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Organizational Revival From Within: Explaining Revivalismand Reform in the Roman Catholic Church
Author(s) -
Finke Roger,
Wittberg Patricia
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal for the scientific study of religion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1468-5906
pISSN - 0021-8294
DOI - 10.1111/0021-8294.00013
Subject(s) - protestantism , vitality , sect , faith , monopoly , sociology , religious organization , religious studies , political science , law , theology , philosophy , economics , market economy
The most enduring theoretical model for explaining the rise and fall of religious movements has been some form of the church‐sect theory. Yet this model offers little explanation for the continued vitality of the Roman Catholic Church. We argue that a key to this institutional success is the Church 's ability to retain sect‐like revival movements within its boundaries. We demonstrate that religious orders, like Protestant sects, stimulate organizational growth, develop innovations for adapting the church to a new culture or era, and provide institutional support for a high tension faith. Unlike Protestant sects, however, they do so within the institutional church. This source of internal reform and revival helps to explain the long term vitality of the Roman Catholic Church and its ability to operaate effectively as a religiou monopoly.