Abstract:

In this article we tried to reveal Rodney Stark's theory of religious movements and his contribution to theory. His most important contribution to the discussions about religious movements, the church-sect typology Tensions To analyze through the concept and to discuss as a new kind of movement The Cult It includes them. Stark, starting from the discovery that the cults have no connection with a historical religious formation, these movements New Listen to He deals with the context. The new religions of social scientists, The sects He also criticizes his name. Because the sects have theological and sociological ties with a religious tradition before them. In order for a religious movement to be called a sect, it must be established by persons who are separated from another religious formation. Therefore, the term sect can only be used for movements divided from a religion. Religions are new religious formations that do not have sociological or theological ties with any religious tradition. Therefore, Stark claims that the theories developed by movement from the causes of the appearance of separatist religious movements cannot explain the "new religions". In Stark’s analysis, the cults appear and spread in cases where the religions of Mussolini are weakened during the periods of rapid social transformation. Modern multi-cities are also the most important places where cults appear and spread easily. In this context, the theoretical perspective of Stark, today The new religious movements It is a means of understanding and interpretation.

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