# New Typology of Religious Organization

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Mark A. Foster, New Typology of Religious Organization, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> New Typology of Religious Organization
> 
> Mark A. Foster
> 
> 1995
> 
> A couple of years ago, I developed a new typology of religious organization
> and presented a paper on it at a regional sociological meeting. My objective
> was to reduce what I regarded as the christocentric bias of the traditional
> church-sect-denomination-cult typology and to eliminate the offensiveness of
> the cult label (which, although used by social scientists to mean a variety of
> things - almost all of them quite specific and neutral - has, unfortunately,
> become, in popular usage, a pejorative).
> 
> Please bear in mind that each of these descriptions corresponds to what
> sociologists call, following Weber, "ideal types". IOW, they are absolute
> examples. Relative to them, actual religious organizations would be seen as
> approximations. Moreover, the types themselves are society-specific. For
> instance, while the Roman Catholic Church is a monopolist organization in
> Vatican City, it is a traditional pluralist organization in the United States.
> I use three basic types (normativist, arcanist, and distinctionist). All of
> them are subdivided. I will present just a brief outline of the major types and
> their subdivisions with at least one example of each:
> 
> NORMATIVIST
> 
> Monopolistic Normativist: A religious organization which approaches total
> convergence with the logocenter (narrative framework/linguistic or social
> structure) of a society. Most members of society belong to, or conform to, the
> norms of the monopolistic normativist group. Persecution of minority opinions
> may be common in _some_ instances, e.g. the Roman Catholic Church in medieval
> Europe, Maoism during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and Twelver Shi'ihism in
> the Islamic Republic of Iran.
> 
> Official Pluralistic Normativist: A religious organization which is only unique
> insofar as it is (one of) the official religion(s) of a society. Official
> normativist, which may exist side by side with denominations and with other
> forms of religious organization, also converge with the logocenter but only
> with its general normative (rules of conduct and values, such as those which
> allign it with that society's civil religion) and traditional aspects
> (belonging to one of the established religious traditions in that society) -
> not with norms dictating actual affiliation or membership, e.g.,
> Anglo-Catholicism in The United Kingdom and the various "official" religions in
> Zaire (some of which are recent imports).
> 
> Traditional
> 
> Pluralistic Normativist: A religious organization which, like an official
> pluralistic normativist organization, converges with only the general normative
> aspects and traditional aspects of the logocenter (not with norms of actual
> affiliation or membership). This type, because of its incorporation of civil
> religion (the sacralization of patriotism), tend to be tolerant of other
> traditional normativists. They are culturally convergent, i.e., they belong to
> one of the established religious traditions in that society. For example, in
> the United States, Roman Catholicism, Methodism, Lutheranism, Conservative
> Judaism, and the neo-Lutheran twelve-step recovery groups would be traditional
> normativist organizations.
> 
> Nontraditional
> 
> Pluralistic Normativist: A religious organization which is, in most respects,
> identical with a traditional normativist group. However, nontraditional
> normativists are not traditionally convergent. IOW, they are not part of one of
> the established religious traditions in that society. So, in the United States,
> any normativist organization which does not _define itself_ (my criterion) as a
> branch of either Christianity or of Judaism would be a nontraditional
> normativist organization, e.g., the World Community of al-Islam (Wallace D.
> Muhammad) and Ethical Culture in the United States.
> 
> ARCANIST
> 
> Charismatic
> 
> Native Arcanist: Similar to Ernst Troeltsch's "mystics," arcanites rebel
> against secularism, bureaucracy, generalized angst, alienation, the
> routinization of charisma, and the "conformania" of mass society. Typically,
> they arise during periods of rapid social change and tend to attract some of
> the more affluent members of their societies. In the West, the current
> manifestation of this phenomenon is popularly known as the New Age Movement, a
> modern synthesis of Theosophy and New Thought with a variety of other occultic
> beliefs. They tend to tolerate a variety of perspectives and embody the "all
> paths lead to the same place" credo. The various types of occultic, or arcane,
> groups represent one variant which has been, along with some others to be
> discussed below, placed under the label "cult." Charismatic native arcanists
> originated in the focal society and function under the leadership of a living
> charismatic leader, such as Free John's Laughing Man organization and
> John-Roger Hinkins' Movement for Spiritual Inner Awareness (a split-off from
> Eckankar).
> 
> Charismatic Imported Arcanist: Identical to the above except for originating
> outside the focal society, e.g., Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental
> Meditation.
> 
> Routinized Native Arcanist: In this case, there is no longer a single
> charismatic leader. Charismatic authority has been transferred to the group
> itself. The Arcane School, founded by the late Alice Bailey (who broke away
> from HPB's Theosophical Society) and the Association for Research and
> Enlightenment (Edgar Cayce) are both American examples.
> 
> Routinized Imported Arcanist: The same as the above, except for their point of
> origin, e.g., Mokichi Okada's Johrei Fellowship (World Messianity) in the
> United States.
> 
> Factional
> 
> Native Arcanist: Simply, an arcane group (either charismatic or routinized)
> which separated itself from another group (either charismatic or routinized),
> e.g. the Movement for Spiritual Inner Awareness, the Arcane School, and the two
> branches of Ernest Holmes' Religious Science (the science of mind).
> 
> Factional Imported Arcanist: As the above, except that the group comes from
> outside the focal society, e.g., the Society of Johrei, the Johrei Fellowship,
> and the two Mahikari organizations (all factions of the Japanese Johrei
> movement which have been imported to the United States).
> 
> DISTINCTIVIST
> 
> Charismatic
> 
> Native Distinctivist: All distinctivist groups are characterized by a belief
> in the extraordinary legitimacy of their own religion. Native distinctivists,
> for example, are NRMs (new religious movements), or, as I prefer, alternative
> religious movements, which originated in the focal society but have no
> connection with any of its dominant religious traditions (and, BTW, are another
> sort of organization which is often termed "cultic"); and charismatic native
> distinctivists are under the leadership of a single charismatic leader where
> there has been little routinization of charisma. So, Scientology, during the
> lifetime of L. Ron Hubbard, was a charismatic native distinctivist group as was
> the Bahá'í Faith in the Near East during the lifetimes of Bahá'u'lláh,
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, and, to an extent, Shoghi Effendi.
> 
> Routinized
> 
> Native Distinctivist: Here, the charisma has been largely routinized. Although
> there _may_ be a formal leader, s/he is, from an objective POV, really not the
> center of power. There may, for example, be some sort of ecclesiatical
> structure under which the authority of the "leader" is subsumed. Present-day
> Scientology and the Bahá'í Faith in the contemporary Near East would be
> routinized native distinctionary groups.
> 
> Factional
> 
> Native Distinctivist: These would include any native distinctivist group which
> has split off from another religious organization (of any type). Scientology,
> for example, has had many of these, e.g., Silva Mind Control and, to some
> extent (since it also traces its descent from Kirpal Singh's Ruhani Satsang),
> Eckankar (especially during Paul Twitchell's lifetime).
> 
> Charismatic
> 
> Imported Distinctivist: What I term imported distinctivists have, like
> arcanists and native distinctivists been classed as cults. These are
> alternative religious movements which did not, either theologically or
> organizationally, originate in the focal society. IOW, they are imported
> religions. Charismatic imported distinctivists are under the leadership of a
> charismatic figure. Examples include the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification
> Church in the United States, the International Society for Krishna
> Consciousness (ISKCON), especially during the lifetime of A.C. Bhaktivedanta
> Swami Prabhupada, in the United States, and the Bahá'í Faith in the West during
> the lifetimes of Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, and, to an extent, Shoghi Effendi.
> 
> Routinized
> 
> Imported Distinctivist: An routinized native distinctivist group is one in
> which the charisma has become routinized (established/ institutionalized).
> Examples would include most of the native Indian branches of the Radhasoami
> movement (surat shabd yoga) as they have been transplanted to the West, Rudolph
> Steiner's Anthroposophy in the United States, and the present-day Bahá'í Faith
> in the West.
> 
> Factional
> 
> Imported Distinctivist: This type consists of either a charismatic or a
> routinized imported distinctivist group which is a branch of another religious
> organization, i.e., Kirpal light Satsang and Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission (both
> Indian branches of the Radhasoami movement).
> 
> Charismatic
> 
> Retrospective Distinctivist: This type is roughly the equivalent of a "sect."
> These are religious organizations which believe that they have returned to the
> original ("proto") doctrine of an established religious tradition in the focal
> society, such as Judaism, Islam, or Christianity. A charismatic retrospective
> distinctivist group is one which is under the leadership of a charismatic
> figure. The Bible Students (the parent religion of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the
> Millenial Dawnists, and other groups), under Charles Taze Russell, were
> charismatic retrospective distinctivists. Phelps' ultra-fundamentalist
> Christian organization (in Topeka, Kansas) is also in this category.
> 
> Routinized
> 
> Retrospective Distinctivist: This type would include those which have become
> institutionalized/established in the focal society. The Jehovah's Witnesses
> and the Worldwide Church of God would both be examples. Factional
> 
> Retrospective Distinctivist: This type would include those which have split
> off from another, usually retrospective distinctivist, organization. These
> would include the Jehovah's Witnesses and the various factions of the Worldwide
> Church of God (such as the Philadelphia Church of God and the Church of God
> International).
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views14142 views since posted 1997; last edit 2012;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../foster_typology_religious_organization;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> Citation: ris/1447
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> — *New Typology of Religious Organization (Used by permission of the curator)*