Protestantism

Perhaps it will be objected that the sociologist is not supposed to concern himself with the purity and orthodoxy of the religions which he studies. Thus he will study Christianity as he finds it given historically, as it appears empirically, and consequently he will have the right to apply categories to it which he utilizes for other religions. Is it not true, in fact, that Roman Catholicism has its holy places, its pilgrimages, that its priests are cloaked with an indelible sacred character? Does not Protestantism itself conduct consecrations of church buildings and even of bells, and, all the while denying the priesthood, carry out ordinations of ministers which strongly remind one of sacerdotal consecrations? All this cannot be denied, and sociology makes no claim to be a normative science: it studies a religion as phenomenon.

If a sociology of Christianity must take account of this fact, a sociology of Protestantism has even more reason to bear it in mind. For Protestantism was born of a doctrinal reform which was effected by doctors of theology. This reform was raised against the omnipotence of practices, of forms of piety, of the elements of sociological morphology. It aspired to reform the visible communities of the church according to a doctrinally determined archetype. It had desired that the line going from Christology through ecclesiology to the organization of the parishes be as direct as possible. The question is not primarily one of knowing if the Reformation was perfectly successful in this enterprise and if "non-theological factors" intervened in the constitution of the church and of the parishes. The primary obligation of the sociologist who studies the Protestant church is that of taking account of this intention, of this essence of Protestantism, following which he can investigate the manner in which they have operated or not operated.

For Protestantism, the invisible church appears and is manifested in the visible church (of all the Reformers Calvin gave the most consistency to the visible church; nevertheless, he maintained that the invisible church and the visible church were only one church). The visible church, for Protestantism, is the sign of the invisible church. It is important not to lose sight of this intention of Protestant thought; otherwise, belonging to the church would become identical with belonging to any spiritual, charitable, or philanthropic society whatever.

Sociography establishes memberships and determines the dimensions, volume, geographical density, and social density (the frequency and intensity of relationships on the interior of the group) of the religious society; classifies members according to their degree of integration into the religious society. This degree of integration must not be confused with the degree of faith of the members, which is a reality that, as such, lies beyond the observation of the sociologist. Le Bras has proposed, for Catholicism, a classification that mutatis mutandis is valid also for Protestantism: the unattached, seasonal church-goers (Easter Christians), regular attenders at Sunday mass, the devout.

In schematic fashion, we can say that for Catholicism this revelation resides in a sacred doctrinal deposit entrusted to a hierarchy which looks after its integrity, its teaching, and its explication; for Protestantism it resides in a living word which resounds from out the holy books of the Old and New Testaments, primarily when it is preached to the assembled community; for Orthodoxy, finally, it resides in a liturgy of the church which, because it is lived drama, abolishes the distance between the events of holy history and the present time, and thus integrates the faithful into sacred time.

Why does Protestantism remain faithful, through all its crises, to the principle of the return to the sources, whereas Catholicism is oriented towards attempts to explain primitive dogma and puts its trust in the living tradition? History alone calls forth such questions and they have need of being elucidated historically in order that sociology may grasp the profile of a religion.