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Christendom
began united in the Early Church.
However, quickly, heresy and heterodoxy began creeping into the
Christian faith. That is when various
sects began to form and break off from the main church body (Roman Catholic
Church). However, even the Roman
Catholic Church sunk into heresy, which was the initial cause of the Lutheran
Reformation, and the other reformation movements that followed. This is a brief guide to who these groups are
and when and why they broke off from the Roman Catholic Church, as well as a
look at to whom modern protestant churches trace their theology—Lutheranism, Radical
Reformed, Arminianism or Calvinism.
Assyrian Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches
After
the Council of Ephesus in 431, we see the first major “fracture” in the church,
with the Assyrian Orthodox Church (Church of the East) splitting from the rest. 20 years later saw the exodus of the Oriental
Orthodox sect. Both are still in
existence, but neither are “major” churches.
Eastern Orthodox Church
The
Great Schism occurred in 1054, resulting in the separation of the Eastern
Orthodox Church from the Roman Catholic (Western) Church.
Pre-Reformation Sects
Rumblings
of reformation began in 1170 in Lyons, France, with the Waldensians. In the early 15th century, the Hussites
emerged, lead by Jan Hus. The Hussites
are known now as the Moravian Church, or “Unity of the Brethren”, a title which
became common in 1457 in Bohemia. It is
still an active, though small, sect of Christianity today. The Utraquists movement was started by Jacob of Mies, a University
of Prague philosophy professor, in 1414. This merged largely with the Hussites, as it
was more a dogmatic movement than a denomination.
Anglican Church
While
the Reformation was going on in other parts of Europe, the Church of England
(Anglicans) broke off from the Roman Catholic Church in the mid 16th
century to assert local authority and control over the church.
Protestant Sects
There
are essentially four branches of Protestant theology: Lutheranism, Radical
Reformation (Anabaptists), Arminianism, Calvinism (of which Zwinglianism is a
subset). To at least one of those each
branch of the modern “reformed” or “protestant” church can trace its
roots. Lutheranism is really the only
branch of Protestantism that didn’t splinter further into other denominations
besides its own.
Modern Sects and Denominations
Anglican,
Episcopalian, Orthodox (Eastern, Greek and Russian in particular) and Catholic
churches (all originating from Roman Catholicism) still have strong roots in
American Christianity. In America, there
are several fairly distinct groups of Protestant churches, under which a number
of denominations fall.
Anabaptist and Friends
Anabaptist
churches trace back to the original radical reformed movement, including the
Amish, Brethren, Friends and Mennonite denominations.
Baptist and Stone-Campbell
The
Baptist churches grew out of the Puritan (Anglican) and Anabaptist (Radical
Reformed) movements, and include a variety of Baptist denominations (including
Southern Baptist and African-American Baptist) as well as Stone-Campbell
Restorationist churches.
Charismatic
The
Charismatic movement grew out of the Pentecostal church, which traces back to
Methodism (Arminianism), and includes denominations such as: Born Again
Movement, Calvary Chapel, Faith Christian Fellowship International, Full
Gospel, New Life Fellowship Association, and Sovereign Grace Ministries.
Holiness and Pietist
The
Pietist movement traces back to unorthodox Lutheranism, while the Holiness
movement traces back to Methodism (Arminian), these sects include a variety of
denominations, such as the Evangelical Free Church of America, Church of the
Nazarene, Salvation Army, Seventh-day Adventist Church and Wesleyan Church.
Lutheran
There
are three major Lutheran synods in America: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical
Lutheran Synod, the latter two are traditional Lutheran synods, while the
previous follows fallen Lutheran teachings (such as subscribing to the Variata and picking up on Pietism).
Methodist
The
Methodist church traces back to Arminianism, and there are several Methodist
denominations in America, most notably the Free Methodist Church and the United
Methodist Church.
Pentecostal
The
Pentecostal church grew out of the Holiness movement, which traces back to
Methodism (Arminianism), and includes the following denominations in their
sect: Assemblies of God, Full Gospel Fellowship, Intl. Church of the Foursquare
Gospel, Pentecostal Church of God.
Oneness Pentecostalism is an antitrinitarian subset of this sect.
Presbyterian and Reformed (Congregationalists)
The
Presbyterian, Reformed and Congregationalist sects are Calvinist in their
lineage, and include the following denominations: Conservative Congregational
Christian Conference, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church
(USA), Presbyterian Church in America, Reformed Church in America, and United
Church of Christ.
Other
These churches don’t seem to fall into any other
category, most (but not all) are heretical and not really Christian at all. They include: American Unitarian Conference, Church
of Christ Scientist (Scientology), Grace Gospel Fellowship, Jehovah's Witnesses,
LDS Church, Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, Non-denominational churches, Plymouth
Brethren, and Vineyard USA.
