L' organisation sociale de I'Eglise évangélique du Wurtemberg
The present article is based on a survey which analyzes the central organizational fields of the Wurtemberg Landeskirche applying specific sociological categories and methods for group studies. This survey will lead to an analysis of the role of the Evangelical minister: the image the Evangelical mi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | French |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[1969]
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| In: |
Social compass
Year: 1969, Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 185-207 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The present article is based on a survey which analyzes the central organizational fields of the Wurtemberg Landeskirche applying specific sociological categories and methods for group studies. This survey will lead to an analysis of the role of the Evangelical minister: the image the Evangelical minister has of his work, and its reality. The present article intends to reply to the question of the adequacy of ecclesiastical organi zations in relation to their aims and their environment.The result could be summarized as follow: the Church, in all the elements here investigated (parish system, ministerial functions, personal interactions, communications and direction), in its organizational prin ciple corresponds indeed to the basic pastoral model, but it has lost the decisive Lutheran characteristic of the dialectic coordination of office and community. The existing organization is incapable of realizing the fundamental aims of preaching and of forming the community. The degree of the Church's adaptation to its environment is insignificant. The 'organizational lag' is evident.One possible explanation for this phenomenon could be the 'rigidity' proper to all social organizations. Yet a normative group cannot admit openly that the desired aims do not affect the organization. The explana tion for the lag lies not so much in the 'rigidity' and immobility of the ecclesiastical organization itself than, paradoxically, in the 'dynamic' theory of the Church. The hardening of the different levels of a given social group can perfectly coexist with a collective conscience nourished by dynamic and even revolutionary ideas. The ideas which ought to determine the direction of the collective groups, in spite of their 'splendid enthusiasm', are unable to change the structure, symbols, positions, behaviours and the organizations, embedded as they are in the whole system which is ideal, and at the same time stagnant. They have lost their transforming power. The theory, reduced to its function of legitimizing the existing organization, is merely the reflection of the imperfect organization. |
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| ISSN: | 1461-7404 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Social compass
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/003776866901600203 |