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Christianity

The Roman Catholic Church, through leadership under the Pope, stresses the unity and universality of the Church as teaching authority and sacramental agent. Church tradition and teaching is held to be as important as the scriptures themselves. It is through the Church teaching that the scriptures are understood and it is through the sacraments that the Christian life is lived.

In the 16th cent. several individuals within the church - monks and priests - protested certain self-serving practices and teachings which came down from Rome. This, then, was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and it coincided with the end of the "Dark Ages."

• European Renaissance begins a new tradition of free thinkers in society and in the Church. New technology is one result.

• Of particular importance is the printing press which makes Bibles (as well as other books) readily available to the masses thus increasing literacy. New ideas can spread more rapidly, including those of the early reformers. People can now read the Bible for themselves rather than needing the Priests to tell them what it says. This results in many new understandings of what the Bible has to say.

• Geographic distance from Rome and desire for political independence of European nation states also contribute to development of independent "state" religions: each nation became associated with a particular Protestant church (Germany and Northern Europe = Lutheran, England = Anglican, Switzerland = Reformed churches)

Basic Protestant Premise:

• A return to Biblical sources of faith rejecting Church traditions and teachings which are not Biblically based.

• A rejection of hierarchical authority, seeing more equality between pastor and the people (the pastors marry and some denominations allow women as ministers, unlike RC).

• The Bible is the central religious authority which each individual Christian has responsibility for studying and interpreting (no reliance on Church teachings, traditions or Pope for direction). The Bible speaks for itself - some interpret it literally, others quite liberally. For every interpretation there is a different church.

• Differences between Protestant churches are varied. Some can be quite negligible, a matter of some minute difference in belief or practice can create a schism resulting in a sub-denomination or an entirely new denomination

• Focus on faith more than on rites and ritual