Varieties of non-Catholic Christianity
Because non-Catholics disagree with each other as much or more than they disagree with the Catholic Church, there is only one true statement that can be made about all of them as a group: whatever they have kept from the Catholic Tradition unites them with Catholics; whatever they have rejected from or added to the Catholic Tradition separates them from Catholics.
There isn't even a convenient label for all of the kinds of non-Catholic Christianities. The schisms in Christianity date to different times and places:
| 1054 | Schism between Roman Catholicism and Eastern, Orthodox Catholicism |
| October 31, 1517 | Martin Luther inaugurates the classical, mainline Protestant schisms |
| 20th century | Rise of non-denominationalism; thousands or tens of thousands of independent Christianities that do not want to be called "Protestant" or be identified with any other kind of historic Christianity. |
All it takes to launch a new version of Christianity is a Bible, a new interpretation of the Bible, and a collection basket. The essence of Protestantism is private judgment. There is no Pope of Protestantism. No Protestant can tell another Protestant what to believe. This is a formula for more splintering. In the end, there are logically as many different kinds of Protestantism as their are Protestants, each one saying: "Leave me alone. I've got my God, my Bible, and my way of life. That's all I need or want."
Some identifiable groups
- Adventists
- Anabaptist
- Anglican / Episcopalian
- Baptist
- Calvinist
- Congregational
- Emerging Churches--postmodern Christianity.
- Gospel Hall Brethren
- Lutheran
- Methodist / Wesleyan
- Non-denominational
- Pentecostal (Charismatic)
- Presbyterian
- Quakerism
- Reformed
- Restoration movement
- Unitarian
- Waldensians
Feminist
Evangelical
Sacramental
- Orthodox
- "High Church" Anglicans and Lutherans
Fundamentalist
- Biblical literalists
Modernist
Apocalyptic
- Dispensationalists
Agrarian
- Shakers (?)
- Mennonites
- Hutterites
- Amish
Pacifists (cuts across other categories?)
- Quakers
Different methods of grouping:
- Date of schism from Catholicism or from another schism
- Church organization
- Dogmatic theology (creeds of the churches)
- Sacramental theology (liturgy)
- Relationship to society (established or free)
- Biblical hermeneutics
References