tradition;

{{see also|List of Christian denominations|Christian denomination}}

File:Prayer meeting Korpela movement 1935.jpg in 1935]]

While the historical usage of the term "sect" in Christendom has had pejorative connotations, referring to a group or movement with heretical beliefs or practices that deviate from those of groups considered orthodox,Wilson, Bryan Religion in Sociological Perspective 1982, {{ISBN|0-19-826664-2}} Oxford University Press page 89

"In English, it is a term that designates a religiously separated group, but in its historical usage in Christendom it carried a distinctly pejorative connotation. A sect was a movement committed to heretical beliefs and often to ritual acts and practices like isolation that departed from orthodox religious procedures."{{CathEncy|wstitle=Sect and Sects}} its primary meaning is to indicate a community which has separated itself from the larger body from which its members came.

{{main article|Orthodoxy}}

{{main article|Independent Catholicism}}

{{See also|List of the largest Protestant denominations}}

{{Main|Hindu denominations|Sampradaya}}

File:Ganapati.1..JPG worshippers]]

The Indologist Axel Michaels writes in his book about Hinduism that in an Indian context the word "sect does not denote a split or excluded community, but rather an organized tradition, usually established by founder with ascetic practices."{{cite book | title = Hinduism past and Present (2004) translated from German "Der Hinduismus" (1998)| first=Axel| last=Michaels| year=2004| author-link=Axel Michaels| publisher = Princeton University Press| isbn=0-691-08952-3}} According to Michaels, "Indian sects do not focus on heresy, since the lack of a center or a compulsory center makes this impossible – instead, the focus is on adherents and followers."

{{Main|Islamic schools and branches}}

{{Further|Fiqh|Madhhab}}

Islam was classically divided into two major sects, known as Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. Kharijite and Murijite Islam were two early Islamic sects. Each sect developed several distinct jurisprudence systems reflecting their own understanding of the Islamic law during the course of the history of Islam.

Sunnis are separated into five maddhabs; Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali and Ẓāhirī. The Shia, on the other hand, first developed Kaysanism, which in turn divided into three major groupings known as Fivers, Seveners and Twelvers. The Zaydis separated first. The non-Zaydis were initially called "Rafida". The Rafidis later divided into two sub-groups known as Imamiyyah and Batiniyyah.Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Kısas-ı Enbiyâ, vol. II, page 12.

• The Romani Islam, A special brand of Islam influenced by Romani mysticism emerged in the Western Balkans among the Muslim Romani people there.{{cite web | url=https://eudora-verlag.de/en/product/gypsy-islam-ethnographic-research-on-religion-in-the-western-balkans-henning-schwanke/ | title=Gypsy-Islam. Ethnographic research on religion in the Western Balkans[Henning Schwanke] – Eudora-Verlag Leipzig }}
• The "Imami-Shi'a" later brought into existence Ja'fari jurisprudence. Akhbarism, Usulism, and Shaykhism were all ensued as variations of "Ja'fari fiqh", while Alawites and Alevis who are not the strict followers of "Ja'farism" are developed separately from the teachings of Ithna'ashari Imāms.File:Ghardaia02.jpg valley in Sahara has been home of the Ibadi branch of Kharijte sect.]]
• Batiniyya groups, on the other hand, were divided into two sub-groups known as Seveners and Ismā'īlīs. Qarmatians who did not follow the Fatimid Caliphate were branched from the Seveners. Those groups of Batiniyya who followed the Fatimids are the ancestors of today's Ismā'īlīs. Druze was emerged as an offshoot of Ismāʿīlism at the beginning of the 11th Century. Isma'ilism at the end of the 11th Century split into two major branches known as Nizārī Ismā'īlī (Assassins of Alamut) and Musta’li Ismaili. As a result of the assassination of Fatimid Caliph Al-Amir bi-Ahkami'l-Lah, Mustaali was once more again divided into Hafizis and Taiyabi Ismailis (Dawoodis, Sulaymanis and Alavis).
• The Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali Sunnis, the Twelver groups, the Ismā'īlī groups, the Zaydis, the Ibadis, and the Ẓāhirīs continue to exist. In addition, new sects like Black Muslim movements, Quranists, Salafis, Wahhabis, and Zikris have been emerged independently.

• The Khawarij were initially divided into five major branches: Sufris, Azariqa, Najdat, Adjarites and Ibadis.

{{main||Amman Message}}

{{further|Islamic denominations}}

An Islamic convention held in Jordan in July 2005, which brought 200 Muslim scholars from over 50 countries together, announced the official recognition of eight schools of Islamic jurisprudence[http://ammanmessage.com/ The Amman Message summary] – Official website and the varying schools of Islamic theology.[http://ammanmessage.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=74 The Three Points of The Amman Message V.1] The eight recognized Islamic schools and branches are:

1. Sunni Hanafi
2. Sunni Maliki
3. Sunni Shafi'i
4. Sunni Hanbali
5. Shi'i Imāmī (followers of the Ja'fari jurisprudence)
6. Shi'i Zaydi
7. Khariji Ibadi
8. Sunni Ẓāhirī

{{Main|Jain schools and branches}}

{{Main|Taoist schools}}

• Religious denomination
• One true church
• Religious exclusivism
• Religious pluralism
• Sectarianism
• Sectarian violence
• Non-denominational Islam
• Non-denominational Christianity
• Non-denominational Judaism
• Classifications of religious movements
• Cult
• Cult (religious practice)
• New religious movement

{{reflist}}

{{wiktionary}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/cstheory.htm Church sect theory] by William H. Swatos, Jr . in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society by Swatos (editor)
• [http://www.apologeticsindex.org/ Apologetics Index: research resources on cults, sects, and related issues.] The publisher operates from an evangelical Christian point of view, but the site links to and presents a variety of viewpoints.
• [http://www.religionnewsblog.com ReligionNewsBlog.com] Current news articles about religious cults, sects, and related issues.

{{Religion topics}}

{{New Religious Movements}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Sociology of religion

Category:Pejorative terms