Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Historical background
- 2 The Deerness Valley
- 3 The social and economic basis of paternalism: the colliery-owners in the Deerness Valley
- 4 Village Methodism – I
- 5 Village Methodism – II: the structure of the Methodist societies in the Deerness Valley
- 6 The respectable Methodists and the old Liberalism
- 7 The radicals and the Labour Movement, 1900–1926
- 8 Methodists in action: three political case studies
- 9 1970 – a postscript
- Conclusions
- Appendix I research strategy and techniques
- Appendix II the Methodist community and objections to Anglican union
- Appendix III the religious statistics
- Appendix IV occupational status, social mobility and the structure of Methodist leadership
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Glossary
- Index
5 - Village Methodism – II: the structure of the Methodist societies in the Deerness Valley
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Historical background
- 2 The Deerness Valley
- 3 The social and economic basis of paternalism: the colliery-owners in the Deerness Valley
- 4 Village Methodism – I
- 5 Village Methodism – II: the structure of the Methodist societies in the Deerness Valley
- 6 The respectable Methodists and the old Liberalism
- 7 The radicals and the Labour Movement, 1900–1926
- 8 Methodists in action: three political case studies
- 9 1970 – a postscript
- Conclusions
- Appendix I research strategy and techniques
- Appendix II the Methodist community and objections to Anglican union
- Appendix III the religious statistics
- Appendix IV occupational status, social mobility and the structure of Methodist leadership
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
The church–sect dichotomy is probably overworked by sociologists, and the discussion of the dichotomy has generated a literature of its own. It is intended to stand aside from this discussion except insofar as some aspects of it impinge upon our particular analysis.
The differences between a church and a sect involve: differences in beliefs concerning grace and nature, a different theology, Christology and eschatology as well as different ideas concerning the nature of the church itself and different understandings of and responses to ‘the world’. No one of these considerations is definitive of a church or a sect. Clusters of ideas have a logical coherence and consistency and they show an ‘elective affinity’ for one another and particular social structures. It is to the whole group of phenomena that Weber and Troeltsch refer, not to any one aspect of them. Beliefs, especially those shaping attitudes towards the state and towards church membership, have implications for the internal structures of churches and sects.
Richard Niebuhr has suggested that there is a dynamic relation between church and sect. According to him, the sect begins as a movement among the disinherited; the ascetic discipline of the sectarian life leads to prosperity, thus creating economic interests which involve the sect member more deeply in the economic life of the society. Furthermore, and crucially, the sect has to cope with the problem of the second generation.
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- Information
- Pitmen Preachers and Politics , pp. 120 - 139Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1974