Le protestantisme et les modes d’institutionnalité du religieux. Complexifier le type « Église »

Abstract

Protestantism includes Church-type as well as Sect-type ecclesiastical organizations. Its study therefore allows the Weberian typology to be elaborated. In terms of the way in which religious groups define their legitimacy, their ritual, ideological and charismatic characteristics acquire greater or lesser importance. As regards the Church-type, the author proposes a distinction between a ritual-institutional and an ideological-institutional model. In the Protestant world, legitimacy is better established through ideology (theology) and the authority of the ‘doctor-preacher’ than by ritual and charismatic function. Protestantism represents another mode of Church-type religious institutionalism as well as another mode of Sect-type religious association.