Why so many religious denominations in North America?
EDITORS NOTE: This is the first in a series of articles on the various denominations in North America, written by Robert W. Caldwell III, who serves as professor of church history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Two hundred years ago frontier revivalist Barton Stone was fed up with Presbyterianism. He found the denomination too theological, too elitist, and out of touch with the common frontier folk he ministered to in southern Kentucky. His biggest problem was that he believed Presbyterianism was not biblical. To Stone, pure Christianity must be built solely upon a plain reading of Scripture, and as he surveyed the Protestant denominations of his day he concluded that they all were contaminated with human traditions. He thus founded a new group that would not be another denomination, but merely an organization of biblical believers bound together to worship God according to scriptural guidelines. To capture their anti-denominational spirit, they simply called themselves Christians.  Stone was not alone. Other groups in Americas early decades embraced similar ideals. Alexander Campbell, for instance, founded a movement known as Disciples. In New England, Abner Jones and Elias Smith formed a group of Christians from former Baptists. And in Virginia, John OKellys Republican Methodists sought a non-hierarchical, more biblical version of Methodism. In time, the two largest of these new groupsStones Christians and Campbells Disciplesmerged in 1831 to form what would become the Disciples of Christ, a movement known for its commitment to baptism for the remission of sins and a weekly celebration of the Lords Supper. Ironically, what was intended to be a denomination-less movement of mere Christians wound up forming another denomination in the eyes of most onlookers. These are complex questions with even more complex answers. Every denomination has its own unique mix of factors that influenced its origins. At the risk of over-simplifying we can identify several of these factors that led to many denominations:  Fresh Biblical Insight: A denomination will form when a group of Christians discerns teaching in Scripture that they believe other Christians have overlooked. The new group will find the scriptural teaching so compelling that they find it necessary to form a new grouping of Christians. In time this group forms a new denomination. During the reformation Protestants found justification by faith so central to apostolic Christianity that they could not remain in fellowship with the broader Roman Catholic Church. Biblical Primitivism: This is a subset of the last point. When a group consciously attempts to reduplicate certain features of the primitive New Testament church, then historians sometimes call that group primitivist. Over the centuries different denominations emerged as they sought to reduplicate an aspect of New Testament Christianity that they considered to be central for the church. Baptists sought to reduplicate the pattern of believers baptism found in the New Testament. Congregationalists sought to reduplicate the New Testament pattern of autonomous churches operating directly under the apostolic authority of the Word. Pentecostals sought to reduplicate the New Testament practice of speaking in tongues. A denomination will form when a group of Christians discerns teaching in Scripture that they believe other Christians have overlooked. The new group will find the scriptural teaching so compelling that they find it necessary to form a new grouping of Christians. In time this group forms a new denomination. During the reformation Protestants found justification by faith so central to apostolic Christianity that they could not remain in fellowship with the broader Roman Catholic Church. Political Changes: Sometimes denominations form because of changes related to the political climate of the host nation To a significant degree, Anglicanism arose when Henry VIII found it expedient for the English church to break ties with the Roman Catholic Church. In contrast, the absence of an official state church in early America allowed for the rise to numerous denominations, some orthodox, others heretical. Sometimes denominations form because of changes related to the political climate of the host nation  These are just some of the reasons that denominations have emerged throughout in the history of the church. With these observations we begin this series on American Denominations and Other Religious Movements. In the upcoming articles I will present readers with a brief essay to the prominent denominations in North America outside of our Baptist circles. The goal is to take one denomination or group per article and present the basic facts regarding its origins, distinctive views, history, and main leaders. A good place to start is to consider those denominations that were formed in England prior to the founding of the United States: Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, and Methodism. From there, we will turn our attention to groups that emerged directly on American soil: the Disciples of Christ, Seventh-day Adventism, the Latter-day Saints (or Mormonism), and Pentecostalism. It should be noted that some of these groups are more orthodox than others. There are sub-groups of Pentecostalism, such as Oneness Pentecostal and those associated with Prosperity Gospel movements, that either teach a heretical view of God or embrace heretical practices. In addition, the theology of God that Mormons adhere to is so different from historic Christianity, that none of the major branches of Christianity (Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism) consider Mormonism to be a Christian religion, in spite of the fact that they call themselves a Church of Jesus Christ.  It is my hope that these brief historical tours will help us understand the diverse religious landscape around us so that we can be better witnesses of the gospel in our increasingly complex world!