Jean Séguy (5 March 1925 – 9 November 2007) was a French sociologist of religions. He was particularly interested in

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

s, religious conflicts and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. He was also member of the

École des hautes études en sciences sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conj ...

. He served as editor-in-chief of the journal ''

Archives de sciences sociales des religions ''Archives de sciences sociales des religions'' (ASSR), known as the ''Archives de sociologie des religions'' pre-1973, is a quarterly peer-reviewed open access academic journal focused on religious studies. It is published by the Éditions de l ...

'' between 1980 and 1988.

Biography

He was born in a Catholic family from south-western France on 5 March 1925. In 1970, he became a doctor of Letters, specialized in English literature. Under the influence of

Henri Desroche Henri Desroche (; 12 April 19141 June 1994) was a French priest and sociologist. His writings center on the sociology of religion and cooperative systems and movements. He was a priest in the Dominican Order. Life Henri Desroche was born 12 Apr ...

he moved from literature to the

Sociology of religion Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use both of Quantitative research, quantit ...

and spent the rest of his career as research director of the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

. In 1973, his book ''Les Conflits du dialogue'', on the ecumenical activities of the smaller Christian denominations, consecrated him as a skilled sociologist of religious minorities. He died in

Liancourt Liancourt () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 680 Communes of France, communes of the Oise Departments of France, department of ...

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

, aged 82. Influenced by the work of

Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...

and

Ernst Troeltsch Ernst Peter Wilhelm Troeltsch (; ; 17 February 1865 – 1 February 1923) was a German liberal Protestant theologian, a writer on the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of history, and a classical liberal politician. He was a member of ...

, he was particularly interested in

s, religious conflicts and

(especially

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

and its nonconformist sects,

Seventh-day Adventism The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath ...

). In 1977, he was the author of a notable thesis on the

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

s and

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

s. He was also member of the

. He served as editor-in-chief of the journal ''

'' between 1980 and 1988.

Bibliography

* ''Les Sectes protestantes dans la France contemporaine'', Paris, Beauchesne, 1956. * ''Ernst Troeltsch et sa sociologie du christianisme'', Paris, Cercle Ernest Renan, 1961. * ''Les Conflits du dialogue'', Paris, Le Cerf ed., 1973. * ''Les Assemblées anabaptistes-mennonites de France'', Paris; La Haye, Mouton, 1977. * ''Christianisme et société. Introduction à la sociologie de Ernst Troeltsch'', Paris, Le Cerf ed., 1980. * ''Conflit et utopie, ou Réformer l'Église. Parcours wébérien en douze essais'', Paris, Le Cerf ed., 1999.

References

1925 births 2007 deaths French sociologists Sociologists of religion French male writers 20th-century French male writers Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research {{reli-sociologist-stub