Protestantism

===Christ's presence in the Eucharist===
{{Main|Eucharistic theology}}
[[File:Abendmahl-1547-LC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A 1547 [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] depiction of the [[Last Supper]] by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder]]]]
The Protestant movement began to diverge into several distinct branches in the mid-to-late 16th century. One of the central points of divergence was controversy over the [[Eucharist]]. Early Protestants rejected the Catholic [[dogma]] of [[transubstantiation]], which teaches that the bread and wine used in the sacrificial rite of the Mass lose their natural substance by being transformed into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. They disagreed with one another concerning the presence of Christ and his body and blood in Holy Communion.
* Lutherans hold that in the [[Eucharist|Lord's Supper]], the Body and Blood of Christ are present "in, with, and under the form" of bread and wine for all those who eat and drink it,<ref>{{bibleverse|1Cor|10:16|47}}, {{bibleverse|1Cor|11:20, 27|47|11:20, 27}}</ref><ref>Engelder, T.E.W., [https://archive.org/details/MN41551ucmf_1 ''Popular Symbolics'']. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934. p. 95, Part XXIV. "The Lord's Supper", paragraph 131.</ref> a doctrine that the [[Formula of Concord]] calls the [[Sacramental union]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bookofconcord.com/fc-sd/supper.html |title=The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, Article 8, The Holy Supper |publisher=Bookofconcord.com |access-date=19 November 2010 |archive-date=21 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121030003/http://bookofconcord.com/fc-sd/supper.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> God earnestly offers to all who receive the sacrament,<ref>{{bibleverse|Lk|22:19–20|50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Graebner |first=Augustus Lawrence |url=http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/graebneral/soteriology.txt |title=Outlines of Doctrinal Theology |page=162 |location=Saint Louis, MO |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |year=1910 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415004724/http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/graebneral/soteriology.txt |archive-date=15 April 2009}}</ref> forgiveness of sins,<ref>{{bibleverse|Mt|26:28|50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Graebner |first=Augustus Lawrence |url=http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/graebneral/soteriology.txt |title=Outlines of Doctrinal Theology |page=163 |location=Saint Louis, MO |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |year=1910 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110528150447/http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/graebneral/soteriology.txt |archive-date=28 May 2011}}</ref> and eternal salvation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Graebner |first=Augustus Lawrence |url=http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/graebneral/soteriology.txt |title=Outlines of Doctrinal Theology |page=163 |location=St. Louis, MO |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |year=1910 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415004724/http://www.ctsfw.edu/etext/graebneral/soteriology.txt |archive-date=15 April 2009}}</ref>
* The [[Reformed churches]] emphasize the [[Real presence#Reformed|real ''spiritual'' presence]], or ''sacramental presence'', of Christ, saying that the sacrament is a sanctifying grace through which the elect believer does not actually partake of Christ, but merely ''with'' the bread and wine rather than in the elements. Calvinists deny the Lutheran assertion that all communicants, both believers and unbelievers, orally receive Christ's body and blood in the elements of the [[sacrament]] but instead affirm that Christ is united to the believer through faith—toward which the supper is an outward and visible aid. Calvin also emphasizes the real presence of Christ by the Holy Spirit during Eucharist. This is often referred to as ''dynamic presence''.
* Anglicans and Methodists refuse to define the Presence, preferring to leave it a mystery.<ref name="Neal2014">{{cite book|last=Neal|first=Gregory S.|title=Sacramental Theology and the Christian Life|year= 2014|publisher=WestBow Press|isbn=978-1490860077|page=111|quote=For Anglicans and Methodists the reality of the presence of Jesus as received through the sacramental elements is not in question. Real presence is simply accepted as being true, its mysterious nature being affirmed and even lauded in official statements like ''This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion.''}}</ref> The Prayer Books describe the bread and wine as outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace which is the Body and Blood of Christ. However, the words of their liturgies suggest that one can hold to a belief in the Real Presence and Spiritual and Sacramental Present at the same time. For example, "... and you have fed us with the spiritual food in the Sacrament of his body and Blood;" "...the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries..." American Book of Common Prayer, 1977, pp.&nbsp;365–366.
* Anabaptists hold a popular simplification of the [[Theology of Huldrych Zwingli|Zwinglian view]], without concern for theological intricacies as hinted at above, may see the Lord's Supper merely as a symbol of the shared faith of the participants, a commemoration of the facts of the crucifixion, and a reminder of their standing together as the body of Christ (a view referred to as ''memorialism'').<ref name="Balmer2002">{{cite book|last1=Balmer|first1=Randall Herbert|last2=Winner|first2=Lauren F.|title=Protestantism in America|url=https://archive.org/details/protestantismame00balm_593|url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|location=[[New York City|New York]]|isbn=978-0231111300|page=[https://archive.org/details/protestantismame00balm_593/page/n42 26]}}</ref>