From Sect to Denomination in English Quakerism, with Special Reference to the Nineteenth Century

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T HE TERMS sect and denomination, refined by successive sociologists into valuable weapons of analysis, refer essentially to two possible attitudes which are implicit in the situation of a minority religious group and its relationship to the wider society.' Members of a sect are conscious of their alienation from their environment, and frequently they strengthen and emphasize this by adopting distinctive patterns of behaviour, by compelling group endogamy and/ or by refusing to obey some of the State's laws. The sect is characteristically totalitarian, requiring the primary allegiance of its members, whose consciousness is dominated by this relationship, and who categorize themselves in sectarian terms. Both the sect's totalitarianism and its separatism are based on its exclusive claim to the truth, which may lead its members to seek the conversion of the reprobate world, or to a complete dissociation from its preoccupations. Religious movements tend to be sectarian in their first phase; they necessarily draw their membership from converted adults, and their formal 'separatism' is frequently a correlative, to some extent, of social or economic disability, resulting in fringe status and social isolation. The denomination (usually regarded as the temporal end product of a sectarian movement) identifies itself to a much greater extent with the concerns of its environment. Frequently, but not invariably, it is characterized by diminished fervour, by the employment of a professional ministry, and by higher income and social status among its members. Niehbuhr recognized a key point in the transition when he pointed out the importance of the second generation.2 This has a two-fold significance. The children of sectarians may well inherit their religious adherence without experiencing their conviction and emotional commitment. As fervour diminishes, and as the sect is palpably maintained by natural increase, members turn 207