Overview of Protestantism and Its History
Overview of Protestantism and Its History
Protestantism is diverse, being divided into various denominations on the basis of theology and
ecclesiology, not forming a single structure as with the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental
Orthodoxy.[8] Protestants adhere to the concept of an invisible church, in contrast to the Catholic, the
Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the
Ancient Church of the East, which all understand themselves as the one and only original church—the
"one true church"—founded by Jesus Christ (though certain Protestant denominations, including historic
Lutheranism, hold to this position).[9][10][11] Some denominations do have a worldwide scope and
distribution of church membership, while others are confined to a single country.[8] A majority of
Protestants[g] are members of a handful of Protestant denominational families; Adventists, Anabaptists,
Anglicans/Episcopalians, Baptists, Calvinist/Reformed,[h] Lutherans, Methodists, Moravians, Plymouth
Brethren, Presbyterians, and Quakers.[13] Nondenominational, charismatic and independent churches are
also on the rise, having recently expanded rapidly throughout much of the world, and constitute a
significant part of Protestantism.[14] These various movements, collectively labeled "popular
Protestantism"[i] by scholars such as Peter L. Berger, have been called one of the contemporary world's
most dynamic religious movements.[15]
Estimates of the number of Protestants in the world range from 625 million to over 900 million
people.[13][16][j]
Terminology
Protestant
Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, who issued a protest
(or dissent) against the edict of the Diet of Speyer (1529), were the first individuals to be called
Protestants.[18] The edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V three years earlier. The term protestant, though initially purely political in nature,
later acquired a broader sense, referring to a member of any Western church which subscribed to the main
Protestant principles.[18] A Protestant is an adherent of any of those Christian bodies that separated from
the Church of Rome during the Reformation, or of any group descended from them.[19]
During the Reformation, the term protestant was hardly used outside of German politics. People who
were involved in the religious movement used the word evangelical (German: evangelisch). For further
details, see the section below. Gradually, protestant became a general term, meaning any adherent of the
Reformation in the German-speaking area. It was ultimately somewhat taken up by Lutherans, even
though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or evangelical as the only acceptable names for
individuals who professed faith in Christ. French and Swiss Protestants instead preferred the word
reformed (French: réformé), which became a popular, neutral, and alternative name for Calvinists.
Evangelical
The word evangelical (German: evangelisch), which refers to the gospel, was widely used for those
involved in the religious movement in the German-speaking area beginning in 1517.[20] Evangelical is
still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran, Calvinist, and
United (Lutheran and Reformed) Protestant traditions in Europe, and those with strong ties to them.
Above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the Protestant
Church in Germany. Thus, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, while the German
evangelikal, refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to
evangelical Protestant churches, and therefore to a certain part of Protestantism rather than to
Protestantism as a whole. The English word traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where
Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States.
Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term evangelical, which was derived
from euangelion, a Greek word meaning "good news", i.e. "gospel".[21] The followers of John Calvin,
Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To
distinguish the two evangelical groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran
and Evangelical Reformed. The word also pertains in the same way to some other mainline groups, for
example Evangelical Methodist. As time passed by, the word
evangelical was dropped. Lutherans themselves began to use the term
Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish
themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists.
Reformational
The German word reformatorisch, which roughly translates to English
as "reformational" or "reforming", is used as an alternative for
evangelisch in German, and is different from English reformed
(German: reformiert), which refers to churches shaped by ideas of
John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other Reformed theologians.
Derived from the word "Reformation", the term emerged around the
same time as Evangelical (1517) and Protestant (1529).
Memorial Church, finished and
consecrated 1904, in Speyer,
Germany commemorates the
Theology Protestation.
Main principles
Many experts have proposed criteria to determine whether a Christian
denomination should be considered part of Protestantism. A common
consensus approved by most of them is that if a Christian
denomination is to be considered Protestant, it must acknowledge the
following three fundamental principles of Protestantism.[22]
Scripture alone
The belief, emphasized by Luther, in the Bible as the highest source of
authority for the church. The early churches of the Reformation
believed in a critical, yet serious, reading of scripture and holding the
Bible as a source of authority higher than that of church tradition. The
many abuses that had occurred in the Western Church before the
Protestant Reformation led the Reformers to reject much of its
tradition. In the early 20th century, a less critical reading of the Bible
developed in the United States—leading to a "fundamentalist" reading
of Scripture. Christian fundamentalists read the Bible as the "inerrant,
infallible" Word of God, as do the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox,
Anglican and Lutheran churches, but interpret it in a literalist fashion
without using the historical-critical method. Methodists and Anglicans
differ from Lutherans and the Reformed on this doctrine as they teach The Protesting Speyer, part of
prima scriptura, which holds that Scripture is the primary source for the Luther Monument in
Christian doctrine, but that "tradition, experience, and reason" can Worms, Germany
nurture the Christian religion as long as they are in harmony with the
Bible (Protestant canon).[1][23]
"Biblical Christianity" focused on a deep study of the Bible is
characteristic of most Protestants as opposed to "Church Christianity",
focused on performing rituals and good works, represented by Catholic
and Orthodox traditions. However, Quakers, Pentecostalists and
Spiritual Christians emphasize the Holy Spirit and personal closeness
to God.[24]
Trinity
Protestants who adhere to the Nicene Creed believe in three persons (God the Father, God the Son, and
the God the Holy Spirit) as one God.
Movements that emerged around the time of the Protestant Reformation, but are not a part of
Protestantism (e.g. Unitarianism), reject the Trinity. This often serves as a reason for exclusion of the
Unitarian Universalism, Oneness Pentecostalism, and other movements from Protestantism by various
observers. Unitarianism continues to have a presence mainly in Transylvania, England, and the United
States.[28]
Five solae
The Five solae are five Latin phrases (or slogans) that
emerged during the Protestant Reformation and summarize
the reformers' basic differences in theological beliefs in
opposition to the teaching of the Catholic Church of the
day.[1] The Latin word sola means "alone", "only", or
"single".
The second main principle, sola fide (by faith alone), states that
faith in Christ is sufficient alone for eternal salvation and
justification. Though argued from scripture, and hence logically
consequent to sola scriptura, this is the guiding principle of the
work of Luther and the later reformers. Because sola scriptura
The Trinity is the belief that God is one
placed the Bible as the only source of teaching, sola fide
God in three persons: the Father, the
epitomizes the main thrust of the teaching the reformers wanted Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit
to get back to, namely the direct, close, personal connection
between Christ and the believer, hence the reformers'
contention that their work was Christocentric.
The other solas, as statements, emerged later, but the thinking they represent was also part of the early
Reformation.
Solus Christus: Christ alone
The Protestants characterize the dogma concerning the Pope as Christ's representative
head of the Church on earth, the concept of works made meritorious by Christ, and the
Catholic idea of a treasury of the merits of Christ and his saints, as a denial that Christ is
the only mediator between God and man. Catholics, on the other hand, maintained the
traditional understanding of Judaism on these questions, and appealed to the universal
consensus of Christian tradition.[31]
Protestants perceived Catholic salvation to be dependent upon the grace of God and the
merits of one's own works. The reformers posited that salvation is a gift of God (i.e., God's
act of free grace), dispensed by the Holy Spirit owing to the redemptive work of Jesus
Christ alone. Consequently, they argued that a sinner is not accepted by God on account
of the change wrought in the believer by God's grace, and that the believer is accepted
without regard for the merit of his works, for no one deserves salvation.[32]
All glory is due to God alone since salvation is accomplished solely through his will and
action—not only the gift of the all-sufficient atonement of Jesus on the cross but also the
gift of faith in that atonement, created in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit. The
reformers believed that human beings—even saints canonized by the Catholic Church,
the popes, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy—are not worthy of the glory.
Other beliefs
Protestants reject the Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy, and have variant views on the number of
sacraments, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and matters of ecclesiastical polity and apostolic
succession.[43][44]
History
Pre-Reformation
Many of the individual ideas that were taken up by various
reformers had historical pre-cursors; however, calling them
proto-reformers is controversial, as often their theology also
had components that are not associated with later Protestants,
or that were asserted by some Protestants but denied by others,
or that were only superficially similar.
as a pope, was in such grave sin), may have translated the Bible
into vernacular English, and preached anticlerical and
biblically centred reforms. His rejection of a real divine
presence in the elements of the Eucharist foreshadowed
Huldrych Zwingli's similar ideas in the 16th century. Wycliffe's
admirers came to be known as "Lollards".[51]
The Hussite Wars concluded with the victory of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, his Catholic allies and
moderate Hussites and the defeat of the radical Hussites. Tensions arose as the Thirty Years' War reached
Bohemia in 1620. Both moderate and radical Hussitism was increasingly persecuted by Catholics and
Holy Roman Emperor's armies.
In the 14th century, a German mysticist group called the
Gottesfreunde criticized the Catholic church and its corruption.
Many of their leaders were executed for attacking the Catholic
church and they believed that God's judgement would soon
come upon the church. The Gottesfreunde were a democratic
lay movement and forerunner of the Reformation and put
heavy stress of holiness and piety,[52]
In the 15th century, three German theologians anticipated the reformation: Wessel Gansfort, Johann
Ruchat von Wesel, and Johannes von Goch. They held ideas such as predestination, sola scriptura, and the
church invisible, and denied the Roman Catholic view on justification and the authority of the Pope, also
questioning monasticism.[54]
Wessel Gansfort also denied transubstantiation and anticipated the Lutheran view of justification by faith
alone.[55]
Reformation proper
The Protestant Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Catholic Church.
On 31 October 1517, known as All Hallows' Eve, Martin Luther allegedly nailed his Ninety-five Theses,
also known as the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, on the door of the All Saints' Church in
Wittenberg, Germany, detailing doctrinal and practical abuses of the Catholic Church, especially the
selling of indulgences. The theses debated and criticized many aspects of the Church and the papacy,
including the practice of purgatory, particular judgment, and the authority of the pope. Luther would later
write works against the Catholic devotion to Virgin Mary, the intercession of and devotion to the saints,
mandatory clerical celibacy, monasticism, the authority of the pope, the ecclesiastical law, censure and
excommunication, the role of secular rulers in religious matters, the relationship between Christianity and
the law, good works, and the sacraments.[56]
The Reformation was a triumph of literacy and the new printing press invented by Johannes
Gutenberg.[57][k] Luther's translation of the Bible into German was a decisive moment in the spread of
literacy, and stimulated as well the printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517
onward, religious
pamphlets flooded much
of Europe.[59][l]
Following the
excommunication of
Luther and condemnation
of the Reformation by the
Pope, the work and
writings of John Calvin
were influential in
establishing a loose
consensus among various Distribution of Protestantism and
Henry VIII of England, known for
his role in the separation of the
groups in Switzerland, Catholicism in Central Europe on the
Scotland, Hungary, eve of the Thirty Years' War in 1618
Church of England from the
Catholic Church Germany and elsewhere.
After the expulsion of its
Bishop in 1526, and the unsuccessful attempts of the Bern reformer
William Farel, Calvin was asked to use the organizational skill he
had gathered as a student of law to discipline the city of Geneva. His
Ordinances of 1541 involved a collaboration of Church affairs with
the city council and consistory to bring morality to all areas of life.
After the establishment of the Geneva academy in 1559, Geneva
became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, providing
refuge for Protestant exiles from all over Europe and educating them
as Calvinist missionaries. The faith continued to spread after Calvin's
death in 1563.
Protestantism also spread from the German lands into France, where
the Protestants were nicknamed Huguenots (a term of somewhat
inexplicable origin). Calvin continued to take an interest in the
John Knox, who led the
Reformation in Scotland, French religious affairs from his base in Geneva. He regularly
founding Presbyterianism trained pastors to lead congregations there. Despite heavy
persecution, the Reformed tradition made steady progress across
large sections of the nation, appealing to people alienated by the
obduracy and the complacency of the Catholic establishment. French Protestantism came to acquire a
distinctly political character, made all the more obvious by the conversions of nobles during the 1550s.
This established the preconditions for a series of conflicts, known as the French Wars of Religion. The
civil wars gained impetus with the sudden death of Henry II of France in 1559. Atrocity and outrage
became the defining characteristics of the time, illustrated at their most intense in the St. Bartholomew's
Day massacre of August 1572, when the Catholic party annihilated between 30,000 and 100,000
Huguenots across France. The wars only concluded when Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes,
promising official toleration of the Protestant minority, but under highly restricted conditions.
Catholicism remained the official state religion, and the fortunes of French Protestants gradually declined
over the next century, culminating in Louis XIV's Edict of Fontainebleau which revoked the Edict of
Nantes and made Catholicism the sole legal religion once again. In response to the Edict of
Fontainebleau, Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg declared the Edict of Potsdam, giving free
passage to Huguenot refugees. In the late 17th century, many Huguenots fled to England, the
Netherlands, Prussia, Switzerland, and the English and Dutch overseas colonies. A significant community
in France remained in the Cévennes region.
Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych
Zwingli. Zwingli was a scholar and preacher, who in 1518 moved to Zurich. Although the two
movements agreed on many issues of theology, some unresolved differences kept them separate. A long-
standing resentment between the German states and the Swiss Confederation led to heated debate over
how much Zwingli owed his ideas to Lutheranism. The German Prince Philip of Hesse saw potential in
creating an alliance between Zwingli and Luther. A meeting was held in his castle in 1529, now known as
the Colloquy of Marburg, which has become infamous for its failure. The two men could not come to any
agreement due to their disputation over one key doctrine.
In 1534, King Henry VIII put an end to all papal jurisdiction in England, after the Pope failed to annul his
marriage to Catherine of Aragon (due to political considerations involving the Holy Roman Emperor);[61]
this opened the door to reformational ideas. Reformers in the Church of England alternated between
sympathies for ancient Catholic tradition and more Reformed principles, gradually developing into a
tradition considered a middle way (via media) between the Catholic and Protestant traditions. The
English Reformation followed a particular course. The different character of the English Reformation
came primarily from the fact that it was driven initially by the political necessities of Henry VIII. King
Henry decided to remove the Church of England from the authority of Rome. In 1534, the Act of
Supremacy recognized Henry as the only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England. Between
1535 and 1540, under Thomas Cromwell, the policy known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries was put
into effect. Following a brief Catholic restoration during the reign of Mary I, a loose consensus developed
during the reign of Elizabeth I. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement largely formed Anglicanism into a
distinctive church tradition. The compromise was uneasy and was capable of veering between extreme
Calvinism on the one hand and Catholicism on the other. It was relatively successful until the Puritan
Revolution or English Civil War in the 17th century.
The success of the Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") on the Continent and the growth of a
Puritan party dedicated to further Protestant reform polarized the Elizabethan Age. The early Puritan
movement was a movement for reform in the Church of England whose proponents desired for the
Church of England to resemble more closely the Protestant churches of Europe, especially that of
Geneva. The later Puritan movement, often referred to as dissenters and nonconformists, eventually led to
the formation of various Reformed denominations.
The Scottish Reformation of 1560 decisively shaped the Church of Scotland.[62] The Reformation in
Scotland culminated ecclesiastically in the establishment of a church along Reformed lines, and
politically in the triumph of English influence over that of France. John Knox is regarded as the leader of
the Scottish Reformation. The Scottish Reformation Parliament of 1560 repudiated the pope's authority
by the Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560, forbade the celebration of the Mass and approved a Protestant
Confession of Faith. It was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony under the regime of
the regent Mary of Guise, who had governed Scotland in the name of her absent daughter.
Some of the most important activists of the Protestant Reformation included Jacobus Arminius, Theodore
Beza, Martin Bucer, Andreas von Carlstadt, Heinrich Bullinger, Balthasar Hubmaier, Thomas Cranmer,
William Farel, Thomas Müntzer, Laurentius Petri, Olaus Petri, Philipp Melanchthon, Menno Simons,
Louis de Berquin, Primož Trubar and John Smyth.
In the course of this religious upheaval, the German Peasants' War of 1524–25 swept through the
Bavarian, Thuringian and Swabian principalities. After the Eighty Years' War in the Low Countries and
the French Wars of Religion, the confessional division of the states of the Holy Roman Empire eventually
erupted in the Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648. It devastated much of Germany, killing between
25% and 40% of its population.[63] The main tenets of the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty
Years' War, were:
All parties would now recognize the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, by which each prince would
have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism,
Lutheranism, and now Calvinism. (the principle of cuius regio, eius religio)
Christians living in principalities where their denomination was not the established church
were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in public during allotted hours and in private
at their will.
The treaty also effectively ended the papacy's pan-European political power. Pope Innocent
X declared the treaty "null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane,
empty of meaning and effect for all times" in his bull Zelo Domus Dei. European sovereigns,
Catholic and Protestant alike, ignored his verdict.[64]
Peak of the Reformation and beginning of the Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") (1545–1620)
End of the Reformation and Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") (1648)
Religious situation in Europe, late 16th and early to mid-17th century
Post-Reformation
The Great Awakenings were periods of rapid and dramatic
religious revival in Anglo-American religious history.
The Third Great Awakening refers to a hypothetical historical period that was marked by religious
activism in American history and spans the late 1850s to the early 20th century.[67] It affected pietistic
Protestant denominations and had a strong element of social activism.[68] It gathered strength from the
postmillennial belief that the Second Coming of Christ would occur after mankind had reformed the
entire earth. It was affiliated with the Social Gospel Movement, which applied Christianity to social
issues and gained its force from the Awakening, as did the worldwide missionary movement. New
groupings emerged, such as the Holiness, Nazarene, and Christian Science movements.[69]
The Fourth Great Awakening was a Christian religious awakening that some scholars—most notably,
Robert Fogel—say took place in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, while others look at
the era following World War II. The terminology is controversial. Thus, the idea of a Fourth Great
Awakening itself has not been generally accepted.[70]
In 1904, a Protestant revival in Wales had a tremendous impact on the local population. A part of British
modernization, it drew many people to churches, especially Methodist and Baptist ones.[71]
A noteworthy development in 20th-century Protestant Christianity was the rise of the modern Pentecostal
movement. Sprung from Methodist and Wesleyan roots, it arose out of meetings at an urban mission on
Azusa Street in Los Angeles. From there it spread around the world, carried by those who experienced
what they believed to be miraculous moves of God there. These Pentecost-like manifestations have
steadily been in evidence throughout history, such as seen in the two Great Awakenings. Pentecostalism,
which in turn birthed the Charismatic movement within already established denominations, continues to
be an important force in Western Christianity.
In the United States and elsewhere in the world, there has been a marked rise in the evangelical wing of
Protestant denominations, especially those that are more exclusively evangelical, and a corresponding
decline in the mainstream liberal churches. In the post–World War I era, Liberal Christianity was on the
rise, and a considerable number of seminaries held and taught from a liberal perspective as well. In the
post–World War II era, the trend began to swing back towards the conservative camp in America's
seminaries and church structures.
In Europe, there has been a general move away from religious observance and belief in Christian
teachings and a move towards secularism. The Enlightenment is largely responsible for the spread of
secularism. Some scholars debate the link between Protestantism and the rise of secularism, and take as
argument the wide-ranging freedom in Protestant-majority countries.[72] However, the sole example of
France demonstrates that even in Catholic-majority countries, the overwhelming impact of the
Enlightenment has brought even stronger secularism and freedom of thought five centuries later. It is
more reliable to consider that the Reformation influenced the critical thinkers of the subsequent centuries,
providing intellectual, religious, and philosophical ground on which future philosophers could extend
their criticism of the church, of its theological, philosophical, social assumptions of the time. One should
be reminded though that initial philosophers of the Enlightenment were defending a Christian conception
of the world, but it was developed together with a fierce and decisive criticism of the Church, its politics,
its ethics, its worldview, its scientific and cultural assumptions, leading to the devaluation of all forms of
institutionalized Christianity, which extended over the centuries.[73]
Radical Reformation
Unlike mainstream Lutheran, Calvinist and Zwinglian
movements, the Radical Reformation, which had no state
sponsorship, generally abandoned the idea of the "Church
visible" as distinct from the "Church invisible". It was a
rational extension of the state-approved Protestant dissent,
which took the value of independence from constituted
authority a step further, arguing the same for the civic realm.
The Radical Reformation was non-mainstream, though in parts
of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, a majority would Dissatisfaction with the outcome of a
sympathize with the Radical Reformation despite the intense disputation in 1525 prompted Swiss
persecution it faced from both Catholics and Magisterial Brethren to part ways with Huldrych
Protestants.[74] Zwingli
In the view of many associated with the Radical Reformation, the Magisterial Reformation had not gone
far enough. Radical Reformer, Andreas von Bodenstein Karlstadt, for example, referred to the Lutheran
theologians at Wittenberg as the "new papists".[77] Since the term "magister" also means "teacher", the
Magisterial Reformation is also characterized by an emphasis on the authority of a teacher. This is made
evident in the prominence of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli as leaders of the reform movements in their
respective areas of ministry. Because of their authority, they were often criticized by Radical Reformers
as being too much like the Roman Popes. A more political side of the Radical Reformation can be seen in
the thought and practice of Hans Hut, although typically Anabaptism has been associated with pacifism.
Anabaptism in shape of its various diversification such as the Amish, Mennonites and Hutterites came out
of the Radical Reformation. Later in history, Schwarzenau Brethren, and the Apostolic Christian Church
would emerge in Anabaptist circles.
Denominations
Protestants refer to specific groupings of congregations or churches that share in common foundational
doctrines and the name of their groups as denominations.[78] The term denomination (national body) is to
be distinguished from branch (denominational family; tradition), communion (international body) and
congregation (church). An example (this is no universal way to classify Protestant churches, as these may
sometimes vary broadly in their structures) to show the difference:
Protestants reject the Catholic Church's doctrine that it is the one true church, with some teaching belief
in the invisible church, which consists of all who profess faith in Jesus Christ.[79] The Lutheran Church
traditionally sees itself as the "main trunk of the historical Christian Tree" founded by Christ and the
Apostles, holding that during the Reformation, the Church of Rome fell away.[10][11] Individual
denominations also have formed over very subtle theological differences. Other denominations are
simply regional or ethnic expressions of the same beliefs. Because the five solas are the main tenets of the
Protestant faith, non-denominational groups and organizations are also considered Protestant.
Various ecumenical movements have attempted cooperation or reorganization of the various divided
Protestant denominations, according to various models of union, but divisions continue to outpace unions,
as there is no overarching authority to which any of the churches owe allegiance, which can
authoritatively define the faith. Most denominations share common beliefs in the major aspects of the
Christian faith while differing in many secondary doctrines, although what is major and what is
secondary is a matter of idiosyncratic belief.
Several countries have established their national churches, linking the ecclesiastical structure with the
state. Jurisdictions where a Protestant denomination has been established as a state religion include
several Nordic countries; Denmark (including Greenland),[80] the Faroe Islands (its church being
independent since 2007),[81] Iceland[82] and Norway[83][84][85] have established Evangelical Lutheran
churches. Tuvalu has the only established church in Reformed tradition in the world, while Tonga—in the
Methodist tradition.[86]
The Church of England is the officially established religious institution in England,[87][88][89] and also the
Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
In 1869, Finland was the first Nordic country to disestablish its Evangelical Lutheran church by
introducing the Church Act.[m] Although the church still maintains a special relationship with the state, it
is not described as a state religion in the Finnish Constitution or other laws passed by the Finnish
Parliament.[90] In 2000, Sweden was the second Nordic country to do so.[91]
What is perhaps the oldest official united church is found in Germany, where the Protestant Church in
Germany is a federation of Lutheran, United (Prussian Union), and Reformed churches, a union dating
back to 1817. The first of the series of unions was at a synod in Idstein to form the Protestant Church in
Hesse and Nassau in August 1817, commemorated in naming the church of Idstein Unionskirche one
hundred years later.[92]
Around the world, each united or uniting church comprises a different mix of predecessor Protestant
denominations. Trends are visible, however, as most united and uniting churches have one or more
predecessors with heritage in the Reformed tradition and many are members of the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches.
Major branches
Protestants can be differentiated according to how they have been influenced by important movements
since the Reformation, today regarded as branches. Some of these movements have a common lineage,
sometimes directly spawning individual denominations. Due to the earlier stated multitude of
denominations, this section discusses only the largest denominational families, or branches, widely
considered to be a part of Protestantism. These are, in alphabetical order: Adventist, Anglican, Baptist,
Calvinist (Reformed), Hussite, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal, Plymouth Brethren and Quaker. A small
but historically significant Anabaptist branch is also discussed.
The chart below shows the mutual relations and historical origins of the main Protestant denominational
families, or their parts. Due to factors such as Counterreformation ("Catholic Reformation") and the legal
principle of Cuius regio, eius religio, many people lived as Nicodemites, where their professed religious
affiliations were more or less at odds with the movement they sympathized with. As a result, the
boundaries between the denominations do not separate as cleanly as this chart indicates. When a
population was suppressed or persecuted into feigning an adherence to the dominant faith, over the
generations they continued to influence the church they outwardly adhered to.
Because Calvinism was not specifically recognized in the Holy Roman Empire until the 1648 Peace of
Westphalia, many Calvinists lived as Crypto-Calvinists. Due to Counterreformation ("Catholic
Reformation") related suppressions in Catholic lands during the 16th through 19th centuries, many
Protestants lived as Crypto-Protestants. Meanwhile, in Protestant areas, Catholics sometimes lived as
crypto-papists, although in continental Europe emigration was more feasible so this was less common.
Adventism
Adventism began in the 19th century in the context of the Second Great Awakening revival in the United
States. The name refers to belief in the imminent Second Coming (or "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ.
William Miller started the Adventist movement in the 1830s. His followers became known as
Millerites.[93]
Although the Adventist churches hold much in common, their theologies differ on whether the
intermediate state is unconscious sleep or consciousness, whether the ultimate punishment of the wicked
is annihilation or eternal torment, the nature of immortality, whether or not the wicked are resurrected
after the millennium, and whether the sanctuary of Daniel 8[94] refers to the one in heaven or one on
earth.[95] The movement has encouraged the examination of the whole Bible, leading Seventh-day
Adventists and some smaller Adventist groups to observe the Sabbath. The General Conference of
Seventh-day Adventists has compiled that church's core beliefs in the 28 Fundamental Beliefs (1980 and
2005), which use Biblical references as justification.
In 2010, Adventism claimed some 22 million believers scattered in various independent churches.[13] The
largest church within the movement—the Seventh-day Adventist Church—has more than 18 million
members.
Anabaptism
Anabaptism traces its origins to the Radical Reformation. Anabaptists believe in delaying baptism until
the candidate confesses his or her faith. Although some consider this movement to be an offshoot of
Protestantism, others see it as a distinct one.[96][97] The Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites are direct
descendants of the movement. Schwarzenau Brethren, Bruderhof, and the Apostolic Christian Church are
considered later developments among the Anabaptists.
The name Anabaptist, meaning "one who baptizes again", was given to them by their persecutors in
reference to the practice of re-baptizing converts who already had been baptized as infants.[98]
Anabaptists required that baptismal candidates be able to make their own confessions of faith and so
rejected baptism of infants. The early members of this movement did not accept the name Anabaptist,
claiming that since infant baptism was unscriptural and null and void, the baptizing of believers was not a
re-baptism but in fact their first real baptism. As a result of their views on the nature of baptism and other
issues, Anabaptists were heavily persecuted during the 16th century and into the 17th by both Magisterial
Protestants and Catholics. While most Anabaptists adhered to a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the
Mount, which precluded taking oaths, participating in military actions, and participating in civil
government, some who practiced re-baptism felt otherwise.[n] They were thus technically Anabaptists,
even though conservative Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites and some historians tend to consider them
as outside of true Anabaptism. Anabaptist reformers of the Radical Reformation are divided into Radical
and the so-called Second Front. Some important Radical Reformation theologians were John of Leiden,
Thomas Müntzer, Kaspar Schwenkfeld, Sebastian Franck, Menno Simons. Second Front Reformers
included Hans Denck, Conrad Grebel, Balthasar Hubmaier and Felix Manz. Many Anabaptists today still
use the Ausbund, which is the oldest hymnal still in continuous use.
Dirk Willems saves An Amish family in a Alexanderwohl
his pursuer. This act horse-drawn square Mennonite Church in
of mercy led to his buggy in Lancaster rural Goessel,
recapture, after which County, Kansas, United
he was burned at the Pennsylvania, United States.
stake. States
Anglicanism
Anglicanism consists of the Church of England and churches which are historically tied to it or hold
similar beliefs, worship practices and church structures.[99] The word Anglican originates in ecclesia
anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English Church. There is no
single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority, since each national or regional church has
full autonomy. As the name suggests, the communion is an association of churches in full communion
with the archbishop of Canterbury. The great majority of Anglicans are members of churches which are
part of the international Anglican Communion,[100] which has 85 million adherents.[101]
The Church of England declared its independence from the Catholic Church at the time of the
Elizabethan Religious Settlement.[102] Many of the new Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century
corresponded closely to those of contemporary Reformed tradition. These reforms were understood by
one of those most responsible for them, the then archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, as
navigating a middle way between two of the emerging Protestant traditions, namely Lutheranism and
Calvinism.[103] By the end of the century, the retention in Anglicanism of many traditional liturgical
forms and of the episcopate was already seen as unacceptable by those promoting the most developed
Protestant principles.
Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of services that worshippers in
most Anglican churches used for centuries. While it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican
churches in different countries have developed other service books, the Book of Common Prayer is still
acknowledged as one of the ties that bind the Anglican Communion together.
Thomas Cranmer, The various editions British coronations
one of the most of the Book of are held in
influential figures in Common Prayer Westminster Abbey, a
shaping Anglican contain the words of royal peculiar under
theology and self- structured services of the direct jurisdiction
identity. worship in the of the monarch.
Anglican Church.
Baptists
Baptists subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers (believer's
baptism, as opposed to infant baptism), and that it must be done by complete immersion (as opposed to
affusion or sprinkling). Other tenets of Baptist churches include soul competency (liberty), salvation
through faith alone, Scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local
congregation. Baptists recognize two ministerial offices, pastors and deacons. Baptist churches are widely
considered to be Protestant churches, though some Baptists disavow this identity.[104]
Diverse from their beginning, those identifying as Baptists today differ widely from one another in what
they believe, how they worship, their attitudes toward other Christians, and their understanding of what is
important in Christian discipleship.[105]
Historians trace the earliest church labeled Baptist back to 1609 in Amsterdam, with English Separatist
John Smyth as its pastor.[106] In accordance with his reading of the New Testament, he rejected baptism
of infants and instituted baptism only of believing adults.[107] Baptist practice spread to England, where
the General Baptists considered Christ's atonement to extend to all people, while the Particular Baptists
believed that it extended only to the elect. In 1638, Roger Williams established the first Baptist
congregation in the North American colonies. In the mid-18th century, the First Great Awakening
increased Baptist growth in both New England and the South.[108] The Second Great Awakening in the
South in the early 19th century increased church membership, as did the preachers' lessening of support
for abolition and manumission of slavery, which had been part of the 18th-century teachings. Baptist
missionaries have spread their church to every continent.[107]
The Baptist World Alliance reports more than 41 million members in more than 150,000
congregations.[109] In 2002, there were over 100 million Baptists and Baptistic group members
worldwide and over 33 million in North America.[107] The largest Baptist association is the Southern
Baptist Convention, with the membership of associated churches totaling more than 14 million.[110]
Roger Williams was Baptists subscribe to The First Baptist
an early proponent of a doctrine that Church in America.
religious freedom and baptism should be Baptists are roughly
the separation of performed only for one-third of U.S.
church and state. professing believers. Protestants.[111]
Calvinism
Calvinism, also called the Reformed tradition, was advanced by several theologians such as Martin
Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Huldrych Zwingli, but this branch of Christianity
bears the name of the French reformer John Calvin because of his prominent influence on it and because
of his role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the 16th century.
This term also currently refers to the doctrines and practices of the Reformed churches of which Calvin
was an early leader. Less commonly, it can refer to the individual teaching of Calvin himself. The
particulars of Calvinist theology may be stated in a number of ways. Perhaps the best known summary is
contained in the five points of Calvinism, though these points identify the Calvinist view on soteriology
rather than summarizing the system as a whole. Broadly speaking, Calvinism stresses the sovereignty or
rule of God in all things—in salvation but also in all of life. This concept is seen clearly in the doctrines
of predestination and total depravity.
The biggest Reformed association is the World Communion of Reformed Churches with more than
80 million members in 211 member denominations around the world.[112][113] There are more
conservative Reformed federations like the World Reformed Fellowship and the International Conference
of Reformed Churches, as well as independent churches.
John Calvin's The Ordination of A Congregational
theological thought Elders in a Scottish church in Cheshire,
influenced a variety of Kirk by John Henry Connecticut, United
Congregational, Lorimer, 1891. States
Continental
Reformed, United,
Presbyterian, and
other Reformed
churches.
Hussites
Hussitism follows the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Hus, who became the best-known representative
of the Bohemian Reformation and one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. An early hymnal
was the hand-written Jistebnice hymn book. This predominantly religious movement was propelled by
social issues and strengthened Czech national awareness. Among present-day Christians, Hussite
traditions are represented in the Moravian Church, Unity of the Brethren and the Czechoslovak Hussite
Church.[114]
Lutheranism
Lutheranism identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German monk and priest, ecclesiastical
reformer, and theologian.
Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification "by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of
Scripture alone", the doctrine that scripture is the final authority on all matters of faith, rejecting the
assertion made by Catholic leaders at the Council of Trent that authority comes from both Scriptures and
Tradition.[115] In addition, Lutherans accept the teachings of the first four ecumenical councils of the
undivided Christian Church.[116][117]
Unlike the Reformed tradition, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental
teachings of the pre-Reformation Church with an emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper. Lutheran
theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of God's Law, divine grace, the
concept of perseverance of the saints, and predestination.
Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism. With approximately 80 million
adherents,[118] it constitutes the third most common Protestant confession after historically Pentecostal
denominations and Anglicanism.[13] The Lutheran World Federation, the largest global communion of
Lutheran churches represents over 72 million people.[119] Both of these figures miscount Lutherans
worldwide as many members of more generically Protestant LWF member church bodies do not self-
identify as Lutheran or attend congregations that self-identify as Lutheran.[120] Additionally, there are
other international organizations such as the Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum,
International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as
Lutheran denominations that are not necessarily a member of an international organization.
Luther's rose seal, a Luther composed Moses and Elijah Altar of the Turku
symbol of hymns still used direct the sinner Cathedral, the
Lutheranism today, including "A looking for salvation matrice of the
Mighty Fortress Is to the Cross in this Evangelical Lutheran
Our God" painting illustrating Church of Finland
Luther's Theology of
the Cross, as
opposed to a
Theology of Glory.
Methodism
Methodism identifies principally with the theology of John Wesley—an Anglican priest and evangelist.
This evangelical movement originated as a revival within the 18th-century Church of England and
became a separate Church following Wesley's death. Because of vigorous missionary activity, the
movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States, and beyond, today claiming
approximately 80 million adherents worldwide.[121] Originally it appealed especially to laborers and
slaves.
Soteriologically, most Methodists are Arminian, emphasizing that Christ accomplished salvation for
every human being, and that humans must exercise an act of the will to receive it (as opposed to the
traditional Calvinist doctrine of monergism). Methodism is traditionally low church in liturgy, although
this varies greatly between individual congregations; the Wesleys themselves greatly valued the Anglican
liturgy and tradition. Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition; John Wesley's brother, Charles,
was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of the Methodist Church,[122] and many other eminent
hymn writers come from the Methodist tradition.
John Wesley, founder A United Methodist Methodist Central A hymnal of the Free
of Methodism, elder celebrating the Hall in Westminster, Methodist Church, a
preaching in the open Eucharist London Methodist
air denomination aligned
with the holiness
movement
The Holiness movement refers to a set of practices surrounding the doctrine of Christian perfection that
emerged within 19th-century Methodism, along with a number of evangelical denominations and
parachurch organizations (such as camp meetings).[123] There are an estimated 12 million adherents in
denominations aligned with the Wesleyan-holiness movement.[124] The Free Methodist Church, the
Salvation Army and the Wesleyan Methodist Church are notable examples, while other adherents of the
Holiness Movement remained within mainline Methodism, e.g. the United Methodist Church.[123]
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a movement that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God
through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek
name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks. For Christians, this event commemorates the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, as described in the second chapter of the Book of Acts.
This branch of Protestantism is distinguished by belief in the baptism with the Holy Spirit as an
experience separate from conversion that enables a Christian to live a life empowered by and filled with
the Holy Spirit. This empowerment includes the use of spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues and
divine healing—two other defining characteristics of Pentecostalism. Because of their commitment to
biblical authority, spiritual gifts, and the miraculous, Pentecostals tend to see their movement as reflecting
the same kind of spiritual power and teachings that were found in the Apostolic Age of the early church.
For this reason, some Pentecostals also use the term Apostolic or Full Gospel to describe their movement.
Pentecostalism eventually spawned hundreds of new denominations, including large groups such as the
Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ, both in the United States and elsewhere. There are
over 279 million Pentecostals worldwide, and the movement is growing in many parts of the world,
especially the global South. Since the 1960s, Pentecostalism has increasingly gained acceptance from
other Christian traditions, and Pentecostal beliefs concerning Spirit baptism and spiritual gifts have been
embraced by non-Pentecostal Christians in Protestant and Catholic churches through the Charismatic
Movement. Together, Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity numbers over 500 million adherents.[125]
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren are a conservative, low church, evangelical denomination, whose history can be
traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s, originating from Anglicanism.[126][127] Among other beliefs,
the group emphasizes sola scriptura. Brethren generally see themselves not as a denomination, but as a
network, or even as a collection of overlapping networks, of like-minded independent churches. Although
the group refused for many years to take any denominational name to itself—a stance that some of them
still maintain—the title The Brethren, is one that many of their number are comfortable with in that the
Bible designates all believers as brethren.
Quakerism
Quakers, or Friends, are members of a family of religious movements collectively known as the Religious
Society of Friends. The central unifying doctrine of these movements is the priesthood of all
believers.[128][129] Many Friends view themselves as members of a Christian denomination. They include
those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional conservative Quaker understandings of
Christianity. Unlike many other groups that emerged within Christianity, the Religious Society of Friends
has actively tried to avoid creeds and hierarchical structures.[130]
Other Protestants
There are many other Protestant denominations that do not fit neatly into the mentioned branches, and are
far smaller in membership. Some groups of individuals who hold basic Protestant tenets identify
themselves simply as "Christians" or "born-again Christians". They typically distance themselves from
the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities[131] by calling themselves "non-
denominational" or "evangelical". Often founded by individual pastors, they have little affiliation with
historic denominations.[132]
Although Unitarianism developed from the Protestant Reformation,[133] it is excluded from Protestantism
due to its Nontrinitarian theological nature.[28][134] Unitarianism has been popular in the region of
Transylvania within today's Romania, England, and the United States.[28] It originated almost
simultaneously in Transylvania and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Spiritual Christianity is the group of Russian movements (Doukhobors and others), so-called folk
Protestants. Their origins are varied: some were influenced by western Protestants, others from disgust of
the behavior of official Orthodox priests.[135][136]
Messianic Judaism is a movement of the Jews and non-Jews, which arose in the 1960s within Evangelical
Protestantism and absorbed elements of the messianic traditions in Judaism.[137]
Interdenominational movements
There are also Christian movements which cross denominational lines and even branches, and cannot be
classified on the same level previously mentioned forms. Evangelicalism is a prominent example. Some
of those movements are active exclusively within Protestantism, some are Christian-wide.
Transdenominational movements are sometimes capable of affecting parts of the Catholic Church, such
as does it the Charismatic Movement, which aims to
incorporate beliefs and practices similar to Pentecostals into the
various branches of Christianity. Neo-charismatic churches are
sometimes regarded as a subgroup of the Charismatic
Movement. Both are put under a common label of Charismatic
Christianity (so-called Renewalists), along with Pentecostals.
Nondenominational churches and various house churches often
adopt, or are akin to one of these movements.
The chart below shows the mutual relations and historical origins of the main interdenominational
movements and other developments within Protestantism.
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism, or evangelical Protestantism,[o] is a worldwide, transdenominational movement which
maintains that the essence of the gospel consists in the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in
Jesus Christ's atonement.[139][140]
Evangelicals are Christians who believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again" experience in
receiving salvation, believe in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity and have a
strong commitment to evangelism or sharing the Christian message.
It gained great momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries with the emergence of Methodism and the Great
Awakenings in Britain and North America. The origins of Evangelicalism are usually traced back to the
English Methodist movement, Nicolaus Zinzendorf, the Moravian Church, Lutheran pietism,
Presbyterianism and Puritanism.[13] Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical Protestant
movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Harold John
Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
There are an estimated 285,480,000 Evangelicals, corresponding to 13% of the Christian population and
4% of the total world population. The Americas, Africa and Asia are home to the majority of
Evangelicals. The United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals.[141] Evangelicalism is
gaining popularity both in and outside the English-speaking world, especially in Latin America and the
developing world.
Charismatic movement
The Charismatic movement is the international trend of
historically mainstream congregations adopting beliefs and
practices similar to Pentecostals. Fundamental to the movement
is the use of spiritual gifts. Among Protestants, the movement
began around 1960.
Larry Christenson, a Lutheran theologian based in San Pedro, California, did much in the 1960s and
1970s to interpret the charismatic movement for Lutherans. A very large annual conference regarding that
matter was held in Minneapolis. Charismatic Lutheran congregations in Minnesota became especially
large and influential; especially "Hosanna!" in Lakeville, and North Heights in St. Paul. The next
generation of Lutheran charismatics cluster around the Alliance of Renewal Churches. There is
considerable charismatic activity among young Lutheran leaders in California centered around an annual
gathering at Robinwood Church in Huntington Beach. Richard A. Jensen's Touched by the Spirit
published in 1974, played a major role of the Lutheran understanding to the charismatic movement.
A minority of Seventh-day Adventists today are charismatic. They are strongly associated with those
holding more "progressive" Adventist beliefs. In the early decades of the church charismatic or ecstatic
phenomena were commonplace.[146][147]
Neo-charismatic churches
Neo-charismatic churches are a category of churches in the Christian Renewal movement. Neo-
charismatics include the Third Wave, but are broader. Now more numerous than Pentecostals (first wave)
and charismatics (second wave) combined, owing to the remarkable growth of postdenominational and
independent charismatic groups.[148]
Neo-charismatics believe in and stress the post-Biblical availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, including
glossolalia, healing, and prophecy. They practice laying on of hands and seek the "infilling" of the Holy
Spirit. However, a specific experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit may not be requisite for
experiencing such gifts. No single form, governmental structure, or style of church service characterizes
all neo-charismatic services and churches.
Some nineteen thousand denominations, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, are
identified as neo-charismatic.[149]
Protestant offshoots
Arminianism
Arminianism is based on theological ideas of the Dutch
Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his
historic supporters known as Remonstrants. His teachings held
to the five solae of the Reformation, but they were distinct
from particular teachings of Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli,
John Calvin, and other Protestant Reformers. Jacobus Arminius
was a student of Theodore Beza at the Theological University
of Geneva. Arminianism is known to some as a soteriological
diversification of Calvinism.[150] However, to others,
Arminianism is a reclamation of early Church theological
consensus.[151] Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated
in the Remonstrance (1610), a theological statement signed by
45 ministers and submitted to the States General of the
Netherlands. Many Christian denominations have been
influenced by Arminian views on the will of man being freed
by grace prior to regeneration, notably the Baptists in the 16th Jacobus Arminius, a Dutch Reformed
century,[152] the Methodists in the 18th century and the Church theologian, whose views
Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 19th century. influenced parts of Protestantism. A
small Remonstrants community
The original beliefs of Jacobus Arminius himself are remains in the Netherlands.
commonly defined as Arminianism, but more broadly, the term
may embrace the teachings of Hugo Grotius, John Wesley, and
others as well. Classical Arminianism and Wesleyan Arminianism are the two main schools of thought.
Wesleyan Arminianism is often identical with Methodism. The two systems of Calvinism and
Arminianism share both history and many doctrines, and the history of Christian theology. However,
because of their differences over the doctrines of divine predestination and election, many people view
these schools of thought as opposed to each other. In short, the difference can be seen ultimately by
whether God allows His desire to save all to be resisted by an individual's will (in the Arminian doctrine)
or if God's grace is irresistible and limited to only some (in Calvinism). Some Calvinists assert that the
Arminian perspective presents a synergistic system of Salvation and therefore is not only by grace, while
Arminians firmly reject this conclusion. Many consider the theological differences to be crucial
differences in doctrine, while others find them to be relatively minor.[153]
Pietism
Pietism was an influential movement within Lutheranism that combined the 17th-century Lutheran
principles with the Reformed emphasis on individual piety and living a vigorous Christian life.[154]
It began in the late 17th century, reached its zenith in the mid-18th century, and declined through the 19th
century, and had almost vanished in America by the end of the 20th century. While declining as an
identifiable Lutheran group, some of its theological tenets influenced Protestantism generally, inspiring
the Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement and Alexander Mack to begin the
Brethren movement under an influence of Anabaptists.[155]
Though Pietism shares an emphasis on personal behavior with the Puritan movement, and the two are
often confused, there are important differences, particularly in the concept of the role of religion in
government.[156]
Philipp Jakob Spener, Pietism has had a The Broad and the
a German pioneer strong cultural Narrow Way, an 1866
and founder of influence in German Pietist
Pietism Scandinavia painting
Puritans were blocked from changing the established church from within, and were severely restricted in
England by laws controlling the practice of religion. Their beliefs, however, were transported by the
emigration of congregations to the Netherlands (and later to New England), and by evangelical clergy to
Ireland (and later into Wales), and were spread into lay society and parts of the educational system,
particularly certain colleges of the University of Cambridge. The first Protestant sermon delivered in
England was in Cambridge, with the pulpit that this sermon was delivered from surviving to
today.[157][158] They took on distinctive beliefs about clerical dress and in opposition to the episcopal
system, particularly after the 1619 conclusions of the Synod of Dort they were resisted by the English
bishops. They largely adopted Sabbatarianism in the 17th century, and were influenced by millennialism.
They formed, and identified with various religious groups advocating greater purity of worship and
doctrine, as well as personal and group piety. Puritans adopted a Reformed theology, but they also took
note of radical criticisms of Zwingli in Zurich and Calvin in Geneva. In church polity, some advocated
for separation from all other Christians, in favor of autonomous gathered churches. These separatist and
independent strands of Puritanism became prominent in the 1640s. Although the English Civil War
(which expanded into the Wars of the Three Kingdoms) began over a contest for political power between
the King of England and the House of Commons, it divided the country along religious lines as
episcopalians within the Church of England sided with the Crown and Presbyterians and Independents
supported Parliament (after the defeat of the Royalists, the House of Lords as well as the Monarch were
removed from the political structure of the state to create the Commonwealth). The supporters of a
Presbyterian polity in the Westminster Assembly were unable to forge a new English national church, and
the Parliamentary New Model Army, which was made up primarily of Independents, under Oliver
Cromwell first purged Parliament, then abolished it and established The Protectorate.
England's trans-Atlantic colonies in the war followed varying paths depending on their internal
demographics. In the older colonies, which included Virginia (1607) and its offshoot Bermuda (1612), as
well as Barbados and Antigua in the West Indies (collectively the targets in 1650 of An Act for
prohibiting Trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda and Antego), Episcopalians remained the
dominant church faction and the colonies remained Royalist 'til conquered or compelled to accept the
new political order. In Bermuda, with control of the local government and the army (nine infantry
companies of Militia plus coastal artillery), the Royalists forced Parliament-backing religious
Independents into exile to settle the Bahamas as the Eleutheran Adventurers.[159][160][161]
Episcopalian was re-established following the Restoration. A century later, non-conforming Protestants,
along with the Protestant refugees from continental Europe, were to be among the primary instigators of
the war of secession that led to the founding of the United States of America.
Christian fundamentalism
In reaction to liberal Bible critique, fundamentalism arose in the
20th century, primarily in the United States, among those
denominations most affected by Evangelicalism. Fundamentalist
theology tends to stress Biblical inerrancy and Biblical
literalism.[165]
Toward the end of the 20th century, some have tended to confuse
evangelicalism and fundamentalism; however, the labels represent Karl Barth, often regarded as the
very distinct differences of approach that both groups are diligent greatest Protestant theologian of the
to maintain, although because of fundamentalism's dramatically 20th century[163][164]
Protestant culture
Although the Reformation was a religious movement, it also had a strong impact on all other aspects of
life, including marriage and family, education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order,
the economy, and the arts.[9] Protestant churches reject the idea of a celibate priesthood and thus allow
their clergy to marry.[22] Many of their families contributed to the development of intellectual elites in
their countries.[166] Since about 1950, women have entered the ministry in most Protestant churches, and
some have assumed leading positions (e.g. bishops).
Protestantism has promoted economic growth and entrepreneurship, especially in the period after the
Scientific and the Industrial Revolution.[167][168] Scholars have identified a positive correlation between
the rise of Protestantism and human capital formation,[169] work ethic,[170] economic development,[171]
the rise of early experimental science,[172][173][174] and the development of the state system.[175]
As the Reformers wanted all members of the church to be able to
read the Bible, education on all levels was strongly encouraged.
By the middle of the eighteenth century, the literacy rate in
England was about 60 percent, in Scotland 65 percent, and in
Sweden 80 percent.[176] Colleges and universities were founded.
For example, the Puritans who established Massachusetts Bay
Colony in 1628 founded Harvard College only eight years later.
About a dozen other colleges followed in the 18th century,
including Yale (1701). Pennsylvania also became a center of
learning.[177][178]
However, eminent historian Fernand Braudel (d. 1985), a leader of the important Annales School wrote,
"all historians have opposed this tenuous theory [the Protestant Ethic], although they have not managed to
be rid of it once and for all. Yet it is clearly false. The northern countries took over the place that earlier
had been so long and brilliantly been occupied by the old capitalist centers of the Mediterranean. They
invented nothing, either in technology or business management."[188] Social scientist Rodney Stark
moreover comments that "during their critical period of economic development, these northern centers of
capitalism were Catholic, not Protestant—the Reformation still lay well into the future",[189] while
British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper (d. 2003) said, "The idea that large-scale industrial capitalism was
ideologically impossible before the Reformation is exploded by the simple fact that it existed."[190]
In a factor analysis of the latest wave of World Values Survey data, Arno Tausch (Corvinus University of
Budapest) found that Protestantism emerges to be very close to combining religion and the traditions of
liberalism. The Global Value Development Index, calculated by Tausch, relies on the World Values
Survey dimensions such as trust in the state of law, no support for shadow economy, postmaterial
activism, support for democracy, a non-acceptance of violence, xenophobia and racism, trust in
transnational capital and Universities, confidence in the market economy, supporting gender justice, and
engaging in environmental activism, etc.[191]
Episcopalians and Presbyterians, as well as other WASPs, tend to be considerably wealthier[192] and
better educated (having graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita) than most other religious groups
in United States,[193] and are disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American
business,[194] law and politics, especially the Republican Party.[195] Numbers of the most wealthy and
affluent American families as the Vanderbilts, the Astors, Rockefellers, Du Ponts, Roosevelts, Forbes,
Fords, Whitneys, Mellons, the Morgans and Harrimans are Mainline Protestant families.[192][196]
Science
Protestantism has had an important influence on science.
According to the Merton Thesis, there was a positive
correlation between the rise of English Puritanism and German
Pietism on the one hand and early experimental science on the
other.[197] The Merton Thesis has two separate parts: Firstly, it
presents a theory that science changes due to an accumulation
of observations and improvement in experimental technique
and methodology; secondly, it puts forward the argument that
the popularity of science in 17th-century England and the Columbia University, an Ivy League
religious demography of the Royal Society (English scientists university in New York City, was initially
established by the Church of England.
of that time were predominantly Puritans or other Protestants)
can be explained by a correlation between Protestantism and
the scientific values.[198] Merton focused on English Puritanism and German Pietism as having been
responsible for the development of the scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries. He explained
that the connection between religious affiliation and interest in science was the result of a significant
synergy between the ascetic Protestant values and those of modern science.[199] Protestant values
encouraged scientific research by allowing science to identify God's influence on the world—his creation
—and thus providing a religious justification for scientific research.[197]
According to Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States by Harriet Zuckerman, a review of
American Nobel Prizes awarded between 1901 and 1972, 72% of American Nobel Prize laureates
identified a Protestant background.[200] Overall, 84% of all the Nobel Prizes awarded to Americans in
Chemistry,[200] 60% in Medicine,[200] and 59% in Physics[200] between 1901 and 1972 were won by
Protestants.
According to 100 Years of Nobel Prize (2005), a review of Nobel Prizes awarded between 1901 and 2000,
65% of Nobel Prize Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious
preference (423 prizes).[201] While 32% have identified with Protestantism in its various forms (208
prizes),[201] although Protestants are 12% to 13% of the world's population.
Government
During the Middle Ages, the Church and the worldly
authorities were closely related. Martin Luther separated
the religious and the worldly realms in principle
(doctrine of the two kingdoms).[202] The believers were
obliged to use reason to govern the worldly sphere in an
orderly and peaceful way. Luther's doctrine of the
priesthood of all believers upgraded the role of laymen in
the church considerably. The members of a congregation
had the right to elect a minister and, if necessary, to vote
for his dismissal (Treatise On the right and authority of a Church flags, as used by German Protestants.
Christian assembly or congregation to judge all
doctrines and to call, install and dismiss teachers, as
testified in Scripture; 1523).[203] Calvin strengthened this basically democratic approach by including
elected laymen (church elders, presbyters) in his representative church government.[204] The Huguenots
added regional synods and a national synod, whose members were elected by the congregations, to
Calvin's system of church self-government. This system was taken over by the other reformed
churches[205] and was adopted by some Lutherans beginning with those in Jülich-Cleves-Berg during the
17th century.
Politically, Calvin favored a mixture of aristocracy and democracy. He appreciated the advantages of
democracy: "It is an invaluable gift, if God allows a people to freely elect its own authorities and
overlords."[206] Calvin also thought that earthly rulers lose their divine right and must be put down when
they rise up against God. To further protect the rights of ordinary people, Calvin suggested separating
political powers in a system of checks and balances (separation of powers). Thus he and his followers
resisted political absolutism and paved the way for the rise of modern democracy.[207] Besides England,
the Netherlands were, under Calvinist leadership, the freest country in Europe in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. It granted asylum to philosophers like Baruch Spinoza and Pierre Bayle. Hugo
Grotius was able to teach his natural-law theory and a relatively liberal interpretation of the Bible.[208]
Consistent with Calvin's political ideas, Protestants created both the English and the American
democracies. In seventeenth-century England, the most important persons and events in this process were
the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, John Locke, the Glorious Revolution, the English
Bill of Rights, and the Act of Settlement.[209] Later, the British took their democratic ideals to their
colonies, e.g. Australia, New Zealand, and India. In North America, Plymouth Colony (Pilgrim Fathers;
1620) and Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628) practised democratic self-rule and separation of
powers.[210][211][212][213] These Congregationalists were convinced that the democratic form of
government was the will of God.[214] The Mayflower Compact was a social contract.[215][216]
Democracy, social-contract theory, separation of powers, religious freedom, separation of church and
state—these achievements of the Reformation and early Protestantism were elaborated on and
popularized by Age of Enlightenment thinkers. Some of the philosophers of the English, Scottish,
German, and Swiss Enlightenment—Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, John Toland, David Hume, Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz, Christian Wolff, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau—had Protestant
backgrounds.[231] For example, John Locke, whose political thought was based on "a set of Protestant
Christian assumptions",[232] derived the equality of all humans, including the equality of the genders
("Adam and Eve"), from Genesis 1, 26–28. As all persons were created equally free, all governments
needed "the consent of the governed".[233]
Also, other human rights were advocated for by some Protestants. For example, torture was abolished in
Prussia in 1740, slavery in Britain in 1834 and in the United States in 1865 (William Wilberforce, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln—against Southern Protestants).[234][235] Hugo Grotius and Samuel
Pufendorf were among the first thinkers who made significant contributions to international law.[236][237]
The Geneva Convention, an important part of humanitarian international law, was largely the work of
Henry Dunant, a reformed pietist. He also founded the Red Cross.[238]
Social teaching
Protestants have founded hospitals, homes for disabled or elderly people, educational institutions,
organizations that give aid to developing countries, and other social welfare agencies.[239][240][241] In the
nineteenth century, throughout the Anglo-American world, numerous dedicated members of all Protestant
denominations were active in social reform movements such as the abolition of slavery, prison reforms,
and woman suffrage.[242][243][244] As an answer to the "social question" of the nineteenth century,
Germany under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck introduced insurance programs that led the way to the
welfare state (health insurance, accident insurance, disability insurance, old-age pensions). To Bismarck
this was "practical Christianity".[245][246] These programs, too, were copied by many other nations,
particularly in the Western world.
The Young Men's Christian Association was founded by Congregationalist George Williams, aimed at
empowering young people.
Liturgy
Arts
The arts have been strongly inspired by Protestant beliefs.
Martin Luther, Paul Gerhardt, George Wither, Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, William Cowper, and other
authors and composers created well-known church hymns.
Musicians like Heinrich Schütz, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Henry Purcell,
Johannes Brahms, Philipp Nicolai and Felix Mendelssohn composed great works of music.
Prominent painters with Protestant background were, for example, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the
Younger, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Lucas Cranach the Younger, Rembrandt, and Vincent van Gogh.
World literature was enriched by the works of Edmund Spenser, John Milton, John Bunyan, John Donne,
John Dryden, Daniel Defoe, William Wordsworth, Jonathan Swift, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich
Schiller, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edgar Allan Poe, Matthew Arnold, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Theodor
Fontane, Washington Irving, Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thomas Stearns Eliot, John Galsworthy, Thomas Mann, William Faulkner, John
Updike, and many others.
Luther Monument in The International The Adoration of the The Crucifixion of
Worms, which Monument to the Trinity by Albrecht Christ by Lucas
features some of the Reformation in Dürer Cranach the Elder
Reformation's crucial Geneva, Switzerland.
figures
Adam and Eve by A Huguenot, on St. The Return of the The Church at
Lucas Cranach the Bartholomew's Day, Prodigal Son, a 1669 Auvers, 1890. Musée
Younger Refusing to Shield portrait by Rembrandt d'Orsay, Paris, by
Himself from Danger Vincent van Gogh.
by Wearing the
Roman Catholic
Badge by John
Everett Millais.
Catholic responses
The view of the Catholic Church is that Protestant denominations cannot be considered churches but
rather that they are ecclesial communities or specific faith-believing communities because their ordinances
and doctrines are not historically the same as the Catholic sacraments and dogmas, and the Protestant
communities have no sacramental ministerial priesthood[p] and therefore lack true apostolic
succession.[247][248] According to Bishop Hilarion (Alfeyev) the Eastern Orthodox Church shares the
same view on the subject.[249]
Contrary to how the Protestant Reformers were often characterized, the concept of a catholic or universal
Church was not brushed aside during the Protestant Reformation. On the contrary, the visible unity of the
catholic or universal church was seen by the Protestant reformers as an important and essential doctrine
of the Reformation. The Magisterial reformers, such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Huldrych
Zwingli, believed that they were reforming the Catholic Church, which they viewed as having become
corrupted.[q] Each of them took very seriously the charges of schism and innovation, denying these
charges and maintaining that it was the Catholic Church that had left them. The Protestant Reformers
formed a new and radically different theological opinion on ecclesiology, that the visible Church is
"catholic" (lower-case "c") rather than "Catholic" (upper-case "C").
Accordingly, there is not an indefinite number of parochial,
congregational or national churches, constituting, as it were, so many
ecclesiastical individualities, but one great spiritual republic of
which these various organizations form a part,[r] although they each
have very different opinions. This was markedly far-removed from
the traditional and historic Catholic understanding that the Roman
Catholic Church was the one true Church of Christ.[s]
Matanzas Inlet, Florida, where
Yet in the Protestant understanding, the visible church is not a genus, Protestant shipwreck survivors
were executed by Menéndez
so to speak, with so many species under it.[t] In order to justify their
"because they had built it there
departure[u] from the Catholic Church, Protestants often posited a without Your Majesty's
new argument,[v] saying that there was no real visible Church with permission, and were
divine authority, only a spiritual, invisible, and hidden church—this disseminating the Lutheran
notion began in the early days of the Protestant Reformation. religion"
There are Protestants,[y] especially of the Reformed tradition, that either reject or down-play the
designation Protestant because of the negative idea that the word invokes in addition to its primary
meaning, preferring the designation Reformed, Evangelical or even Reformed Catholic expressive of
what they call a Reformed Catholicity and defending their arguments from the traditional Protestant
confessions.[250]
Ecumenism
The ecumenical movement has had an influence on mainline churches, beginning at least in 1910 with the
Edinburgh Missionary Conference. Its origins lay in the recognition of the need for cooperation on the
mission field in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Since 1948, the World Council of Churches has been
influential, but ineffective in creating a united church. There are also ecumenical bodies at regional,
national and local levels across the globe; but schisms still far outnumber unifications. One, but not the
only expression of the ecumenical movement, has been the move to form united churches, such as the
Church of South India, the Church of North India, the US-based United Church of Christ, the United
Church of Canada, the Uniting Church in Australia and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines
which have rapidly declining
memberships. There has been a strong
engagement of Orthodox churches in
the ecumenical movement, though the
reaction of individual Orthodox
theologians has ranged from tentative
approval of the aim of Christian unity
to outright condemnation of the The Marburg Colloquy (1529) was The Edinburgh Missionary
perceived effect of watering down an early attempt at uniting Luther Conference is considered
Orthodox doctrine.[252] and Zwingli. It failed as both the symbolic starting point of
reformers and their delegations the contemporary
A Protestant baptism is held to be valid ecumenical movement.[251]
could not agree on the sacrament
by the Catholic Church if given with of the Eucharist. Similar
the trinitarian formula and with the discussions were held in 1586
during the Colloquy of Montbéliard
intent to baptize. However, as the
and from 1661 to 1663 during the
ordination of Protestant ministers is not Syncretistic controversy.
recognized due to the lack of apostolic Anonymous woodcut, 1557.
succession and the disunity from
Catholic Church, all other sacraments
(except marriage) performed by Protestant denominations and ministers are not recognized as valid.
Therefore, Protestants desiring full communion with the Catholic Church are not re-baptized (although
they are confirmed) and Protestant ministers who become Catholics may be ordained to the priesthood
after a period of study.
In 1999, the representatives of Lutheran World Federation and Catholic Church signed the Joint
Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, apparently resolving the conflict over the nature of
justification which was at the root of the Protestant Reformation, although Confessional Lutherans reject
this statement.[253] This is understandable, since there is no compelling authority within them. On 18 July
2006, delegates to the World Methodist Conference voted unanimously to adopt the Joint
Declaration.[254][255]
In European countries which were most profoundly influenced by the Reformation, Protestantism still
remains the most practiced religion.[256] These include the Nordic countries and the United
Kingdom.[256][263] In other historical Protestant strongholds such as Germany, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, Latvia, and Estonia, it remains one of the most popular religions.[264] Although what is now
the Czech Republic was the site of one of the most significant
pre-reformation movements,[265] there is only a small
Protestant population today;[266][267] mainly due to historical
reasons like persecution of Protestants by the Catholic
Habsburgs,[268] restrictions during the Communist rule, and
also the ongoing secularization.[265] Over the last several
decades, religious practice has been declining as secularization
has increased.[256][269] According to a 2019 study about
Religiosity in the European Union in 2019 by Eurobarometer, St. Peter's Church in Bermuda, built in
Protestants made up 9% of the EU population.[270] According 1612, is the oldest surviving Protestant
to Pew Research Center, Protestants constituted nearly one fifth church in the "New World", including
the Americas and certain Atlantic
(or 18%) of the continent's Christian population in 2010.[13]
Ocean islands. It was the first of nine
Clarke and Beyer estimate that Protestants constituted 15% of
Parish churches established in
all Europeans in 2009, while Noll claims that fewer than 12% Bermuda by the Church of England.
of them lived in Europe in 2010.[256][258] Bermuda also has the oldest
Presbyterian church outside the British
Changes in worldwide Protestantism over the last century have Isles, the Church of Scotland's Christ
been significant.[8][258][271] Since 1900, Protestantism has Church (1719).
spread rapidly in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin
America.[22][259][271] That caused Protestantism to be called a
primarily non-Western religion.[258][271] Much of the growth has occurred after World War II, when
decolonization of Africa and abolition of various restrictions against Protestants in Latin American
countries occurred.[259] According to one source, Protestants constituted respectively 2.5%, 2%, 0.5% of
Latin Americans, Africans and Asians.[259] In 2000, percentage of Protestants on mentioned continents
was 17%, more than 27% and 6%, respectively.[259] According to Mark A. Noll, 79% of Anglicans lived
in the United Kingdom in 1910, while most of the remainder was found in the United States and across
the British Commonwealth.[258] By 2010, 59% of Anglicans were found in Africa.[258] In 2010, more
Protestants lived in India than in the UK or Germany, while Protestants in Brazil were as numerous as
those in the UK and Germany combined.[258] Almost as many lived in each of Nigeria and China as in all
of Europe.[258] China is home to world's largest Protestant minority.[13][ab]
In 2010, the largest Protestant denominational families were historically Pentecostal denominations
(11%), Anglican (11%), Lutheran (10%), Baptist (9%), United and uniting churches (unions of different
denominations) (7%), Presbyterian or Reformed (7%), Methodist (3%), Adventist (3%),
Congregationalist (1%), Brethren (1%), The Salvation Army (<1%) and Moravian (<1%). Other
denominations accounted for 38% of Protestants.[13]
The United States is home to approximately 20% of the world's Protestants.[13] According to a 2012
study, the Protestant share of U.S. population was 48%, marking the first time in which it was not the
religion of the majority of the country.[282][283] The decline is attributed mainly to the dropping
membership of the Mainline Protestant churches,[282][284] while Evangelical Protestant and Black
churches are stable or continue to grow.[282]
By 2050, Protestants are projected to form to slightly more than half of the world's total Christian
population.[285][ac] According to other experts such as Hans J. Hillerbrand, Protestants will be as
numerous as Catholics.[286]
According to Peter L. Berger, popular Protestantism[ad] is the most dynamic religious movement in the
contemporary world, alongside resurgent Islam.[15]
See also
Anti-Catholicism
Criticism of Protestantism
European wars of religion
Protestantism and Islam
Protestantism in Germany
The Reformation and its influence on church architecture
Explanatory notes
a. Generally regarded as a division of Western Christianity, though Eastern Protestant
denominations have developed outside of the West.
b. Some movements such as the Hussites or the Lollards are also considered Protestant
today, although their origins date back to centuries before the launch of the Reformation.
Others, such as the Waldensians, were later incorporated into another branch of
Protestantism; in this case, the Reformed branch.
c. Specifically, in Wittenberg, Electoral Saxony. Even today, especially in German contexts,
Saxony is often described as the "motherland of the Reformation" (German: Mutterland der
Reformation).
d. At the time Germany and the surrounding region was fragmented into numerous states of
the Holy Roman Empire. Areas which turned Protestant were primarily located in northern,
central and eastern areas of the Empire.
e. Several states of the Holy Roman Empire adopted Calvinism, including the County Palatine
of the Rhine.
f. For further information, see English Reformation. In this article, Anglicanism is considered a
branch of Protestantism as a part of movements derived directly from the 16th century
Reformation. While today the Church of England often considers itself to be a via media
between Protestantism and the Catholic Church, until the rise of the Oxford Movement in
the 1830s the church generally considered itself to be Protestant. (Neill, Stephen.
Anglicanism Pelican 1960, pp. 170, 259–260)
g. According to Pew 2011 report on Christianity about 60% (defined strictly, as some
denominations given individual percentages in the report could be considered a part of one
of the seven main distinguishable Protestant branches, e.g. The Salvation Army could be
considered a part of Methodism). The majority figures given in such reports or in other
sources may vary considerably.
h. This branch was first called Calvinism by Lutherans who opposed it, but many find the word
Reformed to be more descriptive.[12] It includes Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, many
of united and uniting churches, as well as historic Continental Reformed churches in France,
Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, and elsewhere.
i. A flexible term; defined as all forms of Protestantism with the notable exception of the
historical denominations deriving from the Protestant Reformation.
j. Author Hans Hillerbrand estimated a total Protestant population of 833,457,000 in 2004,[17]
while a report by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary -625,606,000 in mid-2024.[16]
k. In the end, while the Reformation emphasis on Protestants reading the Scriptures was one
factor in the development of literacy, the impact of printing itself, the wider availability of
printed works at a cheaper price, and the increasing focus on education and learning as key
factors in obtaining a lucrative post, were also significant contributory factors.[58]
l. In the first decade of the Reformation, Luther's message became a movement, and the
output of religious pamphlets in Germany was at its height.[60]
m. Finland's State Church was the Church of Sweden until 1809. As an autonomous Grand
Duchy under Russia 1809–1917, Finland retained the Lutheran State Church system, and a
state church separate from Sweden, later named the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Finland, was established. It was detached from the state as a separate judicial entity when
the new church law came to force in 1869. After Finland had gained independence in 1917,
religious freedom was declared in the constitution of 1919 and a separate law on religious
freedom in 1922. Through this arrangement, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
lost its position as a state church but gained a constitutional status as a national church
alongside the Finnish Orthodox Church, whose position, however, is not codified in the
constitution.
n. For example, the followers of Thomas Müntzer and Balthasar Hubmaier.
o. Primarily in the United States, where Protestants are usually placed in one of two categories
—Mainline or Evangelical.
p. this varies among Protestants today. In Sweden, the bishops switched to Lutheranism
during the Reformation and there was no break in ordinations. See Apostolic succession in
Sweden for more on this. Today, as a result of shared ordinations, the entire Porvoo
Communion can trace an unbroken chain of Archbishop-level ordinations going back to
before the Reformation through the Swedish line. However, today Rome does not accept
these ordinations as valid not because there was a break in the chain, but rather because
the occurred apart from papal permission.
q. For more on this, see crypto-paganism and the Great Apostasy. In some areas, pagan
Europeans were forced to adopt Christianity at least outwardly, such as after being defeated
in battle by Christians. However, outlawing their paganism did not just make it go away.
Rather, it persisted as crypto-paganism. For example, Philip Melanchthon, in his 1537
Apology of the Augsburg Confession identified the mechanical character of ex opere
operato sacraments as being a form of pagan deterministic philosophy.
r. This is the position of the Protestants who believe the church is visible. For those who think
the church is invisible, organizations are irrelevant, as only individual sinners can be saved.
s. See Ecclesiology of Augustine of Hippo for an example of a church father who discussed
the invisible church.
t. This is a reference to the Marks of the Church in Reformed theology. It is thus you may think
of the State, but the visible church is a totum integrale, it is an empire, with an ethereal
emperor, rather than a visible one. The churches of the various nationalities constitute the
provinces of this empire; and though they are so far independent of each other, yet they are
so one, that membership in one is membership in all, and separation from one is separation
from all.... This conception of the church, of which, in at least some aspects, we have
practically so much lost sight, had a firm hold of the Scottish theologians of the seventeenth
century. James Walker in The Theology of Theologians of Scotland. (Edinburgh: Rpt. Knox
Press, 1982) Lecture iv. pp. 95–96.
u. At least at first, Protestants did not depart per se. Rather, they were excommunicated such
as in the 1520 Exsurge Domine and the 1521 Edict of Worms. Some Protestants avoided
excommunication by living as crypto-Protestants.
v. Some Protestants claim the church is visible today, this is a matter of dispute.
w. The assertion of papal supremacy varied through history. For example, in 381 the First
Council of Constantinople recognized the sees of Rome and Constantinople as being equal
in authority. Papal supremacy continued to evolve after the Reformation with the First
Vatican Council.
x. Lutherans did not completely reject Trent. In fact, some attended it, although they were not
given a vote. Instead, Martin Chemnitz on the basis that all councils are subject to
examination, wrote the Examination of the Council of Trent in which some parts of Trent
were accepted and others dissented from.
y. In history, Catholic sympathizing Protestants were termed crypto-papists and lived as such
because Catholicism was illegal in some areas under the legal principle of cuius regio, eius
religio. However, outlawing Catholics did not always force them to emigrate. Instead, they
remained continued to influence the dominant church in their area.
z. Estimates vary considerably, from 400 up to more than a billion. One of the reasons is the
lack of a common agreement among scholars which denominations constitute
Protestantism. Nevertheless, 800 million is the most accepted figure among various authors
and scholars. For example, author Hans Hillerbrand estimated a total 2004 Protestant
population of 833,457,000,[17] while a report by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary—
961,961,000 (with inclusion of independents as defined in this article) in mid-2015.[16]
aa. Current sources are in general agreement that Christians make up about 33% of the world's
population—slightly over 2.4 billion adherents in mid-2015.
ab. Estimates for China vary in dozens of millions. Nevertheless, in comparison to the other
countries, there is no disagreement that China has the most numerous Protestant minority.
ac. Magisterial Protestant, Independent, Anabaptist and Anglican parties are understood as
Protestant as stated previously in the article, as well as in the book: Statistics for the P, I and
A megablocs are often combined because they overlap so much-hence the order followed
here.
ad. A flexible term; defined as all forms of Protestantism with the notable exception of the
historical denominations deriving from the Protestant Reformation.
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"Observers carefully comparing all these figures in the total context will have observed the
even more startling finding that for the first time ever in the history of Protestantism, Wider
Protestants will by 2050 have become almost exactly as numerous as Catholics—each with
just over 1.5 billion followers, or 17 percent of the world, with Protestants growing
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Works cited
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Further reading
General
Bruce, Steve (2019). A house divided: Protestantism, Schism and secularization. London;
New York: Routledge.
Cook, Martin L. (1991). The Open Circle: Confessional Method in Theology. Minneapolis,
Mn: Fortress Press. xiv, 130 p. N.B.: Discusses the place of Confessions of Faith in
Protestant theology, especially in Lutheranism. ISBN 0-8006-2482-3
Dillenberger, John, and Claude Welch (1988). Protestant Christianity, Interpreted through Its
Development. Second ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. ISBN 0-02-329601-1
Giussani, Luigi (1969), trans. Damian Bacich (2013). American Protestant Theology: A
Historical Sketch. Montreal: McGill-Queens UP.
Grytten, Ola Honningdal. "Weber revisited: A literature review on the possible Link between
Protestantism, Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth." (NHH Dept. of Economics
Discussion Paper 08, 2020). online ([Link]
11250/2657268/DP%[Link]?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)
Howard, Thomas A. Remembering the Reformation: an inquiry into the meanings of
Protestantism (Oxford UP, 2016).
Howard, Thomas A. and Mark A. Noll, eds. Protestantism after 500 years (Oxford UP, 2016).
Leithart, Peter J. The end of Protestantism: pursuing unity in a fragmented church (Brazos
Press, 2016).
McGrath, Alister E. (2007). Christianity's Dangerous Idea ([Link]
itysdan00mcgr_0). New York: HarperOne. ISBN 978-0060822132.
Nash, Arnold S., ed. (1951). Protestant Thought in the Twentieth Century: Whence &
Whither? New York: Macmillan Co.
Noll, Mark A. (2011). Protestantism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Ryrie, Alec Protestants: The Radicals Who Made the Modern World (HarperCollins, 2017).
Ryrie, Alec "The World's Local Religion" History Today (Sept 20, 2017) online ([Link]
[Link]/alec-ryrie/worlds-local-religion)
External links
"Personal Christian Statement of Faith (Protestant)" ([Link]
rsonal-Christian-Statement-of-Faith-%28Protestant%29). wikiHow. 29 July 2015.
Protestantism ([Link] ([Link])
"Protestantism" ([Link]
then/[Link]) from the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia
The Historyscoper ([Link]
World Council of Churches ([Link] – World body for mainline
Protestant churches