1994 Presidential Address Remembering the Future ...

Sociology of Reli~on t 997, 58:2 105-140

1994 Presidential Address Remembering the Future" A Sociological Narrative of Crisis Episodes, Collective Action, Cuiture Workers, and Countermovements David G. Bromley Vir~nia CommonwealthUniversity

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The latter half of the twentieth century has been a particularly interestmg time in the study of religion in the United States. This period has witnessed profound changes in the structure of institutionalized religious organizations as well a s a profusion of religious experimentation in the form of new religious movements (Robbins and Bromley 1992; Wuthnow 1988). Numerous scholars have attempted to make sense of such issues as the causes and timing of these developments and the meaning of renewed religious activism against a backdrop of anticipated secularization. The result has been an outpouring of theoretical and empirical work from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. This profusion of religious innovation and of scholarship analyzing it offers a unique opportunity for the sociology of religion. To preview the argument developed here briefly, the period since the end of World War II is the latest in a sequence of historical moments characterized by a high level of tension between two constellations of groups that structure social relations through one of the two major forros, contractualism and covenantalism. The expansion of contractualism has restructured the relationship between the two forms, yielding a moment of crisis. The responses to contractual/covenantal tension have involved utilization of either the priestly or prophetic method of religious authorization, attempting to refashion continuity through existing institutional arrangements or to use crisis precipitated discontinuity to produce an alternative vision and form of organization. The implementation of either the priestly or prophetic method has involved realigning the relationship between contractual and covenantal forms by privileging one form over the other or seeking to integrate the two forms. The combination of form of social relations and forro of religious authorization can be conceptualized as two continua along which religious organizations in the United States are arrayed. The argument advanced here is organized and presented in two parts. The first delineates contraceualism and covenantalism as social forms and the changes that have occurred in the two forms over the last several decades. The second examines priestly and prophetic initiatives to redress contractual/covenantal tensions as reflected in changes in the structures 105

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of established religious organizations and the formation of new religious organizations. C O N T R A C T U A L AND COVENANTAL FORMS OF SOCIAL RELATIONS

1 James Coleman distinguishes between "primordial" and "purposive" organization.


In the centuries since the Protestant Reformation two forms of social relations, which I shall refer to as contractual and covenantal, have been central to the organization of western societies (Bromley and Busching 1988). The grand theorists who pioneered the development of socio/ogical theory each formulated a typology (e.g., gemeinschaft-gesellschaft, status-contract, communal-associative, mechanical-organic, folk-urban) that contained elements of contractualism and covenantalism, and social scientists continue to formulate analogous typologies identifying the key differences between these two forms of social relations (e.g., Bellah 1985; Coleman 1990). 1 For purposes of this analysis, the distinction between contractualism and covenantalism is pivotal because their respective torms and logics differ qualitatively yet they co-exist within the contemporary social order and are integral to one another. The shifting relationships between the two forms create ongoing structural tensions and contradictory behavioral imperatives for social actors. Stated most parsimoniously, contractual social relations are those authorized by the state-economy while covenantal relations are authorized outside of this pubIic-sphere institutional nexus through social formations such as religion, family, community, and ethnicity. For the first Americans, covenantalism was the reflexive form through which they organized themselves. From a Puritan perspective, God stood as witness to and authorized human agreements: America constituted a land and people, a community of the elect; and the community was compelled by conscience to fulfill the plan divinely ordained for them (Bellah 1976). Covenantal relations were the basis not only for religious organization but for community and political organization as well. Indeed, the first American constitution was a "covenant-constitution" (Lutz 1994: 37). The communitarian tradition, which is rooted in various strands of covenantalism (Lutz 1994; Elazar 1978), asserts that community rather than the individual is the elemental unit of human organization. The most fundamental relationships are covenantal since individuais are the product of the communities of which they are part (Held 1990). Individuals are therefore obligated to pursue collective good and to frame individual aspirations and actions in that context (Avineri and de-Shalit 1992). One way of describing the patterning and logic of covenantal social relations is in terms of the way individuals shape their intentionality, structure their activity, and exert control over one another in this type of social relation. In covenantal social relations individuals signal their intentionality through a process of vow-taking with a goal of reaching mutual commitment. They communicate metaphorically in pledging to one another's overall well-being rather than to specific

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performances. The objective of the social undertaking in which they are engaged is to achieve integrality that is organized through a sequence of commitment rituals


featuring mutuality during progressive bonding and unity. Covenantalism is organized on a personal basis, integrating role and person, which means that it is the uniqueness of the individual which shapes relationships. Mutual commitment/bonding is facilitated if the parties perceive one another to be acting in the proper spirit. Participants in covenantal social relations symbolize the larger whole of which they are partas being ordered by spirituallpersonal agency, such as the laws of Love or God. Covenantal social relations orient individuals in terms of spirit (anatomically linked to the heart), and the most important forms of disorder is understood as loss of transpersonal integration with the larger whole of whtch the individual is part. The logic of contractual social relations, authorized by the state/economy, is premised on liberalism. A constellation of groups array along a continuum from libertarian liberals, who are committed to structuring socia[ relations primarily through market principles, to egalitarian liberals, who support welfare state principles enunciating various versions of liberal philosophy (Sandel 1984: 4). Common to the various positions on this continuum are the postulation of indiv/dua/s as the basic constituent unit of human groups, interests (individual needs mediated by cognitive ordering) as the natural form of human intentionality, and institutions as derivative units legitimated by and responsive to individual interests (Lukes 1973). In each of its various formulations (e.g., economic, political individualista) it is assumed that collective good is the product of individual actions in furtherance of personal interest. The major public institutions of contractually organized society are thus structured to sustain and recreate this social reality. Reality maintenance is also buttressed through the ¡ functioning of state/economic institutions. Periodic elections, judicial trials, legislative debates, and administratŸ procedures reaffirm and sacralize this orientation by defining dominant institutions as the embodiment of ultimate values (e.g., democracy, justice, fairness, rights). This ascendancy of the state/economu has resulted in the emergence of what Jurgensmeyer (1993) terms "secular nationalism" as the basic source of individual identity. As Crippen (1988: 326) observes, "Individuals in modern societies commonly think of themselves as participating in a reified conception of national identity. Their respective, and at times competing, nationa[ emblems are among the sacred totems of modern religious consciousness." In contractual social relations participants signal their intentionality through the process of negotiation with a goal of reaching mutual agreement. They employ literal signifiers in making pledges to specific performances rather than to another's overaU weU-being. The objective of the social undertaking in which they are engaged is to effect an exchange, which is orchestrated through a sequence of performance rituals that accentuate the presence of choice and voluntarism. Contractual exchanges are organized positionally, which means that it is the category (e.g., buyer-seller) into which participants fall that shapes relationships, and there is a sharp distinction between role and person. Mutual agreement/exchange is most consensually achieved if the parties perceive one another to be acting reasonably. Participants in contractual exchanges symbolize the larger

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TRENDS IN CONTRACTUAL.COVENANTAL ORGANIZATION The latter half of the twentieth century has witnessed major structural changes that have reconfigured the relationship between contractualism and covenantalism in the American social order. Among the most important developments in the contractually organized public sphere are increased organizational scale and segmentation, extension of contractual organizing logic in the public sphere, and dominance of functional rationality within contractual organizations. With respect to covenantalism, key transformations include deinstitutionalization of the private sphere, expansion of contractualism into new arenas of social life previously authorized covenantally, anda marginalization of covenantal organization and support networks. In the decades since 1945 there has been a remarkable expansion in the scale and concentration of corporate/state organization. The public sphere has become more massive with the dramatic growth of both corporate and governmental organization, fueled by an expansion of state functions and the formation o f c o r p o r a t e c o n g l o m e r a t e s t h r o u g h franchising and mergers. Science/technology/education provide the underpinning both materially and symbolically for public sphere institutions. What has been termed the "new class" has formed around the credentialed white-co|lar managerial, administrative, planning, coordinating positions created by these organizations (e.g., Meyer, et al. 1988). 2 At the same time, the ongoing process of social differen2 Perhaps the most rapidly growing sector in recent decades has been various govemmentally sponsored social service programs - - "aide to disadvantaged students, local law enforcement, manpower training, antipoverty programs, urban renewal, community mental health, and hospital care for the poor and aged," along with the various local, state, and federal agencies that plan, coordinate, and regulate the service-delivery programs (Scott and Meyer 1991:115-116; Dobbin, eta/. 1988).


whole of which they are part as being ordered by mechanistic laws, most frequently those of justice, market, and science. Contractual individuals orient to social relations through the mind (anatomically linked to the brain), and the most important fonns of disorder is understood as loss of personal integration that impedes individual cognitive functioning and autonomy. Despite the progressive development of a contractually based social order, the historical process has not been simply a transition from one form to the other. Rather, both contractual and covenantal forros of social relations continue to coexist in contemporary society, remain necessary to one another, and in fact are integrally related. For example, economic organizations are highly dependent on families for socialization into appropriate social orientations (Held 1990), and families are equally dependent upon economic institutions to generate financial resources that support family life. At the same time, the qualitative difference in the form and logic of covenantalism and contractualism results in mutual incompatibility. The two types of social relations thus are both interdependent and in opposition, with degree of interdependence and opposition varying with time and social l~ation.

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3 Scott and Meyer (1991: 117) define sectors as collections of "organizations operating in the same d o m a i n . . , together with those organizations that critically influence the performance of the focal organizations." DiMaggio and Powell (1991: 66) define isomorphism as the process through which organizations "that face the same set of environmental co¡ come to resemble one another closely. Among the sources of isomorphism ate pressures from other organizations on which they are dependent and cultural expectations in the social environment, adoption of organizational forms modelled by similar organizations, and normative pressures generated by professionalization.


tiation has resulted in the partitioning of organizational activity into quasiautonomous institutional sectors within which organizations become increasingly isomorphic, creating and defending distinctive organizational and legitimation systems (Scott and Meyer 1991; DiMaggio and Powell 1991).3 One pervasive trend within the public sphere during this period has been a more contractually compatible ordering of various sectors. Institutions from health care and education to local governments all have assumed a more contractual form, commodified products and services, and converted individual participants into consumers and clients. Relationships between organizations as well as between participants and organizations are then stipulated through definitions of respective legal rights and secured through pools of capital. Functional rationality and bureaucracy guide the structuring of these public sphere institutions, which render all formal organizational relationships instrumental and create the appearance of moral neutrality. Managers and therapists become the two archetypal roles of the contractual order, the former managing "human resources" and the latter functioning as the remedial agent for readjusting demoralized individuals. As Bellah et al. ( 1985: 47) observes in the case of therapists: " . . . the therapist takes the functional organization of industrial society for granted, as the unproblematical context of life. The goal of living is to achieve some combination of 'lifestyle' that is economically possible and psychically tolerable, that 'works.' The therapist.., takes the ends as they are given; the focus is upon the effectiveness of the means." These structural changes impel individuals to relate to public sphere institutions in new ways. The massiveness and differentiation of the public sphere organizations, which are granted the status of "juristic persons," augments the size asymmetry between those organizations and the "naturalistic persons" who become functionaries temporarily inhabiting them (Coleman 1990: 534-542). As Randall Collins remarks (1975: 294): "The crucial encounters in this forro of organization, then, are those which constantly reinforce the notion that men ate only occupants of positions who are subject to records and formal rules; ritual deference is to the rules themselves and to the organization in the abstract, not to any particular individuals." It is more imperative that individuals cultivate a rational, voluntaristic, autonomous persona as the basis for participation in the public sphere, develop appropriate educational credentials to ensure organizational entry and mobility, employ formal role-playing skills asa means of integrating personal activity and identity across institutional sectors, and relate to public sphere niches in terms of production and preservation of contractual rights and resources.

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Families provide an elucidating example of comparable private sphere developments. As public sphere institutions have become more massive and segmented, within the private sphere there has been a reciprocal process of destructuring. For example, the state has expanded political/legal protection for occupational positions while reducing protection of family structure. Writing about these shifts in law, Mary Ann Glendon (1981: 1) concludes that "Changes in the legal regulation of family relationships increasingly reflect the perishability and fluidity, if not the transience, of these relationships, while legal changes in the workplace recognize and reinforce the durability and centrality, if not the permanence, of the work relationship." Destructuring is also reflected in a decline in formal obligations among members of extended family, ethnic, religious, and community groups as their institutional rooting and covenantal support networks have weakened. Isomorphism between private sphere institutions and the economy has become more extensive. As Alan Wolfe observes (1989: 76), "Marriage and childbearing are shaped increasingly by considerations of self-interest; communities are organized more by the logic of buying and selling than by principles of solidarity. . . . " For example, as organizational units families, often based on dual careers, increasingly operate as firms, selling their labor in the economy. Expanding family participation in the economy, in turn, has resulted in commodification of traditional family functions (including food preparation, household maintenance, recreation, childcare, and even parenting). In order to function as a firm, families become more dependent on participation in the economy. A contractual orientation of the family is further reinforced by greater contractual organization among traditional family-support organizations. Prominent examples include th› abdication of in loco parentis functions by educational institutions and the supplanting of family physicians and community hospitals by corporate health care providers (Reeder 1972). The structure of the family unit has been refashioned internally as well to yield greater compatibility with contractualism. Examples include the popularity of prenuptial agreements that pledge prospective mates to specific relational performances and pre-arrange post-marital division of personal property (Treas 1993), proposals to calculate "comparable worth" of domestic responsibilities, and recasting parenthood as a bundle of"parenting skills on which performance can be assessed. At the same time, of course, families continue to function asa primary locus of covenantal relationships. In defining what he terms "pure relationships," Giddens (1992: 58) delineates the way in which covenantal relationships have been redefined: "a social relation is entered for its own sake for what can be derived by each person from a sustained association with the other." The normative relationship is one in which involvement is (1) pursued as an end in itself, (2) is organized reflexively, (3) is based on mutuality of commitment, trust, and respect, and (4) sustains both autonomy and commitment such that each facilitates the other. Further, efforts to realize some of the very qualities requisite for contractual relations - - voluntarism, autonomy, and achievement - - have moved to the private sphere in the form of a search for authenticity, meaning, and self-fulfillment. In covenantal relationships, therefore, participants seek to maximize simultaneously self-fulfillment and con-

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nectedness to significant others, which creates a complex pattern of ongoing negotiation and adjustment.

CONTRACTUAL/COVENANTAL CRISIS EP1SODES

4 The present argument, which asserts the concurrent existente of interdependent but incompatible forros of social relations, proceeds from the Heraclitian perspective stipulating that phenomena routinely incorporate opposed characteristics that ate dialectically related (Markova 1987). The alternative perspective, which in this case would be quasi-evolutionary, proceeds from Aristotelian logic that presumes that phenomena possess inherent properties. Classific• systems therefore involve mutually exclusive categories such that no phenomenon can simultaneously occupy more than one category. Parallel reasoning can be developed from a functionalist perspective. See Lechner 1985. 5 The concept of discontinuity as used here has been described in both critical and functionalist theory, using the terms contradiction and dysjunction. See, for example, Merton (1957), Hermans (1993), and Ashley (1984). 6 This formulation emphasizes the combine& interactive effects of structural conditions and of interpretations and organizational initiatives, which means that the extent to which crisis episodes are the product of structural conditions and/or coilective agency remains an empirical matter. There simpl,/can be no formulaic translation of structural conditions inm social problems. What appear to extemal observers to be great conflict of disorder in a social location mau not be so interpreted by actors in that location or may not result in a social mobilization for a host of reasons. 7 Historically, there has been a sex/uence (open-ended classes of social respomes constituting historicalb" linked solutions to sociocultural tensions) of crises; each crisis has involved a ser/es (a closed class of equivalent responses directed to the solution of one episode in a sequence of crises) of related organizational responses in the forro of institutional adaptations and formation of religious movements (these definitions involve a refashioning of Hall's [1991] concepts.). Hall defines a sequence as open-ended classes of items constituting historically linked solutions to a cultural problem anda series asa closed class of equivalent items directed to some sokttion of a cultural problem. In terms of the present argument, the defining characteristic that renders


Any structure of social relations inherently contains both order and disorder, and the degree of order/disorder at any historical moment is likely to vary considerably by location within the social order.4 In the case of tensions between contractual and covenantal social relations in American society, during certain historical periods shifts in the relationship between the two forros have resulted in sufficient discontinuity to constitute the conditions for crisis episodes (Moaddel 1992). 5 Crisis episode is employed here as an analytic concept that describes both structural conditions and the mobilized activity of actors in social locations impacted by those conditions. From this perspective, crisis episodes occur during historical moments when ( 1 ) major elements of a structure of social relations, which are accorded a high level of moral priority and generate institutionally central lines of action, ate interpreted as standing in opposition to one another and therefore yield contradictory behavioral imperatives and (2) coordinated efforts are undertaken involving symbolic interpretations of the situation and organizational mobilization to shape and address the dis-order. 6 Organizational adjustments of various types occur within established institutions, andas Tourraine (1985) has observed, social movements ate likely to forro along these primary "fault-lines. ''7 Crisis episodes in this usage are therefore not

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usefully interpreted as pathological in source or formas some sociological formulations have insisted. Rather, they constitute moments during which there is an intensification of cultural and social activity addressing structural contradictions (Stark 1991 ). RELIGION AND METHODS OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORIZATION

any particular phenomenon relevant to the current analysis is whether it can be linked to contractualcovenantal tension. 8 A transcendent realm may be understood as one operating on the basis of "structural principles or relations of a level lying above or outside the level of structure taken as the point of reference" - - which is the domain of the sacred (Tumer 1977: 69).


In fashioning a perspective on religion asa system of social authorization, I begin with the virtual sociological axioms that the reality humans inhabit is socially constructed and that religion is a key element in the human project of reality construction. Religion as a social form involves the creation of a larger reality that reconstitutes the phenomenal world as what now becomes part of a larger whole. This larger whole, typically symbolized in terms of transcendence or immanence, establishes a system of cultural and social authorization for social relations in the phenomenal world. 8 In the Judeo-Christian tradition, at least, the transcendent is variously envisioned as realm, sphere, domain, plane, force, principle, and is juxtaposed to empirical counterparts in the phenomenal world. It is this whole-part relationship that comprises the ultimate framework of ordering logic in the cosmos; that is, the larger whole creates the context in terms of which the phenomenal-world social relations are understood and regulated. The various symbolic conceptions of deity and sacred narratives describe, and ritualistic observances re-present, this logic. Culturally, by constructing the ultimate understandings from which all other principles of action and organization are derived, religion orders lesser priorities and establishes the final source of authorization from which there is no appeal. Socially, religion involves independent transcendent agency that possesses the capacity to orient and influence the phenomenal world. Constructing the transcendent domain as the largest symbolic context for authorizing social relationships, as the locus of forces that ultimately structure the phenomenal world, and as in possession of independent agency makes religion a source of power (Beckford 1983). Religion is inextricably linked to the exercise of power (both in the sense of control and empowerment) because it involves both the re-presentation and re-creation of the logic of the social order through connecting phenomenal and transcendent realms into a larger whole. I proceed here from the assumption that American society is characterized by a high degree of social differentiation and inequality that yields a hegemonic power structure. If the level and kind of religious authorization that groups construct is shaped by their social locations, then it follows that one important


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The Priestly Method The priestly method of religious work is most effective in settled periods and locations in which discontinuities are sufficiently limited that tensions can be managed within the existing structure of social relations. Periods of crisis test the limits of their balancing and adjustment strategies. Priestly religious workers derive their power and authorize social relations based on the construction and representation of sociocultural continuities, which are defined and carried by the dominant institutions at the center of the social order. 10 The priestly method involves only nominal to moderate cultural reconstruction/deconstruction of symbolic patterning in response to a changing structure of social relations. Priestly religious workers defend a position of limited 9 This distinction elaborates Bourdieu (1991), Fenn (1922), and Marty (1974). 10 To argue that there are continuities between the phenomenal world and transcendent realm does not deny "reversals" in the construction of the transcendent to symbolizethe othemess of the sacred.


dimension of religious authorization will be confirmation of or resistance to the existing structure of social relations. The perspective developed here thus moves away from the "flawed pluralism" model that has dominated the sociological interpretation of religion toward a more critical perspective. The former depicts modernization/modemity asa natural process/condition to which religious organizations accommodate, and in which new and sectarian groups traverse a sect to church trajectory, and in which the product is a diverse and pluralistic religious economy. Rather, I would argue, American history has involved the rapid ascension of the contractual form of organization that reflects the interests of specific sectors of the social order, which generates considerable pressure on groups organized through competing social forms, and which continues to be met with resistance of varying intensity across locations in the social order. There is thus a struggle for which sacred texts will be accorded legitimacy and which forros of religious organization will authorize the structure of social relations. Although religion may involve creating a larger whole through constructing a transcendent realm that is juxtaposed to the phenomenal world, the nature of the relationship between the two realms is not given. Most importantly for the present analysis, it is necessary to specify the form that authorization assumes. In particular, there is great potential variability in the construction of continuitydiscontinuity between the sacred realm and phenomenal world, which yields two very different historically developed methods through which religious authorization is created m the priestly and the prophetic. 9 Priestly religious authorization is rooted in sociocultural continuity; prophetic authorization is energized by discontinuity. Priestly religious workers are associated with institutionalized religious organizations that are consonant with the prevailing structure of social relations while prophetic religious workers resist and seek change in that structure.

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sacred realm-phenomenal world differences. Asserting a basic concordance between the phenomenal world and sacred realm creates a continuity of order and purpose between the two domains. Priestly religious workers acknowledge that humans continue to engage in morally compromised behavior, but human failings are described as morally devalued conduct rather than as an inherent human condition. Human failings can therefore be understood situationally rather than being explained as the inevitable product of flawed human character. Priestly religious workers create temporal continuity as well by closely linking the present with the primordial past so that the religious institution (whether a church or constellation of denominations) is the source of continuity through history. They are the bearers of the received tradition. Ind,viduals gain legitimacy as members of this tradition and are promised continued grace through personal salvation that insures continuity beyond their own mortal existence. By contrast, the link between present and future is more indeterminate, and there is no presaging an impending fusion of sacred realm and phenomenal world. There is, therefore, no imminent day of reckoning for the faithful; the present is a stable and continuing time period. Ultimate salvation, and the attendant restructuring of the phenomenal world, is carefully distanced; it is to take place gradually but progressively. Legitimation for principled, constructive participation in the current social order is thereby accorded positive moral standing. The priestly method involves nominal to moderate destructuring/restructuring activity. Priestly religious workers buttress and preserve existing social differentiation, which means integration and coordination with other established institutions. In their mediative role between phenomenal world and sacred realm and as representatives of the culturally legitimate spiritual tradition, they ensure continuity across individual biographies, between generations, and among elements of the social order. They are therefore pro-structural in the sense that they sanctify official interpretations of reality and seek to harmonize the various types of differentiation that are integral to any structure of social relations and that also are an ongoing source of tension and conflict. For example, social change may yield new coalitions that seek to bolster or weaken institutional claims on issues such as the extent of institutional jurisdiction and authority to re-interpret sacred texts to address contemporary issues (Fuchs and Ward 1994: 482). This method involves more that accommodation; priestly guided institutions are constitutive of the established social order. Organizational energy is generated through positive integration and social continuity with other institutions. Because transformation of the existing social order is not imminent and humans have not accumulated a moral debt without measure for their "fallen" condition, priestly religious workers have limited moral claimsmaking capacity. Further, priestly religious workers accede to differentiation, which requires that" individuals maintain multiple relationihips and loyalties. As a result, pledges of mutual loyalty exchanged between the faithful and the priest as intercessor require fewer, less stringent tests of commitment. Even when priestly religious workers assume personal responsibility for obligatory spiritual sacrifice and


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The Prophetic Method Prophetic religious workers emerge in times and locations where tensions cannot be managed within the existing structure of social relations. They derive their power and authorize social relations based on the representation and construction of sociocultural discontinuities. These discontinuities are most intensely experienced in marginal or vulnerable sectors of the social order and become the focus of collective action seeking a restructuring of social relations. In contrast to priestly religious workers, prophetic religious workers assert a vast chasm between sacred cosmos and existing social order that accounts for both personal and collective troubles, and they offer resistance to the prevailing structure of social relations. The prophetic method employs moderate to radical deconstruction/reconstruction that challenges, and sometimes demonizes, official interpretations of reality and offers an alternative vision of a social order. 12 Prophetic deconstruction delegitimates the ultimate understandings established by the priestly method to authorize organizations and relationships in the existing social order and to connect human and transcendent purpose (Bourdieu 1991; Fuchs and Ward 1994). The prophetic method asserts a basic antithesis of moral purpose between the phenomenal world and transcendent realm. From a prophetic perspective, both the social order and its inhabitants have become morally 11 For a discussion of types of&ama, see Benford (1992), Scheff (1977), and Tumer (1976, 1980). 12 Rort'r (1991: 16) notes the importance of the relationship between what is here referred to as deconstruction/reconstruction: "ltis not much use pointing to the "internal contradictions' of a social practice, or "deconstructing' it, unless one can come up with an alternative practice - - unless one can at least sketch a utopŸ in which the concept or distinction would be absolute."


service, this does not dramatically elevate their charismatic authority. In sum, there is neither sufficient moral elevation of priests nor moral degradation of adherents to establish the grounds for great sacrifice or obligation. Priestly religious workers administer ritualistic observances that are designed to reintegrate the prevailing structure of social relations by transcending the inevitable concommitants of social differentiation - - divisions created by the rules, statuses, inequalities, and conflicts. Ritual observances therefore naturalize and support the prevailing structure of social relations. While rituals may create a common mood and experience of unity internally, they also preserve inequalities and conflicts in the larger structure of social relations. Because discontinuities are minor and there is no countervailing reality to be unveiled (Cheal 1992: 366-367), only narrowly bounded ritualization and spiritual agency are necessary to achieve social reintegration. The social dramas occasioned by a breach of the prevailing social order, which are counteracted by various adjustment and balancing operations, can be interpreted in aesthetically distanced ritual enactments. Participants can then simultaneously experience and reflect on the complexity of forces creating tension and conflict in their world. 11

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corrupted to the point that the very essence of each has been compromised. The prophetic method therefore emphasizes restructuring of the social order and the relationship between the phenomenal world and transcendent realm through some combination of spiritual and human agency. To the extent that human agency is required, this process may entail either transforming the social order as a means of liberating true human nature or transforming individuals as a means of liberating the social order. But in either case humans bear significant responsibility for their separation from ultimate purpose. In the prophetic method a sharp temporal discontinuity between a fleeting present and an imminent future also is constructed. Prophetic revelations make past and present alike increasingly irrelevant except as a prelude ,9 and an explanation for the impending revolutionary moment. The present thus constitutes a period of both instability and urgent moral responsibility for those who now understand ultimate divine purpose. The prophetic method devalues involvement in the current social order and instead confers moral standing based on membership in the vanguard of a new social order. Propbetic religious workers also engage in moderate to radical destructuring/restructuring activity, sweeping away differentiation in the prevailing structure of social relations and moving organization and relationships, at least for a time, in a communitarian direction. They are anti-structural in the sense that they challenge official interpretations of reality, and promote destructuring. In their mediative role between prevailing social order and sacred cosmos and as revealers of the new (or rediscovered) spiritual tradition, prophetic religious workers fashion a sharp break in individual biographies, between generations, and among elements of the social order. Individuals and the social order both must have a new beginning. Movement adherents assume new identities, create a social structure that models the future order, and may even begin a new lineage. Adherents gain biographical continuity and salvation by assuming charter membership in the tradition that is about to be born. Because sacred realm-phenomenal world discontinuity is so great, prophetic revelation mandates the course humans must follow to regain continuity with divine purpose, and the moment of transformation is at hand. Prophetic religious workers possess extraordinary claimsmaking capacity. The morally elevated status of prophetic figure(s) and the morally degraded status of adherents means that mutual pledges of commitment between prophetic leader and followers are accompanied by weighty sacrifice and obligation as well as stringent testing of loyalty and commitment for both leaders and followers. Prophetic religious workers administer ritualistic observances that protest and resist the prevailing structure of social relations by disassembling and invalidating the sources of differentiation in the dominant social order while simultaneously creating means for adherents to experience directly an alternative reality. A countervailing vision of reality is sustained and the massive influence of conventional realities is neutralized in part through extensive ritualization. Among the most important rituals are those orchestratirig personal transformation and interchanges with conventional society. Ritualized interchanges with members of conventional society, on the on› hand, maintain distance despite contact and, on the other hand, engage adherents in the symbolic


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PRIESTLY A N D PROPHETIC RESPONSES TO C O N T R A C T U A L / C O V E N A N T A L TENSION

To recapitulate briefly the argument being formulated here: Social orders contain conflicting, contradictory elements that render both continuity and discontinuity as normal conditions. The historical development of the social order in American society has been in the direction of expanding contractualism, with a resultant reordering of the relationship between the two. Because contractual and covenantal social relations are both integrally and incompatibly related, there has been ongoing tension between the two forms that has been punctuated by moments of crisis, such as the decades foUowing World War II. The expansion of contractualism has resulted in more contractually compatible social forms throughout the social order but also in a variety of reactions ranging from modest organizational adjustments to intense, protracted resistance in some social locations. The historically developed priestly and prophetic methods of religious work constitute traditions through which participants in a structure of social relations both create and respond to order and disorder. 13 In social locations closest to the central, dominant institutions collective action is likely to take the form of priestly religious work to preserve continuity; in more peripheral, vulnerable locations prophetic religious work is a more likely response.

13 Davidson (1977) fin&, for example, that high socioeconomic status church members are less likely to hold vertical religious beliefs or to engage in private prayer and Bible reading but are more likely to have a rational-critical orientation to religion, to reporta connection between religious beliefs and civic activity, and to participate in churches in terms of investments of time and money rather than affective commitment.


transformation of the environment. Rituals of personal transformation involve a sequence of destructuring, reorienting, and restructuring activities, often with protracted periods of liminality. Active spiritual agency is created through "trance" states n defined as being connected and oriented to, and having a desire to fulfill, transcendent purposes (Swanson 1978: 254) n that simultaneously distance individuals from the conventional social order and maintain active integration with the spiritual realm. The great discontinuity of a crisis episode yields a social drama of the first order. Those employing the prophetic method become participants rather than simply participant observers in an agonic drama, a confrontation between protagonist and antagonist forces. Prophetic revelations depict a cosmic struggle in which the movement and individual adherents have decisive roles to play, with the result that a great part of day-to-day activity is orchestrated as ritualized encounters that constitute scenes in this cosmic drama. Because the drama involves agency located in the sacred reahn, there cannot be an end to the crisis until restoration of the appropriate relationship between the two realms is achieved.

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PRIESTLY RELIGION

Progressive Churches (Contractual Orientation) The denominations that are most characteristic of the contractual/priestly form are the liberal wings of liberal mainline denominations, such as Unitarians, Episcopalians, United Church of Christ, and Presbyterians (and secondarily the liberal wings of moderate denominations, such as Methodists, Lutherans, Disciples of Christ, and Catholics). Historically, liberal/moderate mainline denominations are those which forged a tacit alliance with state/economic institutions at the advent of the urban industrial revolution, and since that time their organizational structures have been the most isomorphic with those of the dominant institutions within the contractually-based social order. These churches are commonly depicted as accommodating to the dominant social order, but it is probably more accurate to describe them as constitutive of that order, providing religious authorization to the extent that it is needed individually and institutionally. Although these denominations clearly have an elliptical shape socioeconomically, adherents possess the highest level of contractual resources (education, income, occupation) by comparison with other denominations, and their primacy on these dimensions has been rather stable over a number of decades (Roof and McKinney 1987; Davidson 1994; Kosmin and Lachman 1994). Churches in this social location employ the priestly method to conduct nominal deconstruction/reconstruction and destructuring/restructuring activity in order to create transcendent/phenomenal realm and religious organization/environment relationships such that the relational logic authorizes covenantal relations within a contractual context. Over the last several decades


Through American history the dominant forro of institutionalized religion has been oriented culturally through Judeo-Christian myth and socially through denominations organized locally as voluntary associational congregations (Warner 1988: 290). It is becoming increasingly more difficult to generalize about denominations a s a whole as a result of the deep divisions that have emerged within these organizations in recent years. Therefore, for purposes of illustrating the priestly meth~~ I shall offer selective examples of various positions along the contractual/covenantal continuum. Three major types of priestly responses are specified. Progressive Churches privilege contractual over covenantal social relations; Integrative Churches seek a synthesis of contractual and covenantal forros; and Restorative Churches privilege covenantal over contractual social relations. Examples are drawn primarily from Catholic and Protestant traditions, but comparable arguments can be developed for the Jewish and other traditions (e.g., Davidman 1991; Danzger 1989; Belcove-Shalin 1995). This approach brackets significant comparable activity in a range of other social locations as well as important movements that are pulling denominations in opposite directions, movements to restore religious against bureaucratic authority across the denominational spectrum, and special purpose organizations that have increased professionalization and bureaucratization in numerous denominations (e.g., Ammerman 1994; Chaves 1991, 1994; Wuthnow 1988).



this has meant diminishing social authorization in both the public and private spheres, which has been sufficiently significant that both Hammond (1992) and Roof and McKinney (1987) refer to it asa "third disestablishment." For Progressive Churches maintaining continuity culturally with both the family in the private sphere and public sphere institutions has entailed a demythologization, a loosening of sacred narratives through moderate deconstruction/reconstruction of traditional texts. The process of institutional differentiation results in sector specific legitimation narratives and norms. In order to remain isornorphic with developments in the public sphere, for example, Progressive Churches are disposed to reinterpret traditional religious narratives so that they are compatible with secular nationalism, therapu as a restorative technique, science asa knowledge base, and secular education asa socialization process. Further, universalistic normative standards become much more difficult to formulate, interpret, and sustain under conditions of great differentiation, and adherents need to be able to operate under conditions where norms vary from site to site through social life. Texts also must be reinterpreted to speak to and sustain the higher level of individuation that characterizes life in a contractual social order. Therefore, narratives emphasize individual empowerment, fulfillment, and freedom to choose (Hammond 1992; Witten 1993). If sinfulness is invoked at all, it is not defined as an essential, personal attribute but asa label applied to specific behaviors, which facilitates individual redemption through modification of behavior. Likewise, traditional moral assessments of the process of family formation and dissolution are muted. Organizationally, Progressive Churches are diminishing religious authorization in both the public and private spheres. For example, to work within a framework of state/economic authorization politically is to assume the stance of what Williams and Demerath term "civic religion" (1991: 420; see also Crippen 1988: 326). In this version of religion, "Religious symbols and observances marking civic events reaffirm a vague sense of moral rightness in the political and social order. The social groups that make up the political status quo are eager to use the moral authority that 'civic religion' conveys" (Williams and Demerath 1991 ). Extreme moral advocacy on public issues tends to be avoided because such portrayals are not consistent with the moderate political positions that reasonable individuals may differ and that any practice may have multiple and contradictory effects (Tetlock 1986). In order to participate in the political arena in this fashion Progressive Churches have established a variety of more bureaucratic, "special purpose" organizations, which moves them in the direction of greater contractualism. Internally, the role of pastor thus moves toward incorporating elements of the archetypal roles in the public sphere, manager and therapist. Rituals do not invoke potent transcendent agency; they tend to be constructed as aesthetic dramas upon which participants can cognitively reflect even while they are emotionally compelling and can activate personal growth or social reformist activity. Within the private sphere, these churches have adopted a service orientation, emphasizing voluntary participation and choice, with the result that decisions about membership and attendance are frequently made on grounds of convenience and personal preference. As Hammond (1992: 169) puts it,

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"Greater numbers of persons now legitimately look upon their parish involvementas their choice, to be made according to their standards. That involvement is now calculated as rewarding or not by individually derived equations." This service orientation means that these churches cede greater control over basic family structuring processes such as marriage, divorce, and procreation and rely on moral suasion rather than moral authority. In practice this means supporting personal autonomy and voluntarism such that individuals possess the capacity and freedom to construct their personal contractual/covenantal relational networks (Giddens 1992: 58). As Roof and McKinney (1987: 67) observe, "The subjective aspects of faith have expanded as ascriptive and communal attachments have declined." In confederating with families, or individual adherents, the Progressive Churches organize themselves as voluntary associations, participation in which complements membership in other civic associations. There is no pressure for a high level of affective commitment, and instrumental commitment is facilitated. Weak associational ties (Granovetter 1973; Janowitz 1967: 211-212) thus gain strength from diversity and grant maximum control to autonomou~ individuals. As Carrol aad Marler (1995: 17) fcund, seminarians in training for pastoral leadership in Progressive Churches are steeped in the principles of diversity and inclusiveness. They write: "Out of the chaos of social diversity, there is confidence that a new creation, a new birth, will occur: the truly diverse, truly inclusive Kingdom of God." The effort by Progressive Churches to become more isomorphic with the contractually ordered public sphere and to diminish authorization within the private sphere has triggered a wave of grassroots rebellion within these churches that constitutes attempts to respond to ongoing contractual-covenantal tensions. Some movements represent initiatives to make churches more consistent with the requisites of contractualism. Pressure to adopt liberal positions on the abortion issue, allowing middle-class families to engage in family planning, and the Women-Church movement, creating equal opportunities for women in the clergy and eliminating church patriarchy, exemplify such movements (Farrell 1992; Trebbi 1990). In the main, however, popular protest is designed to reverse the effects of professionalism, instrumental rationality, and bureaucracy by enhancing covenantalism under informal, laity-sponsored auspices. AlI of these movements are significant in that they increase a sense of collective commitment within the private sphere while they offer little chaUenge to their respective churches and virtually no challenge to dominant institutions in the public sphere (McGuire 1982: 214). A major parishioner-based response within Progressive Churches is the charismatic/Pentecostal movement, which has been most thoroughly researched in the Catholic tradition (McGuire 1982; Neitz 1987). This movement fosters greater community anda higher degree of transcendent agency through a range of groups, from loosely knit prayer and healing groups to more totalistic "covenanted communities," that have a strong communal flavor and dedication to a spiritually-based lifestyle (McGuire 1982: 192-196). The movement heightens spiritual agency through s-uch forms as glossolalia, prophecy, and healing, and it also nurtures and enhances individuality, but within a community context. As Neitz concludes (1987: 255), "The religion offered is a very individ-


Integrative Churches ( ContractuallCovenantal Synthesis) The churches upon which I focus here to illustrate Integrative Churches include the most liberal wings of traditions such as the Mormon, Evangelical, Assemblies of God, Seventh-day Adventist, and Southern Baptist churches. Through recent decades many Integrative Churches have moved into a position more isomorphic with the contractual social order, although movement has been erratic and has reversed itself in some cases. One of the key elements of this location is greater sociopolitical "civility" or "tolerance," which takes the form of a less strident, critical stance toward dominant institutions and other religious traditions (Hunter 1987: 130). These churches tend to be located at the intermediate level of contractual resources (education, income, occupation), and the liberal wings typically are moving toward contractual organization. Integrative Churches employ the priestly method to conduct limited deconstruction/reconstruction and destructuring/restructuring activity to construct transcendent/phenomenal realm as well as religious organization/environment relationships such that the logic of these relations authorizes a synthesis of contractual and covenantal forms so as to maintain continuity with both traditions. In general this has meant greater involvement in public sphere institutions combined with an intensified effort to strengthen church and family. Because Integrative Churches are attempting to integrate two forms of social relations that are historically integral to one another but also incompatible in many respects, the various adaptations that result defy simple synopsis. The problem facing Integrative Churches is creating contint, ity through a combination of innovation and preservation. They attempt to be open to the contractually organized public sphere without fully embracing it and to maintain some distance from it without the strident rejection characteristic of some Restorative Churches. The solutions to this problem assume a variety of forms. While the predominant pattern may be toward greater compatibility with contractualism,


ualized religion designed to meet the personal needs of each participant." But "within the Charismatic Movement those individualistic tendencies are tempered by the understanding that one develops oneself for the community." Another laity-based response involves a variety of informal covenantal groups designed to integrate the public and private spheres and strengthen community within the private sphere. For example, D'Antonio (1995: 240, 254) describes "intentional eucharist communities" within the Catholic tradition as having the objective of "carrying religion into other aspects of life" and "small faith communities" as pursuing a "commitment to a lifestyle that ties work, family, and religion into warm, supportive communities." Correspondingly, Wright (1995: 263) describes the "house church movement" in the Protestant tradition as an attempt to "counteract the compartmentalizing effects on the institutions of work, family, and faith." These groups share in common "a reaction to bureaucratization and impersonal corporate structures that dominate contemporary church organizations, a search for meaningful religious experience, a recovery of community and intimate relationships, and more lay participation, commitment, and decision-making."

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reassertion of religious authorization also occurs. Mauss (1994), for example, concludes that Mormonism, which has deftly maintained both strong church/family authorization along with intense involvement in the public sphere, is moving toward increased religious authorization through greater emphasis on uniqueness claims, more "fundamentalist" style, an extension of church power over adherents, and renewed emphasis on family and religious education. Culturally there is a somewhat greater deconstruction/reconstruction of sacred texts and theological precepts than is found in Progressive Churches, which creates more compatibility with contractualism. For example, in his research Hunter (1983: 75-84) notes that Evangelicals have attempted to preserve core theological precepts while adopting language more compatible with contractualism; have expanded the legitimation of faith to include personal, positive, psychological benefits offered to believers as well as traditional conceptions of salvation; and have facilitated participation in the larger society through elimination of references to a range of behaviors deemed sinful. Simila,ty, in her analysis of Assemblies of God "at the crossroads," Poloma (1989: 8) nicely captures the way that Integrative Churches attempt to render contractual and covenantal forms compatible with one another. She writes: "The instrumental-rational reasoning process so characteristic of science and bureaucracy is absorbed into a dominant sacred weltanschauung within the Pentecostal perspective. It is God who is credited with providing modern medicine, advanced technology, and higher education . . . . " Organizationally, as Integrative Churches move toward greater compatibility with contractualism, they seek a variety of means through which to combine elements of contractualism and covenantalism. For example, in her study of Christian schools, Susan Rose (1988: 215) notes that the schools adopting the integrative strategy "have constructed a unique blend of secular and religious institutions: their own version of an elite school - - one which can help their children find enriching 'upscale' jobs in the future, while at the same time ensure the Lord is there as protector, as legitimator of each child's existence and potentiality." A similar observation might be made about Jim Bakker's ill-fated innovations. He first created television programming, giving the contemporary talkshow religious auspices, and subsequently erected Heritage USA, which turned the traditional concept of pilgrimage on its head - - rather than a pilgrimage legitimating a vacation, a vacation is transformed into a pilgrimage. Analogously, Evangelicals have sought ways to incorporate the practice of contemporary psychotherapy into a Christian context. In a chapter titled "The Integration of Christianity and Psychology," for example, Jones and Butman (1991: 31-32) stipulate that "A distinctively Christian approach to cot,nseling and psychotherapy will have theological and philosophical underpinnings compatible with Christian faith . . . . It wiU look at the task of the psychotherapist from both eternal and temporal perspectives and will fully acknowledge the reality of the supernatural." Yet another example is the response to rock music in Evangelical circles in the form of "Christian rock" (Jorstad 1993). The recent interrelated developments referred to as "church growth," "seeker churches," and "megachurches" also involve integrating a variety of secular and


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Restorative Churches (Covenantal Orientation ) To capture the other pole of the continuum ffom the liberal wings of Progressive Churches, Restomtive Churches ate designated as encompassing the conservative wings of the Pentecostal, Holiness, and Fundamentalist traditions. Fundamentalism is the focus of attention here. Whereas Progressive Churches


religious concepts, activities, and organizations. In describing one of the most prominent seeker churches, the Willow Creek Community Church, Sargeant (1996: 11, 31) notes how the church blends contractual and covenantal elements: "This nascent seeker church denomination differs from traditional denominations by relying primarily on contractual relations rather than a theological covenant to define its members." He goes on to emphasize the intentionality with which elements of the contractually ordered public sphere are imported: "Every aspect of the church's facilities emulates corporate America in quality, design, and style. These similarities are intentional. Willow Creek's aim is to reduce or minimize any cognitive distance between the religious realm and the working and shopping world of suburban middle-class Americans." These churches emphasize offering products and services to clients, marketing and advertising, adult education, sports and recreational facilities, daycare services, and courses from Bible study to nutrition and financial planning. The objective is to preserve core theological tenets while innovating with organizational forms for preaching their theology. integrative Churches face considerable ongoing tension as the integrative positions they attempt to carve out pull them in opposite directions, and various movements have emerged within their ranks to foster or block movement in one direction or the other. For example, the emphasis on development and empowerment of selfhood clashes with traditional doctrinal imperatives for self denial. Compatibility with the contractual order moves family/gender roles away from traditional partriarchalism toward greater equalitarianism. Women's groups within these church ranks have mobilized to offer reconstructions of traditional theology that would empower women and reorder family relations. Such changes, of course, then alter male role definitions. The recent Promise Keepers movement, which originated in evangelical ranks, may be interpreted as one that attempts to reaffirm the male role in the family. Men are pledging commitment to the family in such apparently contradictory terms as "servant-head," which finds leadership in service, and "tender warrior," which defines strength in terms of nurturance and vulnerability (Lockhart 1996). The objective is to strike a balance between the secular equalitarian model of marriage and the conservative religious tradition of male-headed families. Pastors also find themselves caught between role expectations that pull in opposite directions. Carroll and Marler (1995: 7) quote one seminary faculty spokesperson who articulated this opposition to movement "away from an 'older model: the pastor as the broker of truth,' to models that emphasize 'the pastor as therapist' or the 'pastor as the manager'." For these seminarians there is resistance to colleagues "who have taken modernity into their bosoms in an uncritical, a-theoretical accommodation to the culture."

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forged an alliance with the expanding state/economy, by the 1920s Fundamentalists resisted by separating themselves from the dominant social order and by establishing their own churches and schools. While they were able to shield themselves from the impact of developing contractualism for several decades thereafter and maintained low social visibility, recent developments have moved Fundamentalists toward greater resistance to the dominant social order. In general Fundamentalist resistance appears to be most strident where the implications of the contractual/covenantal contradictions are most extreme and incessant - - in social locations where traditional covenantal organization meets expanding contractualism (Ammerman 1987; Hunter 1991a, 1991b). Adherents of this set of groups historically have possessed a stronger rovenantal than contractual resource base (Ammerman 1990:126-167) and therefore have drawn upon family, community, and ethnicity/race networks in structuring social relations. Restorative Churches employ the priestly method to conduct moderate deconstruction/reconstruction and destructuring/restructuring activity to create :ranscendent/phenomenai real~n and religious organization/environment relationships such that the logic of these relationships authorizes covenantal relationships as the primary axis of social life around which contractual relations are affixed. The continuity that these churches seek, therefore, is with the covenantal tradition, from which they aver secular society has strayed. To label these churches as restorative does not imply that they attempt simply to recapture the past, whatever their intentions and pronouncements. The tradition is constantly reinvented in the context of contemporary experience and the social location of adherents (Lechner 1990). In order to preserve continuity with the covenantal tradition, Restorative Churches historically have retreated from public sphere institutions as contractual organization has expanded and intensified their effort to build a protected social world in the private sphere of religion and family. The premillenialist, apocalyptic theology underpinning Fundamentalism constitutes a religious deconstruction of the legitimacy claims of social relations authorized by the state/economy {Bromley forthcoming). The theology asserts that America has drifted far from God's purpose for his chosen nation. In that sense the contemporary social order does not constitute what is and must be but rather embodies a rejection of what is and must be. Fundamentalist theology further rejects the state/economy as the ultimate source of authorization; social relations must be religiously authorized with church and family at the center of social life. Scripture rather than science constitutes the foundational knowledge base. Finally, premillenialism shifts the initiative and the timing for intervention in the phenomenal world to the transcendent realm. The social order has become corrupted to the degree that unilateral divine intervention is mandated at a time imminent even if unknown. At an individual level there is a comparable kind of deconstruction that elevates community embeddedness over individual autonomy (Wagner 1990). Humans are by nature sinful, and contemporary individuals are enthralled by egoism and hedonism. Contrary to the claims of modern society, individuals can only be protected and fulfilled by being embedded in a strong community of Christian believers, individuals can



accomplish little on their own initiative but through Christ all things are possible, and individual freedom comes from understanding of and submission to divine purpose. Salvation, the status of one's ultimate connection to the transcendent realm, must be the central human concern. At the same time, deconstruction is limited. Fundamentalists typically have eschewed specific date setting for the apocalypse, they continue to regard America as God's chosen nation, generally endorse the free enterprise system of economic relations, and profess a hope to restore a fallen nation to divine purpose. From an organizational standpoint Fundamentalism involves a moderate level of destructuring/restructuring. These churches resist the institutional differentiation that characterizes contractual society and implement a plan for institutional restructuring intended to restore religion as the institutional hub of the social order (Shupe and Hadden 1989: 111). Resistance takes the form of separation from the public sphere. Ammerman (1987: 207) notes that "They accept the division of the world into sacred and secular, private and public. The structures of the econom5 are not expected to be run by G{KI's rules . . . . " Fundamentalists by and large have also refused tu participate in pluralistic, cooperative activities and relationships, even with other conservative churches. Fundamentalists reject the notion that their churches are simply coequals with others in a religious pantheon. Their response is therefore to wall off the private sphere and to establish and strengthen an integrated covenantal network of churches, families, friendships, and, to the extent possible, schools. As Ammerman (1987: 78) puts it, Fundamentalists "expect church and friendship and everyday life will forro a seamless whole. They expect the people and activities of the church to dominate and define their lives." Fundamentalists create substantial religious authorization and transcendent agency. The church pastor exercises extensive influence over lives of adherents through interpretation of the meaning contained in the sacred text and applications of that meaning to the daily lives. The Christian schools they establish constitute one of the major forms of destructuring as they import the appropriate kind of education into the church-family nexus, under the control of religious authority (Rose 1988; Wagner 1990). They believe that they inhabit an orderly universe organized by divine plan and premised on a covenant of love between creator and creation. The divine plan is contained fully and literally in the sacred texts. It is therefore incumbent on adherents both to understand this purpose cognitively and to reaffirm the loving covenant affectively. These goals are achieved through regularized ritualistic activity in the form of Bible reading and prayer. Transcendent agency is manifest in answers to prayer and through reading of sacred text, for to open the Bible is to invoke the presence of deity. Further, Fundamentalists define in transcendent terms their primary fealty (i.e., to the "family of God" and assess their status largely in terms of their standing in the transcendent realm, whether or not they are among the "saved"). At the same time, the extent of destructuring/restructuring is limited. Fundamentalists do not segregate themselves completely, and they are not in full rebellion against the social order. They own homes in ordinary neighborhoods, work in conventional jobs, shop in local stores, purchase insurance and save for retirement, and attend churches that are conventional in most respects.

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PROPHETIC RELIGION Through American history there has been a steady flow of experimentation with new religious forms and organized resistance to institutionalized religion. From this perspective "religious outsiders" have been as significant as religious insiders in constructing religious authorization (Moore 1986). One important type of resistance is social movements that employ the prophetic method. That is, these movements are energized by and organized around sociocultural discontinuity that becomes the basis for deconstruction/reconstruction and destructuring/restructuring work. While these various movements are unique in many respects, it is possible analytically to categorize them in terms of the kinds of strategies that they adopt in responding to structural tensions. In the case of prophetiG religious groups I identify three types of movements that parallel the three types of priestly organizations. Adaptive Religious Movements privilege contractual over covenantal relations; Integrative Religious Movements seek a synthesis of contractual and covenantal social relations; and Transformative Religious Movements privilege covenantal over contractual social relations. Again, I shall select specific cases of the three types of prophetic groups to illustrate these three locations along the contractual/covenantal continuum. The cases discussed here are considerably more diverse culturally than the priestly organizations examined previously to reflect the range of groups studied as new religious movements over the last several decades.


The expansion of contractualism during recent decades has produced movements within the Fundamentalist tradition engaged in more active resistance. Roof ( 1986: 29) observes that "Even if they did lose the theological battle in the 1920s, there was no great perceived gap in the decades that followed between fundamentalist views on morality and those of the populace at large. But this would change with the 1960s. The discontinuities in the traditional pattern became so acute as to constitute a breakdown in the historic patterns." For the most part resistance has been mounted over family-related issues. Iannaccone (1993: 356) notes that the New Christian Right has shown little interest in changing economic policy; but this "lack of support for economic legislation contrasts sharply with its approach to moral and educational issues such as abortion, school prayer, the teaching of creationism, tuition tax credits, and gay rights." On all of these issues, and others as well, Fundament~Ÿ have experienced significant losses, which has dramatically reduced their capacity to prevent the extension of state/economy control into the private sphere. The Fundamentalist position has always been that the free enterprise system must rest on a Christian moral order Recent events have only served to increase their conviction that "Government must be recaptured from liberals, secular humanists, feminists, and the 'adversary culture' ensconced in academia and the mass media" (Fields 1991: 177).


Adaptive Religious M ovements (Contractual Orientation )


Adaptive Religious Movements include a very diverse array of movements; the most important for present purposes are the myriad New Age groups and the various quasi-religious therapies (Greil and Robbins 1994). The focus of attention here will be the mass marketed quasi-religious therapies such as Arica, est (and its successor groups), Lifespring, Transcendental Meditation, and Scientology (Stark and Bainbridge 1985; Greil and Robbins 1994; Westley 1983; Tipton 1982). Among contemporary groups Adaptive Religious Movements may be located as outgrowths of the Human Potential movement andas related to the larger set of what has been termed New Social Movements, although arguably they have counterparts during the last century (Bednarowski 1989). Hannigan (1991: 320) notes that most New Social Movements, which operate in the public sector, specifically address issues related to individual rights that are essential to contractualism, "The right to one's own life-style, the right to be different, the protection of the individual against new kinds or risks." And they are most likely to appear a!ong the contractual/covenantal fault-line, oras Hannigan (1991: 322) puts it, in "those fields of experience where private life is becoming public . . . . " Although Adaptive Religious Movements often claim to be composed of adherents across the socioeconomic spectrum, their center of gravity is among younger, middle-class, Caucasians with lower to mid-level careers in public or corporate bureaucracies. Adaptive Religious Movements employ the prophetic method to authorize moderate deconstruction/reconstruction and destructuring/restructuring activity to create temporal/phenomenal realm and religious organization/environment relationships such that the logic of these relationships authorizes contractual relationships as the basis for covenantal relationships. The objective of these movements is to psychologically free participants temporarily from all relational networks and enhance voluntarism, autonomy, and rational control so that all subsequent relationships are freely chosen. The operating assumption is that individuals so empowered will be in control of contractual relationships in the public sphere, uniquely free to form covenantal relationships, and able to choose any type of private and public sphere integration. Achieving this degree of autonomy entails temporarily intensifying movement authorization of interpersonal relationships, but with a longer term goal of diminished movement control. Adaptive Religious Movements create discontinuity with a range of dominant institutions, public and private, and may target or emphasize different institutions. However, because therapy is the modality they share in common, the central concern of Adaptive Religious Movements is the impact of repressive institutions on individuals. Discontinuity is therefore constructed at the individual level. Deconstruction of the legitimacy of dominant institutions is effected through a narrative that fundamentally challenges conventional understandings of private troubles. Adaptive Religious Movement narratives propose that human beings inherently and naturally possess attributes and abŸ "true selves," that greatly transcend those they are presently able to express. The ultimate reality thus is "I-ness," and from this perspective, the Self

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is Creator. Full and natural expression of individual essence existed in the primordial past, but that essence has reached such a seriously degraded state that individuals have lost awareness of their spiritual essence. The diminished capacities and everyday problems that individuals currently exhibit are the product of the corrosive effects of major institutions, which alienate individuals from themselves and lead them to equate the true self with their social persona. However, unique individual essence exists beneath the imprint of repressive social relations. Freedom from an Adaptive Movement perspective therefore entails realizing one's full potential, which is a basic right and the central project of life. While expanding personal autonomy is liberating in both the public and private spheres, sacralization of selfhood by Adaptive Religious Movements provides religious legitimation primarily for containment public sphere claims. Traditional religion and therapy both are repressive forces: religion for enforcing social compliance under the guise of moral precepts; and therapy for preserving conformity under the banner of mental health. Adaptive Religious Movements ayer that expression of natural individual essence is the only ethical behavior; however, since the human spirit is fundamentally beneficent, collective good will emanate from individual good. From the perspective of these movements, then, both covenantal and contractual institutions, which purport to create and sustain individual freedom and autonomy, in fact have subverted those essential human qualities. Adaptive Religious Movements often have organizational elements that ate designed to model their antidotes for social ills, and they either establish these under independent auspices or attempt to insert them into established institutions. However, the primary goal of these movements is restructuring of individual personalities. From their perspective, groups are merely the product of individual action and have no a pr/or/, independent existence. Since groups can meaningfuUy exist only through individuals but have the capacity to undermine the source of their existence, they must never be allowed to impair the free expression of individuality. The collective must act in the interest of its basic component elements, individuals; reciprocally, by acting in accord with their essential human nature, individuals will foster meaningful group life. Group activity in Adaptive Religious Movements is directed at strengthening rational/instrumental competence through control over the mindforain, with the ultimate objective of enhancing individual control over the external environment. This means stripping away the debilitating emotions, psychological defenses, and role behaviors that individuals have mistakenly come to identify as their true selves. In order to accomplish this objective, Adaptive Religious Movements appropriate central elements of the contractual social order - - bureaucracy, science, technology, education - - in the service of individual liberation. Legitimation for movement ideologies typically is sought in science/technology rather than religion, a status that many movements eschew. The movements themselves are organized in contractual fashion as classes/clinics/workshops/seminars that operate on a fee-for-service basis. S ince the group serves as a vehicle to create autonomous individuals, group membership is designed to be temporary. Covenantal relationships are tightly con-

REMEMBERINGTHE FUTURE

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Integrative Religious Movements (ContractuallCovenantal Synthesis) Integrative Religious Movements are those that seek to synthesize major elements of the contractual and covenantal social relations. One significant set of groups in this category is what I term "quasi-religious corporations," which have historical links to a variety of corporate and direct sales organizations that have drawn on harmonial philosophy and the "Gospel of Prosperity" (Bromley 1995; Bromley and Shupe 1990). There are a substantial number of these organizations, the most prominent of which include Mary Kay Cosmetics (beauty aids), Herbalife (vitamins, food supplement products), A. L Williams Insurance (term life insurance), Tupperware (food containers), Shaklee (nutritional products), Nu Skin (cosmetics and nutritional products), Home Interiors and Gifts (household and gift lines), and Amway, which now offers a very diversified product line (Biggart 1989). Among contemporary organizations quasi-religious corporations are an extension of direct sales organizations, in which individuals function as sales representatives, and franchises, through which individuals operate independent businesses as legally authorized subsidiaries of parent


strained; all groups permit some degree of "therapeutic eros," but in most it is strictly limited. Individuals are expected to graduate, and in some cases the group itself disbands. Adaptive Religious Movements direct destructuring/restructuring activity at the structure of the self (Westley 1983). They typically organize potent rituals of limited duration. One typical set of rituals in these movements employs various psychological techniques (relaxation, guided imagery, age regression) to create experientially the inner space in which the true self resides. Once such space has been created, individuals are invited to experience its transcendent and empowering qualities, move in and out of this space, and to secure it asa safe haven. In another common set of rituals individuals learn to control their outer, social personality by developing skills such as precise communication, behavioral conformity and efficiency, and dispassionate demeanor. The presumption is that if external social effects can be contained, the true essence of selfhood will be free to express itself naturally. Other common rituals orchestrate demonstration events in which adherents transcend previous personal limits or contravene natural laws. Such rituals may involve time#pace travel, assuming alternative physical forms, or transforming physical objects and material conditions. Rituals dramatize the struggle between socially imposed personality and natural individual essence, culminating in ecstatic celebrations of individual liberation (Da Matta 1979). In the restructuring stage rituals lead adherents in the direction of strengthening the boundary between the inner and outer self so that control can be exercised over the social world, thereby freeing the inner self for unfettered expression and development. Adherents are also encouraged to structure their relations with others so that personal needs are accorded primacy. Since the fundamental assumption of Adaptive Religious Movements is that group envelopment of individuals is the primary threat to individuality, rituals shift in the direction of moving adherents out of the close-support network the movement has provided through the prior stages.

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corporations. By contrast, the quasi-religious corporate ideal is families that operate largely independent franchises, each of which is authorized to initiate subsidiary units, which I refer to as family/businesses. The current crop of quasireligious corporations, which have posted substantial gains in distributor network size and sales volume since the mid-1960s, constitute one contemporary response to persistent contractual-covenantal tension. The primary social location from which these organizations draw participants is young, lower middle-class, Caucasian families with conservative political orientations. A number of these groups specificaUy recruit families and encourage spouses to assume the role of business as well as marriage partners (Juth 1985: 84). Quasireligious corporations also are popular in conservative religious circles where covenantal networks serve asa recruitment resource. Integrative Religious Movements employ the prophetic method to engage in moderate deconstruction/reconstruction and destructuring/restructuring activity to create transcendent/phenomenal realm and religion/environment relationships such that the logic of these organizations authorizes synthesizing contractual and eovenantal through creation of a novel form of organization. In the case of quasi-religious corporations, the synthesis involves an integration of economy and family. This set of movements is quasi-religious in the sense that organizations mix contractual and covenantal forms across the public-private sphere boundary and treat the resulting organizational synthesis as possessing and creating transcendent qualities. Integrative Religious Movements deconstruct the legitimacy claims of both public and private sphere institutions, although the state/economy is the primary target, and reconstruct a radically different vision of the social order. The quasireligious corporations assert that America has lost touch with its founding principles, with the qualities that made America great: an open economic system, individual freedom to achieve, strong families, and unswerving devotion to God and country. When America was founded, financial success in life was limited only by ability, imagination, initiative, and persistence. The root problem of contemporary society is that this natural order has been disrupted, and the existing order does not reflect these natural ordering principles. Individuals experience separation from the natural order as disintegration and contradictory behavioral imperatives. The fate of individuals becoming trapped in stultifying, regimented jobs is not the only consequence of the receding American dream. Perhaps even more damaging to society is the fragmentation of families. Both husbands and wives increasingly pursue individual careers; asa result, they spend much of their lives apart and have little to share with one another even when they are together. The vision offered by the quasi-religious corporations is one of restoring wholeness to life and the possibility of a "new beginning" both for the social order and for individuals. Quasi-religious corporations reject key premises of secular capitalism: that economic and social life are premised on scarcity and competition, that organizational behavior is determined by the "laws of the market," and that modern society compels separation of home and workplace. They begin with the alternative premise that there are transcendent ordering principles, either divinely inspired or inherent in the very nature of the universe,



that naturally yield abundance and fulfillment for humanity. Economic enterprise therefore can be based on cooperation and sharing of opportunity, and there is no reason to segregate economic and domestic activity. Individual success is reconstructed in very traditional, economic terms and reflects being in a state of harmony with the principles of achievement and natural prosperity. It is also linked to the more contemporary notions of self-fulfillment as economic success that yields personal fulfillment through the enhanced financial capacity to make lifestyle choices. The key to success is understanding this natural right to prosper, remaining absolutely convinced that one will succeed despite present circumstances, and constantly rekindling the motivation to succeed. Maintaining the proper frame of mind will create the diligence of effort required to succeed. This narrowly constructed definition of success creates a clear set of guidelines for life and a sharp distinction between "winners" and "losers;" genuine failure results from having a negative mental attitude and giving up on one's own potential for success. The quasi-religious corporations engage in destructuring/restructuring activity primarily across the public-private sphere boundary separating work and family. If the expansion of contractualism has the effect of moving families toward more firm-like organization, the prophetic response is to re-integrate the two but with the family in control of the firm. The relationship between family and economy is transposed as the corporate world is distanced, operating simply asa supplier of goods and services at the behest of the family/business. Because family is designated as the central coordinating institution in the network of social relations, it becomes possible to integrate religion as well with family and economy. Quasi-religious corporate family/businesses bridge the gulf betweer~ family and economy, re-integrating the two spheres. The new form of organization falls outside the realm of family and economy, and it mediates between the two by simultaneously being neither and both. Contemporary family relationships, characterized by growing separation between spouses and between parents and children, also are destructured/restructured. The family unit is reorganized as spouses, and sometimes children, become partners in the family/business. In a similar fashion, adherents do not forro covenantal relationships along the traditional axes of neighborhood, ethnicity, or kinship but link families through social networks based on mutual economic interests. The emphasis on the new social unit as business prevents feminization of the male role by too close an association with the household, and the supporting role women play in business activity blunts any implication that women are abdicating their primary roles as wives and mothers. Providing acceptable roles for both spouses permits quasi-religious corporations to mobilize the family unit rather than individuals, which intensifies organizational commitment. Organizational activity in quasi-religious corporations is extensively ritualized. The risk of giving up more predictable corporate careers, stable income, and benefits in pursuit of the dream of economic freedom is daunting and requires a leap of faith. These organizations therefore periodically arrange ceremonies that feature testimonials and conspicuous displays of wealth by successful distributors to bolster neophytes' motivation and commitment. Organization leaders command a parental level of moral authority and influence over their

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"downlines" because they have unlocked the mystery of becoming wealthy. During the course of these ceremonial occasions, successful distributors mingle with, offer encouragement to, and share the "secrets" of the success with aspiring neophytes. Unity is fostered by insisting on a distinction not between successes and failures (outsiders are the failures) but between those who have already achieved success and those who are on the verge of success. The testimonials of ordinary individuals who have become fabulously wealthy confirms that the organization has eliminated the modern corporate requirement for large amounts of capital or educational credentials to succeed. Personal effort, commitment, and belief are the important ingredients of success, qualities that any individual can muster. The unity of the gathering demonstrates that the quest for success does not mandate cut-throat competition because the opportunity for success is limitless. Participants therefore freely celebrate each other's successes and form mutually supportive social networks as they each pursue their own destiny.

Transformative Religious Movements (Covenantal Orientation) Downloaded from socrel.oxfordjournals.org by guest on July 25, 2011

Asa set, the Transformative Religious Movements are extremely diverse in terms of cultural origin, and they are by far the most controversial by virtue of incorporating the prophetic method with encompassing covenantalism. The most visible and embattled movements over the last several decades have been Unificationism, Hare Krishna, The Family (originally the Children of God) movements (Barker 1984; Bromley and Shupe 1979; Shinn 1987; Rochford 1985; Van Zandt 1991). These movements all drew converts primarily from the ranks of Caucasian, well-educated, middle-class, young adults caught between family-orchestrated covenantal demands and impending state/corporate-orchestrated contractual demands. Historically, there were a number of parallel movements during the nineteenth century (Bednarowski 1989; Moore 1986), and during the period beginning in the 1960s there was an unprecedented number of groups that shared experimentation with communal organization with these movements (Zablocki 1980). Transformative Religious Movements employ the prophetic method to authorize deconstruction/reconstruction and destructuring/restructuring activity to create transcendent/phenomenal realm and religion/environment relationships such that the logic of these relationships authorizes covenantal relations as the basis for all social relations. These movements engage in the most radical deconstruction/reconstruction and destructuring/restructuring, literally attempting to create a new beginning for both individuals and the social order. Transformative Religious Movements deconstruct the legitimacy claims of both public and private sector institutions. The narratives that these movements create rewrite human history. Each of them asserts that in primordial time there was a covenantal relationship between creator and creation. However, humans separated themselves from divine purpose, and the subsequent individual and collective problems that have plagued humankind can be traced to that defining moment. The solution to the problems confronting humankind, therefore, is restoration of the appropriate relationship with deity, a process that calls for a total transformation of individual and social relationships. The metaphors used



to symbolize this appropriate relationship typically are of love, nurturance, and family. Public sphere institutions generally are excoriated for failing to provide spiritual and moral leadership and permitting the pervasive corruption that adherents of these movements perceive to characterize the social world around them. However~ the family is also critiqued. Family, like state and economy, should be oriented to divine purpose, and it is the individual's relationship to spiritual family that should be the ultimate locus of loyalty. Likewise, individuals should be grounded in spiritual relationships; the u[timate reality is "We-ness." To deny this fundamental reality is to leave individuals bereft of social moorings, engaged in an endless and fruitless quest for gratification of egoistic needs and desires. Normative frameworks and collective rootedness ate not confining but liberating if they reflect true human nature and purpose. It is through embeddedness in group life that individuals gain identity, energy, and purpose. The solution is to resist the siren call of egoistic desire; personal fulfillment will naturally emerge when individuals commit themselves to their place in the larger purpose of which they are part. Correspondingly, sin consists of falling out of proper relationship with deity, however that is symbolized. The substance of this critique gains force through an apocalyptic view of history. Human capacity for self direction through existing institutions is so eroded that unilateral intervention from the transcendent realm is imperative to reorient relationships to the phenomenal world. The process of destructuring/restructuring is more radical in Transformative Religious Movements than in any of the other types. Virtually all pre-existing forms of differentiation are eliminated. Through destructuring these movements create collectivist, totalistic organization and attempt to obviate the need for extra-movement involvement by subsuming all survival needs internally. Support for and involvement in state/economy authorized institutions ate likely to be withdrawn since these institutions are perceived as lacking the necessary grounding in spiritual and moral values. In addition, however, there is a destructuring of conventional family organization through distancing from families of orientation and suspending or severing marital relationships. A comparable process occurs at the individual level. Pre-existing status differences, personal orientations, and relational networks are eliminated as completely as possible through an intensive process of ritualized initiation and socialization. The restructuring process is constructed around religion as the central coordinating and legitimating form of social relations. AII social activity is sacralized and differentiation emanates from a religious core. Economic activity, whether public fund-raising or movement-sponsored business enterprises, is organized in the service of religious ends. Marriage and family are regarded as spiritual relationships and are wedded to religious purpose. Family relationships are formed or renewed only after individuals have first committed themselves to the movement's religious purpose, and religious goals continue to supercede family loyalties. The new movement based family is constructed in contradistinction to adherents' families of orientation. Reconstruction of family relationships is accomplished through such mechanisms as adopting a new name, creating movement authorized marital bonds, and tracing family lineage to the prophetic leader. A vision of a theocratic political system sometimes is fashioned

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CONCLUSIONS Since the Protestant Reformation, Western societies have organized social relations both contractually and covenantally, forms that are both integral to and incompatible with one another. The tensions between groups organizing themselves through different combinations of the two forms has varied in intensity. Recent decades in American society constitute one of the moments of crisis precipitated by contractual-covenantal tension when groups in a variety of social locations have intensified organized efforts to restructure social relations along the contractual-covenantal axis. Because religion involves the ultimate means of authorizing social relations, there has been an intensification of organized effort reconfiguring the relationship between contractual and covenantal forms across a range of religious organizations. These efforts can be measured by the developmental trends within institutionalized organization as well as the structural features of new groups that form: commonalities in the


and some attempts may be made to the current regime, but the high degree of conflict with the larger society sharply limits such initiatives. In any event, the internal organization becomes a model for the social relations that wiU be established following intervention from the transcendent realm. Likewise, Transformative Religious Movements orchestrate group life so that individuals integrate their lives around collective, religious goals. Adherents are socialized to value and seek to build feelings such as love, trust, commitment, selflessness, humility, and devotion in order to connect meaningfully with others. Status within the group rests on spiritual qualities rather than personal achievement. Group life in Transformative Religious Movements is highly ritualized. These movements have placed themselves at the edge m of time, space, and order. They are located between a world that they reject and one that has yet to be born, which yields structural liminality. In order to maintain contact with the "true reality" residing in the transcendent realm and resist the "apparent reality" of the phenomenal world around them, such movements organize a range of rituals m prayer, prophecy, glossolalia - - that affirm the former against the latter. They also ritualize relationships with outsiders, through witnessing, conversion, prophetic warnings, solicitation of material suport, and with the external social environment, through symbolic campaigns directed at purification or transformation. The daily round of life within the group is punctuated with collective occasions at which embeddeness, connectedness, cooperating, and sharing are emphasized. Individual relationships also are extensively ritualized. This process begins with the transformative destructuring/restructuring experiences associated with conversion and continues with various types of ego suppression, such as mortification and confession. Individual achievements are conspicuously attributed to connection to the group and transcendent power. Adherents demonstrate the power of unity through engaging in projects that cannot be completed individually, submitting personal interests to group needs, and leaving themselves vulnerable to others. Al1 of these rituals dramatize the dangers of unregulated individuality and culminate in ecstatic celebrations of group unity.


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