Sects and Cults

Bibliographic Data

ID9758535
AuthorsMartin E Marty (corresponding author)
Year1960
Volume332
Issue1
Pages125-134
Publication date1960-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/000271626033200113
OpenAlexW2001275077
LanguageEN
Citations received13

Sects and cults constitute a third Christian force, in addition to Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, in contemporary America. Sects are particularist groups with a basically negative orientation. Cults tend to be positively oriented and to be organized around a charismatic leader. Any discussion of the various religious groups in the United States must take into account the differences in context, rather than the differences in content, between them. Religious context largely determines whether or not religious groups are in the mainstream of historical development. The principal distinction between sects or cults and denominations is that sects or cults are established to achieve the spatial and psychic context of isolation. The denominations currently adapt to middle-class beliefs and values. The sects and cults are uneroded, unexposed, intransigent, and withdrawn. They provide a haven from social interpenetration and complexity. They do not wish to be assimilated into the mainstream of religious thought and practice. The sects and cults, in almost every particular, provide a counter current in the mid-twentieth century religious revival.—Ed

Ancient history · Archaeology · Charisma · Context (archaeology · Cult · Mainstream · Protestantism · Sect · Sociology · Theology · History · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies

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