ABSTRACT
In addition to adopting a theological definition of "cult", Walter Martin introduced various social indicators such as "terminological deception" and "closed mindedness". Hassan's final criterion breaks down to "recruitment, group maintenance and freedom to leave". Henry Fielding's comment, at the head of this chapter, illustrates the problem of defining cults by making a joke about religious prejudice. He draws attention to the ease with which people define religion in terms of their own beliefs and practices. The word "cult" has a long history of different meanings. During the nineteenth century, various theologians used the term to describe ritual practices associated with religious centers. Academic discussions about the classification of religious organizations are strongly influenced by the works of Max Weber and his friend and colleague Ernst Troeltsch, who categorized organizations according to the notion of the ideal type, an approximation that expresses the essence of an organization in its pure form.
