Protestantism

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Latin version of the Christian cross which is used by virtually all Protestant denominations
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The door to All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, where Martin Luther is alleged to have posted his Ninety-five Theses in 1517 detailing his concerns with what he saw as the Catholic Church's abuse and corruption. The Ninety-five Theses gave rise to Christian Protestantism as one of the world's primary religions, making Wittenberg the "cradle of Protestantism".

Protestantism is a branch of Christianity[a] that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice.[1][2] The five solae summarize the basic theological beliefs of mainstream Protestantism.

Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies.[3][b] The Reformation began in the Holy Roman Empire[c] in 1517, when Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses as a reaction against abuses in the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, which purported to offer the remission of the temporal punishment of sins to their purchasers.[4] The term, however, derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical.[5] In the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany[d] into Denmark–Norway, Sweden, Finland, Livonia, and Iceland.[6] Calvinist churches spread in Germany,[e] Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland, France, Poland, and Lithuania by Protestant Reformers such as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli and John Knox.[7] The political separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church under King Henry VIII began Anglicanism, bringing England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement, under the leadership of reformer Thomas Cranmer, whose work forged Anglican doctrine and identity.[f]

Protestantism is diverse, being divided into various denominations on the basis of theology and ecclesiology, not forming a single structure as with the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy.[8] Protestants adhere to the concept of an invisible church, in contrast to the Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East, which all understand themselves as the one and only original church—the "one true church"—founded by Jesus Christ (though certain Protestant denominations, including historic Lutheranism, hold to this position).[9][10][11] Some denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of church membership, while others are confined to a single country.[8] A majority of Protestants[g] are members of a handful of Protestant denominational families; Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans/Episcopalians, Baptists, Calvinist/Reformed,[h] Lutherans, Methodists, Moravians, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterians, and Quakers.[13] Nondenominational, charismatic and independent churches are also on the rise, having recently expanded rapidly throughout much of the world, and constitute a significant part of Protestantism.[14] These various movements, collectively labeled "popular Protestantism"[i] by scholars such as Peter L. Berger, have been called one of the contemporary world's most dynamic religious movements.[15]

As of 2024, Protestantism has a total of 625,606,000 followers.[13][16][j]


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  1. ^ "Methodist Beliefs: In what ways are Lutherans different from United Methodists?". Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. 2014. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014. The United Methodists see Scripture as the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine, emphasizing the importance of tradition, experience, and reason for Christian doctrine. Lutherans teach that the Bible is the sole source for Christian doctrine. The truths of Scripture do not need to be authenticated by tradition, human experience, or reason. Scripture is self authenticating and is true in and of itself.
  2. ^ Faithful, George (2014). Mothering the Fatherland: A Protestant Sisterhood Repents for the Holocaust. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199363476. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2015 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Löffler, K. (1910), Pope Leo X Archived 1 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company, "The immediate cause was bound up with the odious greed for money displayed by the Roman Curia, and shows how far short all efforts at reform had hitherto fallen...Abuses occurred during the preaching of the Indulgence. The money contributions, a mere accessory, were frequently the chief object, and the "Indulgences for the Dead" became a vehicle of inadmissible teachings...(The pope) gave himself up unrestrainedly to his pleasures and failed to grasp fully the duties of his high office."
  4. ^ Dixon, C. Scott (2010). Protestants: A History from Wittenberg to Pennsylvania 1517–1740. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1444328110. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2015 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (1974) art. "Speyer (Spires), Diets of"
  6. ^ Gassmann, Günther; Larson, Duane H.; Oldenburg, Mark W. (2001). Historical Dictionary of Lutheranism. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810866201. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2015 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Kuyper, Abraham (1899). Calvinism. Primedia E-launch LLC. ISBN 978-1622090457. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2015 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ a b Hillerbrand, Hans J., ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Vol. 1–4. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-92472-6. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020.
  9. ^ Heussi, Karl (1956). Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte, 11., Tübingen (Germany), pp. 317–319, 325–326
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Remensnyder1893 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Frey1918 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Hägglund, Bengt (2007). Teologins Historia [History of Theology] (in German). Translated by Gene J. Lund (Fourth Revised ed.). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
  13. ^ a b "Pewforum: Grobal Christianity" (PDF). 19 December 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  14. ^ World Council of Churches: Evangelical churches Archived 7 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine: "Evangelical churches have grown exponentially in the second half of the 20th century and continue to show great vitality, especially in the global South. This resurgence may in part be explained by the phenomenal growth of Pentecostalism and the emergence of the charismatic movement, which are closely associated with evangelicalism. However, there can be no doubt that the evangelical tradition "per se" has become one of the major components of world Christianity. Evangelicals also constitute sizable minorities in the traditional Protestant and Anglican churches. In regions like Africa and Latin America, the boundaries between "evangelical" and "mainline" are rapidly changing and giving way to new ecclesial realities."
  15. ^ Berger, Peter L. (2005). "Religion and Global Civil Society". In Juergensmeyer, Mark (ed.). Religion in Global Civil Society. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198040699. Archived from the original on 19 March 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2016 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ a b "Status of Global Christianity, 2024, in the Context of 1900–2050" (PDF). Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  17. ^ Hillerbrand, Hans J., ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Vol. 1–4. London; New York: Routledge. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-415-92472-6. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020.