Talk:Church-sect typology

Established Churches

It seems as though our discussion of established churches is a bit muddled. The Catholic Church is described as having become a denomination, at least in the United States (and as becoming one in Latin America). But, at the same time, we seem to be describing established protestant churches like the Church of England or the Church of Denmark, as being "ecclesias", which is to say, a kind of weaker subcategory of "Church". But if the Church of England is an "ecclesia," surely the Catholic Church must hold at least that status in Catholic countries like those in Latin America, or Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, etc. Or are we only saying that the Church of England used to be an Ecclesia, say, in the 19th century, but that it too is now really a denomination? The whole thing seems a bit unclear, at the moment. john k 17:08, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Oppose the merge to this article. Typologies of cults and new religious movements have little to do with church sect typology and would be off-topic here. A merge the other way round would be a reasonable possibility though Andries (talk) 07:52, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

How does Roy Wallis' distinction between cults (epistomological individualism) and sects (epistomological authoritarianism) fit in to this typology? I have the impression that it does not and that it should be added to sociological classifications of religious movements. Andries (talk) 19:47, 10 February 2008 (UTC)