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
Ronald L. Lawson Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Queens College, CUNY 