Church-sect typology

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Church-sect typology. The attempt to classify religious groups according to their typical relationships with society. First developed by Troeltsch, the distinction has been influential in the sociology of religion. A Church ‘utilizes the State and the ruling classes, and weaves these elements into her own life; she then becomes an integral part of the existing social order’. Sects, on the other hand, are protest groups (on this view; for a fuller typology, see SECTS).

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Church-sect typology

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