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The Protestant Reformation began whem Martin Luther posted the 95 Thesis on the door of the Witttenburg church. But there were many different theological trends among Prptestants. There are so many Protestant Churches that it is difficult to even count them. There are of course substantial differences among countries as to the importance of these groups. More Protestant churches exist in America because of the level of religious freedom there especially after the doctrine was enshirned in the First Amendment of the Constitution. There are some Protestant Churches, however, of particular importance. We have begun to develop information about some of the more important denominations.
The Amish are a religious group who live in settlements in 22 states and Ontario, Canada. The oldest group of Old Order Amish, about 16-18,000 people live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Amish stress humility, family and community, and separation from the world. Although Lancaster Amish are Pennsylvania Dutch, all Pennsylvania Dutch are not Amish. The Pennsylvania Dutch are natives of Central Pennsylvania, particularly Lancaster and its surrounding counties. Unlike the Amish, they are not all one religion. Instead, their common bond is a mainly German background (Pennsylvania Dutch is actually Pennsylvania Deutsch, or German). They also have Welsh, English, Scottish, Swiss, and French ancestry.
The Anglican Church was founded by King Henry VIII in his efforts to divorce his wife, the Spanish Princess Catherine, so he could marry the beautiful and young Ann Bolen. Hardly the most inspiring creation for what was to become a great Church. Another reason was finaces. Henry was concerned about English Church wealth being sent to Rome which supported Spain which with its large fleet was a threat to England. (This threat would materialize during the reign of Henry's daughter Elizabeth with the Spanish Armada.) Also the rich monastaries scattered throughout England were tempting targes. The Church of England which emerged was the first Church of what is today known as the Anglican Communion. Other national churches such as the Church of Scotland belong. The Anglican Church in America is known as the Episcopalian Church. Anglican churches exist in all of the former British colonies. The head of the Anglican Communion is the Archbishop of Canterbury, although his authority is in no way comparable to the pope. The Anglican Church with its priests and formal ritual is the Protestant denomination closest to that of the Roman Catholic Church.
John Calvin taught that man's fate was predestined and that good deeeds on earth had nothing to do with salvation.
It was the German monk Martin Luther (1483-1546) who in 1517 nailed his 95 Thesis to the Wittenberg church door. In doing so he launched the Refornation, although at the time he desired only to reform the Church. Luther was offended by the monk Johann Tetzel who after arriving in Wittenberg began preaching about the sale of indulgences to finance the rebuilding of St. Peter's Church in Rome. Luther and his teachings would have been supressed by Church authorities had it not been for the fact that the theological arguments became involved in German politics and the authority of temporal authorities in Saxony over Church matters and political issues within the Holy Roman Empire and the new Emperor Charles V. Elector Frederick of Saxony offered Luther his protection. Luther objected to the term Lutheran to define the Church he helped found. Rather he preferred the term "Evangelical" to distinguish his Church from the Reformed or Calvanistic Protestant Churches.
The Mennonites were an early Protestant sect which developed among Swiss Anabaptists. The Mennonites were moderate Anabaptists. They were initially referred to as the Swiss Bretheren, but were renamed the Mennanites after an earlier leader--Menno Simons (1496?-1561). A Zurrich group seceded from the state church (1523-25). One of the principal issues was infant baptism. The Mennites were nonresistants (pacifists) and refused to take oaths because of a Biblical interpretation. The Mennites took the Bible as the soul authority in matters of faith and accepted only two sacraments (batism and the Lord's Supper). Mennites spread to Germany and were an important part of the Volksdeutsche that migrated to Russia. The offere by Tsarina Chatherine the Great was especially attractive to the Mennonites because they were allowed to live as communities under their own laws and were exempted from military service. Other Mennites established communities in France and the Netherlands. Dutch Menninites issued the Dordrecht Confession (1632). The Mennonites settled areas of eastern Pennsylvania. The first Pennsylvania colony was at Germantown (1683). The Amish are one of the Mennite groups in Pennsylvania. Other colonies were established in Ohio and other mid-Western states. Mennonite familes also established colonies in western Canada. As Russian policies changed toward the Folksdeutsche in the 19th century, many moved to Canada. Large numbers were killed with Stalin during World War II exiled the Folksdeutsche from their Volga farms to Siberia (1941). A small group of Canadian Mennonites established two Mexican colonies during the 1920s.
Methodism was founded by John Wesley (17??-91). One biographer describes him as "the greatest evagenlist in modern history". [Hattersly] The rise of Methodism has been described as the Second Reformation. Wesley took little interest in politics. He was dismissive of democracy, but was no apologist of privlidge. Methodism in England became the religion of the poor and largely forgotten of 18th and 19th century England. Some authors suggest that Methdodism encouraged workers to be content with their lot and thus retarded the growth revolution and class politics in Britain. [Halévy] When Revolution engulfed the Continent in 1848, the Chartist movement fizzled in England. Other biographers are less insistent on this, but clearly Methodism did encourage propriety and respectability among the working class. As such, Wesley besides his role as minister, played a key role as one of the "architects of modern England". [Hattersley] This was nor what Wesley sought, but rather to envigorate not divide the Anglican Church. Wesly for his part was supremely confident that he had been called t do God's work. It was this confidence and insistence that he had a special relationship with God, rather than theological issues that alienated the Angligan hierarchy against him.
Pentacoastals believe in the "four-fold" goispel of: 1) personal salvation, 2) Holy Ghost baptism, 3) devine healing, an the 4) imminent return of Jesus. Many in the 19th century did not believe that Pentacoastal Churches would survive. Predictions of Jesus' imment return have proven incorrect. Even so, the Churchhas not only survived, but prospered in America. There are today about 11 million members of Pentacoastal Churches. [Wacker]
Halévy, Elie.
Hattersley, Roy. A Brand from the Burning: The Life of John Wesley (Doubleday, 2003), 353p.
Wacker, Grant.
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Created: April 29, 2004
Last updated: 4:27 AM 11/18/2006