عنوان

Deviant Christians:

شماره

LA110863

زبان متن نوشتاري يا گفتاري و مانند آن

انگلیسی

عنوان اصلي

Deviant Christians:

نام عام مواد

[Article]

ساير اطلاعات عنواني

Romanization and Esoterization as Social Strategies for Survival Among Early Christians

نام نخستين پديدآور

April D. DeConick

محل نشرو پخش و غیره

Leiden

نام ناشر، پخش کننده و غيره

Brill

متن يادداشت

This paper explores the relationship between deviance and esotericism, particularly as this relationship relates to the emergence of new religious movements and the processes of social accommodation and resistance. Applying sociological models for the study of deviance, I show how emergent Catholics use a variety of accommodation strategies to better fit into Roman religious expectations, constructing a public face to their worship along with ancestral ties. As they do this, the emergent Catholics dissociate themselves from other Christians, like groups with gnostic orientations, whom they have marked as different from themselves and a liability for the survival of Christianity. They begin to argue that these "other" Christians are the deviant ones, not themselves. Their willingness to Romanize certain aspects of their religion reduces the tensile relationship between their new religion and the surrounding society, increasing their ability to attract and maintain new recruits. To make matters more complicated, gnostic groups largely resist accommodation to Roman religious expectations, a strategy that powers their countercultural critique of the hegemony of Rome. They esoterize their groups by privatizing and converting their deviance into secret social capital. The choice to maintain their deviance by limiting access to their internal social networks affects their ability to recruit, grow, and sustain their communities in the long term. The social politics of deviance goes a long way to explain the rise of Catholicism and its domination over other forms of Christianity. This paper explores the relationship between deviance and esotericism, particularly as this relationship relates to the emergence of new religious movements and the processes of social accommodation and resistance. Applying sociological models for the study of deviance, I show how emergent Catholics use a variety of accommodation strategies to better fit into Roman religious expectations, constructing a public face to their worship along with ancestral ties. As they do this, the emergent Catholics dissociate themselves from other Christians, like groups with gnostic orientations, whom they have marked as different from themselves and a liability for the survival of Christianity. They begin to argue that these "other" Christians are the deviant ones, not themselves. Their willingness to Romanize certain aspects of their religion reduces the tensile relationship between their new religion and the surrounding society, increasing their ability to attract and maintain new recruits. To make matters more complicated, gnostic groups largely resist accommodation to Roman religious expectations, a strategy that powers their countercultural critique of the hegemony of Rome. They esoterize their groups by privatizing and converting their deviance into secret social capital. The choice to maintain their deviance by limiting access to their internal social networks affects their ability to recruit, grow, and sustain their communities in the long term. The social politics of deviance goes a long way to explain the rise of Catholicism and its domination over other forms of Christianity.

تاريخ نشر

2018

توصيف ظاهري

135-176

عنوان

Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies

شماره جلد

3/2

شماره استاندارد بين المللي پياييندها

2451-859X

اصطلاح موضوعی

Accommodation

اصطلاح موضوعی

Catholic

اصطلاح موضوعی

Deviance

اصطلاح موضوعی

Esoteric

اصطلاح موضوعی

Gnostic

اصطلاح موضوعی

New Religious Movements

اصطلاح موضوعی

Recruitment

اصطلاح موضوعی

Resistance

اصطلاح موضوعی

Transgression

مستند نام اشخاص تاييد نشده

April D. DeConick

شماره بازیابی

10.1163/2451859X-12340056

نام الکترونيکي

فرمت انتشار

p

نوع ماده

[Article]

کد کاربرگه

275578

سطح دسترسي

a

تكميل شده

Y