Religions & Traditions
Short profiles of churches, religions, and worldviews: where they came from, who shaped them, and what they believe.
Protestant families
The main Reformation and post-Reformation traditions: where they began, who shaped them, and what they teach.
- AnabaptistsAnabaptists began in the 1520s within the Radical Reformation: Swiss Brethren, then Mennonites, Hutterites, and later the Amish. They baptize believers, refuse infant baptism, and usually reject the sword and the oath. They are not the same movement as English Baptists.
- AnglicanismThe Church of England broke with Rome under Henry VIII in 1534, took a more Protestant shape under Edward VI, and settled under Elizabeth I in 1559. Anglican and Episcopal churches keep bishops and liturgy while spanning Anglo-Catholic, evangelical, and liberal parties.
- BaptistsBaptists arose in the early 1600s from English Separatism. They practice believer’s baptism, usually by immersion, and govern congregations locally. The 1689 Confession and later bodies such as the Southern Baptist Convention (1845) shaped much English-speaking Baptist life.
- Churches of Christ and RestorationismThe Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement in early nineteenth-century America sought to restore New Testament Christianity beyond denominations. It produced Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and the Disciples of Christ, which later divided over worship, missions, and doctrine.
- Evangelical and Non-Denominational ChurchesEvangelicalism is a cross-denominational movement rooted in the revivals and twentieth-century neo-evangelicalism. Many “non-denominational” churches teach believer’s baptism, a memorial Lord’s Supper, and Scripture as the final rule—often close to Baptist practice without the label.
- LutheranismLutheran churches descend from Martin Luther’s protest in 1517 and the Augsburg Confession of 1530. They keep a strong sacramental sense, especially in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, while rejecting papal authority and the Mass as Catholic theology defines it.
- MethodismMethodism began with John and Charles Wesley’s Oxford circle in 1729 and the Evangelical Revival, then organized apart from Anglicanism—especially in America after 1784. It emphasizes grace offered to all, holiness of life, and energetic preaching.
- PentecostalismPentecostalism grew out of the Holiness movement and early twentieth-century revivals at Topeka (1901) and Azusa Street in Los Angeles (1906). Distinctives include speaking in tongues, healing, and baptism in the Holy Spirit, usually taught as an experience after conversion.
- Protestant Denominations OverviewAn overview of the main Protestant families—Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Anabaptist, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, evangelical, and restorationist—where each came from and how they differ.
- Reformed and Presbyterian ChurchesReformed and Presbyterian churches come from Zwingli and Calvin in the 1520s–1560s. They stress God’s sovereignty, covenant theology, and elder government, and they usually treat the Lord’s Supper as a spiritual communion rather than a sacrificial Mass.
- Seventh-day AdventismSeventh-day Adventism grew from the Millerite expectation of Christ’s return and the Great Disappointment of 22 October 1844. The church, organized in 1863, keeps Saturday Sabbath, teaches an investigative judgment beginning in 1844, and regards Ellen G. White as a prophetic messenger.
Eastern Christianity
Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East, and the long estrangement between Rome and Constantinople.
- Church of the EastThe Church of the East is the ancient East Syriac church of Persia, India, and the Silk Road—not Eastern Orthodoxy and not Oriental Orthodoxy. Today the Assyrian Church of the East and related bodies keep that liturgy. Rome and the Assyrian Church signed a Common Christological Declaration in 1994.
- East–West SchismThe estrangement of Rome and Constantinople deepened over centuries of language, liturgy, and jurisdiction, with 1054 often used as a symbolic date. The Fourth Crusade (1204), failed reunion councils, and the fall of Constantinople (1453) made the break lasting.
- Eastern OrthodoxyEastern Orthodoxy is the communion of autocephalous churches that share Byzantine liturgy and the first seven ecumenical councils. They reject later Latin definitions of universal papal jurisdiction and remain out of full communion with Rome.
- Oriental OrthodoxyOriental Orthodoxy includes the Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Malankara churches. They accept the first three ecumenical councils and reject the Christological definition of Chalcedon (451). They are not the same communion as Eastern (Byzantine) Orthodoxy.
World religions
Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism—history, texts, worship, and basic vocabulary.
- BuddhismBuddhism begins with Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, in ancient India. It spread as Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana schools, teaching the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
- HinduismHinduism is a family of Indian religious traditions rather than one creed with a single founder. Its history runs from the Vedas and Upanishads through the epics and bhakti movements to modern reformers and a worldwide diaspora.
- IslamIslam begins with Muhammad’s preaching in Arabia (c. 610–632). Muslims confess one God, honor Jesus as a prophet but not as incarnate Son, and order life around the Qur’an, Hadith, and the Five Pillars.
- JudaismJudaism is the faith and people of the covenant that begins with Abraham and Moses. After the Second Temple’s destruction in A.D. 70, Jewish life centered on Torah, synagogue, and rabbinic teaching, and later branched into Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and other modern streams.
- SikhismSikhism begins with Guru Nanak in the Punjab in the late 1400s. Ten human Gurus, then the Guru Granth Sahib as scripture, teach one God, honest work, and a communal kitchen that refuses caste. It is not a Hindu sect and not a blend of Hinduism and Islam.
New religious movements
Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Oneness Pentecostalism, Unitarian Universalism, New Age and occult paths, and other modern movements.
- Jehovah’s WitnessesJehovah’s Witnesses grew from Charles Taze Russell’s Bible Student movement in the late 1800s and took their present name in 1931 under Joseph Rutherford. They deny the Trinity, use the New World Translation, and organize witness work under Watch Tower direction.
- Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began with Joseph Smith in New York in the 1820s. It adds the Book of Mormon and other scriptures, claims a restored priesthood, and is led by living prophets—distinct from classical Protestant churches.
- New Age and the OccultNew Age religion is a loose modern mix of Theosophy, astrology, channeling, and “energy” practices, not one church. The occult is the older name for divination, magic, and spirit contact. Neither is Hinduism or Buddhism, though both borrow their words.
- Oneness PentecostalismOneness Pentecostalism split from Trinitarian Pentecostals in 1913–1916. It baptizes in Jesus’ name only and teaches that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are titles of one God, not three distinct Persons. The largest body, the United Pentecostal Church International, formed in 1945.
- Unitarian UniversalismUnitarian Universalism is the 1961 merger of American Unitarians and Universalists. Historic Unitarians denied the Trinity; historic Universalists taught that all will be saved. Many congregations today are post-Christian: a covenant of values without a required creed.
Secular worldviews
Profiles for people who deny God, who say they do not know, and who belong to no religion—including the “spiritual but not religious.”
- AgnosticismAgnosticism withholds judgment on God’s existence. Some say they simply do not know; others claim God is unknowable. Thomas Huxley coined the word in 1869; today many “nones” live this way without using the label.
- AtheismAtheism is the claim that God does not exist. It has no single creed: philosophical atheism, Marxist materialism, New Atheism, and quiet personal unbelief can mean very different things in practice.
- Nones and the Spiritual but Not Religious“Nones” are people who mark “nothing in particular,” atheist, or agnostic on a survey. Many say they are spiritual but not religious: they keep some prayer or private meaning and skip a congregation. In the United States this group is now larger than any one denomination.
Historical movements
The Reformation, and later episodes such as the 1826 Bible Society decision on the Apocrypha.
- British Bible Society and the Apocrypha (1826)In 1826–1827 the British and Foreign Bible Society resolved not to fund Bibles that included the deuterocanonical books. That policy helped make 66-book English Bibles common in Protestant mission work, even though the 1611 King James Bible had included an Apocrypha section.
- The ReformationIn the sixteenth century Western Christianity divided. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and the English break reshaped Europe; the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and Catholic reform answered from within the Church.
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