Restorationism (or Restitutionism or Christian primitivism) is the belief that
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
has been or should be restored along the lines of what is known about the
apostolic early church, which restorationists see as the search for a purer and more ancient form of the religion.
Fundamentally, "this vision seeks to correct faults or deficiencies (in the church) by appealing to the primitive church as a normative model."
Efforts to restore an earlier, purer form of Christianity are often a response to
denominationalism
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities.
The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...
. As
Rubel Shelly
Dr. Rubel Shelly is an author, minister, and professor at Lipscomb University. He is the former president of Rochester University .
Life
Shelly began as an instructor in the department of Religion and Philosophy at Freed-Hardeman University in 19 ...
put it, "the motive behind all restoration movements is to tear down the walls of separation by a return to the practice of the original, essential and universal features of the Christian religion."
Different groups have tried to implement the restorationist vision in a variety of ways; for instance, some have focused on the structure and practice of the church, others on the
ethical life of the church, and others on the direct experience of the
Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
in the life of the believer.
The relative importance given to the restoration ideal, and the extent to which the full restoration of the early church is believed to have been achieved, also varies among groups.
More narrowly, the term "Restorationism" describes unrelated Restorationist groups emerging after the
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
, such as the
Christadelphians
The Christadelphians () or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the ...
,
Latter Day Saints
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...
,
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
,
La Luz del Mundo
The Iglesia del Dios Vivo, Columna y Apoyo de la Verdad, La Luz del Mundo (; English: "Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, The Light of the World")or simply La Luz del Mundo (LLDM)is a nontrinitarian Christian denominati ...
, and
Iglesia ni Cristo.
In this sense, Restorationism has been regarded as one of the six taxonomic groupings of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
: the
Church of the East
The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
,
Oriental Orthodoxy
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...
,
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonic ...
,
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
,
Protestantism
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
, and Restorationism.
These Restorationist groups share a belief that historic Christianity lost the true faith during the
Great Apostasy
The Great Apostasy is a concept within Christianity to describe a perception that mainstream Christian Churches have fallen away from the original faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through his twelve Apostles.
A belief in a Great Apostasy ...
and that the Church needed to be restored.
The term has been used to refer to the
Stone–Campbell Movement in the United States,
and has been also used by more recent groups, describing their goal to re-establish Christianity in its original form, such as some anti-denominational
Charismatic Restorationists, which arose in the 1970s in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
Uses of the term
The terms ''restorationism'', ''restorationist'' and ''restoration'' are used in several senses within
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
. "Restorationism" in the sense of "Christian primitivism" refers to the attempt to correct perceived shortcomings of the current church by using the
primitive church as a model to reconstruct
early Christianity
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...
,
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , 9780802838988, entry on ''Restoration, Historical Models of''] and has also been described as "practicing church the way it is perceived to have been done in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
".
Restorationism is called "apostolic" as representing the form of Christianity that the
twelve Apostles
In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...
followed. These themes arise early in church history, first appearing in the works of
Iranaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the deve ...
,
and appeared in
some movements during the Middle Ages. It was expressed to varying degrees in the theology of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
,
and
Protestantism
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
has been described as "a form of Christian restorationism, though some of its forms – for example the
Churches of Christ or the
Baptists – are more restorationist than others". A number of historical movements within Christianity may be described as "restoration movements", including the
Glasite
The Glasites or Glassites were a small Christian church founded in about 1730 in Scotland by John Glas.John Glas preached supremacy of God's word (Bible) over allegiance to Church and state to his congregation in Tealing near Dundee in July 172 ...
s in Scotland and England, the independent church led by
James Haldane
The Rev James Alexander Haldane aka Captain James Haldane (14 July 1768 – 8 February 1851) was a Scottish independent church leader following an earlier life as a sea captain.
Biography
The youngest son of Captain James Haldane of Airth ...
and
Robert Haldane
Robert Haldane (28 February 1764 – 12 December 1842) was a religious writer and Scottish theologian. Author of ''Commentaire sur l'Épître aux Romains, On the Inspiration of Scripture'' and ''Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans.''
Early ...
in Scotland, the American
Restoration Movement
The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (17 ...
, the
Landmark Baptists and the
Mormons. A variety of more contemporary movements have also been described as "restorationist". Restorationism has been described as a basic component of some
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement movements such as the
Assemblies of God. The terms "Restorationism movement" and "Restorationist movement" have also been applied to the
British New Church Movement The British New Church Movement (BNCM) is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian movement. Its origin is associated with the Charismatic Movement of the 1960s, although it both predates it and has an agenda that goes beyond it. It was originally k ...
.
Capitalized, the term is also used as a synonym for the American
Restoration Movement
The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (17 ...
.
[Gerard Mannion and Lewis S. Mudge, ''The Routledge companion to the Christian church'', Routledge, 2008, , 9780415374200, page 634]
The term "restorationism" can also include the belief that the Jewish people must be restored to the
promised land
The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew ...
in fulfillment of biblical prophecy before the
Second Coming
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messian ...
of
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. ''Christian restorationism'' is generally used to describe the 19th century movement based on this belief, though the term ''
Christian Zionism'' is more commonly used to describe later forms.
"Restorationism" is also used to describe a form of
postmillennialism
In Christian eschatology (end-times theology), postmillennialism, or postmillenarianism, is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring ''after'' (Latin ''post-'') the "Millennium", ...
developed during the later half of the 20th century, which was influential among a number of
charismatic groups and the
British new church movement The British New Church Movement (BNCM) is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian movement. Its origin is associated with the Charismatic Movement of the 1960s, although it both predates it and has an agenda that goes beyond it. It was originally k ...
.
The term ''primitive'', in contrast with other uses, refers to a basis in scholarship and research into the actual writings of the
church fathers and other historical documents. Since written documents for the underground first-century church are sparse, the primitive church passed down its knowledge verbally. Elements of the primitive Christianity movement reject the
patristic tradition of the prolific extrabiblical 2nd- and 3rd-century redaction of this knowledge (the
Ante-Nicene Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...
), and instead attempt to reconstruct primitive church practices as they might have existed in the
Apostolic Age
Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles () and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christianity ...
. To do this, they
revive practices found in the Old Testament.
The term ''apostolic'' refers to a nonmainstream, often literal,
apostolic succession or historical lineage tracing back to the Apostles and the
Great Commission
In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission is outlined in Matthew 28:16– 20, where on a mountain ...
. These restorationist threads are sometimes regarded critically as being
Judaizers
The Judaizers were a faction of the Jewish Christians, both of Jewish and non-Jewish origins, who regarded the Levitical laws of the Old Testament as still binding on all Christians. They tried to enforce Jewish circumcision upon the Gentile c ...
in the
Ebionite tradition.
Historical models
The restoration ideal has been interpreted and applied in a variety of ways.
Four general historical models can be identified based on the aspect of early Christianity that the individuals and groups involved were attempting to restore.
These are:
*Ecclesiastical Primitivism;
*Ethical Primitivism;
*Experiential Primitivism;
and
*Gospel Primitivism.
Ecclesiastical primitivism focuses on restoring the ecclesiastical practices of the early church.
Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...
,
John Calvin and the
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
s all advocated ecclesiastical primitivism.
The strongest advocate of ecclesiastical primitivism in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
was
Alexander Campbell.
Ethical primitivism focuses on restoring the ethical norms and commitment to
discipleship of the early church.
The
Anabaptists,
Barton W. Stone and the
Holiness Movement are examples of this form of restorationism.
The movement often requires observance of universal commandments, such as a
biblical Sabbath as given to
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
in the
Garden of Eden, and the
Hebrew calendar
The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. ...
to define years, seasons, weeks, and days.
Circumcision
Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Top ...
, animal sacrifices, and ceremonial requirements, as practiced in Judaism, are distinguished from the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
,
Noahide laws
In Judaism, the Seven Laws of Noah ( he, שבע מצוות בני נח, ''Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach''), otherwise referred to as the Noahide Laws or the Noachian Laws (from the Hebrew pronunciation of "Noah"), are a set of universal moral law ...
and
High Sabbaths
High Sabbaths, in most Christian and Messianic Jewish usage, are seven annual biblical festivals and rest days, recorded in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. This is an extension of the term "high day" found in the King James Version at ...
as given to, and in effect for, all humanity. The
Sermon on the Mount and particularly the
Expounding of the Law warn against
antinomianism
Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...
, the rejection of biblical teachings concerning observance of the Law.
Experiential primitivism focuses on restoring the direct communication with God and the experience of the
Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
seen in the early church.
Examples include the
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...
of
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...
and
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement .
Gospel primitivism may be best seen in the theology of
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...
.
Luther was not, in the strictest sense, a restorationist because he saw human effort to restore the church as
works righteousness
In Christian theology, ''legalism'' (or nomism) is a pejorative term applied to the idea that "by doing good works or by obeying the law, a person earns and merits salvation."
The ''Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States'' defines ' ...
and was sharply critical of other
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
leaders who were attempting to do so.
On the other hand, he was convinced that the gospel message had been obscured by the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
of the time.
He also rejected church traditions he considered contrary to Scripture and insisted on
scripture as the sole authority for the church.
These models are not mutually exclusive, but overlap; for example, the Pentecostal movement sees a clear link between ethical primitivism and experiential primitivism.
Middle Ages
Beginning in about 1470 a succession of
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
s focused on the acquisition of money, their role in Italian politics as rulers of the
papal states
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
and power politics within the
college of cardinals
The College of Cardinals, or more formally the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. its current membership is , of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinals are app ...
.
Restorationism
at the time was centered on movements that wanted to renew the church, such as the
Lollards
Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic ...
, the
Brethren of the Common Life
The Brethren of the Common Life (Latin: Fratres Vitae Communis, FVC) was a Roman Catholic pietist religious community founded in the Netherlands in the 14th century by Gerard Groote, formerly a successful and worldly educator who had had a religio ...
, the
Hussite
The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation.
The Huss ...
s, and
Girolamo Savonarola
Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of ...
's reforms in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
.
While these pre-reformation movements did presage and sometimes discussed a break with Rome and papal authority, they also provoked restorationist movements within the church, such as the councils of Constance and Basle, which were held in the first half of the 15th century.
Preachers at the time regularly harangued delegates to these conferences regarding
simony,
venality
Venality is a vice associated with being bribeable or willing to sell one's services or power, especially when people are intended to act in a decent way instead. In its most recognizable form, venality causes people to lie and steal for their own ...
, lack of
chastity
Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...
and
celibacy, and the holding of multiple
benefices
A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
. The lack of success of the restorationist movements led, arguably, to the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
.
Protestant Reformation
![Ulrich-Zwingli-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Ulrich-Zwingli-1.jpg)
The
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
came about through an impulse to repair the Church and return it to what the reformers saw as its original biblical structure, belief, and practice, and was motivated by a sense that "the medieval church had allowed its traditions to clutter the way to God with fees and human regulations and thus to subvert the gospel of Christ."
[C. Leonard Allen and Richard T. Hughes, "Discovering Our Roots: The Ancestry of the Churches of Christ," Abilene Christian University Press, 1988, ] At the heart of the Reformation was an emphasis on the principle of "scripture alone" (
sola scriptura
, meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of aut ...
).
As a result, the authority of church tradition, which had taken practical precedence over scripture, was rejected.
The Reformation was not a monolithic movement, but consisted of at least three identifiable sub-currents.
One was centered in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, one was centered in
Switzerland, and the third was centered in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
While these movements shared some common concerns, each had its own particular emphasis.
The
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
approach can be described as one of "reformation," seeking "to reform and purify the historic, institutional church while at the same time preserving as much of the tradition as possible."
The
Lutheran Churches traditionally sees themselves as the "main trunk of the historical Christian Tree" founded by Christ and the Apostles, holding that during the Reformation, the
Church of Rome fell away.
As such, the
Augsburg Confession, the Lutheran confession of faith, teaches that "the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church".
When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession to
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, they explained "that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils".
In contrast, the
Reformed approach can be described as one of "restoration," seeking "to restore the essence and form of the primitive church based on biblical precedent and example; tradition received scant respect."
While
Luther
Luther may refer to:
People
* Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation
* Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement
* Luther (give ...
focused on the question "How can we find forgiveness of sins?", the early Reformed theologians turned to the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
for patterns that could be used to replace traditional forms and practices.
Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger (18 July 1504 – 17 September 1575) was a Swiss Reformer and theologian, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Church of Zürich and a pastor at the Grossmünster. One of the most important leaders of the Swiss R ...
and
Martin Bucer in particular emphasized the restoration of biblical patterns.
John Calvin reflected an intermediate position between that of Luther and Reformed theologians such as
Zwingli
Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...
, stressing biblical precedents for church governance, but as a tool to more effectively proclaim the
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
rather than as ends in themselves.
Luther opposed efforts to restore "biblical forms and structures,"
because he saw human efforts to restore the church as works righteousness.
He did seek the "marks of the true church," but was concerned that by focusing on forms and patterns could lead to the belief that by "restoring outward forms alone one has restored the essence."
Thus, Luther believed that restoring the gospel was the first step in renewing the church, rather than restoring biblical forms and patterns.
In this sense, Luther can be described as a gospel restorationist, even though his approach was very different from that of other restorationists.
Protestant groups have generally accepted history as having some "jurisdiction" in Christian faith and life; the question has been the extent of that jurisdiction.
[Richard T. Hughes (editor), ''The American Quest for the Primitive Church'', ]University of Illinois Press
The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...
, 1988, 292 pages, A commitment to history and primitivism are not mutually exclusive; while some groups attempt to give full jurisdiction to the primitive church, for others the
apostolic
Apostolic may refer to:
The Apostles
An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission:
*The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles
*Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...
"first times" are given only partial jurisdiction.
The Church Of England And The Caroline Divines
Perhaps the most primitivist minded of the Protestant Reformation era were a group of scholars within the Church of England known as the Caroline Divines, who flourished in the 1600's during the reigns of
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
and
Charles II. They regularly appealed to the Primitive Church as the basis for their reforms.
Unlike many other Christian Primitivists, the Church of the England and the Caroline Divines did not subject Scriptural interpretation to individual human reason, but rather to the hermeneutical consensus of the Church Fathers, holding to the doctrine of Prima Scriptura as opposed to Sola Scriptura. Furthermore, they did not hold to the separatist ecclesiology of many primitivist groups, but rather saw themselves as working within the historic established church to return it to its foundation in Scripture and the patristic tradition.
Among the Caroline Divines were men like Archbishop William Laud, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, Deacon Nicholas Ferrar and the Little Gidding Community and others.
First Great Awakening
Methodism
Methodism began in the 1700's as a Christian Primitivist movement within the Church of England. John Wesley and his brother Charles, the founders of the movement, were high church Anglican priests in the vein of the Caroline Divines, who had a deep respect for the Primitive Church, which they generally defined as the Church before the Council Of Nicea. Unlike many other Christian Primitivists, the Wesleys and the early Methodists did not subject Scriptural interpretation to individual human reason, but rather to the hermeneutical consensus of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, holding to a view of authority more akin to Prima Scriptura rather than Sola Scriptura. Furthermore, they did not hold to the separatist ecclesiology of many primitivist groups, but rather saw themselves as working within the historic established church to return it to its foundation in Scripture and the tradition of the pre-Nicene Church. John Wesley very regularly asserted Methodism's commitment to the Primitive Church, saying, "From a child I was taught to love and reverence the Scripture, the oracles of God; and, next to these, to esteem the primitive Fathers, the writers of the first three centuries. Next after the primitive church, I esteemed our own, the Church of England, as the most Scriptural national Church in the world." And, "Methodism, so called, is the old religion, the religion of the Bible, the religion of the primitive Church, the religion of the Church of England." On his epitaph is written, "This GREAT LIGHT arose (By the Singular providence of GOD) To enlighten THESE NATIONS, And to revive, enforce, and defend, The Pure Apostolical DOCTRINES and PRACTICES of THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH…"
Separate Baptists![JamesRobinsonGraves](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/JamesRobinsonGraves.jpg)
During the
First Great Awakening
The First Great Awakening (sometimes Great Awakening) or the Evangelical Revival was a series of Christian revivals that swept Britain and its thirteen North American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. The revival movement permanently affecte ...
, a movement developed among the
Baptists known as
Separate Baptists
The Separate Baptists were an 18th-century group of Baptists in the United States, primarily in the South, that grew out of the Great Awakening.
The Great Awakening was a religious revival and revitalization of piety among the Christian churche ...
. Two themes of this movement were the rejection of
creeds and "freedom in the Spirit."
The Separate Baptists saw scripture as the "perfect rule" for the church.
However, while they turned to the Bible for a structural pattern for the church, they did not insist on complete agreement on the details of that pattern.
This group originated in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
, but was especially strong in the
South where the emphasis on a biblical pattern for the church grew stronger.
In the last half of the 18th century it spread to the western frontier of
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
and
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, where the Stone and Campbell movements would later take root.
The development of the Separate Baptists in the southern frontier helped prepare the ground for the
Restoration Movement
The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (17 ...
, as the membership of both the Stone and Campbell groups drew heavily from among the ranks of the Separate Baptists.
Separate Baptist restorationism also contributed to the development of the
Landmark Baptists in the same area at about the same time as the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. Under the leadership of
James Robinson Graves
James Robinson Graves (April 10, 1820 – June 26, 1893) was an American Baptist preacher, publisher, evangelist, debater, author, and editor. He is most noted as the original founder of what is now the Southwestern family of companies. Graves was ...
, this group looked for a precise blueprint for the primitive church, believing that any deviation from that blueprint would keep one from being part of the true church.
Groups arising during the Second Great Awakening
![1839-meth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/1839-meth.jpg)
The ideal of restoring a "primitive" form of Christianity grew in popularity in the United States after the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
.
This desire to restore a purer form of Christianity played a role in the development of many groups during this period, known as the
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
, including the
Mormons,
Baptists and
Shakers.
Several factors made the restoration sentiment particularly appealing during this time period.
*To immigrants in the early 19th century, the land in America seemed pristine, edenic and undefiled - "the perfect place to recover pure, uncorrupted and original Christianity" - and the tradition-bound European churches seemed out of place in this new setting.
*The new American democracy seemed equally fresh and pure, a restoration of the kind of just government that God intended.
*Many believed that the new nation would usher in a new
millennial age.
*Independence from the traditional churches of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
was appealing to many Americans who were enjoying a new political independence.
*A primitive faith based on the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
alone promised a way to sidestep the competing claims of all the many
denominations available and find assurance of being right without the security of an established national church.
Camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier ...
s fueled the Second Great Awakening, which served as an "organizing process" that created "a religious and educational infrastructure" across the trans-Appalachian frontier that encompassed social networks, a religious journalism that provided mass communication, and church related colleges.
American Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement
![CampbellThomas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/CampbellThomas.png)
The American Restoration Movement aimed to restore the church and sought "the unification of all Christians in a single body patterned after the church of the New Testament."
Rubel Shelly
Dr. Rubel Shelly is an author, minister, and professor at Lipscomb University. He is the former president of Rochester University .
Life
Shelly began as an instructor in the department of Religion and Philosophy at Freed-Hardeman University in 19 ...
, ''I Just Want to Be a Christian'', 20th Century Christian, Nashville, Tennessee 1984, While the Restoration Movement developed from several independent efforts to go back to apostolic Christianity, two groups that independently developed similar approaches to the Christian faith were particularly important to its development.
[Monroe E. Hawley, ''Redigging the Wells: Seeking Undenominational Christianity'', Quality Publications, Abilene, Texas, 1976, (paper), (cloth)] The first, led by
Barton W. Stone began at
Cane Ridge
Cane Ridge was the site, in 1801, of a huge camp meeting that drew thousands of people and had a lasting influence as one of the landmark events of the Second Great Awakening, which took place largely in frontier areas of the United States. Th ...
, Bourbon County, Kentucky and called themselves simply ''Christians''. The second began in western Pennsylvania and Virginia (now West Virginia) and was led by
Thomas Campbell and his son,
Alexander Campbell; they used the name ''Disciples of Christ''.
![stonebw01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Stonebw01.jpg)
The Campbell movement was characterized by a "systematic and rational reconstruction" of the early church, in contrast to the Stone movement which was characterized by radical freedom and lack of dogma.
Despite their differences, the two movements agreed on several critical issues.
Both saw restoring apostolic Christianity as a means of hastening the millennium.
Both also saw restoring the early church as a route to Christian freedom.
And, both believed that unity among Christians could be achieved by using apostolic Christianity as a model.
They were united, among other things, in the belief that
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
is the Christ, the Son of God; that Christians should celebrate the
Lord's Supper
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
on the
first day of each week; and that
baptism of adult believers by immersion in water is a necessary condition for
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...
. Because the founders wanted to abandon all denominational labels, they used the biblical names for the followers of Jesus that they found in the Bible.
[McAlister, Lester G. and Tucker, William E. (1975), Journey in Faith: A History of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) - St. Louis, Chalice Press, ] The commitment of both movements to restoring the early church and to uniting Christians was enough to motivate a union between many in the two movements.
[Richard Thomas Hughes and R. L. Roberts, ''The Churches of Christ'', 2nd Edition, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001, , 9780313233128, 345 pages]
With the merger, there was the challenge of what to call the new movement. Clearly, finding a biblical, non-sectarian name was important. Stone wanted to continue to use the name "Christians." Alexander Campbell insisted upon "Disciples of Christ". As a result, both names were used.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , 9780802838988, 854 pages, entry on ''Campbell, Alexander'']
![Alexander Campbell Age 65](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Alexander_Campbell_Age_65.jpg)
The Restoration Movement began during, and was greatly influenced by, the Second Great Awakening.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , 9780802838988, 854 pages, entry on ''Great Awakenings''] While the Campbells resisted what they saw as the spiritual manipulation of the camp meetings, the Southern phase of the Awakening "was an important matrix of Barton Stone's reform movement" and shaped the evangelistic techniques used by both Stone and the Campbells.
The Restoration Movement has seen several divisions, resulting in multiple separate groups. Three modern groups originating in the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
claim the Stone-Campbell movement as their roots:
Churches of Christ,
Christian churches and churches of Christ
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
, and the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
. Some see divisions in the movement as the result of the tension between the goals of restoration and ecumenism, with the
churches of Christ and the
Christian churches and churches of Christ
The group of churches known as the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ is a fellowship of congregations within the Restoration Movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement and the Reformation of the 19th Century) that have no forma ...
resolving the tension by stressing restoration while the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) resolved the tension by stressing ecumenism.
[Leroy Garrett, ''The Stone-Campbell Movement: The Story of the American Restoration Movement'', College Press, 2002, , 9780899009094, 573 pages] Non-U.S. churches associated with this movement include the
Churches of Christ in Australia
The Churches of Christ in Australia is a Reformed Restorationist denomination. It is affiliated with the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council and the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
Key features of the church's worship are the weekly ...
and the
Evangelical Christian Church in Canada
The Evangelical Christian Church (Christian Disciples) as an evangelical Protestant Canadian church body. The Evangelical Christian Church's national office in Canada is in Waterloo, Ontario.
History
The church has its origins in the formal ...
.
[Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions (2009)]
Christadelphians
![John Thomas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/John_Thomas.png)
Dr.
John Thomas (April 12, 1805 – March 5, 1871), was a devout convert to the Restoration Movement after a shipwreck at sea on his emigration to America brought to focus his inadequate understanding of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
, and what would happen to him at death. This awareness caused him to devote his life to the study of the Bible and he promoted interpretations of it which were at variance with the mainstream Christian views the
Restoration Movement
The Restoration Movement (also known as the American Restoration Movement or the Stone–Campbell Movement, and pejoratively as Campbellism) is a Christian movement that began on the United States frontier during the Second Great Awakening (17 ...
held. In particular he questioned the nature of man. He held a number of debates with one of the leaders of the movement,
Alexander Campbell, on these topics but eventually agreed to stop because he found the practice bestowed no further practical merits to his personal beliefs and it had the potential to create division. He later determined that salvation was dependent upon having the theology he had developed for baptism to be effective for salvation and published an "Confession and Abjuration" of his previous position on March 3, 1847. He was also
rebaptised.
Following his abjuration and rebaptism he went to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on a preaching tour in June 1848 including Reformation Movement churches, Although his abjuration and his disfellowship in America were reported in the British churches magazines certain churches in the movement still allowed him to present his views. Thomas also gained a hearing in Unitarian and Adventist churches through his promotion of the concept of "independence of thought" with regards to interpreting the Bible.
Through a process of creed setting and division the Christadelphian movement emerged with a distinctive set of doctrines incorporating Adventism,
anti-trinitarianism, the belief that God is a "substantial and corporeal" being,
objection to military service, a
lay-membership with full participation by all members, and other doctrines consistent with the spirit of the Restorationist movement.
One consequence of objection to military service was the adoption of the name
Christadelphians
The Christadelphians () or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the ...
to distinguish this small community of believers and to be granted exemption from military service in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
.
Latter Day Saint movement
![Joseph Smith, Jr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Joseph_Smith%2C_Jr._portrait_owned_by_Joseph_Smith_III.jpg)
Adherents to the
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...
believe that founder
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...
was a
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
of God, chosen to restore the primitive, apostolic church established by Jesus. Like other restorationist groups, members believe that the church and priesthood established by Jesus were
withdrawn from the Earth after the end of the apostolic age and before the
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325.
This ecumenical council was the first effort ...
in 325. Unlike other reformers, who based their movements on their own interpretations of the Bible, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery held that they were visited by John the Baptist to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. This restoration authorized members to receive
revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.
Background
Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...
from God in order to restore the original apostolic organization lost after the events of the New Testament.
According to Allen and Hughes, "
group used the language of 'restoration' more consistently and more effectively than did the
atter Day Saints... early Mormons seemed obsessed with restoring the ancient church of God."
According to Smith, God
appeared to him in 1820, instructing him that the creeds of the churches of the day were corrupted. In addition to restoring the primitive church, Smith claimed to receive new and ongoing revelations. In 1830, he published ''
The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude dat ...
'', with
he and witnesses declaring to be a translation through divine means from the
Golden Plates
According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates (also called the gold plates or in some 19th-century literature, the golden bible) are the source from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith. Some acco ...
he obtained from
an angel
"An Angel" is a song by European-American pop group The Kelly Family. It was produced by Kathy Kelly and Hartmut Pfannmüller for their eighth regular studio album ''Over the Hump'' (1994) and features lead vocals by Angelo and Paddy Kelly. Pad ...
. The largest and most well known church in the Latter Day Saint movement is
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
(LDS Church), followed by
Community of Christ (formerly RLDS), and
hundreds of other denominations. Members of the LDS Church believe that, in addition to Smith being the first prophet appointed by Jesus in the "latter days", every subsequent
apostle
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
and
church president also serves in the capacity of
prophet, seer and revelator.
Some among the
Churches of Christ have attributed the restorationist character of the Latter Day Saints movement to the influence of
Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon (February 19, 1793 – July 14, 1876) was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Biography Early life
Rigdon was born in St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1793. He was ...
, who was associated with the Campbell movement in Ohio but left it and became a close friend of Joseph Smith.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , 9780802838988, 854 pages, entry on ''Mormonism''] Neither the Mormons nor the early Restoration Movement leaders invented the idea of "restoration"; it was a popular theme of the time that had developed independently of both, and Mormonism and the Restoration Movement represent different expressions of that common theme.
The two groups had very different approaches to the restoration ideal.
The Campbell movement combined it with Enlightenment rationalism, "precluding emotionalism, spiritualism, or any other phenomena that could not be sustained by rational appeals to the biblical text."
The Latter Day Saints combined it with "the spirit of nineteenth-century Romanticism" and, as a result, "never sought to recover the forms and structures of the ancient church as ends in themselves" but "sought to restore the golden age, recorded in both Old Testament and New Testament, when God broke into human history and communed directly with humankind."
Mormons gave priority to current revelation. Primitive observances of "appointed times" like Sabbath were secondary to
continuing revelation
Continuous revelation or continuing revelation is a theological belief or position that God continues to reveal divine principles or commandments to humanity.
In Christian traditions, it is most commonly associated with the Latter Day Saint mo ...
, similarly to the
progressive revelation held by some non-restorationist Christian theologians.
The "
Great Apostasy
The Great Apostasy is a concept within Christianity to describe a perception that mainstream Christian Churches have fallen away from the original faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through his twelve Apostles.
A belief in a Great Apostasy ...
", or loss of the original church Jesus established, has been cited with historical evidence of changes in Christian doctrine over time, scriptures prophesying of a coming apostasy before the last days (particularly , and ) and corruption within the early churches that led to the necessity of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
, which is seen as an important step towards the development of protected freedoms and speech required for a full restoration to be possible.
Adventism
Adventism
Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher W ...
is a
Christian eschatological belief that looks for the imminent
Second Coming
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messian ...
of Jesus to inaugurate the
Kingdom of God. This view involves the belief that Jesus will return to receive those who have died in Christ and those who are awaiting his return, and that they must be ready when he returns. Adventists are considered to be both restorationists and
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Protestants.
Millerites and Seventh-day Sabbatarianism
![William Miller](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/William_Miller.jpg)
The
Millerites
The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who in 1831 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843–1844. Coming during the Second Great Awakening, his ...
were the most well-known family of the Adventist movements. They emphasized apocalyptic teachings anticipating the end of the world, and did not look for the unity of
Christendom
Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...
but busied themselves in preparation for Christ's return. Millerites sought to restore a prophetic immediacy and uncompromising biblicism that they believed had once existed but had long been rejected by mainstream Protestant and Catholic churches. From the Millerites descended the Seventh-day Adventists and the Advent Christian Church.
Seventh-day Adventists
The
Seventh-day Adventist Church grew out of the Adventist movement, in particular the Millerites. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the largest of several
Adventist
Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher Wil ...
groups which arose from the
Millerite
Millerite is a nickel sulfide mineral, Ni S. It is brassy in colour and has an acicular habit, often forming radiating masses and furry aggregates. It can be distinguished from pentlandite by crystal habit, its duller colour, and general la ...
movement of the 1840s in upstate
New York, a phase of the
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
. Important to the Seventh-day Adventist movement is a belief in
progressive revelation, teaching that the Christian life and testimony is intended to be typified by the
Spirit of Prophecy, as explained in the writings of
Ellen G. White
Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American woman author and co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Along with other Adventist leaders such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, she wa ...
.
Much of the theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church corresponds to Protestant Christian teachings such as the Trinity and the
infallibility of Scripture. Distinctive teachings include the
unconscious state of the dead and the doctrine of an
investigative judgment
The investigative judgment, or pre-Advent Judgment (or, more accurately the pre-Second Advent Judgment), is a unique Seventh-day Adventist doctrine, which asserts that the divine judgment of professed Christians has been in progress since 1844. It ...
. The church is also known for its emphasis on diet and health, its holistic understanding of the person, its promotion of religious liberty, and its conservative principles and lifestyle.
Worldwide Church of God
The
Worldwide Church of God
Worldwide may refer to:
* Pertaining to the entire world
* Worldwide (rapper) (born 1986), American rapper
* Pitbull (rapper) (born 1981), also known as Mr. Worldwide, American rapper
* ''Worldwide'' (Audio Adrenaline album), 2003
* ''Worldwide ...
arose from the
Seventh Day churches
The seventh-day Sabbath, observed from Friday evening to Saturday evening, is an important part of the beliefs and practices of list of Sabbath-keeping churches, seventh-day churches. These churches emphasize biblical references such as the ancien ...
. The personal ministry of
Herbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong (July 31, 1892 – January 16, 1986) was an American evangelist who founded the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). An early pioneer of radio and television evangelism, Armstrong preached what he claimed was the comprehensive ...
became the
Radio Church of God
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
, which became the Worldwide Church of God. It later splintered into many other churches and groups when the Worldwide Church of God disassociated itself with the Restoration movements and made major attempts to join the Protestant branch of Christianity. The largest of these groups, the
Living Church of God
The Living Church of God (LCG) is one of several groups that formed after the death of Herbert W. Armstrong, when major doctrinal changes (causing turmoil and divisions) were occurring in the former Worldwide Church of God (WCG) during the 1990 ...
and the
United Church of God
The United Church of God, ''an International Association'' (UCG''IA'' or simply UCG)[Website of the United Chur ...](_blank)
, continue in the tradition of the Worldwide Church of God as it was under the leadership of Herbert W. Armstrong.
Advent Christian Church
The Advent Christian Church is unaffiliated with Seventh-day Adventism, but considers itself the second "of six Christian denominations that grew out of the ministry of William Miller". As a "first-day" body of Adventist Christians established by ''The Advent Christian General Conference'' in 1860, the church's beliefs include "conditional immortality" and a form of "
soul sleep
Christian mortalism is the Christian belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal and may include the belief that the soul is “sleeping” after death until the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment, a time known as the interm ...
".
Advent Christians such as
George Storrs
George Storrs (December 13, 1796 – December 28, 1879) was a Christian teacher and writer in the United States.
Biography
George Storrs was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire on December 13, 1796, son to Colonel Constant Storrs (a wheelwright in ...
and
Jonas Wendell
Elder Jonas Wendell (December 25, 1815August 14, 1873) of Edinboro, Pennsylvania, was a zealous Adventist preacher following in the spirit of William Miller. Following the "Great Disappointment" Wendell experienced periods of weak faith, as did ...
influenced the
Bible Student movement
The Bible Student movement is a Millennialist Restorationist Christian movement. It emerged from the teachings and ministry of Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), also known as Pastor Russell, and his founding of the Zion's Watch Tower Tract ...
.
Other groups originating in the nineteenth century
Bible Students
![Charles Taze Russell sharp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Charles_Taze_Russell_sharp.jpg)
In the 1870s, a Bible study group led by
Charles Taze Russell
Charles Taze Russell (February 16, 1852 – October 31, 1916), or Pastor Russell, was an American Christian restorationist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and founder of what is now known as the Bible Student movement. He was an ...
formed into what was eventually called the
Bible Student movement
The Bible Student movement is a Millennialist Restorationist Christian movement. It emerged from the teachings and ministry of Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), also known as Pastor Russell, and his founding of the Zion's Watch Tower Tract ...
. Russell's congregations did not consider him to be the founder of a new religion, but that he helped in restoring true Christianity from the
apostasy
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...
that Jesus and the
Apostle Paul foretold. They believed that other Churches departed in a
Great Apostasy
The Great Apostasy is a concept within Christianity to describe a perception that mainstream Christian Churches have fallen away from the original faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through his twelve Apostles.
A belief in a Great Apostasy ...
from the original faith on major points, and that the original faith could be restored through a generally literal interpretation of the Bible and a sincere commitment to follow its teachings. They focused on several key doctrinal points that they considered a return to "primitive Christianity", derived from their interpretation of the Bible, including active
proselytization
Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries.
Some draw distinctions between '' evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invo ...
; strict neutrality in political affairs; abstinence from warfare; a belief in the imminent manifestation of the
Kingdom of God (or
World to Come
The world to come, age to come, heaven on Earth, and the Kingdom of God are eschatological phrases reflecting the belief that the current world or current age is flawed or cursed and will be replaced in the future by a better world, age, or ...
) on Earth, and a rejection of
trinitarianism
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...
, the
immortality of the soul
Christian mortalism is the Christian belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal and may include the belief that the soul is “sleeping” after death until the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment, a time known as the inte ...
, and the definition of
Hell as a place of eternal torment.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
emerged as a distinct religious organization, maintaining control of Russell's
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania is a non-stock, not-for-profit organization headquartered in Warwick, New York. It is the main legal entity used worldwide by Jehovah's Witnesses to direct, administer and disseminate do ...
and
other corporations. They continued to develop doctrines that they considered to be an improved restoration of
first century Christianity
Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles () and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christianity ...
, including increased emphasis on the use of ''
Jehovah'' as God's personal name.
Plymouth Brethren
![JohnNelsonDarby](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/JohnNelsonDarby.jpg)
The Plymouth Brethren is a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
,
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
, restorationist movement whose origin can be traced to
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, in 1827.
The title, "The Brethren", is one that many of their number are comfortable with, in that the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
designates all believers as "brethren".
The first English assembly was in
Plymouth in 1831 where the movement became well known and assemblies diffused throughout Europe and beyond. It was organised primarily by
George Wigram
George Vicesimus Wigram (28 March 1805 – 1 February 1879) was an English biblical scholar and theologian.
Early life
He was the 20th child (hence his middle name) of Sir Robert Wigram, 1st Baronet, a famous and wealthy merchant, and the 14th c ...
,
Benjamin Wills Newton and
John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882) was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of moder ...
. The movement soon spread throughout the
UK. By 1845, the first English assembly in Plymouth had over 1,000 souls in fellowship. They became known as "the brethren from Plymouth", and were soon simply called "Plymouth Brethren."
By 1848, divergence of practice and belief led to the development of two separate branches. The rift was caused primarily by a difference of opinions between
John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882) was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of moder ...
and
Benjamin Wills Newton in regards to
eschatology
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...
. Despite more divisions, assemblies are still often generalized into two main categories: "
Open Brethren
The Open Brethren, sometimes called Christian Brethren, are a group of Evangelical Christian churches that arose in the late 1820s as part of the Assembly Movement within the Plymouth Brethren tradition. They originated in Ireland before spread ...
" and "
Exclusive Brethren
The Exclusive Brethren are a subset of the Christian evangelical movement generally described as the Plymouth Brethren. They are distinguished from the Open Brethren from whom they separated in 1848.
The Exclusive Brethren are now divided i ...
".
John Duncan John Duncan may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John Duncan (painter) (1866–1945), Scottish painter
* John Duncan (artist) (born 1953), American artist and musician
* Big John Duncan (born 1958), Scottish punk musician
* John Duncan (harpist) ...
criticized the Brethren movement saying "To end sectarianism, the
Plymouth Brethren began by making a new sect, and that sect, of all sects, the most sectarian".
20th-century and contemporary groups
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism began primarily as a restoration movement that focused on the "experiential" aspect of the early church. The early pioneers of the Pentecostal movement sought to restore the work and power of the Holy Spirit to the church, which they felt had been lost early on after the Apostolic Age.
Oneness Pentecostals
Oneness Pentecostalism (also known as Apostolic, Jesus' Name Pentecostalism, or the Jesus Only movement) is a nontrinitarian religious movement within the Protestant Christian family of churches known as Pentecostalism. It derives its distinctiv ...
, in particular, continue to have a lot of restorationist themes present in their movement. Many Oneness Pentecostals see their movement as being a restoration of the Apostolic Church, which is why many of them refer to themselves as "apostolic" or to their movement as the "Apostolic Pentecostal" movement.
Charismatic Movement
The charismatic movement is the international trend of historically mainstream
Christian congregations adopting beliefs and practices of
Charismatic Christianity
Charismatic Christianity (also known as Spirit-filled Christianity by its supporters) is a form of Christianity that emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and modern-day miracles as an everyday part of a believer's life. Pract ...
similar to
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement . Fundamental to the movement is the experience of
baptism with the Holy Spirit
In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doct ...
and the use of
spiritual gift
A spiritual gift or charism (plural: charisms or charismata; in Greek singular: χάρισμα
''charisma'', plural: χαρίσματα ''charismata'') is an extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit."Spiritual gifts". ''A Dictionary of the ...
s.
British New Church Movement
During the
Charismatic Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which focused on the transformation of the individual, some leaders formed what has become known as the Charismatic Restorationist Movement. These leaders, of whom
Arthur Wallis, David Lillie and Cecil Cousen were at the forefront, focused on the nature of the church and shared a distinctive view that authentic church order was being restored to the whole church. This authentic church order centred on what is referred to as the "fivefold ministries", as listed in Ephesians 4:11: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers and Pastors. Although the Charismatic Movement brought the Pentecostal gifts to the denominational churches, these restorationists considered denominationalism unbiblical, and shared a conviction that God would cause the church to be directly organized and empowered by the holy spirit.
The movement has thousands of adherents worldwide, and notable church networks include
Newfrontiers
Newfrontiers (previously New Frontiers International) is a neo-charismatic church network of evangelical, charismatic churches founded by Terry Virgo. It forms part of the British New Church Movement, which began in the late 1950s and 1960s co ...
led by
Terry Virgo
Terry Virgo (born 20 February 1940) is a prominent leader in the British New Church Movement, formerly known as the House Church Movement. He is the founder of the Newfrontiers family of neocharismatic evangelical churches, which has grown into ...
,
Salt and Light Ministries International
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
led by
Barney Coombs
Barney Coombs (1937– 22 July 2018) was a British religious leader, and the first leader of the International Council of Salt and Light Ministries, and Senior Leader at West Coast Christian Fellowship in Vancouver, Canada. Salt and Light is a netw ...
and
Ichthus Christian Fellowship Ichthus Christian Fellowship is a neocharismatic Christian church movement and Apostolic network based in London, United Kingdom. It is part of the British New Church Movement (BNCM) and has links with other BNCM leaders and movements, especially Ge ...
led by Faith and
Roger Forster.
Shepherding Movement
The British leaders of charismatic restorationism mutually recognised a parallel movement in the United States, centered on the Fort Lauderdale Five;
Derek Prince,
Don Basham, Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson and Ern Baxter. This movement became known as the
Shepherding Movement and was the subject of significant controversy in the mid-1970s. The movement left a significant legacy through its influence on contemporary ministries
,
Maranatha Campus Ministries
Maranatha Campus Ministries was a Charismatic/Pentecostal-oriented Christian ministry founded by Bob Weiner which existed from 1971 to 1990. Its primary outreach was to college and university campuses.
Beginnings
Maranatha began in 1971 in Padu ...
and
Great Commission International.
Apostolic-Prophetic Movement
More recently another form of charismatic restorationism with a similar recognition of the
apostolic
Apostolic may refer to:
The Apostles
An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission:
*The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles
*Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...
office has emerged in the form of the
Apostolic-Prophetic Movement, centered on the
Kansas City Prophets. Leading proponents of the movement include
C. Peter Wagner,
Rick Joyner
Rick Joyner is a public speaker and author. He founded with his wife the MorningStar Ministries in 1985. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1949 and grew up in Richmond, Virginia.
Morningstar Ministries
Rick Joyner and his wife, Julie, ...
,
Mike Bickle and
Lou Engle.
Church of God (Restoration)
The ''Church of God (Restoration)'' is a Christian denomination that was founded in the 1980s by Daniel (Danny) Layne. In a booklet written by Layne in the early 1980s, he claimed to be an ex-heroin addict who spent years dealing drugs and living a life of crime and sin on the streets of San Francisco. Layne was originally raised in the
Church of God (Anderson)
Church of God is a name used by numerous denominational bodies. The largest denomination with this name is the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
Adventist Churches of God
* Church of God General Conference (Church of God of the Ab ...
, where his father was a minister. Layne began preaching in the
Church of God (Guthrie, OK)
The Church of God (Guthrie, Oklahoma), also known as the Church of God Evening Light, is a Christian denomination in the Wesleyan-Arminian and Restorationist traditions, being aligned with the conservative holiness movement.
History
The origin o ...
after his conversion.
One tenet of this group is that they are ordained by both prophecy and divine command to restore the church of God as it was in the
Book of Acts. Most of Daniel Layne's beliefs concerning the
book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...
originated from some ministers who had left the Church of God (Anderson) reformation movement thirty or so years earlier. This teaching is upheld by the official
eschatology
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...
, which is a form of church
historicism
Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...
. This Church of God (Restoration)
teaches that the 7th Trumpet in the book of the Revelation began to sound around the year 1980 when Daniel Layne was saved, alleging that there was a general discontent among many of its current adherents that were in various Churches of God at that time. A variation of this "
Seventh Seal message" had been taught in other Churches of God for approximately 50 years prior to this point.
Iglesia ni Cristo
''Iglesia ni Cristo'' began in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
and was incorporated by
Felix Y. Manalo
Felix Manalo Ysagun (born Félix Ysagun y Manalo; May 10, 1886 – April 12, 1963), also known as Ka Felix, was the founder and the first Executive Minister of Iglesia ni Cristo. Followers see Manalo as a prophet and the last messenger of Go ...
on July 27, 1914.
The church professes to be the reestablishment of the original church founded by Jesus Christ and teaches that the original church was
apostatized. It does not teach the doctrine of the Trinity or the divinity of Jesus.
[ (as cited by ]ProQuest
ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...
) ''Iglesia ni Cristo'' does not subscribe to the term ''Restoration'' or claim to be a part of the ''Restoration Movement''.
La Luz del Mundo
''La Luz del Mundo'' (full name: ''Iglesia del Dios Vivo, Columna y Apoyo de la Verdad, La Luz del Mundo'') was founded in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
on 6 April 1926 by Eusebio Joaquín González (14 August 1896 to 9 June 1964), who claimed that God called him to be an
apostle
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
of Jesus Christ and renamed him Aarón. Joaquín claimed that he was commissioned to restore the primitive Christian church of the first century CE. The church, headquartered in
Guadalajara, Mexico, asserts that all other forms of Christianity are corruptions that arose after the last of the original apostles died, and rejects traditional Christian doctrines such as
trinitarianism
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the ...
,
original sin,
veneration of saints
Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etym ...
, and the
divinity of Jesus. It continues to claim that it is the restoration of primitive Christianity and that its leaders, including Aarón Joaquín, his son,
Samuel Joaquín Flores (14 February 1937 to 8 December 2014), and his grandson,
Naasón Joaquín García (the church’s current international director; b. 7 May 1969), are apostles responsible for the restoration, without whom it would be impossible for people to truly believe in Jesus and be saved.
Apostolic Catholic Church (Philippines)
The Apostolic Catholic Church started as a mainstream
Catholic lay organization
A Catholic lay association, also referred to as Catholic Congress, is an association of lay Catholics aiming to discuss certain political or social issues from a Catholic perspective.
The Pontifical Council for the Laity is the body responsib ...
that was founded in Hermosa Bataan in the early 1970s by Maria Virginia P. Leonzon Vda. De Teruel.
In 1991 the organisation and the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
had a
schism; due to varying issues, it formally separated itself from the Roman Catholic Church, when
John Florentine Teruel was consecrated as a patriarch and registered the church as a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
and
Independent Catholic
Independent Catholicism is an independent sacramental movement of clergy and laity who self-identify as Catholic (most often as Old Catholic or as Independent Catholic) and form "micro-churches claiming apostolic succession and valid sacramen ...
denomination.
The Church describes itself as a Conservative Church which aims to bring back Ancient Catholic Church traditions removed by previous councils and Popes.
Local churches
![WatchmanNee](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/WatchmanNee.jpg)
The
local churches are a Christian movement influenced by the teachings of
J.N. Darby
John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882) was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern D ...
,
Watchman Nee
Watchman Nee, Ni Tuosheng, or Nee T'o-sheng (; November 4, 1903 – May 30, 1972), was a Chinese church leader and Christian teacher who worked in China during the 20th century. His evangelism was influenced by the Plymouth Brethren.
In 1922, ...
and
Witness Lee
Witness Lee (; September 5, 1905 – June 9, 1997) was a Chinese Christian preacher and hymnist belonging to the Christian group known as the local churches (or Local Church) in Taiwan and the United States. He was also the founder of Livin ...
and associated with the
Living Stream Ministry publishing house. Its members see themselves as separate from other Christian groups, denominations, and movements, part of what they sometimes call "
The Lord's Recovery". One of the defining features of the local churches is their adherence to the principle that all Christians in a city or locality are automatically members of the one church in that locality. Another defining feature is the lack of an official organization or official name for the movement. Those in the local churches believe that to take a name would divide them from other believers. Thus, they often say they meet with "the church in
ity name with the understanding that they are not the only church but belong to the same church as every believer in their city.
Jesuism
Jesuism
Jesuism is a belief system considering itself to be the true representation of the teachings of Jesus and contrasts itself from the teachings of mainstream Christianity.Owen J. Flanagan. ''The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World.'' ...
is the personal
philosophy encompassing the teachings of
Jesus of Nazareth and commitment or adherence to
those teachings. Jesuism is distinct from and sometimes opposed to mainstream
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
, the organized religion based on the
Christian Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
. In particular, Jesuism is distinguished from the writings attributed to the
Apostle Paul and from
modern Church doctrine. Jesuism is not necessarily critical of the Christian Bible or Church doctrine, but rather it does not affirm their authority over the teachings of Jesus. As a philosophy, Jesuism is characterized as
naturalistic and
rationalist, rejecting the conflict between
faith
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people ofte ...
and
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
.
World Mission Society Church Of God
World Mission Society Church of God is a non-denominational Christian movement founded by
Ahn Sahng-Hong
Ahn Sahng-hong (
; 13 January 1918 – 25 February 1985) was a South Korean Christian minister and founder of the Church of God Jesus Witnesses. In 1948, after receiving the baptism of the Seventh-day Adventist priest, he began to call for ...
in 1964. The church claims to be a restoration of the original Church of God and has teachings differing from other Christian denominations. After Ahn Sahng-hong died in February 1985, a group of people in Church of God Jesus Witnesses including the man Kim Joo-cheol and the woman
Zahng Gil-jah
Zahng Gil-jah (pronounced , also romanized as Chang Gil-jah, see infobox) is a South Korean woman believed to be “God the Mother” (어머니 하나님) within the World Mission Society Church of God. (English).
In the World Mission Socie ...
wanted to re-introduce the concept of a "spiritual mother", and on 22 March 1985 moved from Busan to Seoul. On a meeting in Seoul on 2 June 1985, they discussed how to call Zahng Gil-jah, and established a church called Witnesses of Ahn Sahng-hong Church of God which is led by Kim Joo-cheol and Zahng Gil-jah. Two major new doctrines were codified:
Ahn Sahng-hong should be regarded as Jesus Christ who had already come, should be titled Christ Ahn Sahng-hong, and pursuant to a traditional trinitarian view of Christian hypostasis Ahn was consequently also The Holy Spirit, God the Father, and thus God.
Zahng Gil-jah should be regarded as God the Mother, a female image of God, be titled Heavenly Mother, or simply Mother, and together with Ahn Sahng-hong be regarded as God.
See also
*
David Bercot
David W. Bercot (pronounced as David Berçot; born April 13, 1950) is an Anabaptist Christian church historian, attorney, author, and international speaker from the United States. He has written various books and magazine articles about early Chris ...
*
Christianity in the 1st century
Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus (–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles () and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christiani ...
*
Christian fundamentalism
*
Catholic Apostolic Church
The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church, is a Christian denomination and Protestant sect which originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States.[Constantinian shift
''Constantinian shift'' is used by some theologians and historians of antiquity to describe the political and theological changes that took place during the 4th-century under the leadership of Emperor Constantine the Great. Rodney Clapp claims th ...]
*
Hebrew Roots
The Hebrew Roots movement is a religious movement that advocates adherence to the Torah and believes in Yeshua as the Messiah.
History
Since the early 20th century, different religious organizations have been teaching a belief in Jesus (calle ...
*
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...
*
The Lord's Recovery
*
Members Church of God International
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
*
Messianic Judaism
Messianic Judaism ( he, or , ) is a modernist and syncretic movement of Protestant Christianity that incorporates some elements of Judaism and other Jewish traditions into evangelicalism.
It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from the earlie ...
* ''
Mujaddid
A ''mujaddid'' ( ar, مجدد), is an Islamic term for one who brings "renewal" ( ar, تجديد, translit=tajdid, label=none) to the religion. According to the popular Muslim tradition, it refers to a person who appears at the turn of every ...
''
*
Primitive Catholic
*
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
*
References
Further reading
* Birdsall Richard D. "The Second Great Awakening and the New England Social Order." ''Church History'' 39 (1970): 345-64.
* Cross, Whitney, R. ''The Burned-Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Religion in Western New York, 1800–1850''.
*
*
*
External links
*Th
Restoration Movement Pagesat the
Memorial University of NewfoundlandRestoration Movements- Kevin Barney, "A Tale of Two Restorations," ''
Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research
FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response), formerly known as FairMormon and the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that specializes in Mormon apologetics and responds to criticism of t ...
'', a comparison of the LDS restoration movement and the Alexander Campbell restoration movement from a
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...
perspective.
Mormon Restorationism- Topical Guide to topics related to "restoration" from the ''
Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research
FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response), formerly known as FairMormon and the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that specializes in Mormon apologetics and responds to criticism of t ...
''
Publications of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
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Christian terminology
History of Protestantism
Christian radicalism