DeConick A.D

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THE PI OF POLITICS
impart grace because they were transmitted from the apostles to their successors,
who are now the leaders and guardians of the Apostolic Catholic
church (Hippolytus, Refutation 1.pref.6).
The Apostolic Catholics had assumed that Christian rituals were public
affairs, open to all and free to all. There were no expectations on their part
that baptism or the Eucharist needed ritual augmentation to be effective,
or that advanced learning was necessary to reap the benefits of salvation.
Once people were baptized and reoriented their lives as obedient servants
of YHWH, they belonged to the church community, the body of Christ
that was saved.
How Are Differences Valued?
Transgression works to define our differences. When it comes to transgression,
there is a general rule of thumb: the more difference there is in
a society, the more transgression there is. The more diverse the society,
the more transgression comes into play (Meier 1989).
Transgression only exists in societies where there are differences, because
we place value on differences. Some differences we come to value
more than others. If a society values education, then it disvalues undereducation.
If a society values occupations with high prestige, it disvalues
occupations with little or no prestige.
When people act transgressively, we are forced to place value on our
differences and to create shared standards about them (Durkheim [1895]
1982; Jenks 2003, 16–32). Difference, then, promotes the creation and
maintenance of norms and the attachment of the moral qualities “good”
or “bad” to behaviors that ought to be adopted or avoided. This is how
judgments about “better” and “worse” begin to influence the definition
of transgression in societies, and its negative classifications. However, societies
do not fix these judgments in stone; they are relative because they are
dependent upon dynamic standards. As the standards shift or the group
changes, so too do the ways people are transgressive and the amount of
disapproval their transgression arouses (Clinard and Meier 2008, 11).
These insights have led sociologists to conclude that nothing is inherently
deviant. Rather, transgression requires a judgment, which must refer
to a norm (16). Transgression is not transgression unless it is marked as