Changes

==Origin==

==Origin==

[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] secte, from Anglo-French & Late Latin & [[Latin]]; Anglo-French, group, faction, from Late Latin secta organized [[ecclesiastical]] body, from Latin, [[course]] of [[action]], way of life, probably from sectari to pursue, frequentative of sequi to follow

[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] secte, from Anglo-French & Late Latin & [[Latin]]; Anglo-French, group, faction, from Late Latin secta organized [[ecclesiastical]] body, from Latin, [[course]] of [[action]], way of life, probably from sectari to pursue, frequentative of sequi to follow

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_century 14th Century]

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_century 14th Century]

The [[word]] sect comes from the [[Latin]] noun secta (a feminine form of a variant past participle of the verb sequi, to follow), meaning "(beaten) path", and figuratively a (prescribed) way, mode, or [[manner]], and hence metonymously, a [[discipline]] or [[school]] of [[thought]] as defined by a set of [[methods]] and [[doctrines]]. The present gamut of [[meanings]] of sect has been [[influenced]] by [[confusion]] with the homonymous (but etymologically unrelated) [[Latin]] word secta (the feminine form of the past participle of the verb secare, to cut), as sects were scissions cut away from the [[mainstream]] religion. Note that speakers of some other languages use the same word for both the [[meaning]] sect and the meaning [[cult]], for example in Italian: setta.

The [[word]] sect comes from the [[Latin]] noun secta (a feminine form of a variant past participle of the verb sequi, to follow), meaning "(beaten) path", and figuratively a (prescribed) way, mode, or [[manner]], and hence metonymously, a [[discipline]] or [[school]] of [[thought]] as defined by a set of [[methods]] and [[doctrines]]. The present gamut of [[meanings]] of sect has been [[influenced]] by [[confusion]] with the homonymous (but etymologically unrelated) [[Latin]] word secta (the feminine form of the past participle of the verb secare, to cut), as sects were scissions cut away from the [[mainstream]] religion. Note that speakers of some other languages use the same word for both the [[meaning]] sect and the meaning [[cult]], for example in Italian: setta.

<center>For lessons on the related [[topic]] of '''''[[Cults]]''''', follow [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Cults '''''this link'''''].</center>

<center>For lessons on the related [[topic]] of '''''[[Cults]]''''', follow [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Cults '''''this link'''''].</center>

==Definitions==

==Definitions==

:c : faction  

:c : faction  

==Description==

==Description==

A '''sect''' is a [[group]] with distinctive [[religious]], [[political]] or [[philosophical]] [[beliefs]]. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in [[modern]] [[culture]] can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a [[different]] set of rules and principles. The term is occasionally used in a malicious way to suggest the broken-off group follows a more [[negative]] path than the [[original]]. The historical usage of the term sect in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christendom Christendom] has had pejorative connotations, referring to a [[group]] or [[movement]] with [[heretical]] [[beliefs]] or [[practices]] that deviate from those of groups considered [[orthodox]].

A '''sect''' is a [[group]] with distinctive [[religious]], [[political]] or [[philosophical]] [[beliefs]]. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in [[modern]] [[culture]] can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a [[different]] set of rules and principles. The term is occasionally used in a malicious way to suggest the broken-off group follows a more [[negative]] path than the [[original]]. The historical usage of the term sect in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christendom Christendom] has had pejorative connotations, referring to a [[group]] or [[movement]] with [[heretical]] [[beliefs]] or [[practices]] that deviate from those of groups considered [[orthodox]].

The English sociologist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Wallis Roy Wallis] [[argues]] that a sect is characterized by “epistemological authoritarianism”: sects possess some [[authoritative]] locus for the legitimate attribution of [[heresy]]. According to Wallis, “sects lay a claim to [[possess]] [[unique]] and [[privileged]] access to the [[truth]] or salvation and “their committed adherents typically regard all those outside the confines of the collectivity as 'in [[error]]'”. He [[contrasts]] this with a [[cult]] that he described as characterized by “epistemological individualism” by which he means that “the cult has no clear locus of final [[authority]] beyond the [[individual]] member.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sect]

The English sociologist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Wallis Roy Wallis] [[argues]] that a sect is characterized by “epistemological authoritarianism”: sects possess some [[authoritative]] locus for the legitimate attribution of [[heresy]]. According to Wallis, “sects lay a claim to [[possess]] [[unique]] and [[privileged]] access to the [[truth]] or salvation and “their committed adherents typically regard all those outside the confines of the collectivity as 'in [[error]]'”. He [[contrasts]] this with a [[cult]] that he described as characterized by “epistemological individualism” by which he means that “the cult has no clear locus of final [[authority]] beyond the [[individual]] member.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sect]

==See also==

==See also==

*'''''[[Cult]]'''''

*'''''[[Cult]]'''''

 

[[Category: Religion]]

[[Category: Religion]]

[[Category: Sociology]]

[[Category: Sociology]]