Christian denomination

===Western Christianity===
{{Christian denominations in the English-speaking world}}

The [[Latin Church|Latin portion]] of the [[Catholic Church]], along with [[Protestantism]], comprise the three major divisions of [[Christianity]] in the Western world. Catholics do not describe themselves as a denomination but rather as the original Church, from which all other branches broke off in [[schism (religious)|schism]]. The [[Baptist]], [[Methodism|Methodist]], and [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] churches are generally considered to be Protestant denominations, although strictly speaking, of these three, only the Lutherans took part in the official [[Protestation at Speyer]] after the decree of the [[Second Diet of Speyer]] mandated the burning of Luther's works and the end of the [[Protestant Reformation]]. Anglicanism is generally classified as Protestant,<ref name="EB2008">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of World Religions |date=2008 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |isbn=978-1-59339-491-2 |language=en |quote=Amid all this diversity, however, it is possible to define Protestantism formally as non-Roman Western Christianity and to divide most of Protestantism into four major confessions or confessional families – Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, and Free Church.}}</ref><ref name="Melton2005">{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism |date=2005 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-0-8160-6983-5 |language=en |quote=Most narrowly, it denotes a movement that began within the Roman Catholic Church in Europe in the 16th century and the churches that come directly out of it. In this narrow sense, Protestantism would include the Lutheran, Reformed or Presbyterian, and Anglican (Church of England) churches, and by extension the churches of the British Puritan movement, which sought to bring the Church of England into the Reformed/Presbyterian camp. Most recently, scholars have argued quite effectively that the churches of the radical phase of the 16th-century Reformation, the Anabaptist and Mennonite groups, also belong within this more narrow usage.}}</ref><ref name="Hanciles2019">{{cite book |last1=Hanciles |first1=Jehu J. |title=The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume IV: The Twentieth Century: Traditions in a Global Context |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-251821-7 |language=en |quote=The designation Protestant includes Lutherans and Anglicans, although some Anglicans do not like the word. Methodism arrived in Asia both from Britain and via America, but with distinct traditions. Both owed a debt to Moravian Lutheranism, as did the Protestant missionary movement generally. Evangelicals have long included many Anglicans, and by 1967 Anglican evangelicalism was defining the movement in Britain.}}</ref> being originally seen as a ''via media'', or middle way between Lutheranism and Reformed Christianity, and since the [[Oxford Movement]] of the 19th century, some Anglican writers of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship emphasize a more [[Catholic (term)|catholic]] understanding of the church and characterize it as being ''both'' Protestant and Catholic.<ref name="AEH2003">{{cite book|title=Anglican and Episcopal History|year=2003|publisher=Historical Society of the Episcopal Church|language=en|page=15|quote=Others had made similar observations, Patrick McGrath commenting that the Church of England was not a middle way between Roman Catholic and Protestant, but "between different forms of Protestantism," and William Monter describing the Church of England as "a unique style of Protestantism, a via media between the Reformed and Lutheran traditions." MacCulloch has described Cranmer as seeking a middle way between Zurich and Wittenberg but elsewhere remarks that the Church of England was "nearer Zurich and Geneva than Wittenberg.}}</ref> A case is sometimes also made to regard Lutheranism in a similar way, considering the catholic character of its foundational documents (the [[Augsburg Confession]] and other documents contained in the [[Book of Concord]]) and its existence prior to the Anglican, Anabaptist, and [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] churches, from which nearly all other Protestant denominations derive.<ref name="Ludwig2016"/>

One central tenet of Catholicism (which is a common point between Catholic, Scandinavian Lutheran, Anglican, Moravian, Orthodox, and some other Churches), is its practice of [[apostolic succession]]. "[[Apostle]]" means "one who is sent out". Jesus commissioned the first [[twelve apostles]], and they, in turn laid hands on subsequent church leaders to ordain (commission) them for ministry. In this manner, Catholics and Anglicans trace their ordained ministers all the way back to the original Twelve.

Catholics believe that the [[Pope]] has authority which can be traced directly to the apostle [[Saint Peter|Peter]] whom they hold to be the original head of and first Pope of the [[Christian Church|Church]]. There are smaller churches, such as the [[Old Catholic Church]] which rejected the definition of [[Papal Infallibility]] at the [[First Vatican Council]], as well as [[Evangelical Catholic]]s and [[Anglo-Catholicism|Anglo-Catholics]], who are Lutherans and Anglicans that believe that Lutheranism and Anglicanism, respectively, are a continuation of historical [[Catholicism]] and who incorporate many Catholic beliefs and practices.<ref name="Ludwig2016">{{cite book|title=Luther's Catholic Reformation|last=Ludwig|first=Alan|date=12 September 2016|publisher=[[The Lutheran Witness]]|language=en|quote= When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V in 1530, they carefully showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils and even the canon law of the Church of Rome. They boldly claim, “This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers” (AC XXI Conclusion 1). The underlying thesis of the Augsburg Confession is that the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church. In fact, it is actually the Church of Rome that has departed from the ancient faith and practice of the catholic church (see AC XXIII 13, XXVIII 72 and other places).}}</ref> The Catholic Church refers to itself simply by the terms ''Catholic'' and ''Catholicism'' (which mean universal).

Sometimes, Catholics, based on a strict interpretation of ''[[extra ecclesiam nulla salus]]'' ("Outside the Church, there is no salvation"), rejected any notion those outside its communion could be regarded as part of any true Catholic Christian faith, an attitude rejected by the [[Second Vatican Council]] (1962{{ndash}}1965).<ref name="UnitatisRed">{{Cite web |title=Unitatis redintegratio |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html |access-date=10 May 2023 |website=www.vatican.va |quote=It remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ's body, and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church. |archive-date=6 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306113628/https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Catholicism has a hierarchical structure in which supreme authority for matters of faith and practice are the exclusive domain of the Pope, who sits on the Throne of Peter, and the bishops when acting in union with him.

Each Protestant movement has developed freely, and many have split over theological issues. For instance, a number of movements grew out of spiritual [[Christian revival|revivals]], such as [[Pentecostalism]]. Doctrinal issues and matters of [[conscience]] have also divided Protestants. Still others formed out of administrative issues; [[Methodism]] branched off as its own group of denominations when the [[American Revolutionary War]] complicated the movement's ability to ordain ministers (it had begun as a movement within the Church of England). In Methodism's case, it has undergone a number of administrative schisms and mergers with other denominations (especially those associated with the [[holiness movement]] in the 20th century).

The [[Anabaptist]] tradition, made up of the [[Amish]], [[Hutterites]], and [[Mennonites]], rejected the Roman Catholic and Lutheran doctrines of [[pedobaptism|infant baptism]]; this tradition is also noted for its belief in [[pacifism]]. Many Anabaptists do not see themselves as Protestant, but a separate tradition altogether.<ref name="Klaasen2004">{{cite web |last1=Klaasen |first1=Walter |title=Anabaptism: Neither Catholic Nor Protestant |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-5/anabaptism-neither-catholic-nor-protestant.html |access-date=15 May 2020 |language=en |date=2004 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728155956/https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-5/anabaptism-neither-catholic-nor-protestant.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=McGrath |first=William |title=The Anabaptists: Neither Catholic nor Protestant |url=http://www.cbc4me.org/articles/Baptist/04-McGrath.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227060547/http://www.cbc4me.org/articles/Baptist/04-McGrath.pdf |url-status=dead |location=Hartville, Ohio, United States |publisher=The Fellowship Messenger |archive-date=27 December 2016}}</ref>

Some denominations which arose alongside the Western Christian tradition consider themselves Christian, but neither Catholic nor wholly Protestant, such as the [[Religious Society of Friends]] (Quakers). Quakerism began as an evangelical Christian movement in 17th century [[England]], eschewing priests and all formal Anglican or [[Catholic sacraments]] in their worship, including many of those practices that remained among the stridently Protestant [[Puritan]]s such as baptism with water. They were known in America for helping with the Underground Railroad, and like the Mennonites, Quakers traditionally refrain from participation in war.

Many churches with roots in [[Restorationism]] reject being identified as Protestant or even as a denomination at all, as they use only the Bible and not creeds, and model the church after what they feel is the first-century church found in scripture; the [[Churches of Christ]] are one example; [[African Initiated Church]]es, like [[Kimbanguism]], mostly fall within Protestantism, with varying degrees of syncretism. The measure of mutual acceptance between the denominations and movements varies, but is growing largely due to the [[ecumenism|ecumenical movement]] in the 20th century and overarching Christian bodies such as the [[World Council of Churches]].