Ecumenism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Historic divisions in Christianity== ===Christian denominations today=== Christianity has not been a monolithic faith since the [[Christianity in the 1st century|first century]], also known as the "Apostolic Age", and in the present day, a number of widely varied Christian groups exist, both within and without mainstream Christianity. Despite the division between these groups, a number of commonalities exist throughout their traditions, understanding of [[theology]], [[Ecclesiology|governing church systems]], doctrine and language. As such, many of these groups are visibly divided into different [[Koinonia|communions]] or [[Christian denominations|denominations]], groupings of Christians and their churches in [[full communion]] with one another, but to some degree set apart from other Christians.<ref>{{cite web|title=Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population |publisher=Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life |access-date=February 21, 2019 |url=https://www.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf |date=December 2011 |via=International Center for Law and Religion Studies}}</ref> The [[World Council of Churches]] counts 348 member churches, representing more than half a billion members of the major Christian traditions.<ref>{{cite web|title=WCC Member Churches |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches|website=World Council of Churches|date=January 2018 }}</ref> This, with the Catholic Church's 1.25 billion Christians,<ref>{{cite web|title=World Mission Day: Catholic Church Statistics 2015|url=http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-world-mission-day-catholic-church-statis-5|publisher=Official Vatican News Network}}</ref> indicates that 349 churches/denominations already account for nearly 80% of the world's Christian population. One problem with the larger numbers is that single denominations can be counted multiple times. For example, the Catholic Church is a single church, or communion, comprising 24 distinct [[Sui iuris|self-governing]] particular churches in full communion with the [[Pope|bishop of Rome]] (the largest being the [[Latin Church]], commonly called "Roman Catholic"). Further, the Catholic Church's presence in each country is counted as a different denomination—though this is in no way an ecclesiologically accurate definition. This can result in the one Catholic Church being counted as 242 distinct denominations, as in the ''World Christian Encyclopedia''.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Facts and Stats on '33,000. Denominations'|url=http://www.philvaz.com/apologetics/a106.htm#Catholics|website=Evangelical Catholic Apologetics}}</ref> Additionally, single nondenominational congregations or megachurches without denominational affiliation are effectively counted each as its own denomination, resulting in cases where entire "denominations" may account for only a handful of people. Other denominations may be very small remnants of once larger churches. The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing ([[Shakers]]) have only two full members, for example, yet are a distinct denomination. Most current divisions are the result of historical [[schism]]s—a break in the full communion between previously united Churches, bishops, or communities. Some historical schisms proved temporary and were eventually healed, others have hardened into the denominations of today. However individual denominations are counted, it is generally acknowledged that they fall into the following major "families" of churches (though certain parts of some Christian denominations, such as [[Quakerism]], may fall into the mainline category though the majority are evangelical Quakers):<ref name="AngellDandelion2018">{{cite book |last1=Angell |first1=Stephen Ward |last2=Dandelion |first2=Pink |title=The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism |date=April 19, 2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-13660-1 |page=290 |language=en |quote=Contemporary Quakers worldwide are predominately evangelical and are often referred to as the Friends Church.}}</ref> * The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]], and the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]; * The [[Catholic Church]] (The Catholic Church is a hierarchical religious institution of universal scope, and sees itself and proclaims itself as the one commissioned by Jesus Christ to help walk the spiritual path to God); * [[Mainline Protestant]] (including the [[Lutheran]] Churches, [[Moravian Church]], [[Anglican Communion]], [[Calvinism|Reformed Churches]], [[Waldensians|Waldensian Church]]es, among others) and [[Old Catholic Church]]es; * [[Evangelical]] (including the [[Baptist]], [[Methodist]] and [[Plymouth Brethren]] Churches) and [[Pentecostal]] Churches; * [[Restorationist]] sects ([[Irvingianism|Irvingians]], [[The New Church (Swedenborgian)|Swedenborgians]], [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Latter-day Saints]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Christadelphian]]s, [[La Luz del Mundo]], [[Iglesia ni Cristo]] etc.) (Non-Nicene Christianity)<ref name="Carson2020">{{cite book |last1=Carson |first1=D. A. |title=Themelios, Volume 44, Issue 3 |date=10 February 2020 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-7252-6010-8 |language=en |quote=From this nexus at Albury Park would eventually emerge the openly-restorationist Catholic Apostolic Church, in which both Drummond and London Scots preacher, Edward Irving (1792-1834), would figure prominently. Significant for the purposes of this discussion is the fact that the Catholic Apostolic Church would distinguish itself not only for its bold claim to exercise the charismata of the Apostolic age, but also for its lavish liturgies borrowed from the pre-Reformation church, both East and West.}}</ref><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> In the [[United States]], the historic racial/ethnic churches are sometimes counted as a distinct family of churches, though they may otherwise fit into any one of the previous categories.<ref>{{cite web |title=Organizational Plan |url= http://christianchurchestogether.org/organizational-plan/ |publisher=Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.}}</ref> Some of these families are in themselves a single communion, such as the Catholic Church. Other families are a very general movement with no universal governing authority. Protestantism, for example, includes such diverse groups as [[Adventism|Adventists]], [[Anabaptists]], Baptists, [[Congregational church|Congregationalists]], [[Evangelical Christianity|Evangelicals]], [[Hussite Church|Hussites]], [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]], [[Messianic Jews]], Methodists (inclusive of the [[Holiness movement]]), Moravians, [[Pentecostals]], [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]], [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]], and [[Waldensians]]. Many of these have, as a result of ecumenical dialogue, established full or partial communion agreements. ===Ancient apostolic churches=== {{Further|Christology#Post-Apostolic controversies}} The oldest lasting schism in Christianity resulted from fifth-century disagreements on [[Christology]], heightened by [[Philosophy|philosophical]], [[Linguistics|linguistic]], [[Culture|cultural]], and [[Politics|political]] differences. The first significant, lasting split in historic Christianity, the so-called [[Nestorian Schism]], came from the [[Church of the East]], consisting largely of Eastern Syriac churches outside the [[Roman Empire]], who left full communion after 431 in response to misunderstandings and personality conflicts at the [[First Council of Ephesus|Council of Ephesus]]. After fifteen centuries of estrangement, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Catholic Church entered into an ecumenical dialogue in the 1980s, resulting in agreement on the very issue that split them asunder, in the [[Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East|1994 Common Christological Declaration]], which identifies the origin of the schism as largely linguistic, due to problems of translating very delicate and precise terminology from Latin to [[Aramaic]] and vice versa. As part of the then-ongoing Christological controversy, following the [[Council of Chalcedon]] in 451, the next large split came with the [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac]] and [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Coptic]] churches dividing themselves. The churches dissented from Chalcedon, becoming today's Oriental Orthodox Churches. These also include the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]], the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]], and the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] in India. In modern times, there have also been moves towards healing this division, with common Christological statements being made between [[Pope John Paul II]] and Syriac patriarch [[Ignatius Zakka I Iwas]], as well as between representatives of both Oriental Orthodoxy and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].<ref>Chapman, J. (1911). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10489b.htm "Monophysites and Monophysitism".] in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved June 4, 2009</ref> ===Great Schism=== {{Further|East–West Schism}} Although the Christian world as a whole did not experience any major church divisions for centuries afterward, the [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern]], predominantly Greek-speaking and [[Western Christianity|Western]], predominantly Latin-speaking, cultural divisions drifted toward isolation, culminating in the mutual excommunication of [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]] [[Michael I Cerularius]] and the legate of then-deceased [[Pope of Rome]] [[Leo IX]] in 1054, in what is known as the [[Great Schism (Christianity)|Great Schism]]. The canonical separation was sealed by the Latin [[Siege of Constantinople (1204)|sacking of Constantinople]] (1204) during the [[Fourth Crusade]] and through the poor reception of the [[Council of Florence]] (1449) among the Orthodox Eastern Churches. The political and theological reasons for the schism are complex. Aside from the natural rivalry between the [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern Roman]] or Byzantine Empire and the [[Franks|Franco-Latin]] [[Holy Roman Empire]], one major controversy was the inclusion and acceptance in the West in general—and in the diocese of Rome in particular—of the [[Filioque clause]] ("and the Son") into the [[Nicene Creed|Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed]], which the East viewed as a violation of ecclesiastical procedure at best, an abuse of [[primacy of the Bishop of Rome|papal authority]] as only an [[Ecumenical Council]] could amend what had been defined by a previous council, and a heresy at worst, inasfar as the Filioque implies that the essential divinity of the Holy Spirit is derived not from the Father alone as ''arche'' (singular head and source), but from the [[Perichoresis|perichoretic]] union between the Father and the Son. That the hypostasis or persona of the Spirit either is or is produced by the mutual, pre-eternal love between God and His Word is an explanation which Eastern Christian detractors have alleged is rooted in the medieval [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustinian]] appropriation of [[Plotinus|Plotinian]] [[Neoplatonism]]. (See Augustine of Hippo, ''[[On the Trinity|De Trinitate]]''.) Both West and East agreed that the patriarch of [[Rome]] was owed a "primacy of honour" by the other patriarchs (those of [[Alexandria]], [[Antioch]], [[Constantinople]] and [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]]), but the West also contended that this primacy extended to jurisdiction, a position rejected by the Eastern patriarchs. Various attempts at dialogue between the two groups would occur, but it was only in the 1960s, under Pope [[Paul VI]] and [[Patriarch Athenagoras]], that significant steps began to be made to mend the relationship between the two. In 1965, the excommunications were "committed to oblivion". The resulting division remains, however, providing the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, both of which are globally distributed bodies and no longer restricted geographically or culturally to the "West" or "East", respectively. (There exist both Eastern Rite Roman Catholicism and Western Rite Orthodoxy, for example.) There is an ongoing and fruitful [[Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches|Catholic-Orthodox dialogue]]. ===Western schisms and reformations=== {{main article|Protestant Reformation|Catholic Reformation}} In Western Christianity, there were a handful of geographically isolated movements that preceded in the spirit of the [[Protestant Reformation]]. The [[Cathars]] were a very strong movement in medieval southwestern France, but did not survive into modern times, largely as a result of the [[Albigensian Crusade]]. In northern Italy and southeastern France, [[Peter Waldo]] founded the [[Waldensians]] in the 12th century, which remains the largest non-Catholic church in Italy and is in full communion with the Italian Methodist Church. In [[Bohemia]], a movement in the early 15th century by [[Jan Hus]] called the [[Hussite]]s called for reform of Catholic teaching and still exists to this day, known as the Moravian Church. Though generally counted among [[Protestant]] churches, groups such as the Waldensians and Moravians pre-exist Protestantism proper. The Protestant Reformation began, symbolically, with the posting of [[Martin Luther]]'s "[[The Ninety-Five Theses|Ninety-Five Theses]]" in [[Saxony]] on October 31, 1517, written as a set of grievances to reform the Western Church. [[Martin Luther (resources)|Luther's writings]], combined with the work of [[Switzerland|Swiss]] theologian [[Huldrych Zwingli]] and French theologian and politician [[John Calvin]], sought to reform existing problems in doctrine and practice. Due to the reactions of ecclesiastical office holders at the time of the reformers, the Catholic Church separated from them, instigating a rift in [[Western Christianity]]. This schism created the [[Mainline Protestant]] Churches, including especially the [[Lutheran]] and [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] traditions. In [[England]], [[Henry VIII of England]] declared himself to be supreme head of the [[Church of England]] with the [[Act of Supremacy]] in 1531, repressing both Lutheran reformers and those loyal to the pope. [[Thomas Cranmer]] as [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] introduced the [[English Reformation]] in a form compromising between the Calvinists and Lutherans.<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> This schism created today's Anglican Communion. The [[Radical Reformation]], also mid-sixteenth century, moved beyond the [[Magisterial Reformation]], emphasizing the [[Church invisible|invisible, spiritual reality of the Church]], apart from any visible ecclesial manifestation. A significant group of Radical reformers were the [[Anabaptists]], people such as [[Menno Simons]] and [[Jakob Ammann]], whose movements resulted in today's communities of [[Mennonites]], [[Amish]], [[Hutterites]], and Brethren churches, and to some extent, the [[Bruderhof Communities]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ic.org/directory/bruderhof/|title=Bruderhof – Fellowship for Intentional Community|work=Fellowship for Intentional Community|access-date=2018-01-17|language=en-US}}</ref> Further reform movements within Anglicanism during the 16th through 18th centuries, with influence from the Radical Reformation, produced the [[Puritans]] and [[English Dissenters|Separatists]], creating today's Baptists, [[Congregationalists]], [[Quakers]], and eventually [[Unitarian Universalism]]. The Methodist churches, which uphold [[Wesleyan-Arminian theology]], grew out of a revival within Anglicanism, especially in England and the [[Thirteen Colonies|American colonies]], under the leadership of the brothers [[John Wesley]] and [[Charles Wesley]], both priests in the Church of England. This movement also produced the [[Holiness movement]] churches. The Old Catholic Church split from the Catholic Church in the 1870s because of the promulgation of the [[dogma]] of [[Papal Infallibility]] as promoted by the [[First Vatican Council]] of 1869–1870. The term "Old Catholic" was first used in 1853 to describe the members of the See of Utrecht who were not under Papal authority. The Old Catholic movement grew in America but has not maintained ties with Utrecht, although talks are under way between some independent Old Catholic bishops and Utrecht. The [[Evangelical]] movement takes form as the result of spiritual renewal efforts in the anglophone world in the 18th century. According to religion scholar, social activist, and politician [[Randall Balmer]], Evangelicalism resulted "from the confluence of Pietism, Presbyterianism, and the vestiges of Puritanism. Evangelicalism picked up the peculiar characteristics from each strain—warmhearted spirituality from the Pietists (for instance), doctrinal precisionism from the Presbyterians, and individualistic introspection from the Puritans".{{Sfn | Balmer| 2004 |pp=vii–viii}} Historian [[Mark Noll]] adds to this list [[High Church]] Anglicanism, which contributed to Evangelicalism a legacy of "rigorous spirituality and innovative organization".{{Sfn | Noll | 2004 | p=45}} [[Pentecostalism]] is likewise born out of this context, and traditionally traces its origins to what it describes as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on 1 January 1901 in [[Topeka, Kansas]], at the [[Bethel Bible College]]. Subsequent charismatic revivals in [[1904–1905 Welsh Revival|Wales in 1904]] and the [[Azusa Street Revival]] in 1906 are held as the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement. These started just a few hours after [[Pope Leo XIII]] led a prayer ''Veni Spiritus Sanctus'' during an ''[[Urbi et Orbi]]'' message, consecrating the 20th century to the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] and through this prayer to the reunion of Christianity.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Quickness of the Spirit|url=http://www.ccr.org.uk/about-ccr/goodnews-articles/a-quickness-of-the-spirit/|website=Catholic Charismatic Renewal}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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