Protestantism, form of Christian faith and practice that originated with the principles of the Reformation Reformation, religious revolution that took place in Western Europe in the 16th cent. It arose from objections to doctrines and practices in the medieval church (see Roman Catholic Church ) and ultimately led to the freedom of dissent (see Protestantism ).
..... Click the link for more information. . The term is derived from the Protestatio delivered by a minority of delegates against the (1529) Diet of Speyer, which passed legislation against the Lutherans. Since that time the term has been used in many different senses, but not as the official title of any church until it was assumed (1783) by the Protestant Episcopal Church (since 1967 simply the Episcopal Church) in the United States, the American branch of the Anglican Communion. Protestantism as a general term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian faiths, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Branches and Sects

Two distinct branches of Protestantism grew out of the Reformation. The evangelical churches in Germany and Scandinavia were followers of Martin Luther 4)), which was written by Melanchthon at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 with the sanction of Luther, who was not permitted to attend. About this time the control of the Lutheran Church had passed further into the hands of the Protestant princes.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the reformed churches in other countries were followers of John Calvin Calvin, John, 1509–64, French Protestant theologian of the Reformation, b. Noyon, Picardy.

Early Life

Calvin early prepared for an ecclesiastical career; from 1523 to 1528 he studied in Paris.
..... Click the link for more information. and Huldreich Zwingli Zwingli, Huldreich or Ulrich (h
..... Click the link for more information. . A third major branch, episcopacy, developed in England. Particularly since the Oxford movement Oxford movement, religious movement begun in 1833 by Anglican clergymen at Oxford Univ. to renew the Church of England (see England, Church of ) by reviving certain Roman Catholic doctrines and rituals.
..... Click the link for more information. of the 19th cent., many Anglicans have rejected the word Protestant because they tend to agree with Roman Catholicism on most doctrinal points, rejecting, however, the primacy of the pope (see England, Church of England, Church of, the established church of England and the mother church of the Anglican Communion .

Organization and Doctrine

The clergy of the church are of three ancient orders: deacons, priests, and bishops.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Episcopal Church Episcopal Church, Anglican church of the United States. Its separate existence as an American ecclesiastical body with its own episcopate began in 1789.

Doctrine and Organization

..... Click the link for more information. ; Ireland, Church of Ireland, Church of, Anglican church of both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. As a separate body the church goes back to the Reformation when the Irish church was officially reformed along the same lines as the church in England (see England, Church of ).
..... Click the link for more information. ). In addition, there have been several groups commonly called Protestant but historically preceding the rise of Protestantism (see Hussites Hussites (hŭs`īts), followers of John Huss.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Lollardry Lollardry (lŏl`y
..... Click the link for more information. ; Waldenses Waldenses (wôldĕn`sēz) or Waldensians,
..... Click the link for more information. ). Protestantism has largely been adopted by the peoples of NW Europe and their descendants, excepting the southern Germans, Irish, French, and Belgians; there have been important Protestant minorities in France, Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland.

The doctrine that the individual conscience is the valid interpreter of Scripture led to a wide variety of Protestant sects; this fragmentation was further extended by doctrinal disputes within the sects notably over grace grace, in Christian theology, the free favor of God toward humans, which is necessary for their salvation. A distinction is made between natural grace (e.g., the gift of life) and supernatural grace, by which God makes a person (born sinful because of original sin )
..... Click the link for more information. , predestination, and the sacraments. Certain movements have claimed new revelations (see Agapemone Agapemone (ăgəpĕm`ənē) [Gr.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Latter-Day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of, name of the church founded (1830) at Fayette, N.Y., by Joseph Smith . The headquarters are in Salt Lake City, Utah. Its members, now numbering about 5 million in the United States (1997), are commonly called Mormons.
..... Click the link for more information. ; New Jerusalem, Church of the New Jerusalem, Church of the, or New Church, religious body instituted by the followers of Emanuel Swedenborg , who are generally called Swedenborgians.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Of a fundamentally distinct nature is Christian Science Christian Science, religion founded upon principles of divine healing and laws expressed in the acts and sayings of Jesus, as discovered and set forth by Mary Baker Eddy and practiced by the Church of Christ, Scientist.
..... Click the link for more information. , which as an article of faith repudiates any medical treatment.

Since the 1960s a main thrust in Protestantism has been toward reunification (see ecumenical movement ecumenical movement (ĕk'y
..... Click the link for more information. ); this was particularly strong in North America. Most Protestant and many Eastern Orthodox churches are allied in federated councils on the local, national, and international levels (see World Council of Churches World Council of Churches, an international, interdenominational organization of most major Protestant, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox Christian churches; founded in Amsterdam in 1948, its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.
..... Click the link for more information. and National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, cooperative agency of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations. Formed in 1950, with headquarters in New York City, the National Council of Churches is the chief instrument of the
..... Click the link for more information. ).

For some of the major tendencies in Protestantism, see Adventists Adventists (ăd`vĕn'tĭsts) [advent, Lat.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Anabaptists Anabaptists (ăn'əbăp`tĭsts) [Gr.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Baptists Baptists, denomination of Protestant Christians holding a distinctive belief with regard to the ordinance of baptism . Since 1644 the name has been applied to those who maintain that baptism should be administered to none but believers and that immersion is the only
..... Click the link for more information. ; Calvinism Calvinism, term used in several different senses. It may indicate the teachings expressed by John Calvin himself; it may be extended to include all that developed from his doctrine and practice in Protestant countries in social, political, and ethical, as well as
..... Click the link for more information. ; Congregationalism Congregationalism, type of Protestant church organization in which each congregation, or local church, has free control of its own affairs. The underlying principle is that each local congregation has as its head Jesus alone and that the relations of the various
..... Click the link for more information. ; Lutheranism Lutheranism, branch of Protestantism that arose as a result of the Reformation , whose religious faith is based on the principles of Martin Luther , although he opposed such a designation.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Methodism Methodism, the doctrines, polity, and worship of those Protestant Christian denominations that have developed from the movement started in England by the teaching of John Wesley .
..... Click the link for more information. ; Pentecostalism Pentecostalism, worldwide 20th-century Christian movement that emphasizes the experience of Spirit baptism, generally evidenced by speaking in tongues ( glossolalia ).
..... Click the link for more information. ; Presbyterianism Presbyterianism, form of Christian church organization based on administration by a hierarchy of courts composed of clerical and lay presbyters. Holding a position between episcopacy (government by bishops) and Congregationalism (government by local congregation),
..... Click the link for more information. ; Puritanism Puritanism, in the 16th and 17th cent., a movement for reform in the Church of England that had a profound influence on the social, political, ethical, and theological ideas of England and America.

Origins

Historically Puritanism began early (c.
..... Click the link for more information. ; spiritism spiritism or spiritualism, belief that the human personality continues to exist after death and can communicate with the living through the agency of a medium or psychic.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Unitarianism Unitarianism, in general, the form of Christianity that denies the doctrine of the Trinity , believing that God exists only in one person. While there were previous antitrinitarian movements in the early Christian Church, like Arianism and Monarchianism, modern
..... Click the link for more information. .

For individual churches in addition to those already mentioned, see Brethren Brethren, German Baptist religious group. They were popularly known as Dunkards, Dunkers, or Tunkers, from the German for "to dip," referring to their method of baptizing. The Brethren evolved from the Pietist movement in Germany.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Christian Catholic Church Christian Catholic Church, religious denomination founded (1896) in Chicago by John Alexander Dowie . Its members are sometimes known as Zionites. The church has its center in Zion , Ill., which Dowie founded (1901) as a religious community.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), sometimes called Campbellites, a Protestant religious body founded early in the 19th cent. in the United States. Its primary thesis is that the Bible alone should form the basis for faith and conduct, each individual
..... Click the link for more information. ; Christian Reformed Church Christian Reformed Church, denomination formed after the secession of a group from the Reformed Church in America in 1857. Colonists from Holland who began settling in Michigan in 1846 generally became members of the Reformed (Dutch) church there.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Christians Christians, name taken by the followers of several evangelical preachers on the American frontier, notably James O'Kelley, Abner Jones, and Barton W. Stone , all of whom were antisectarian.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Churches of Christ Churches of Christ, conservative body of evangelical Protestants in the United States. Its founders were originally members of what is now the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who gradually withdrew from that body following the Civil War.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Churches of God, General Conference Churches of God, General Conference, conservative evangelical Christian bodies, Arminian in faith (see Jacobus Arminius ), with certain Baptist doctrines. The movement originated during revivals held in Harrisburg, Pa.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Protestantism Protestantism, form of Christian faith and practice that originated with the principles of the Reformation . The term is derived from the Protestatio delivered by a minority of delegates against the (1529) Diet of Speyer, which passed legislation against the
..... Click the link for more information. ; Evangelical and Reformed Church Evangelical and Reformed Church, Protestant denomination formed by the merger (1934) of the Reformed Church in the United States and the Evangelical Synod of North America. Both of these bodies had originated in the Reformation in Europe.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Evangelical United Brethren Church Evangelical United Brethren Church, Protestant denomination created (1946) by the union of the Evangelical Church and the United Brethren in Christ. Both denominations originated early in the 19th cent. and had similarities in organization and polity.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Friends, Religious Society of Friends, Religious Society of, religious body originating in England in the middle of the 17th cent. under George Fox . The members are commonly called Quakers, originally a term of derision.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Huguenots Huguenots (hy`gənŏts), French Protestants, followers of John Calvin .
..... Click the link for more information. ; Mennonites Mennonites (mĕn`nənīts), descendants of the Dutch and Swiss evangelical Anabaptists of the 16th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Moravian Church Moravian Church, Renewed Church of the Brethren, or Unitas Fratrum
..... Click the link for more information. ; Ranters Ranters, name given to the adherents of an antinomian movement in England about the time of the Commonwealth and Protectorate (1649–59). Its principal teaching was pantheistic, that God is present in nature.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Reformed Church in America Reformed Church in America, Protestant denomination founded in colonial times by settlers from the Netherlands and formerly known as the Dutch Reformed Church. The Reformed Church in Holland emerged in the 16th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Salvation Army Salvation Army, Protestant denomination and international nonsectarian Christian organization for evangelical and philanthropic work.

Organization and Beliefs

The Salvation Army has established branches in 100 countries throughout the world.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Scotland, Church of Scotland, Church of, the established national church of Scotland, Presbyterian (see Presbyterianism ) in form. The first Protestants in Scotland, led by Patrick Hamilton , were predominantly Lutheran.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Scotland, Free Church of Scotland, Free Church of, the secessionist Presbyterian church established as a result of the great disruption of 1843 in the Church of Scotland. The cause of the separation lay in the demand of the laity for a voice in matters of patronage.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Seventh-Day Baptists Seventh-Day Baptists, Protestant church holding the same doctrines as other Calvinistic Baptists but observing the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. In the Reformation in England the observance was adopted by many, and in the 17th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Shakers Shakers, popular name for members of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also called the Millennial Church. Members of the movement, who received their name from the trembling produced by religious emotion, were also known as Alethians.
..... Click the link for more information. ; United Church of Canada United Church of Canada, Protestant denomination formed in 1925 by the union of the Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches in Canada. A large number of Presbyterian congregations, however, remain outside the union.
..... Click the link for more information. ; Universalist Church of America Universalist Church of America, Protestant denomination originating in the 18th cent. and represented almost entirely in the United States. Universalism is the belief that it is God's purpose to save every individual from sin through divine grace revealed in Jesus.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Distinguishing Characteristics and Development

Central Beliefs

The chief characteristics of original Protestantism were the acceptance of the Bible as the only source of infallible revealed truth, the belief in the universal priesthood of all believers, and the doctrine that a Christian is justified in his relationship to God by faith alone, not by good works or dispensations of the church. There was a tendency to minimize liturgy and to stress preaching by the ministry and the reading of the Bible. Although Protestants rejected asceticism, an elevated standard of personal morality was advanced; in some sects, notably Puritanism, a high degree of austerity was reached. Their ecclesiastical polity, principally in such forms as episcopacy (government by bishops), Congregationalism, or Presbyterianism, was looked upon by Protestants as a return to the early Christianity described in the New Testament.

Theological Development

Protestantism saw many theological developments, particularly after the 18th cent. Under the influence of romanticism romanticism, term loosely applied to literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and 19th cent.

Characteristics of Romanticism

Resulting in part from the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution, the romantic movements had in
..... Click the link for more information. , which stressed the subjective element in religion rather than the revelation of the Bible, the formal systems of early Protestant theology began to dissolve; this doctrine was best expressed by Friedrich Schleiermacher Schleiermacher, Friedrich Daniel Ernst (frē`drĭkh dä`nyĕl ĕrnst shlī`ərmäkh'ər)
..... Click the link for more information. , who placed religious feeling at the center of Christian life. Along with this came the assertion that the fatherhood of God and the unity of humanity were the basic themes of Christianity. Later there was a neoorthodox movement, which, under the leadership of Karl Barth Barth, Karl (bärt), 1886–1968, Swiss Protestant theologian, one of the leading thinkers of 20th-century Protestantism.
..... Click the link for more information. and Reinhold Niebuhr Niebuhr, Reinhold (rīn`hōld nē`b
..... Click the link for more information. , sought a return to a theology of revelation; a new school of Bible interpretation as expressed in the work of Rudolf Bultmann Bultmann, Rudolf Karl (b
..... Click the link for more information. ; and a theology, derived in part from existentialism existentialism (ĕgzĭstĕn`shəlĭzəm, ĕksĭ–)
..... Click the link for more information. , developed by Paul Tillich Tillich, Paul Johannes (tĭl`ĭk), 1886–1965, American philosopher and theologian, b.
..... Click the link for more information. .

In the United States, four broad theological positions cut across denominational lines: fundamentalism fundamentalism.

1 In Protestantism, religious movement that arose among conservative members of various Protestant denominations early in the 20th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , which stems from the antitheological periods of revivalism in the 18th and 19th cent. (see Great Awakening Great Awakening, series of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th cent. It resulted in doctrinal changes and influenced social and political thought.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and adheres to a literal interpretation of the Bible and a pietistic morality; liberalism, the heir to the Social Gospel Social Gospel, liberal movement within American Protestantism that attempted to apply biblical teachings to problems associated with industrialization. It took form during the latter half of the 19th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. movement, which encourages freer interpretation of theological doctrines and emphasizes church responsibility for social justice; Pentecostalism, which emphasizes ecstatic religious experience especially as communicated through the gifts of the Spirit; and the neoorthodoxy of Reinhold Niebuhr and Karl Barth.

Bibliography

See P. Tillich, The Protestant Era (1948, repr. 1957); R. M. Brown, Spirit of Protestantism (1961); E. G. Léonard, A History of Protestantism (2 vol., tr. 1965–67); W. Pauck, The Heritage of the Reformation (rev. ed. 1968); R. Mehl, The Sociology of Protestantism (tr. 1970); M. E. Marty, Protestantism (1972); R. T. Handy, A Christian America: Protestant Hopes and Historical Realities (2d ed. 1983); J. Dillenberger and C. Welch, Protestant Christianity (2d ed. 1988).

Protestantism

One of the three major branches of Christianity, originating in the 16th-century Reformation. The term applies to the beliefs of Christians who do not adhere to Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy. A variety of Protestant denominations grew out of the Reformation. The followers of Martin Luther established the evangelical churches of Germany and Scandinavia; John Calvin and more radical reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli founded Reformed churches in Switzerland, and Calvin's disciple John Knox established a church in Scotland (Presbyterianism). Another important branch of Protestantism, represented by the Church of England and Episcopal Church, had its origins in 16th-century England and is now the Protestant denomination closest to Roman Catholicism in theology and worship. The doctrines of the various Protestant denominations vary considerably, but all emphasize the supremacy of the Bible in matters of faith and order, justification by grace through faith and not through works, and the priesthood of all believers. In the early 21st century there were nearly 350 million Protestants in the world. See also Adventist, Baptist, Society of Friends, Mennonite, Methodism.