Robert Nisbet on How the Religious Community and Civilizational Form Differs from the Political and the Military Form

Discussion

Paul Mueller:

"The third major form of community contrasts with the first two. Christianity and the religious community have profoundly shaped western culture. Nisbet focuses on how subversive universal religions like Christianity are. Jesus demands complete obedience—even to the sacrificing of relationship with father, mother, sister, or brother. One’s relationship with Christ becomes the primary identity and the community of faith takes precedence over communities of kinship, military, and political. This is part of why defenders and advocates of these other forms of community tend to be deeply critical, or at least suspicious, of Christianity.

Nisbet names Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD) as the most profound and influential advocate of the religious community or, in Augustine’s words, of the City of God. Augustine presents a radically different view of history and of the entire human race than any who had come before. No longer were specific nations or tribes or families important. No more were gods local and cultural. Humanity was the product of God’s hand and the clay He was intentionally shaping through history. Of course, you have later religious thinkers presenting related visions of religious communities: Luther, Calvin, but also Erasmus, Montaigne, and even Newman, Kierkegaard, and Weber. In fact, modern sociology was largely built on the study of religion in human society and history. Even non-Christians recognize the power and centrality of religion to community.

The religious community relies upon the ideas of sacred and secular, of dogma, rites, and the cult. Rituals bind people to one another and separate them from those who do not participate in the rites. Dogma defines belief and unbelief and extends the authority of religion into all aspects of one’s personal life and decisions.

Interestingly, Nisbet sees Calvin and Luther as revolting against the religious community. This may seem odd, but Nisbet’s point is that both Calvin and Luther rejected many of the constituent elements of religious community—rites, dogma, and beliefs—while simultaneously elevating (or atomizing) the individual believer before God. The priesthood of all believers fundamentally undercut much of the structure of the Roman Catholic Church—and the various communities formed around it (monasteries, dioceses, religious orders, etc.)."

(https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/how-do-communities-form-exploring-social-philosophers-5920234)