Independent Sacramental Movement
- Independent Sacramental Movement
The Independent Sacramental Movement (ISM) refers to the extremely loose collection of orders, churches, jurisdictions, and freelance clergy made up of sacramental Christians (and, depending on how one draws boundaries, some Christo-Pagans and Thelemites) who are not part of the historic sacramental denominations. Many in the ISM owe their origins to schisms from Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches, and generally claim to preserve the historical episcopate or apostolic succession, though this claim would be rejected by the ecclesial authorities of Rome, Constantinope and Utrecht. Groups which are structurally similar but without claiming the apostolic succession may also be classed as part of the ISM.
Groups within the ISM (often known as Independent Catholic, Old Catholic, Liberal Catholic, Autocephalous Orthodox, Free Sacramental, etc) tend to share a number of characteristics: small groups and/or solitary clergy, centrality of the sacramental life (especially the Eucharist), a mediatory priesthood mostly composed of volunteers, ordination potentially available to a significant percentage of the membership, and experimentation in theology, liturgy, and/or church structure.
The term was popularised by John Plummer in his book "The Many Paths of the Independent Sacramental Movement," although first used by Richard Smoley in "Inner Christianity." ISM groups range from the broadly inclusive (including marriage of same-sex couples and the ordination of women) to the socially conservative; also from the traditionally orthodox to the esoteric, although the term is most commonly employed to refer to the liberal end of the spectrum. While the term "Independent Sacramental" originated as an etic description, it has been used increasingly as an emic self-description by members of some of these churches and groups.
Plummer, John. "The Many Paths of the Independent Sacramental Movement." 2nd ed., Apocryphile Press, 2006.
Smoley, Richard. "Inner Christianity." Shambhala, 2002.
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