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Heterodoxies, Sectarianism and Dynamics of Civilizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Samuel N. Eisenstadt
Samuel N. Eisenstadt*
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
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Extract

Heterodoxy, sects and sectarianism seemingly belong to the sphere of religions; they obviously refer to doctrinal organizational and behavioral aspects of dissension within the frameworks of religions. It would, however, be wrong to think that their importance is confined only within such frameworks—broad and important as they are. The importance of heterodoxy and sectarianism is indeed much wider. It is much wider not only because the term sect has been often used—as Roger Caillois has demonstrated in his brilliant essay on “L'Esprit des Sectes”—to refer to a much broader range of phenomena in the overall political and social order. The very possibility of using this term beyond its strictly religious connotation indicates that the developments of sectarianism, rooted as it is in the sphere of religion, are, potentially at least, of much broader implications.

This was, of course, most clearly seen and elaborated by Max Weber who, in his classical essays on the comparative sociology of religions, was among the first to stress the place of dissent and heterodoxy, not only from the point of view of the doctrinal or organizational development of various religions, but from the broader point of view of the broader civilizational dynamics, of the innovative capacity of different civilizations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 30 , Issue 120 , December 1982 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © 1982 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

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References

1 Roger Caillois, "L'Esprit des Sectes" in Instincts et Société, Paris, Edi tions Denoel Gonthier, 1969, pp. 61-114.

2 See Max Weber, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie, Tübingen, J.C.B. Mohr, 1922 (1978) and the English translations-Ancient Judaism, New York, The Free Press, 1952; The Religion of India, New York, The Free Press, 1956; The Religion of China, New York, The Free Press, 1951, 1964.

3 On Weber's thematic and vision see: W. Schluchter, "The Paradox of Rationalization," in G. Roth and W. Schluchter, Max Weber's Vision of History, Ethics and Methods, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, University of Ca lifornia Press, 1979, pp. 11-64.

4 See, for instance, the essays collected in S. N. Eisenstadt, The Protestant Ethic and Modernization, New York, Basic Books, 1968.

5 E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande, Oxford, Clarendon Press (1937) 1965.

6 K. Jaspers, Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte, Zurich, 1949. pp. 15- 106, and "Wisdom, Revelation and Doubt: Perspectives on the First Millennium B.C.", Daedalus, Spring 1975. E. Voegelin, Order and History, vols. 1-4, Baton Rouge, University of Louisiana Press, 1954-1974.

7 B.I. Schwartz. "The Age of Transcendence" in Daedalus, op. cit., pp. 3-4.

8 For some, of the many analyses of these premises of pagan religions, see for instance: M. Fortes and G. Dietertlen (eds.), African Systems of Thought, London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1965, esp. pp. 7-49; the analysis in E. Voegelin, Order and History, vol. I, Israel and Revelation, op. cit.; the papers by Op penheimer and Garelli in Daedalus, op. cit.; H. Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods, Chicago, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1948; For a case of individual trascendental vision which was not institutionalized see G. Wiley, "Mesoamerica Civilization and the Idea of Transcendence", Antiquity, L, 1976, pp. 205-215.

9 G. Obeysekere, "The Rebirth Eschatology and Its Transformations: A Contribution to the Sociology of Early Buddhism" in W. Doniger O'Flaherty (ed.), Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, Berkeley and Los Angeles, Univ. of Calfornia Press, 1980, pp. 137-165.

10 See the material in Max Weber, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssozio logie, op. cit., and G. Roth and W. Schluchter, Max Weber's Vision of History, op. cit.

11 See, for instance, E.H. Erikson (ed.), Adulthood, New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1978.

12 See S.N. Eisenstadt, "Cultural Traditions and Political Dynamics: The Origins and Modes of Ideological Politics," The British Journal of Sociology, XXXII, No. 2, June 1981, pp. 155-181.

13 See on this the various discussions in Daedalus, op. cit.

14 The literature on Utopia is, of course, immense. For a good survey see G. Kaleb, "Utopians and Utopianism," International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, New York, Macmillan & Free Press, 1968, vol. 16, pp. 267-270; and for a fascinating collection of essays, Vom Sinn der Utopie-Eranos Jahrbuch, 1963, Zurich, Rhein Verlag, 1964.

15 See S.N. Eisenstadt, "Intellectuals and Tradition" in S.N. Eisenstadt and S.R. Graubard (eds.), Intellectuals and Tradition, New York, Humanities Press, 1973, pp. 1-21; and E. Shils, Intellectuals, Traditions and the Tradition of Intellectuals, pp. 21-35.

16 On Japanese religions and society see for instance: R.N. Bellah, Togukawa Religion, The Values of Pre-Industrial Japan, Glencoe, Ill., The Free Press, 1957 and "Values and Social Change in Modern Japan," Asian Cultural Studies 3, Tokyo, October 1952; Ch. Nakane, Japanese Society, London, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1970; R. Huntsberry, Myths and Values in Japanese Society, mim., Ohio, Wesley Univ. Press, 1975.

17 H. Nakamura, "The Ways of Thinking", Ways of Thinking of Eastern People, Honolulu, East-West Center, 1964, pp. 407-351.

18 See for instance J. Le Goff (ed.), Hérésies et sociétés dans l'Europe pré- Industrielle, Paris, La Haye, 1968.

19 On Hinduism from this point of view see: M. Biardeau, Clefs pour la pensée hindoue, Paris, Seghers, 1972; L. Dumont, Homo Hierarchicus: Essai sur le système des castes, Paris, Gallimard, 1966, 1970; L. Dumont, Religion, Politics and History in India, Collected Papers in Indian Sociology, Paris, La Haye, Mouton, 1971; D. Mandelbaum, Society in India, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Un. of California Press, 1970; J.C. Heesterman, "Brahmanism, Ritual and Renouncer," Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, vol. 1, 1964, and "India and the Inner Conflict of Traditions" in S.N. Eisenstadt (ed.), Post-Traditional Societies, New York 1972, pp. 97-115. On Buddhist societies from the point of view of this discussion, see P.A. Pardue, Buddhism: An Historic Introduction, New York, 1958; W.T. de Bary (ed.), The Buddhist Tradition in India, China and Japan, New York, 1972; P. Levy, Buddhism: A "Mystery Religion"?, New York, 1968, H. Bechert, Buddhismus, Staat und Gesellschaft in den Ländern des Theravada-Buddhismus, 4 vols., Frankfurt-am-Main, 1966- 1968; S.J. Tambiah, World Conqueror and World Renouncer, Cambridge, 1976; E.M. Mendelson, Sangha and State in Burma: A Study of Monastic Sectarianism, J.P. Ferguson (ed.), Ithaca, New York, 1975; R.F. Gombrich, Precept and Practice: Traditional Buddhism in the Rural Highlands of Ceylon, Oxford, 1971; and E.B. Harper (ed.), Religion in South Asia, Seattle, 1964.

20 See especially S.J. Tambiah, World Conqueror, op. cit.

21 P. Mus, "Traditions ansiennes et bouddhisme moderne," Eranos Jahrbuch 32, 1968, pp. 161-275, and "La sociologie de George Gurvitch et l'Asie," Cahiers Internationaux de Sociologie 43, Dec. 1967, pp. 1-21.

22 S.N. Eisenstadt, Revolutions and the Transformation of Societies, New York, The Free Press. 1978.

23 On China see E.O. Reischauer and J.K. Fairbank. A History of East Asian Civilization. vol. 1. East Asia: The Great Tradition, Boston 1960; M. Weber. The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism, transl. by H. Gerth, New York 1964; C.K. Yang, "The Functional Relationshid between Confucian Thought and Chinese Religion," in I.K. Fairbank (ed.), Chinese Thought and Institutions. Chicago, 1957. pp. 269-91; Persuasion, Stanford, 1960; D.S. Nivi son and A.F. Wright (eds.), Confucianism in Action, Stanford 1959; and A.F. Wright (ed.), Studies in Chinese Thought, Chicago, 1953.

24 E. Zurcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China, Leiden, Brill 1959; A. Wright, Buddhism in Universe History, Stanford, Stanford Univ. Press, 1959.

25 This analysis follows S.N. Eisenstadt, Revolutions and the Transformation of Societies, op. cit., 1978, esp. chs. 6, 7 & 8.

26 On Japanese modernity see, for instance: R.P. Dore (ed.), Aspects of Social Change in Modern Japan, Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press, 1967; R. Word (ed.), Political Development in Modern Japan, Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press, 1969; H. Patrick & H. Rosovsky (eds.), Asia's New Giant, Washington, D.C., The Brookings Institution, 1976.