Sect

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A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had separated from a main body, but it can now apply to any group that diverges from a larger organization to follow a distinct set of beliefs and practices. Sects often form when there is a perception of heresy either within the subgroup or from the larger group.

Contents

In an Indian context, sect refers to an organized tradition. [1]

Etymology

A Catalogue of the Severall Sects and Opinions in England and other Nations: With a briefe Rehearsall of their false and dangerous Tenents. Broadsheet. 1647 Catalogue of Sects.GIF
A Catalogue of the Severall Sects and Opinions in England and other Nations: With a briefe Rehearsall of their false and dangerous Tenents. Broadsheet. 1647

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". [2] 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).

Sociological definitions and descriptions

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. [3]

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. [3] 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. [4] They further assert that sects have, in contrast to churches, a high degree of tension with the surrounding society. [5] 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. [6]

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. [7]

In his book The Road to Total Freedom , the English sociologist Roy Wallis [8] 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," [9] [10]

In other languages

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), szekta (Hungarian), секта (Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian), σέχτα (Greek) – refer to a harmful religious sect and translate into English as "cult".[ citation needed ]

In Buddhism

Japanese buddhist monk from the Soto Zen sect Japanese buddhist monk by Arashiyama.JPG
Japanese buddhist monk from the Sōtō Zen sect

The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Religion [11] distinguishes three types of classification of Buddhism, separated into "Movements", "Nikāyas" and "Doctrinal schools":

In Christianity

Prayer meeting of the Korpela movement in 1935 Prayer meeting Korpela movement 1935.jpg
Prayer meeting of the Korpela movement 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, [12] [13] its primary meaning is to indicate a community which has separated itself from the larger body from which its members came.

Orthodox

Roman Catholic sects

Protestant sects

In Hinduism

Ganesha worshippers Ganapati.1..JPG
Ganesha 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." [1] 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." [1]

In Islam

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.

Current sects

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. [14]

Former sects

Amman Message

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 [15] and the varying schools of Islamic theology. [16] 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

In Jainism

In Taoism

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religious denomination</span> Identifiable religious subgroup with a common structure and doctrine

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanbali school</span> School of Islamic jurisprudence

The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and traditionist, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and later institutionalized by his students. One who ascribes to the Hanbali school is called a Hanbali, Hanbalite or Hanbalist. It is the smallest and adheres the most strictly to the traditionalist school of theology out of the four major Sunni schools, the others being the Hanafi, Maliki and Shafi'i schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maliki school</span> School of Islamic jurisprudence

The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary sources. Unlike other Islamic fiqhs, Maliki fiqh also considers the consensus of the people of Medina to be a valid source of Islamic law.

<i>Madhhab</i> School of thought within Islamic jurisprudence

A madhhab refers to any school of thought within Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni madhāhib are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE and by the twelfth century almost all jurists aligned themselves with a particular madhab. These four schools recognize each other's validity and they have interacted in legal debate over the centuries. Rulings of these schools are followed across the Muslim world without exclusive regional restrictions, but they each came to dominate in different parts of the world. For example, the Maliki school is predominant in North and West Africa; the Hanafi school in South and Central Asia; the Shafi'i school in East Africa and Southeast Asia; and the Hanbali school in North and Central Arabia. The first centuries of Islam also witnessed a number of short-lived Sunni madhhabs. The Zahiri school, which is considered to be endangered, continues to exert influence over legal thought. The development of Shia legal schools occurred along the lines of theological differences and resulted in the formation of the Ja'fari madhhab amongst Twelver Shias, as well as the Isma'ili and Zaidi madhhabs amongst Isma'ilis and Zaidis respectively, whose differences from Sunni legal schools are roughly of the same order as the differences among Sunni schools. The Ibadi legal school, distinct from Sunni and Shia madhhabs, is predominant in Oman. Unlike Sunnis, Shias, and Ibadis, non-denominational Muslims are not affiliated with any madhhab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zaydism</span> Branch of Shia Islam

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibadi Islam</span> School of Islam dominant in Oman

The Ibadi movement or Ibadism is a branch inside Islam, which many believe is descended from the Kharijites. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis or, as they call themselves, The People of Truth and Integrity.

Cult is a term often applied to new religious movements and other social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term has different, and sometimes divergent or pejorative, definitions both in popular culture and academia and has been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic schools and branches</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sociological classifications of religious movements</span> Classifications of religious movements

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Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī ibn Khalaf al-Ẓāhirī was a Sunnī Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian during the Islamic Golden Age, specialized in the study of Islamic law (sharīʿa) and the fields of hermeneutics, biographical evaluation, and historiography of early Islam. He was the eponymous founder of the Ẓāhirī school of thought (madhhab), the fifth school of thought in Sunnī Islam, characterized by its strict adherence to literalism and reliance on the outward (ẓāhir) meaning of expressions in the Quran and ḥadīth literature; the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the first generation of Muhammad's closest companions (ṣaḥāba), for sources of Islamic law (sharīʿa); and rejection of analogical deduction (qiyās) and societal custom or knowledge (urf), used by other schools of Islamic jurisprudence. He was a celebrated, if not controversial, figure during his time, being referred to in Islamic historiographical texts as "the scholar of the era."

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zahiri school</span> Legal school in Sunni Islam

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shia Islam in Yemen</span>

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Michaels, Axel (2004). Hinduism past and Present (2004) translated from German "Der Hinduismus" (1998). Princeton University Press. ISBN   0-691-08952-3.
  2. ↑ "sect (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary . Douglas Harper . Retrieved 10 May 2022. 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.
  3. 1 2 Dawson, Lorne L. (2009). "Church-sect-cult: Constructing Typologies of Religious Groups". In Clarke, Peter B. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199588961.013.0030. ISBN   978-0199588961.
  4. ↑ Stark, Rodney; Bainbridge, William Sims (1979). "Of Churches, Sects, and Cults: Preliminary Concepts for a Theory of Religious Movements". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 18 (2). 125. doi:10.2307/1385935. ISSN   0021-8294. JSTOR   1385935.
  5. ↑ Stark, Rodney; Bainbridge, William Sims (1985). The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival, and Cult Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN   0520048547.
  6. ↑ Kniss, Fred; Numrich, Paul D. (2007). Sacred Assemblies and Civic Engagement: How Religion Matters for America's Newest Immigrants. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. ISBN   9780813541709.
  7. ↑ McGuire, Meredith B. "Religion: the Social Context" fifth edition (2002) ISBN   0-534-54126-7 page 338
  8. ↑ Barker, E. New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction (1990), Bernan Press, ISBN   0-11-340927-3
  9. ↑ Wallis, Roy (1977). The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN   0-231-04200-0.
  10. ↑ Wallis, Roy (1975). "Scientology: Therapeutic Cult to Religious Sect". Sociology. 9 (1): 89–100. doi:10.1177/003803857500900105. ISSN   0038-0385. S2CID   144335265.
  11. ↑ Jones, L., Eliade, M., & Adams, C. J. (Eds.). (2005). Encyclopedia of religion (Second edition.). Macmillan Reference USA.
  12. ↑ 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."
  13. ↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sect and Sects"  . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  14. ↑ Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Kısas-ı Enbiyâ, vol. II, page 12.
  15. ↑ The Amman Message summary – Official website
  16. ↑ The Three Points of The Amman Message V.1
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