Does Strictness Explain the Appeal of Working-Class Conservative Protestant Congregations?
For different reasons, Kelky (1977) and Iannaccone (1994) (should de letter I not letter L) have argued that ascetic strictness causes congregational growth. The relevant published case studies of congregations do not support strictness theory, however this research concerned mainly middle-class con...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2005
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| In: |
Sociology of religion
Year: 2005, Volume: 66, Issue: 3, Pages: 283-302 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | For different reasons, Kelky (1977) and Iannaccone (1994) (should de letter I not letter L) have argued that ascetic strictness causes congregational growth. The relevant published case studies of congregations do not support strictness theory, however this research concerned mainly middle-class congregations. A recently published quantitative study found that church growth was positively associated with strictness, but only among working-class congregations. Thus the research reported in this paper focused on working-class congregations and was meant to determine if there is a causal connection, and not just a statistical association, between strictness and church growth. Open-ended interviews were done with new participants in two working-class Protestant congregations about what drew them to their new congregations. The most important factors were feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit, the family-like nature of congregational life, and qualities of the pastor. No evidence supporting strictness theory was found. |
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| ISSN: | 1759-8818 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Sociology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/4153100 |
