Christian denomination

• 1. A Label Half of Christianity Refuses

  ›

  The idea of a Christian denomination has a strange feature: the Catholic Church, with over 1.3 billion members, rejects the label. Those members make up 50.1% of all Christians worldwide. So roughly half of the faith's followers belong to a body that sees itself as something other than a denomination. That refusal raises a puzzle worth following. If the largest Christian body steps outside the category, what does the category actually describe? Who sits inside it, and who is left out? Why did a faith that was largely in communion in its earliest years break into so many groups? And do those groups still recognize one another as Christian?

  937381711

• 2. Defining the Word

  ›

  A name, a particular history, an organization and a line of leadership all help identify a denomination. So do doctrine, a style of worship and, sometimes, a founder. The term itself is secular and neutral. It usually describes an established church within the religious mainstream, unlike a cult or a sect. Most denominations call themselves churches, while some newer ones switch freely between churches, assemblies and fellowships.

  Dividing lines come from authority and doctrine. The nature of Jesus, apostolic succession, the reading of scripture, the shape of church government, beliefs about the last things and papal primacy can each separate one body from another.

  The word church carries two meanings. It can name a particular organization with its own clergy, buildings and distinctive doctrines, or it can mean the whole body of Christians. Some traditional and evangelical Protestants separate the universal church from the local one. Becoming a believer in Christ makes a person part of the universal church, and that person may then join a fellowship of local believers. Some evangelical groups call themselves interdenominational fellowships. They partner with local churches, often to serve a particular group such as students or ethnic communities.

  Catholic writers once used founders' names as labels for rival churches, whether the founders were real or only purported. These founders were called heresiarchs. The practice let the Catholic side say that the other church began with a man, while the Catholic church began with Christ. It also made Christianity look fragmented, a problem the Catholic side would then try to fix on its own terms.

  Scholars of religion sort Christianity into six main groups: the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism and Restorationism. Each is treated as an organized body of Christians. The oldest of these divisions began with a language problem in the ancient world.

  12829317

• 3. Councils and Schisms

  ›

  Latin was the common language of the West, while the East largely wrote in Aramaic and Koine Greek. That gap, along with social and ethnic divisions between the Western Roman and Byzantine empires, shaped the first lasting differences. Theological developments were hard to translate from one half to the other.

  The Council of Ephesus in 431 produced the first split between churches that both survive today. The Church of the East rejected the council because it condemned Nestorius for his teachings, known as Nestorianism. How closely those definitions match what Nestorius actually taught is disputed. Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican and Reformed churches all accept the council. In modern times, Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dinkha IV of the Assyrian Church of the East signed a common Christological declaration as a basic step toward communion.

  The Council of Chalcedon in 451 brought the next large break. The Syriac Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox churches divided from the Chalcedonian church, and they share a doctrine called Miaphysitism. The Armenian Apostolic Church, whose representatives could not attend, did not accept the new dogmas. It is now counted among the Oriental Orthodox. Some argue that Chalcedon restored Nestorianism, since it endorsed the Tome of Leo, which can be read as contradicting Cyril of Alexandria. Yet many bishops who accepted Chalcedon declared the Tome faithful to Cyril, and Nestorius himself agreed to the council's conclusions. Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas later made common Christological statements too.

  Some early movements simply vanished. The Gnostics believed in an esoteric dualism called gnosis. The Ebionites denied the divinity of Jesus. The Arians treated Christ as a created being subordinate to the Father. Groups such as the Apollinarians and Montanists died out for lack of followers or were suppressed by the early church at large.

  Around 1054, patriarchs from the East and the West excommunicated one another in what is called the Great Schism. One major quarrel was the filioque clause, which the West added to the Nicene Creed and the East viewed as erroneous. Another was papal primacy. Everyone agreed that the Patriarch of Rome was owed a primacy of honour by the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem. The West insisted that this primacy extended to jurisdiction, and the Eastern patriarchs refused. Significant steps toward mending the rift came only in the 1960s, under Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras.

  Western movements also challenged Rome before the sixteenth century. The Cathars were very strong in medieval southwestern France but did not survive. In the 12th century Peter Waldo founded the Waldensians in northern Italy and southeastern France, and they were largely absorbed into later Protestant groups. In Bohemia, Jan Hus inspired the Hussites in the early 15th century, who defied Catholic dogma. The Moravian Church that grew from this movement still exists and counts among the major Protestant denominations.

  5655545761

• 4. Reformation and Its Offspring

  ›

  Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses were posted in Saxony on the 31st of October 1517, written as a list of grievances aimed at reforming the Western church. Luther's writings, together with the work of the Swiss theologian Huldrych Zwingli and the French theologian and politician John Calvin, pushed for changes in doctrine and practice. Church officeholders reacted harshly, and the reformers separated from the Catholic Church. By 2024 the total Protestant population had reached around 1.047 billion, about 39.8% of all Christians.

  In England, Henry VIII declared himself supreme head of the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy in 1534. He repressed both Lutheran reformers and those loyal to the pope. Thomas Cranmer, as Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced a Reformation that compromised between Calvinists and Lutherans. Anglicanism came to be seen as a middle way, or via media, between Lutheranism and Reformed Christianity. Since the Oxford Movement of the 19th century, some Anglo-Catholic writers have described it as both Protestant and Catholic.

  Lutherans and the Reformed both regarded their sixteenth-century reformation as a reforming of the Catholic Church, not a rejection of it. Still, Lutherans do not count themselves among what they call Reformed Protestantism, because of radical differences in sacramental theology. Among Baptists, Methodists and Lutherans, only the Lutherans took part in the official Protestation at Speyer. That protest followed a decree of the Second Diet of Speyer that mandated the burning of Luther's works.

  Protestant movements developed freely, and many split over theology. Pentecostalism grew out of spiritual revivals. Methodism began as a movement inside the Church of England. It became its own family of denominations when the American Revolutionary War complicated its ability to ordain ministers, and it later saw many schisms and mergers, especially around the holiness movement in the 20th century.

  The Anabaptists, including the Amish, Hutterites and Mennonites, rejected the Catholic and Lutheran practice of infant baptism. They are also noted for pacifism, and many do not see themselves as Protestant at all. The Quakers began in 17th century England and avoided priests and formal sacraments, including baptism with water. In America they were known for helping with the Underground Railroad.

  1412136568

• 5. Eastern Communions

  ›

  About 230 million adherents make the Eastern Orthodox Church the second-largest Christian body in the world, and it too considers itself the original pre-denominational Church. Orthodox Christians as a whole make up about 11.9% of global Christianity, and 80% of them are Eastern Orthodox while 20% are Oriental Orthodox. The Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of fully independent, self-governing churches, called autocephalous churches or jurisdictions. For the most part they recognize each other.

  No single bishop leads the Eastern Orthodox. Each bishop governs only his own diocese. The Patriarch of Constantinople holds the title Ecumenical Patriarch, meaning first among equals. If a great council is called, he presides over it, but he has no more power than any other bishop. The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest synod. The ancient patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem sit alongside the Georgian, Romanian, Serbian and Bulgarian churches. The common name Greek Orthodox is imprecise, since it properly refers to only one portion of the whole.

  Oriental Orthodoxy is organized in a similar way, with six national autocephalous churches and two autonomous bodies. The six are the Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Malankara, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches. Ethiopia and Eritrea have had strong bodies of believers since Christianity's infancy, yet they gained autocephaly only in 1963 and 1994. Internal differences here run deeper than among the Eastern Orthodox, especially in the variety of rites.

  The Church of the East, largely aniconic, is a third Eastern tradition. It has not been in communion with the Oriental Orthodox since before 431. In recent centuries it has split into three churches. The Baghdad-based Chaldean Catholic Church formed from groups that entered communion with Rome at different times, beginning in 1552, and it has been the largest since the early 20th century. The Assyrian Church of the East has carried that name officially since 1976. From 1933 to 2015 it was headquartered first in Cyprus and then in the United States, but its Catholicos-Patriarch Gewargis III, elected in 2015, lives in Erbil, Iraq. The Ancient Church of the East has been distinct since 1964 and is headed by Addai II Giwargis in Baghdad.

  The Catholic Church is itself a communion of self-governing churches, including 23 Eastern ones. These share the theological and liturgical traditions of their Orthodox counterparts but recognize the Bishop of Rome as universal head. Maronites, Melkites, Ukrainian Catholics and Coptic Catholics belong here, and they generally do not call themselves Roman Catholics. The smallest Eastern group is Eastern Lutheranism, founded in the early 20th century. It keeps Lutheran traditions while using Byzantine Rite liturgy, and the Ukrainian Lutheran Church is an example.

  1618484762

• 6. Restoration Movements

  ›

  Cane Ridge, Kentucky, was where Barton W. Stone's followers began, calling themselves simply Christians. Their movement was one of several that arose during the Second Great Awakening, which ran from 1790 to 1870. Restorationists collectively affirm a Great Apostasy, and they aim to restore what they see as primitive Christianity. The family includes Irvingians, Christadelphians, Swedenborgians, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, among others, though beliefs differ greatly between them.

  The second Stone-Campbell stream began in western Pennsylvania and Virginia, in what is now West Virginia. Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander Campbell led it, and they used the name Disciples of Christ. Both groups believed that creeds kept Christianity divided, and in 1832 they joined in fellowship with a handshake. They agreed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. They also held that the Lord's Supper belongs to the first day of every week and that baptism of adult believers by immersion is necessary for salvation. Members do not call themselves Protestant. One historian argues the movement was primarily about unity, with restoration playing a smaller role.

  The movement later divided into many groups. Three main branches exist in the United States: the Churches of Christ, the Christian churches and churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Some Churches of Christ and Plymouth Brethren congregations reject formal ties with other churches. The Plymouth Brethren are a similar group that began in the United Kingdom and is historically unrelated. Adventism, the Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian Science were all founded within fifty years of one another, and each considers itself a restoration of the early church.

  In 1830 Joseph Smith established the Church of Christ, from which most Latter Day Saint denominations derive. The largest today is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, colloquially called Mormonism. Mormons generally believe Smith, as prophet, seer and revelator, restored the original Church of Christ. Other Christians regard them as nontrinitarian, since they teach a Godhead of three separate personages united in purpose. They reject certain post-apostolic creeds, such as the Athanasian Creed.

  Smaller groups broke away after the move to the Rocky Mountains in the mid-1800s. Several left over the abandonment of plural marriage after the 1890 Manifesto. The so-called Prairie Saint denominations were founded by followers who did not go west with Brigham Young, and many of them favored the 1830s teachings over the theological developments of the 1840s.

  2185868291

• 7. Beyond the Map

  ›

  The first church council, held in Jerusalem, was called to address how Jewish followers of Jesus should relate to the new faith. James the Just, the first bishop of Jerusalem, wrote the deciding opinion. Messianic Jews today keep a Jewish identity while accepting Jesus as the Messiah and the New Testament as authoritative. At least 250,000 Jews converted to Christianity in the 19th century, according to records of various societies. Pew Research Center data puts about 1.6 million adult American Jews as identifying as Christians in 2013, most of them Protestants.

  In the 16th century, Unitarian churches emerged from the Reformed tradition in Italy, Poland, Lithuania, Transylvania, Hungary and Romania. They adopted the Anabaptist practice of baptizing believers rather than infants. The Unitarian Church of Transylvania is represented in the Protestant Theological Institute of Cluj. Because Unitarians reject the Athanasian Creed and its doctrine of the Trinity, many mainstream churches do not recognize them as Christians.

  Russia produced Spiritual Christianity, which includes the Molokans, Pryguny, Dukh-i-zhizniki and Doukhobors, each with a unique tradition. The Doukhobors have kept close ties with Mennonite Anabaptists and Quakers through similar practices. Together these groups are considered peace churches because of their pacifism.

  The Fourth Great Awakening, from the 1960s to the 1980s, brought the Charismatic Movement, the Jesus movement and many parachurch organizations rooted in Evangelicalism. Many independent churches consider themselves non-denominational, though their doctrine varies widely. The local churches movement reflects core traditional teachings. The Way International, by contrast, has been denounced as a cult by the Christian anti-cult movement. The Interfaith-Ecumenical Church exists entirely in a virtual, international form.

  The Unification Church and the Rastafari movement are unrelated in origin, yet each includes an additional Messiah or incarnation of Christ. Both cite the Christian Bible, though they fall outside traditional taxonomies. The Native American Church shows another path, blending Christian belief with tribal religion. Its ceremonies are tied to peyote, and its members often see Jesus as a cultural hero, an intercessor or a spiritual guardian.

  Some Christians reject organized religion altogether. Christian anarchists, often from a Protestant background, believe Roman statism corrupted the original teachings of Jesus. Following the Golden Rule, many oppose physical force in any circumstance. The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who wrote The Kingdom of God Is Within You, was one of them.

  7273779396

• 8. Recognition and Its Limits

  ›

  The Independents within the Puritan movement were the first to articulate denominationalism. They argued that differences among Christians were inevitable but that separating over them was not necessarily schism. Christians, in their view, should practice their beliefs rather than stay in a church they disagree with. They should also admit their imperfect knowledge and not condemn others as apostate over unimportant matters.

  Some Christians still see denominationalism as a regrettable fact. As of 2011, however, divisions were growing less sharp, and cooperation between denominations, known as ecumenism, was increasing. Many denominations take part in the World Council of Churches.

  Members of different denominations generally accept each other as Christians. They tend to recognize each other's baptisms and share historically orthodox views on the divinity of Jesus and on sin and salvation. Full communion is still blocked by doctrinal and ecclesiastical obstacles. Since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965, the Catholic Church has called Protestant churches ecclesial communities. It reserves the word church for apostolic churches, including the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox and the Ancient and Assyrian Churches of the East.

  Many bodies still claim a singular place. The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East and Lutheran traditions each hold that only their own organization faithfully represents the one holy catholic and apostolic Church. Other traditions teach that they were raised up for a purpose. Methodism is said to have been raised up by God to spread entire sanctification, the second blessing. Pentecostalism is said to have been launched to bestow a supernatural empowerment, shown by speaking in tongues. Non-denominational Christians, who follow no particular branch, are sometimes regarded as Protestants.

  Catholics reject the branch theory that Christianity is a tree of equal limbs. Even so, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI used the image of two lungs to describe how Catholicism relates to Eastern Orthodoxy.

  506963495