Christian denomination

== Major branches ==
{{Pie chart|label1=[[Catholic]]|value1=50.1|label2=[[Protestant]]|value2=36.7|label3=[[Orthodoxy#Christianity|Orthodox]]|value3=11.9|value4=1.3|label4=Other|caption=Worldwide Christians by denomination {{asof|2011|lc=y}}<ref>{{Cite report|date=December 2011|title=Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population|publisher=Pew Research Center|author=Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project|page=10|url=https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf|access-date=May 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201151952/https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf|archive-date=February 1, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
Christianity can be taxonomically divided into six main groups: the [[Church of the East]], [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodoxy]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]], [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] as well as [[Independent Catholicism]] under the category of Catholicism, [[Protestantism]], and [[Restorationism]].<ref name="Riswold2009">{{cite book |last1=Riswold |first1=Caryn D. |title=Feminism and Christianity: Questions and Answers in the Third Wave |date=1 October 2009 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-62189-053-9 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="GaoSawatsky2023">{{cite web |last1=Gao |first1=Ronnie Chuang-Rang |last2=Sawatsky |first2=Kevin |title=Motivations in Faith-Based Organizations|url=https://hc.edu/center-for-christianity-in-business/2023/02/07/motivations-in-faith-based-organizations/ |publisher=[[Houston Christian University]] |access-date=22 November 2023 |language=English |date=7 February 2023 |quote=For example, Christianity comprises six major groups: Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Restorationism.}}</ref> Protestantism includes many groups which do not share any ecclesiastical governance and have widely diverging beliefs and practices.<ref name="EB2008" /> Major Protestant branches include [[Adventism]], [[Anabaptism]], [[Anglicanism]], [[Baptist]]s, [[Lutheranism]], [[Methodism]], [[Moravian Church|Moravianism]], [[Quakerism]], [[Pentecostalism]], [[Plymouth Brethren]], [[Reformed Christianity]], and [[Waldensians|Waldensianism]].<ref name="EB2008"/><ref name="Melton2005"/> Reformed Christianity itself includes the [[Continental Reformed]], [[Presbyterian]], [[Evangelical Anglican]], [[Congregationalist church|Congregationalist]], and [[Reformed Baptist]] traditions.<ref>{{cite book |title=The New Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaediav01ency |url-access=registration |date=1987 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |isbn=978-0-85229-443-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaediav01ency/page/244 244] |language=en}}</ref> Anabaptist Christianity itself includes the [[Amish]], [[Apostolic Christian Church|Apostolic]], [[Bruderhof Communities|Bruderhof]], [[Hutterite]], [[Mennonite]], [[River Brethren]], and [[Schwarzenau Brethren]] traditions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brewer |first1=Brian C. |title=T&T Clark Handbook of Anabaptism |date=30 December 2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-68950-4 |page=564 |language=en}}</ref>

Within the [[Restorationism|Restorationist]] branch of Christianity, denominations include the [[Catholic Apostolic Church|Irvingians]], [[The New Church (Swedenborgian)|Swedenborgians]], [[Christadelphians]], [[Latter Day Saint movement|Latter Day Saints]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[La Luz del Mundo]], and [[Iglesia ni Cristo]].<ref name="LewisMittelstadt2016">{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Paul W. |last2=Mittelstadt |first2=Martin William |title=What's So Liberal about the Liberal Arts?: Integrated Approaches to Christian Formation |date=27 April 2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-3145-9 |language=en |quote=The Second Great Awakening (1790-1840) spurred a renewed interest in primitive Christianity. What is known as the Restoration Movement of the nineteenth century gave birth to an array of groups: Mormons (The Latter Day Saint Movement), the Churches of Christ, Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Though these groups demonstrate a breathtaking diversity on the continuum of Christianity they share an intense restorationist impulse. Picasso and Stravinsky reflect a primitivism that came to the fore around the turn of the twentieth century that more broadly has been characterized as a "retreat from the industrialized world."}}</ref><ref name="Bloesch2005">{{cite book |last1=Bloesch |first1=Donald G. |title=The Holy Spirit: Works Gifts |date=2 December 2005 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-2755-8 |page=158 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Spinks2017">{{cite book |last1=Spinks |first1=Bryan D. |title=Reformation and Modern Rituals and Theologies of Baptism: From Luther to Contemporary Practices |date=2 March 2017 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-351-90583-1 |language=en |quote=However, Swedenborg claimed to receive visions and revelations of heavenly things and a 'New Church', and the new church which was founded upon his writings was a Restorationist Church. The three nineteenth-century churches are all examples of Restorationist Churches, which believed they were refounding the Apostolic Church, and preparing for the Second Coming of Christ.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Paul W. |last2=Mittelstadt |first2=Martin William |title=What's So Liberal about the Liberal Arts?: Integrated Approaches to Christian Formation |date=27 April 2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-3145-9 |language=en |quote=The Second Great Awakening (1790-1840) spurred a renewed interest in primitive Christianity. What is known as the Restoration Movement of the nineteenth century gave birth to an array of groups: Mormons (The Latter Day Saint Movement), the Churches of Christ, Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Though these groups demonstrate a breathtaking diversity on the continuum of Christianity they share an intense restorationist impulse. Picasso and Stravinsky reflect a primitivism that came to the fore around the turn of the twentieth century that more broadly has been characterized as a "retreat from the industrialized world."}}</ref>

Christianity has denominational families (or movements) and also has individual denominations (or communions). The difference between a denomination and a denominational family is sometimes unclear to outsiders. Some denominational families can be considered major branches. Groups that are members of a branch, while sharing historical ties and similar doctrines, are not necessarily in [[communion (Christianity)|communion]] with one another.

There were some movements considered heresies by the [[History of Christianity|early Church]] which do not exist today and are not generally referred to as denominations. Examples include the [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]] (who had believed in an [[esotericism|esoteric]] [[Dualistic cosmology|dualism]] called [[gnosis]]), the [[Ebionite]]s (who denied the divinity of Jesus), and the [[Arianism|Arians]] (who subordinated the [[God the Son|Son]] to the [[God the Father|Father]] by denying the [[pre-existence of Christ]], thus placing [[Jesus]] as a created being), [[Bogumilism]] and [[Bosnian Church]]. The greatest divisions in Christianity today, however, are between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Catholics, and the various denominations formed during and after the [[Protestant Reformation]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The main differences between Catholics and Protestants {{!}} DW {{!}} 21.04.2019|url=https://www.dw.com/en/the-main-differences-between-catholics-and-protestants/a-37888597|last=Welle (www.dw.com)|first=Deutsche|website=DW.COM|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-23|archive-date=2020-05-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523124651/https://www.dw.com/en/the-main-differences-between-catholics-and-protestants/a-37888597|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=What Are the Differences Between Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Anyway?|url=https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/what-are-the-differences-between-catholics-and-eastern-orthodox-anyway|website=National Catholic Register|date=30 June 2016 |access-date=2020-05-23|archive-date=2020-07-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728140745/https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/what-are-the-differences-between-catholics-and-eastern-orthodox-anyway|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Beyond Dialogue: The Quest for Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Unity Today {{!}} St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary|url=https://www.svots.edu/content/beyond-dialogue-quest-eastern-and-oriental-orthodox-unity-today|website=www.svots.edu|access-date=2020-05-23|archive-date=2018-11-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114100312/https://www.svots.edu/content/beyond-dialogue-quest-eastern-and-oriental-orthodox-unity-today|url-status=dead}}</ref> There also exists a number of [[non-Trinitarian]] groups.

=== Denominationalism ===
Denominationalism is the belief that some or all Christian groups are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices.<ref name="Jackson"/> The idea was first articulated by [[Independent (religion)|Independents]] within the [[Puritan]] movement. They argued that differences among Christians were inevitable, but that separation based on these differences was not necessarily [[schism (religion)|schism]]. Christians are obligated to practice their beliefs rather than remain within a church with which they disagree, but they must also recognize their imperfect knowledge and not condemn other Christians as [[apostate]] over unimportant matters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://seminary.fresno.edu/resources/life-in-a-muddy-world-reflections-on-denominationalism |title=Life in a Muddy World: Reflections on Denominationalism |first=Bruce |last=Guenther |publisher=Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary; first published in Fall/Winter 2008 edition of In Touch Magazine. For reprint permission contact the Director of Public Relations at 1-800-251-6227 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310144947/http://seminary.fresno.edu/resources/life-in-a-muddy-world-reflections-on-denominationalism |archive-date=10 March 2015}}</ref>

Some Christians view denominationalism as a regrettable fact. As of 2011, divisions are becoming less sharp, and there is increasing cooperation between denominations, which is known as [[ecumenism]]. Many denominations participate in the [[World Council of Churches]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is the World Council of Churches? – World Council of Churches |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/about-us |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331192837/https://www.oikoumene.org/en/about-us |archive-date=31 March 2019 |access-date=23 May 2020 |website=www.oikoumene.org |language=en}}</ref>

=== Taxonomy ===
{{Christian denomination tree}}