Those who developed what we call Church-Sect theory (Troeltsch, Niebuhr, Yinger, Johnson, Wilson, and Stark and Bainbridge) thought of it as laying out a uni-directional trajectory from sect towards (in the USA) denomination for groups that survive and prosper. However, in 1994, in his The Angel and the Beehive: The Mormon Struggle with Assimilation, Armand…… Continue reading Uni-Directional or Bi-Directional?: Sect-Denomination Theory and the Case of Seventh-day Adventism
From Sect Towards Denomination: Tracing the Trajectory of Seventh-day Adventism in the USA over Time
Seventh-day Adventism emerged from the Millerite Movement, which had preached throughout the American Northeast that Christ would return in 1844, after the parent movement fragmented following the “Great Disappointment”. The new group was marked by considerable tension with its surrounding culture during its early decades, and was therefore, in terms of the definition promulgated by…… Continue reading From Sect Towards Denomination: Tracing the Trajectory of Seventh-day Adventism in the USA over Time
SECT-STATE RELATIONS: Accounting for the Differing Trajectories of Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses
Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses shared common roots; both began as apocalyptic sects with premillennial expectations; both rejected political participation as contaminating and distracting from their God-given purpose; both expected to be the object of persecution from the state; and both held theological positions that put them out of step with demands of the state,…… Continue reading SECT-STATE RELATIONS: Accounting for the Differing Trajectories of Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses
Comparing Mormons, Adventists, and Witnesses in Mexico, 2000-2010: Contrasting their Outreach Strategies, Growth, who they Attracted and Retained, and the Reliability of their Official Data
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Seventh-day Adventists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses all originated in the USA within a fifty-year period during the nineteenth century, and each, believing that it was charged with God’s final message to the world, set out to evangelize globally. All today have a significant presence in Mexico. By choosing…… Continue reading Comparing Mormons, Adventists, and Witnesses in Mexico, 2000-2010: Contrasting their Outreach Strategies, Growth, who they Attracted and Retained, and the Reliability of their Official Data
COMPARING THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS AND GROWTH OF MORMONS, ADVENTISTS AND WITNESSES
Mormons, Adventists, and Witnesses have all felt called to take their teachings to the world and have experienced growth. However, they have varied considerably in both their geographic spread—where they have developed a presence over time — and also in where they have been more successful numerically. The result is sharply differing profiles: Adventists are…… Continue reading COMPARING THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS AND GROWTH OF MORMONS, ADVENTISTS AND WITNESSES
The Secular Transition: The Worldwide Growth of Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh-day Adventists
Ryan T. Cragun – University of Tampa and Ronald Lawson – Queens College, CUNY A question that continues to draw research in the sociology of religion is what factors spur the growth of religions (Kelley 1972; Iannaccone 1994; Bruce 2002; Hoge and Roozen 1979; Stark and Finke 2000). In line with with these previous studies,…… Continue reading The Secular Transition: The Worldwide Growth of Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh-day Adventists
‘Seventh-day Adventism’ in the Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion
Seventh-day Adventists trace their roots to the Millerite Movement during the early 1840s, which attracted upwards of 50,000 followers in the American Northeast. When the prediction of Baptist lay-preacher, William Miller [1782-1849], that Christ would return on October 22, 1844 proved false, his movement shattered. One fragment, whose leaders included a young visionary, Ellen White…… Continue reading ‘Seventh-day Adventism’ in the Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion
