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History of Protestantism

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History of Protestantism

The Protestant Reformation began an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church. Protestantism originated from the ideas of John Wycliffe, a theologian and early proponent of reform in the 14th century. He influenced Jan Hus, a Czech priest from Prague, who in turn influenced German Martin Luther, who lit the flames of the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther wrote Ninety-Five Theses on the sale of indulgences in 1517. At the same time, a movement began in Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli. The political separation of the Church of England from Rome under Henry VIII brought England alongside the broad Reformed movement.[1] The Scottish Reformation of 1560 decisively shaped the Church of Scotland.[2]

Following the excommunication of Luther, the Pope condemned the Reformation and its followers. The work and writings of John Calvin helped establish a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere.[3] In the course of this religious upheaval, the German Peasants' War of 1524–1525 swept through Bavaria, Thuringia and Swabia. The confessional division of the states of the Holy Roman Empire eventually erupted in the Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648, leaving the agglomeration severely weakened.[4]


The "Great Awakenings" were periods of rapid and dramatic religious revival in American religious history, from the 1730s to the mid-19th century. The result was a multitude of strong Protestant denominations, many quite new.

In the 20th century, Protestantism, especially in the United States, was becoming increasingly fragmented. Both liberal and conservative splinter groups asrose, as well as a general secularization of Western society. Notable developments in the 20th century of US Protestantism include the rise of Pentecostalism, Christian fundamentalism and Evangelicalism. While these movements spilled over to Europe to a limited degree, the development of Protestantism in Europe was more dominated by secularization, leading to an increasingly post-Christian Europe.


  • Origins 1
    • Roots 1.1
    • 16th century 1.2
    • Impact of humanism 1.3
    • Lutherans and the Holy Roman Empire 1.4
  • Protestant Reformation 2
    • Germany 2.1
    • Switzerland 2.2
      • Zwingli 2.2.1
      • John Calvin 2.2.2
    • Scandinavia 2.3
    • England 2.4
      • Puritans 2.4.1
    • Scotland 2.5
    • France 2.6
    • Netherlands 2.7
    • Hungary 2.8
  • Nineteenth century 3
    • Britain 3.1
    • Germany 3.2
  • The Great Awakenings in America 4
    • First Great Awakening 4.1
    • Second Great Awakening 4.2
    • Third Great Awakening 4.3
  • 20th century 5
    • Pentecostal movement 5.1
    • Modernism, fundamentalism, and neo-orthodoxy 5.2
    • Evangelicalism 5.3
    • Spread of secularism 5.4
  • Notes 6
  • See also 7
  • Further reading 8
  • External links 9


Protestants generally trace to the 16th century their separation from the Catholic Church. Mainstream Protestantism began with the Magisterial Reformation, so called because it received support from the magistrates (that is, the civil authorities). The Radical Reformation, had no state sponsorship. Older Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum (Unity of the Brethren), Moravian Brethren or the Bohemian Brethren trace their origin to the time of Jan Hus in the early 15th century. As the Hussite movement was led by a majority of Bohemian nobles and recognized for a time by the Basel Compacts, this is considered by some to be the first Magisterial Reformation in Europe. In Germany, a hundred years later, protests against Roman Catholic authorities erupted in many places at once during a time of threatened Islamic Ottoman invasion ¹ which distracted the German princes in particular. To some degree, these protests can be explained by the events of the previous two centuries in Europe and particularly in Bohemia. Earlier in the south of France, where the old influence of the Cathars led to the growing protests against the pope and his authorities, Guillaume Farel (b. 1489) preached reformation as early as 1522 in Dauphiné, where the French Wars of Religion later originated in 1562, also known as Huguenot wars. These also spread later to other parts of Europe.


Execution of Jan Hus at the Council of Constance in 1415. His death led to a radicalization of the Bohemian Reformation and to the Hussite Wars in the Crown of Bohemia.

Unrest due to the Avignon Papacy and the Papal Schism in the Roman Catholic Church (1378–1416) sparked wars between princes, uprisings among peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church. A new nationalism also challenged the relatively internationalist medieval world. The first of a series of disruptive and new perspectives came from John Wycliffe at Oxford University, then from Jan Hus at the University of Prague (Hus had been influenced by Wycliffe). The Catholic Church officially concluded debate over Hus' teachings at the Council of Constance (1414–1417). The conclave condemned Jan Hus, who was executed by burning in spite of a promise of safe-conduct. At the command of Pope Martin V, Wycliffe was exhumed and burned as a heretic twelve years after his burial.

The Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of Churches and Empires. It did not address the national or theological tensions which had been stirred up during the previous century. The council could not prevent schism and the Hussite Wars in Bohemia.[5]

Following the breakdown of monastic institutions and scholasticism in late medieval Europe, accentuated by the "Babylonian Captivity" of the Papacy, the Papal Schism, and the failure of the Conciliar movement, the sixteenth century saw a great cultural debate about religious reforms and later fundamental religious values (See German mysticism). Historians would generally assume that the failure to reform (too many vested interests, lack of coordination in the reforming coalition) would eventually lead to a greater upheaval or even revolution, since the system must eventually be adjusted or disintegrate, and the failure of the Conciliar movement helped lead to the Protestant Reformation in Europe. These frustrated reformist movements ranged from nominalism, devotio moderna (modern devotion), to humanism occurring in conjunction with economic, political and demographic forces that contributed to a growing disaffection with the wealth and power of the elite clergy, sensitizing the population to the financial and moral corruption of the secular Renaissance church.


But as recovery and prosperity progressed, enabling the population to reach its former levels in the late 15th and 16th centuries, the combination of a newly-abundant labor supply and improved productivity, was a mixed blessing for many segments of Western European society. Despite tradition, landlords started to exclude peasants from "common lands". With trade stimulated, landowners increasingly moved away from the manorial economy. Woollen manufacturing greatly expanded in France, Germany, and the Netherlands and new textile industries began to develop.

The invention of movable type led to Protestant zeal for translating the Bible and getting it into the hands of the laity.


16th century

Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses placed in doubt and repudiated several of the Roman Catholic practices.

Protests against Rome began in earnest when Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and professor at the university of Wittenberg, called in 1517 for a reopening of the debate on the sale of indulgences. The quick spread of discontent occurred to a large degree because of the printing press and the resulting swift movement of both ideas and documents, including the 95 Theses. Information was also widely disseminated in manuscript form, as well as by cheap prints and woodcuts amongst the poorer sections of society.


Huldrych Zwingli launched the Reformation in Switzerland.
Iconoclasm was caused by the Protestant rejection of the Roman Catholic saints. Zurich, 1524.



Even though Luther and Calvin had very similar theological teachings, the relationship between their followers turned quickly to conflict. Frenchman Michel de Montaigne told a story of a Lutheran pastor who once claimed that he would rather celebrate the mass of Rome than participate in a Calvinist service.

The political separation of the via media.[6]

Life of Martin Luther and the heroes of the Reformation.


Impact of humanism


Erasmus was a Catholic priest who inspired some of the Protestant reformers.






Lutherans and the Holy Roman Empire

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor opposed the Lutherans.


Portrait of Philipp Melanchthon, co-founder of Lutheranism, by Lucas Cranach the Elder.



At a religious conference with the Zwinglians in 1529, Melanchthon joined with Luther in opposing a union with Zwingli. There would finally be a schism in the reform movement due to Luther's belief in real presence—the real (as opposed to symbolic) presence of Christ at the Eucharist. His original intention was not schism, but with the Diet of Augsburg (1530) and its rejection of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession, a separate Lutheran church finally emerged. In a sense, Luther would take theology further in its deviation from established Catholic dogma, forcing a rift between the humanist Erasmus and Luther. Similarly, Zwingli would further repudiate ritualism, and break with the increasingly conservative Luther.

Reformation and Counter Reformation in Europe. Protestant lands are in blue, Catholic in olive.




Protestant Reformation

In the early 16th century, the church was confronted with the challenge posed by Martin Luther to the traditional teaching on the church's doctrinal authority and to many of its practices as well. The seeming inability of Pope Leo X (1513–1521) and those popes who succeeded him to comprehend the significance of the threat that Luther posed - or, indeed, the alienation of many Christians by the corruption that had spread throughout the church - was a major factor in the rapid growth of the Protestant Reformation. By the time the need for a vigorous, reforming papal leadership was recognized, much of northern Europe had already converted to Protestantism.


Martin Luther started the Reformation in Wittenberg, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire in 1517.

Martin Luther was a German monk,[8] theologian, university professor, priest, father of Protestantism,[9][10][11][12] and church reformer whose ideas started the Protestant Reformation.[13]

Luther taught that salvation is a free gift of God and received only through true faith in Jesus as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority of the papacy by adducing the Bible as the only infallible source of Christian doctrine[14] and countering "sacerdotalism" in the doctrine that all baptized Christians are a universal priesthood.[15]

Albert of Mainz and Magdeburg procured the services of Johann Tetzel to sell the indulgences in his diocese.

Luther's refusal to retract his writings in confrontation with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by Pope Leo X (actually on 3 January 1521, before the Diet convened) and declaration as an outlaw. His translation of the Bible into the language of the people made the Scriptures more accessible, causing a tremendous impact on the church and on German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation,[16] and influenced the translation of the King James Bible.[17] His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity.[18] His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.[19]

In 1516-17, Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar and papal commissioner for indulgences, was sent to Germany by the Roman Catholic Church to sell indulgences to raise money to rebuild St Peter's Basilica in Rome.[20] Roman Catholic theology stated that faith alone, whether fiduciary or dogmatic, cannot justify man;[21] and that only such faith as is active in charity and good works (fides caritate formata) can justify man.[22] These good works could be obtained by donating money to the church.

On 31 October 1517, Luther wrote to Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, protesting the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences," which came to be known as The 95 Theses.

Luther objected to a saying attributed to Johann Tetzel that "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs,"[23] insisting that, since forgiveness was God's alone to grant, those who claimed that indulgences absolved buyers from all punishments and granted them salvation were in error. Christians, he said, must not slacken in following Christ on account of such false assurances.


According to Walter Krämer, Götz Trenkler, Gerhard Ritter and Gerhard Prause,[24][25][26] the story of the posting on the door has settled as one of the pillars of history, but its foundations in truth are minimal. In the preface of the second pressing of Luther's compiled work, released posthumously, humanist and reformist Philipp Melanchthon writes 'reportedly, Luther, burning with passion and just devoutness, posted the Ninety-Five Theses at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany at All Saints Eve, 31 October (Old calendar)". At the time of the writing of the preface Melanchton lived in Tübingen, far from Wittenberg. In the preface, Melanchton presents more facts that are not true: He writes that indulgence sales man Johann Tetzel publicly burned Luther's Ninety-Five Theses, that Luther held colleges on nature and physics, and that Luther had visited Rome in 1511. For a professor of the Wittenberg University to post thesis on doors is unparalleled in history. Even further, Luther is known as strongly law abiding, and to publish his thoughts and direction in such a way would be strongly against his character. Luther has never mentioned anything in this direction in his writings, and the only contemporary account of the publishing of the thesis is the account of Luther's servant Agricola, written in Latin. In this account, Agricola states that Luther presents 'certain thesis in the year of 1517 according to the customs of University of Wittenberg as part of a scientific discussion. The presentation of the thesis was done in a modest and respectful way, preventing to mock or insult anybody". There is no mention of nailing the thesis to a door, nor does any other source report this. In reality, Luther presented a hand-written copy, accompanied with honourable comments to the archbishop Albrecht of Mainz and Magdeburg, responsible for the practice of the indulgence sales, and to the bishop of Brandenburg, the superior of Luther.


It wasn't until January 1518 that friends of Luther translated the 95 Theses from Latin into German, printed, and widely copied, making the controversy one of the first in history to be aided by the printing press.[27] Within two weeks, copies of the theses had spread throughout Germany; within two months throughout Europe. In contrast to the speed with which the theses were distributed, the response of the papacy was painstakingly slow. After three years of debate and negotiations involving Luther, government, and church officials, on 15 June 1520, the Pope warned Luther with the papal bull (edict) Exsurge Domine that he risked excommunication unless he recanted 41 sentences drawn from his writings, including the 95 Theses, within 60 days.

That autumn, Johann Eck proclaimed the bull in Meissen and other towns. Karl von Miltitz, a papal nuncio, attempted to broker a solution, but Luther, who had sent the Pope a copy of his conciliatory On the Freedom of a Christian (which the Pope refused to read) in October, publicly set fire to the bull and decretals at Wittenberg on 10 December 1520,[28] an act he defended in Why the Pope and his Recent Book are Burned and Assertions Concerning All Articles.





John Calvin



Geneva became the unofficial capital of the Protestant movement, led by the Frenchman, Jean Calvin, until his death in 1564 (when Calvin's ally, William Farel, assumed the spiritual leadership of the group).

The Reformation foundations engaged with Augustinianism. Both Luther and Calvin thought along lines linked with the theological teachings of Augustine of Hippo. The Augustinianism of the Reformers struggled against Pelagianism, a heresy that they perceived in the Catholic Church of their day. Ironically, even though both Luther and Calvin both had very similar theological teachings, the relationship between Lutherans and Calvinists evolved into one of conflict.


All of Scandinavia ultimately adopted Lutheranism over the course of the sixteenth century, as the monarchs of Denmark (who also ruled Norway and Iceland) and Sweden (who also ruled Finland) converted to that faith.




Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland.

The separation of the John Newman as a via media (middle way), which idea remains a current theme of Anglican discourse.

Henry VIII of England.




Oliver Cromwell was a devout Puritan and military leader, who came to power in the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.


The early Puritan movement (late 16th century-17th century) was popish pomp and rags". (See Vestments controversy.) They also objected to ecclesiastical courts. They refused to endorse completely all of the ritual directions and formulas of the Book of Common Prayer; the imposition of its liturgical order by legal force and inspection sharpened Puritanism into a definite opposition movement.

The later Puritan movement were often referred to as Dissenters and Nonconformists and eventually led to the formation of various Reformed denominations.


These Puritan separatists were also known as "the pilgrims". After establishing a colony at Plymouth (in what would become later Massachusetts) in 1620, the Puritan pilgrims received a charter from the King of England which legitimized their colony, allowing them to do trade and commerce with merchants in England, in accordance with the principles of mercantilism. This successful, though initially quite difficult, colony marked the beginning of the Protestant presence in America (the earlier French, Spanish and Portuguese settlements had been Catholic), and became a kind of oasis of spiritual and economic freedom, to which persecuted Protestants and other minorities from the British Isles and Europe (and later, from all over the world) fled to for peace, freedom and opportunity.



John Knox was a leading figure in the Scottish Reformation.



The Scottish Reformation decisively shaped the Church of Scotland[2] and, through it, all other Presbyterian churches worldwide.













Much of the population of Kingdom of Hungary adopted Protestantism during the sixteenth century. After the 1526 Battle of Mohács the Hungarian people were disillusioned by the ability of the government to protect them and turned to the faith which would infuse them with the strength necessary to resist the Turkish invaders. They found this in the teaching of the Protestant Reformers such as Martin Luther. The spread of Protestantism in the country was aided by its large ethnic German minority, which could understand and translate the writings of Martin Luther. While Lutheranism gained a foothold among the German-speaking population, Calvinism became widely accepted among ethnic Hungarians.[31]

Stephen Bocskay prevented the Holy Roman Emperor from imposing Roman Catholicism on Hungarians with the help of the Ottomans.


Protestants likely formed a majority of Hungary's population at the close of the sixteenth century, but Counter-Reformation efforts in the seventeenth century reconverted a majority of the kingdom to Catholicism.[32] A significant Protestant minority remained, most of it adhering to the Calvinist faith.


There were a series of other successful and unsuccessful anti-Habsburg /i.e. anti-Austrian/ (requiring equal rights and freedom for all Christian religions) uprisings between 1604 and 1711, the uprisings were usually organized from Transylvania. The constrained Habsburg Counter-Reformation efforts in the seventeenth century reconverted the majority of the kingdom to Catholicism.

Nineteenth century

Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette argues that the outlook for Protestantism at the start of the 19th century was discouraging. It was a regional religion based in northwestern Europe, with an outpost in the sparsely settled United States. It was closely allied with government, as in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Prussia, and especially Great Britain. The alliance came at the expense of independence, as the government made the basic policy decisions, down to such details as the salaries of ministers and location of new churches. The dominant intellectual currents of the Enlightenment promoted rationalism, and most Protestant leaders preached a sort of deism. Intellectually, the new methods of historical and anthropological study undermine automatic acceptance of biblical stories, as did the sciences of geology and biology. Industrialization was a strongly negative factor, as workers who moved to the city seldom joined churches. The gap between the church and the unchurched grew rapidly, and secular forces, based both in socialism and liberalism undermine the prestige of religion. Despite the negative forces, Protestantism demonstrated a striking vitality by 1900. Shrugging off Enlightenment rationalism, Protestants embraced romanticism, with the stress on the personal and the invisible. Entirely fresh ideas as expressed by Friedrich Schleiermacher, Soren Kierkegaard, Albrecht Ritschl and Adolf von Harnack restored the intellectual power of theology. There was more attention to historic creeds such as the Augsburg, the Heidelberg, and the Westminster confessions. The stirrings of pietism on the Continent, and evangelicalism in Britain expanded enormously, leading the devout away from an emphasis on formality and ritual and toward an inner sensibility toward personal relationship to Christ. From the religious point of view of the typical Protestant, major changes were underway in terms of a much more personalized religiosity that focused on the individual more than the church or the ceremony. The rationalism of the late 19th century faded away, and there was a new emphasis on the psychology and feeling of the individual, especially in terms of contemplating sinfuness, redemption, and the mysteries and the revelations of Christianity. Pietistic revivals were common among Protestants. Social activities, in education and in opposition to social vices such as slavery, alcoholism and poverty provided new opportunities for social service. Above all, worldwide missionary activity became a highly prized goal, proving quite successful in close cooperation with the imperialism of the British, German, and Dutch empires.[33]


In England, Anglicans emphasized the historically Catholic components of their heritage, as the High Church element reintroduced vestments and incense into their rituals, against the opposition of Low Church evangelicals.[34] As the Oxford Movement began to advocate restoring traditional Catholic faith and practice to the Church of England (see Anglo-Catholicism), there was felt to be a need for a restoration of the monastic life. Anglican priest John Henry Newman established a community of men at Littlemore near Oxford in the 1840s. From then forward, there have been many communities of monks, friars, sisters, and nuns established within the Anglican Communion. In 1848, Mother Priscilla Lydia Sellon founded the Anglican Sisters of Charity and became the first woman to take religious vows within the Anglican Communion since the English Reformation. From the 1840s and throughout the following hundred years, religious orders for both men and women proliferated in Britain, America and elsewhere.[35]

King Frederick William III ruled Prussia 1797 to 1840


Two main developments reshaped religion in Germany. Across the land, there was a movement to unite the larger Lutheran and the smaller Reformed Protestant churches. The churches themselves brought this about in Baden, Nassau, and Bavaria. However, in Prussia King Church of the Prussian Union was formed, bringing together the more numerous Lutherans, and the less numerous Reformed Protestants. The government of Prussia now had full control over church affairs, with the king himself recognized as the leading bishop. Opposition to unification came from the "Old Lutherans" in Silesia who clung tightly to the theological and liturgical forms they had followed since the days of Luther. The government attempted to crack down on them, so they went underground. Tens of thousands migrated, to South Australia, and especially to the United States, where they formed the Missouri Synod, which is still in operation as a conservative denomination. Finally in 1845 a new king Frederick William IV offered a general amnesty and allowed the Old Lutherans to form a separate church association with only nominal government control. [36][37][38]

The Great Awakenings in America

The "Great Awakenings" were periods of rapid and dramatic religious revival in American religious history, beginning in the 1730s.

First Great Awakening

The "First Great Awakening" (or sometimes "The Great Awakening") was a wave of religious enthusiasm among Protestants that swept the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It emphasized the traditional Reformed virtues of Godly preaching, rudimentary liturgy, and a deep sense of personal guilt and redemption by Christ Jesus. It resulted from powerful preaching that deeply affected listeners (already church members) with a deep sense of personal guilt and salvation by Christ. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the Great Awakening made religion intensely personal to the average person by creating a deep sense of spiritual guilt and redemption. Historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom saw it as part of a "great international Protestant upheaval" that also created Pietism in Germany, the Evangelical Revival, and Methodism in England.[39] It had a major impact in reshaping the Congregational, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and German Reformed denominations, and strengthened the small Baptist and Methodist denominations. It brought Christianity to the slaves and was an apocalyptic event in New England that challenged established authority. It incited rancor and division between the old traditionalists who insisted on ritual and doctrine and the new revivalists. It had little impact on Anglicans and Quakers.


Second Great Awakening

1839 Methodist camp meeting during the Second Great Awakening in the United States.

The "Second Great Awakening" (1790-1840s) was the second great religious revival in United States history and, unlike the First Great Awakening of the 18th century, focused on the unchurched and sought to instil in them a deep sense of personal salvation as experienced in revival meetings. It also sparked the beginnings of groups such as the Mormons[40] and the Holiness movement. Leaders included Charles Grandison Finney, Lyman Beecher, Barton W. Stone, Peter Cartwright and James Finley.


The Second Great Awakening made its way across the frontier territories, fed by intense longing for a prominent place for God in the life of the new nation, a new liberal attitude toward fresh interpretations of the Bible, and a contagious experience of zeal for authentic spirituality. As these revivals spread, they gathered converts to Protestant sects of the time. However, the revivals eventually moved freely across denominational lines, with practically identical results, and went farther than ever toward breaking down the allegiances which kept adherents to these denominations loyal to their own. Consequently, the revivals were accompanied by a growing dissatisfaction with Evangelical churches and especially with the doctrine of Calvinism, which was nominally accepted or at least tolerated in most Evangelical churches at the time. Various unaffiliated movements arose that were often restorationist in outlook, considering contemporary Christianity of the time to be a deviation from the true, original Christianity. These groups attempted to transcend Protestant denominationalism and orthodox Christian creeds to restore Christianity to its original form.

Third Great Awakening

William Booth and his wife founded The Salvation Army during the Third Great Awakening.


Mary Baker Eddy introduced Christian Science, which gained a national following. In 1880, the Salvation Army denomination arrived in America. Although its theology was based on ideals expressed during the Second Great Awakening, its focus on poverty was of the Third. The Society for Ethical Culture was established in New York in 1876 by Felix Adler attracted a Reform Jewish clientele. Charles Taze Russell founded a Bible Student movement now known as The Jehovah's Witnesses

With Jane Addams's Hull House in Chicago as its center, the settlement house movement and the vocation of social work were deeply influenced by the Tolstoyan reworking of Christian idealism.[42] The final group to emerge from this awakening in North America was Pentecostalism, which had its roots in the Methodist, Wesleyan, and Holiness movements, and began in 1906 on Azusa Street, in Los Angeles. Pentecostalism would later lead to the Charismatic movement.

20th century

Protestant Christianity in the 20th century was characterized by accelerating fragmentation. The century saw the rise of both liberal and conservative splinter groups, as well as a general secularization of Western society. The Roman Catholic Church instituted many reforms in order to modernize. Missionaries also made inroads in the Far East, establishing further followings in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. At the same time, state-promoted atheism in Communist Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union brought many Eastern Orthodox Christians to Western Europe and the United States, leading to greatly increased contact between Western and Eastern Christianity. Nevertheless, church attendance declined more in Western Europe than it did in the East. Christian ecumenism grew in importance, beginning at the Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910, and accelerated after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) of the Catholic Church, The Liturgical Movement became significant in both Catholic and Protestant Christianity, especially in Anglicanism.

Another movement which has grown up over the 20th century has been Christian anarchism which rejects the church, state or any power other than God. They usually also believe in absolute nonviolence. Leo Tolstoy's book The Kingdom of God is Within You published in 1894, is believed to be the catalyst for this movement. Because of its extremist political views, however, its appeal has been largely limited to the highly educated, especially those with erstwhile humanist sentiments; the thoroughgoing aversion to institutionalism on Christian anarchists' part has also hindered acceptance of this philosophy on a large scale.

The 1950s saw a boom in the Evangelical church in America. The post–World War II prosperity experienced in the U.S. also had its effects on the church. Although simplistically referred to as "morphological fundamentalism", the phrase nonetheless does accurately describe the physical developments experienced. Church buildings were erected in large numbers, and the Evangelical church's activities grew along with this expansive physical growth.

Pentecostal movement



Modernism, fundamentalism, and neo-orthodoxy

As the more radical implications of the scientific and cultural influences of the Enlightenment began to be felt in the Protestant churches, especially in the 19th century, Liberal Christianity, exemplified especially by numerous theologians in Germany in the 19th century, sought to bring the churches alongside of the broad revolution that Modernism represented. In doing so, new critical approaches to the Bible were developed, new attitudes became evident about the role of religion in society, and a new openness to questioning the nearly universally accepted definitions of Christian orthodoxy began to become obvious.

Karl Barth is often regarded as the greatest Protestant theologian of the twentieth century.[43][44]

In reaction to these developments, Christian fundamentalism was a movement to reject the radical influences of philosophical humanism, as this was affecting the Christian religion. Especially targeting critical approaches to the interpretation of the Bible, and trying to blockade the inroads made into their churches by atheistic scientific assumptions, the fundamentalists began to appear in various denominations as numerous independent movements of resistance to the drift away from historic Christianity. Over time, the Fundamentalist Evangelical movement has divided into two main wings, with the label Fundamentalist following one branch, while Evangelical has become the preferred banner of the more moderate movement. Although both movements primarily originated in the English speaking world, the majority of Evangelicals now live elsewhere in the world.

A third, but less popular, option than either liberalism or fundamentalism was the neo-orthodox movement, which generally affirmed a higher view of Scripture than liberalism but did not tie the main doctrines of the Christian faith to precise theories of Biblical inspiration. If anything, thinkers in this camp denounced such quibbling between liberals and conservatives as a dangerous distraction from the duties of Christian discipleship. This branch of thought arose in the early 20th century in the context of the rise of the Third Reich in Germany and the accompanying political and ecclesiastical destabilization of Europe in the years before and during World War II. Neo-orthodoxy's highly contextual, dialectical modes of argument and reasoning often rendered its main premises incomprehensible to American thinkers and clergy, and it was frequently either dismissed out of hand as unrealistic or cast into the reigning left- or right-wing molds of theologizing. Karl Barth, a Swiss Reformed pastor and professor, brought this movement into being by drawing upon earlier criticisms of established (largely modernist) Protestant thought made by the likes of Søren Kierkegaard and Franz Overbeck; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, murdered by the Nazis for allegedly taking part in an attempt to overthrow the Hitler regime, adhered to this school of thought; his classic The Cost of Discipleship is likely the best-known and accessible statement of the neo-orthodox position.


One of the prominent evangelical revivalists Billy Graham preaching in Duisburg, Germany, 1954.


The neo-Evangelical push of the 1940s and 1950s produced a movement that continues to have wide influence. In the southern U.S., the more moderate neo-Evangelicals, represented by leaders such as Billy Graham, have experienced a notable surge displacing the caricature of the pulpit pounding country preachers of fundamentalism. The stereotypes have gradually shifted. Some, such as Jerry Falwell, have managed to maintain credibility in the eyes of many fundamentalists, as well as to gain stature as a more moderate Evangelical.

Chinese evangelical church in Madrid, Spain. Evangelicalism is a driving force behind the current rise of Protestantism, especially in the Global South.

Evangelicalism is not a single, monolithic entity. The Evangelical churches and their adherents cannot be easily stereotyped. Most are not fundamentalist, in the narrow sense that this term has come to represent; though many still refer to themselves as such. There have always been diverse views on issues, such as openness to cooperation with non-Evangelicals, the applicability of the Bible to political choices and social or scientific issues, and even the limited inerrancy of the Bible.

However, the movement has managed in an informal way, to reserve the name Evangelical for those who adhere to an historic Christian faith, a paleo-orthodoxy, as some have put it. Those who call themselves "moderate evangelicals"(although considered conservative in relation to society as a whole) still hold fast to the fundamentals of the historic Christian faith. Even "Liberal" Evangelicals label themselves as such not so much in terms of their theology, but rather to advertise that they are progressive in their civic, social, or scientific perspective.

There is some debate as to whether Pentecostals are considered to be Evangelical. Their roots in Pietism and the Holiness movement are undisputedly Evangelical, but their doctrinal distinctives differ from the more traditional Evangelicals, who are less likely to have an expectation of private revelations from God, and differ from the Pentecostal perspective on miracles, angels, and demons. Typically, those who include the Pentecostals in the Evangelical camp are labeled neo-evangelical by those who do not. The National Association of Evangelicals and the Evangelical Alliance have numerous Trinitarian Pentecostal denominations among their membership.[45] Another relatively late entrant to wide acceptance within the Evangelical fold is the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Evangelicals are as diverse as the names that appear—Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, J. Vernon McGee, John MacArthur, J.I. Packer, John R.W. Stott, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Carter, etc.—or even Evangelical institutions such as Dallas Theological Seminary (dispensationalist), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Boston), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Chicago), The Master's Seminary (California), Wheaton College (Illinois), the Christian Coalition, The Christian Embassy (Jerusalem), etc. Although there exists a diversity in the Evangelical community worldwide, the ties that bind all Evangelicals are still apparent. These include but are not limited to a high view of Scripture, belief in the Deity of Christ, the Trinity, salvation by grace alone through faith alone, and the bodily resurrection of Christ.

Spread of secularism

St Mary's, Wythall, a redundant church, now houses an electrical company. Secularism is rising in the West, causing churches to find new uses.


The Americas and Australia

In North America, South America and Australia, the other three continents where Christianity is the dominant professed religion, religious observance is much higher than in Europe. At the same time, these regions are often seen by other nations as being uptight and "Victorian", in their social mores. In general, the United States leans toward the conservative in comparison to other western nations in its general culture, in part due to the Christian element found primarily in its Midwestern and southern states.

South America, historically Catholic, has experienced a large Evangelical and Pentecostal infusion in the 20th century due to the influx of Christian missionaries from abroad. For example: Brazil, South America's largest country, is the largest Catholic country in the world, and at the same time is the largest Evangelical country in the world (based on population). Some of the largest Christian congregations in the world are found in Brazil.


  1. ^ The Reformation of the Church of England: Its History, Principles, and Results. A.D. 1514-1547, p. 400
  2. ^ a b Article 1, of the Articles Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland 1921 states 'The Church of Scotland adheres to the Scottish Reformation'.
  3. ^ Ecclesia Reformata: Studies on the Reformation, Tom 2, p. 67
  4. ^ The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy
  5. ^ Hussites
  6. ^ The Sacking of Rome & The English Reformation
  7. ^ Gstohl, Mark (2004). "The Magisterial Reformation". Theological Perspectives of the Reformation. Retrieved 2007-06-27. 
  8. ^ Plass, Ewald M. "Monasticism," in What Luther Says: An Anthology. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, 2:964.
  10. ^ "Martin Luther: Biography." 26 July 2008>.
  11. ^ "What ELCA Lutherans Believe." Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 26 July 2008 [4].
  12. ^ Saraswati, Prakashanand. The True History and the Religion of India : A Concise Encyclopedia of Authentic Hinduism. New York: Motilal Banarsidass (Pvt. Ltd), 2001. "His 'protest for reformation' coined the term Protestant, so he was called the father of Protestantism."
  13. ^ Hillerbrand, Hans J. "Martin Luther: Significance," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007.
  14. ^ Ewald M. Plass, What Luther Says, 3 vols., (St. Louis: CPH, 1959), 88, no. 269; M. Reu, Luther and the Scriptures, Columbus, Ohio: Wartburg Press, 1944), 23.
  19. ^ Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: a Life of Martin Luther. New York: Penguin, 1995, 223.
  25. ^ Ritter, Gerhard. "Luther, Frankfurt 1985.
  30. ^ Paris and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre: August 24, 1572
  32. ^ The Forgotten Reformations in Eastern Europe - Resources
  34. ^ Owen Chadwick, Victorian Church (2 vol. 1979)
  35. ^ Thomas Jay Williams, Priscilla Lydia Sellon: the restorer after three centuries of the religious life in the English church (SPCK, 1965).
  36. ^ Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom (2006) pp 412-19
  37. ^ Christopher Clark, "Confessional policy and the limits of state action: Frederick William III and the Prussian Church Union 1817–40." Historical Journal 39.04 (1996) pp: 985-1004. in JSTOR
  38. ^ Hajo Holborn, A History of Modern Germany 1648-1840 (1964) pp 485-91
  40. ^
  41. ^ Robert William Fogel, The Fourth Great Awakening & the Future of Egalitarianism University of Chicago Press, 20000 ISBN 0-226-25662-6. excerpt
  42. ^ Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House; Edmund Wilson, The American Earthquake.
  45. ^ Church Search

See also

Further reading

  • Ahlstrom, Sydney E. A Religious History of the American People (1972, 2nd ed. 2004); widely cited standard scholarly history excerpt and text search
  • Chadwick, Owen. A History of Christianity (1995)
  • Gilley, Sheridan, and Brian Stanley, eds. The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 8, World Christianities c.1815-c.1914 (2006) excerpt
  • Latourette, Kenneth Scott (1975). A History of Christianity, Volume 2: 1500 to 1975. San Francisco: Harper.  
  • Latourette, Kenneth Scott. Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, I: The Nineteenth Century in Europe: Background and the Roman Catholic Phase; Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, II: The Nineteenth Century in Europe: The Protestant and Eastern Churches; Christianity in a Revolutionary Age, III: The Nineteenth Century Outside Europe: The Americas, the Pacific, Asia and Africa (1959–69), detailed survey by leading scholar
  • Lippy, Charles H., ed. Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience (3 vol. 1988)
  • Lynch, John. New Worlds: A Religious History of Latin America (2012)
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. The Reformation (2005)
  • McLeod, Hugh. Religion and the People of Western Europe 1789–1989 (Oxford UP, 1997)
  • McLeod, Hugh and Werner Ustorf, eds. The Decline of Christendom in Western Europe, 1750-2000 (Cambridge UP, 2004) online
  • Marshall, Peter. The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction (2009)
  • Rosman, Doreen. The Evolution of the English Churches, 1500-2000 (2003) 400pp

External links

