LATIN AMERICAN SOCIO-RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROGRAM PROLADES TOWARD A CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN THE AMERICAS BY MAJOR TRADITIONS AND FAMILY TYPES by Clifton L. Holland First Edition: October 30, 1993 Revised edition: April 23, 2001 PROLADES Apartado 1524-2050, San Pedro, Costa Rica Telephone: (506) 283-8300; Fax (506) 234-7682 E-Mail:
[email protected] Internet: www.prolades.com 1 2 CONTENTS 1. Document #1: TOWARD A CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN THE AMERICAS BY MAJOR TRADITIONS AND FAMILY TYPES 5 2. Document #2: AN ANNOTATED OUTLINE OF THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS BY MAJOR TRADITIONS, FAMILIES AND SUBFAMILIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE AMERICAS 13 3. Document #3: AN APPLICATION OF THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM TO THE STUDY OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE GREATER LOS ANGELES METROPOLITAN AREA (GLAMA) 55 3 4 Document #1: TOWARD A CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN THE AMERICAS BY MAJOR TRADITIONS AND FAMILY TYPES by Clifton L. Holland INTRODUCTION During the past 30 years, the author has sought to gain a clearer understanding of the origin, growth and development of religious movements around the world. We have approached this study from the perspective of an evangelical missiologist ("missiology" is the study of the Christian Mission), who has attempted to understand the phenomenology of religion aided by the social sciences. Much of our research has been in the area of the sociology of religion, and we have focused largely on the Latin American and Caribbean cultural regions. One of the early results of our research was The Religious Dimension in Hispanic Los Angeles: A Protestant Case Study (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Press, 1974).