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SOURCES OF DENOMINATIONS -- I From the first century up to the Reformation (1500's). Click here for printable blank diagram (keyed to the numbers below) During the first few centuries after Christ, most Christians lived in the Roman empire, in areas that used one of these two main languages: Greek or Latin. The 1. Greek speaking Christians lived in Greece and the part of the Roman Empire to the east of it, that included Turkey and the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. They continue today as 2. Orthodox churches. Each church is named after its country, such as the Greek Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. The number of orthodox Christians was reduced when much of their land was taken over by 3. Arab Muslims, who conquered most of the Middle East starting in the 600's. There were also 4. Latin
Speaking Christians. They
lived in Europe, first under the Roman Empire. After the European part of
the empire was
over-run by Germanic tribes, the leadership of the European Christians was
taken up by the bishop who lived in
Rome. Today, he is called the
pope, and the Christians who look for him for leadership today make up the
5. Roman Catholic Church. With few exceptions, most Christians were united during the first thousand years after Christ. The Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church then split from each other, around the year 1000. Here are three reasons: (1) language differences led to misunderstandings about theology and practice (2) The European church (also called the “western” church) added a phrase to the Creed; (3) The Orthodox Church (also called the “eastern orthodox” church) did not accept that the pope should be over all Christians. See chart. for details. In the 1500’s, a number of leaders left the Roman Catholic Church. This event is called the (6) Reformation. The slogan of the Reformation is called the "three onlies:" “Bible only, Grace only, Faith only.” The Roman Catholics did not accept the views expressed by the Reformers, so the Roman Catholic church removed them from the church, starting with Martin Luther in 1521.The expelled leaders went on to form the new denominations which we call (7) "Protestant" churches. The Roman Catholic church responded to the Reformation with the “Counter-Reformation”, during which they dealt with some abuses which the Protestants had criticized, such as allowing church offices to be sold for money. At the same time, the Roman Catholics clarified that their teaching was different from the teaching expressed in the reformation slogan. For more details, see chart.. For more churches, go on to next page |
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