Worship Weblog
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Why We Have Denominations
In his course on the history of Reformed worship last month, John Witvliet quoted the line that Protestantism “started with a schism and made it a habit.” I remembered that when this was linked in the CT Library newsletter this week, from the archives of Christianity Today:
[T]he first clear philosophy of denominations was ... articulated by the Independents (Congregationalists), who represented the minority voice at the Westminster ######## (1642-49). In contrast to the majority who held to Presbyterian principles and expressed these convictions in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Independents followed congregational principles. Keenly aware of the dangers of “dividing the godly Protestant party,” these “Dissenting Brethren of Westminster” looked for some way to express Christian unity even in disagreement.
The result was a denominational theory of the church that was based on the following principles:
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