Wavering saints, mass religiosity, and the crisis of post-baptismal sin in early Christianity
A Weberian reading ofThe Shepherd of Hermas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4180792 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joseph M Bryant (0009-0000-1193-7972, University of New Brunswick, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1998 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 49-77 |
| Publication date | 1998-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-9756 • E-ISSN: 1474-0583 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003975600007797 |
| OpenAlex | W2154255424 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 29 |
As a religious sect that anchored its salvation pledge in an exclusive promise of spiritual empowerment, the early Christian movement called its converts to virtuoso standards of religiosity. Following their baptismal regeneration, believers were obligated to remain 'sealed' in purity thereafter, in expectation of pending eschatological deliverance. Signs of moral slippage would thus constitute a negation of those sectarian claims, threatening thereby the continued viability of the movement. Operating in an environment of persecution, and shaken by the protracted non-event of cosmic redemption, growing numbers of believers found the exacting purity requirements impossible to uphold. An optimal organizational resolution of that crisis would require the restoration of wavering saints to spiritual status, to be achieved through remedial adjustments in penitential practice. Drawing upon Weber's model of the sect-church dynamic, this study offers a sociological hermeneutic ofThe Shepherd ofHermas
Christianity · Management · Nonconformity · Penitential · Persecution · Pledge · Political science · Politics · Religiosity · Sect · Sociology · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Religious Tourism and Spaces
The religion of India
The acts of the Christian martyrs
The Christians as the Romans Saw Them
Purity and Danger
New Religious Movements
The Elementary Forms of the New Religious Life
Character and Social Structure
Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period
The Making of Orthodoxy
Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety
Legislation against the Christians
Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church
The Extinction of Paganism and the Church Historian
The Sect-Church Dynamic and Christian Expansion in the Roman Empire
Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?1
The Passion of Perpetua
Die Polemik der Gnostiker gegen das kirchliche Christentum
The Nag Hammadi Library in English
The Christians as the Romans Saw Them
Conversion and Continuity
A Study of the Catechumenate
The Rise of Christianity
Cults, Converts, and Charisma
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,18 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2018 (15) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |