Study of Denomintions 02/28/2010

A Study of Denominations
Cont. from last week

Pietism . Pietism is a movement that began within the Lutheran church in Germany in the seventeenth century. The members of this group desired to have a deeper personal faith as opposed to the often cold liturgical faith of the Lutheran establishment. Although many pietists remained within the Lutheran fold, many others branched out and founded churches of their own. The Moravian Brethren are the supposed founders of the movement, dating back to the time of Jan Hus in the 1450s, although it is possible that the Hussites adopted the Pietist philosopies in the seventeenth century. The Church of the Brethren, the Brethren in Christ, and many other churches came out of this Pietist movement. There is also a group of Pietists that combined with some Mennonites, known as the Mennonite Brethren.

Wesleyanism . Wesleyanism derives from John and Charles Wesley, members of the Anglican church. In 1729, they performed missionary work in America, and on the trip back to England, John learned of the faith of the Moravian Brethren. When back in England, the brothers founded a Methodist society and began to speak about the need of personal faith, sanctification, and "personal holiness," the continual development of maturity in Christian faith. The brothers desired to preach the need for personal faith within the Church of England attempting to reform it. This worked well in England, but when the message spread to America, the Methodists split off from the Church of England and formed their own church. Wesleyan holiness theology was very persuasive in nineteenth century America, and many "holiness churches" were founded. Many of these churches consolidated in the twentieth century to form the Church of the Nazarene.

Phase IV: 1800 to the Present
The nineteenth century saw the rise of America as a power in the world, the first government founded on the principles of freedom. The freedom of religion enjoyed in America led to a vast number of new ideas and thus divisions.

Plymouth Brethren : The Plymouth Brethren began in 1827 in Ireland by four individuals who did not agree with the denominational attitudes of the "churches" around them and thus worshiped by themselves. This mentality spread, and the group (who simply are known to each other as the Brethren) had a large following in the town of Plymouth in England, and thus received their name. They are notable for dispensational/premillennial belief system that would pervade much of nineteenth century American Christianity along with the modern Evangelical movement.

The Restoration Movement : The Restoration Movement fully began in the 1820s in America by the preaching of Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. These men recognized that denominations had departed from the message of the Scriptures with their creeds and doctrines and therefore desired to return to the faith of the Apostles. To this end, the Campbells established the Disciples of Christ and Stone the Christian Church. These two groups soon merged, forming the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In the 1920s, as a response to what was viewed as growing liberalism in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) churches, many such churches split off and became independent Christian Churches.

By the end of the nineteenth century, many within the Restoration Movement began to question some of the doctrines of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), especially regarding missionary societies and instrumental churches, and these Christians thus returned to the faith of the Apostles as given in the New Testament and took on the description of the Churches of Christ. Unfortunately, in the middle of the twentieth century, many such churches reverted to many doctrines of denominations, and many divisions have occurred as a result.

Mormonism : Officially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), Mormonism began with Joseph Smith, who claimed to receive a special vision in upper New York state in the 1820s, but the official beginning of the denomination was in 1830. He supposedly found plates written in "Reformed Egyptian" and tools by which to translate these plates. The resulting work was the Book of Mormon, used as additional Scripture by the LDS. Smith would later write other works, The Pearl of Great Price and The Doctrines and Covenants. The LDS believe in continuing revelation through their leaders; however, at the death of Joseph Smith and the declaration of Brigham Young as President, many Mormons departed from that denomination and established groups based either solely on the works of Smith or on the works of Smith combined with revelation given to their leaders. The most significant such group is the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (RLDS), now known as the Community of Christ, which uses only the texts of Smith.

Seventh-Day Adventism : The Seventh-Day Adventists began with some of those deemed Millerites, individuals who believed in the prophecies of William Miller who believed the world would end in 1844. When 1844 came and went, many deemed this the Great Disappointment; one such adherent, Ellen White, believed that she was given a prophetic gift and urged men and women to still prepare for the second coming of Christ (the Second Advent). Seventh-Day Adventism is also known for holding to many portions of the Law of Moses, including the Sabbath and dietary restrictions.

Christian Science : Beginning in the 1860s, a woman named Mary Baker Eddy believed that she was having revelations of truths kept silent since the Apostles concerning the illusion of reality and the superiority of "Mind" and spirit. Her work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, posited that pain, illness, and even reality are merely mental conditions and that through correct discipline and training, one could control illness and disease. Through these beliefs she established "Christian Science" and the "Church of Christ, Scientist".

Jehovah's Witnesses : Jehovah's Witnesses (officially the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society) originate around 1872 with Charles Taze Russell, who created the Watchtower Society to promote his beliefs. They derive their name from their practice of witnessing to others concerning the power in the "name" of God, the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) incorrectly translated as "Jehovah". The New World Translation of the Scriptures was made by the Jehovah's Witnesses to support their doctrines concerning the name of God, the lesser divinity of Jesus Christ, the lack of person of the Holy Spirit, and the perpetual existence of the earth.

The Salvation Army :