1.4.3 From Exploration via Description Towards Explanation

My perception of the movement developed as I continued through the „hermeneutic circle” of this study (Swanborn 1987:21, Woldring 1991: 50). Accordingly, theories took on different roles and importance. Initially, my approach was explorative.

What united and separated the various cultures, ways of life and systems of belief of this little movement? Did their beliefs and experiences influence their social structures and ways of organizing? What events made the individuals and groups what they were when I met them? How did these groups, which were so different and still claimed to belong to one movement, interact with one another? Which problems and strengths did their relations reveal?

After I had analysed and synthesized again the material that I had collected in the field, I tried relating the results to various theories, to make sense of the total, to perceive it holistically. I even tried to consider its future. Was there a way to make somehow sense of the whole movement? Could there even be some kind of common denominator that would at least help embracing the movement's contradicting cultural expressions? What would come of this little, internally highly fragmented and externally seriously attacked movement? How could I present my findings without endangering particular individuals or groups? Considering all this, I was not one minute bored.