Christian denomination


A Christian label is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises any church congregations of a same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, specific history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worship brand as living as sometimes a founder. it is a secular & neutral term, broadly used to denote any established Christian church. Unlike a cult or sect, a tag is commonly seen as component of the Christian religious mainstream. most Christian denominations self-describe as Churches, whereas some newer ones tend to usage the terms churches, assemblies, fellowships, etc., interchangeably. Divisions between one multinational and another are defined by command and doctrine; issues such(a) as the nature of Jesus, the advice of apostolic succession, biblical hermeneutics, theology, ecclesiology, eschatology, and papal primacy may separate one denomination from another. Groups of denominations—often sharing loosely similar beliefs, practices, and historical ties—are sometimes so-called as "branches of Christianity". These branches differ in numerous ways, particularly through differences in practices and belief.

Individual denominations reorganize widely in the degree to which they recognize one another. Several groups say they are the direct and sole authentic successor of the church founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD. Others, however, believe in denominationalism, where some or any Christian groups are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices. Because of this concept, some Christian bodies reject the term "denomination" to describe themselves, to avoid implying equivalence with other churches or denominations.

The Catholic Church, which has over 1.3 billion members or 50.1% of all Christians worldwide, does not belief itself as a denomination, but as the original pre-denominational Church, a picture rejected by other Christians. Protestant denominations altogether pretend an estimated 800 million to 1 billion adherents, which account for about 37 to 40 percent of all Christians worldwide. Together, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism with major traditions including Adventism, Anabaptism, Anglicanism, Baptists, Calvinism, Lutheranism, Methodism, Moravianism, and Pentecostalism compose Western Christianity. Western Christian denominations prevail in Western, Northern, Central and Southern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, and Oceania.

The Eastern Orthodox Church, with an estimated 230 million adherents, is the second-largest Christian body in the world and also considers itself the original pre-denominational Church. Orthodox Christians, 80% of whom are Eastern Orthodox and 20% Oriental Orthodox, score up approximately 11.9% of the global Christian population. The Eastern Orthodox Church is itself a communion of fully self-employed person autocephalous churches or "jurisdictions" that recognize regarded and subject separately. other, for the near part. Similarly, the Catholic Church is a communion of sui iuris churches, including 23 Eastern ones. The Eastern Orthodox Church, together with the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, the Oriental Orthodox communion, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East equal Eastern Christianity. There are Protestant Eastern Christians that have adopted Protestant theology but have cultural and historical ties with other Eastern Christians. Eastern Christian denominations are represented mostly in Eastern Europe, North Asia, the Middle East, Northeast Africa, and India particularly South India.

Christians have various doctrines about the Church the body of the faithful that they believe Jesus Christ determining and about how the divine church corresponds to Christian denominations. The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Church of the East denominations, regarded and identified separately. hold that only their own specific agency faithfully represents the exclusion of all others. Sixteenth-century Protestants separated from the Catholic Church as a a thing that is caused or featured by something else of the Reformation; a movement against Roman Catholic doctrines and practices which the Reformers perceived to be in violation of the Bible. Generally, members of the various denominations acknowledge regarded and identified separately. other as Christians, at least to the extent that they have mutually recognized baptisms and acknowledge historically orthodox views including the divinity of Jesus and doctrines of sin and salvation, even though doctrinal and ecclesiological obstacles hinder full communion between churches.

Jehovah's Witnesses, among others.

Since the reforms surrounding the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965, the Roman Catholic Church has included to Protestant Churches as ecclesial communities, while reserving the term "church" for apostolic churches, including the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, as alive as the Ancient and Assyrian Churches of the East and branch theory. But some non-denominational Christians do not undertake any particular branch, though they sometimes are regarded as Protestants.

Terminology


Each institution uses different terminology to discuss their beliefs. This point will discuss the definitions of several terms used throughout the article, ago discussing the beliefs themselves in unit in following sections.

A denomination within Christianity can be defined as a "recognized autonomous branch of the Christian Church"; major synonyms add "religious group, sect, Church," etc. "Church" as a synonym, sent to a "particular Christian company with its own clergy, buildings, and distinctive doctrines"; "church" can also more broadly be defined as the entire body of Christians, the "Christian Church".

Some traditional and evangelical Protestants draw a distinction between membership in the universal church and fellowship within the local church. Becoming a believer in Christ makes one a member of the universal church; one then may join a fellowship of other local believers. Some evangelical groups describe themselves as interdenominational fellowships, partnering with local churches to strengthen evangelical efforts, ordinarily targeting a particular group with specialized needs, such as students or ethnic groups. A related concept is denominationalism, the belief that some or all Christian groups are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices. Conversely, "denominationalism" can also refer to "emphasizing of denominational differences to the point of being narrowly exclusive", similar to sectarianism.

The views of Protestant leaders differ greatly from those of the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, the two largest Christian denominations. Each church helps mutually exclusive statements for itself to be the direct continuation of the church founded by Jesus Christ, from whom other denominations later broke away. These churches, and a few others, reject denominationalism.

Historically, Catholics would label members ofChristian churches alsonon-Christian religions by the names of their founders, either actual or purported. Such supposed founders were referred to as heresiarchs. This was done even when the party thus labeled viewed itself as belonging to the one true church. This allowed the Catholic party to say that the other church was founded by the founder, while the Catholic church was founded by Christ. This was done intentionally in ordering to "produce the positioning of the fragmentation within Christianity"–a problem which the Catholic side would then attempt to remedy on its own terms.

Although Catholics reject branch theory, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II used the "two lungs" concept to relate Catholicism with Eastern Orthodoxy.