VARIETIES OF “RELIGIONS” WITHIN CHRISTIANITY (Denominations?)

            In addition to the obvious differences among and between the world’s religions, there exists a wide variety of divergence even within what we know as Christianity, a divergence often undetected by those of us only familiar with our own or other more well-known denominations. Beyond the standard well-known denominations of Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopalian Christian churches there are a great many lesser known and smaller groups.

            There are, to begin with, various types of Presbyterians, such as Southern and Reformed, who define themselves more strictly or historically than the other branches. Some arose back during the early days of Protestantism in Europe, others, such as the Southern Presbyterian Church, arose as a result of the Civil War. Calvin College in Michigan represents the former, while the Southern Presbyterian Church came into being after that war. The Scottish Presbyterian Church arose out of a conflict with the Church of England stemming, along with the Anglican or Church of England, from the divisions introduced by Henry the 8^th.

Various forms of Methodism arose in America as a result of John Wesley’s missionary efforts and many different Baptist churches also arose during the revolutionary times. The key issue here was the open-ended freedom of thought and spirit let loose by Martin Luther’s challenge of the Catholic Church back in 1611. In essence, his challenge opened the door to what the Catholic Church predicted as total chaos among the believers in the Christin Church. “Protestantism”, as a challenge to the then long-established Catholic Church arose out of a “protest” against the narrowness and resulting heresies of the established Catholic Church.

Interestingly enough, The Greek Orthodox version of Christianity had long- since been separated from the Western Church, back in the 1500s, over both doctrinal and political reasons. The Eastern Church was “excommunicated” from, the Western, Catholic tradition because it refused to acknowledge the complete power of the Pope in Rome. The European “denominations” like the Orthodox and the Catholic, are definitely “high church” in their liturgy and doctrine, differing markedly from most forms of Protestantism. There are also, to be sure, a good number of Greek Orthodox churches in America scattered around the country.

Once the gate had been opened by Martin Luther and John Calvin to believers to be able to “think for themselves”, as it were, various independent versions of Protestantism became a dominant reality in America. A great many indigenous African American churches were formed by local, fully independent Pastors and organizations, and most of these would be classified as “Pentecostal” in nature. That is to say, they have minimal organizational structure across areas or regions, and they place great emphasis on the “infilling of the Holy Spirit”, which leads to such phenomena as speaking in non-traditional or known languages, healing ceremonies for the sick, and a minimum of established liturgy and doctrinal beliefs. Many of these groups identify themselves as “Pentecostal” since they practice some of the activities and behaviors seen in the Book of Acts in the New Testament at the coming of the Holy Spirit, fifty days (Greek: pente for “five”) after the resurrection of Jesus.

Within many of these smaller splinter groups there are many more unique beliefs and practices that arise and evolve as a result of individual leaders. When I was attending a fundamentalist college, I met several students who were attending and/or practicing different versions of the Protestant faith which they themselves, or someone near to them, had devised as a result of their own study of the scripture. Thus, splinter groups continue to thrive within different versions of Protestantism today, especially throughout America. Of course, the “mainline” denominations continue to attract the majority of believers.

Three of these mainliners are the Mormons (or Latter-Day Saints), the Amish and/or Mennonites, and the Christian Science folks. The Mormons were begun by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young who founded their church in Utah. The Amish and the Mennonites came from Europe following Menno Simons’ teachings to mid-America, while the Christian Science folks arose following the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy who sought an integration of Jesus’ teachings and physical health.  There also was, and still is, the Seventh Day Adventist group who are essentially fundamentalists and believe that Saturday is the proper day of Christian worship.