Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Western Church. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Anglican and Baptist traditions.
An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. The word "bishop" here is derived via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term *ebiscopus/*biscopus, from the Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος epískopos meaning "overseer". It is the structure used by many of the major Christian Churches and denominations, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Anabaptist, Lutheran, and Anglican churches or denominations, and other churches founded independently from these lineages. Many Methodist denominations have a form of episcopal polity known as connexionalism.
Presbyterianism is a Reformed (Calvinist) Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders. Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word Presbyterian is applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War.
Via media is a Latin phrase meaning "the middle road" or the "way between two extremes".
The Helvetic Confessions are two documents expressing the common belief of Reformed churches, especially in Switzerland, whose primary author was the Swiss Reformed theologian Heinrich Bullinger. The First Helvetic Confession (1536) contributed to the confessional unity of the Protestant cantons of Switzerland against the Roman Catholic cantons, whereas the Second Helvetic Confession (1566) contributed to the confessional unity of Reformed churches across Europe, particularly due to the patronage it received from Frederick III, Elector Palatine, who had it translated into German.
The reformed confessions of faith are the confessional documents of various Reformed churches. These express the doctrinal views of the churches adopting the confession. Confessions play a crucial part in the theological identity of reformed churches, either as standards to which ministers must subscribe, or more generally as accurate descriptions of their faith. Most confessions date to the 16th and 17th century.
The Reformed Church in Hungary is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, with parishes also among the Hungarian diaspora abroad. It is made up of 1,249 congregations in 27 presbyteries and four church districts and has a membership of over 1.6 million, making it the second largest church in Hungary, behind the Catholic Church. As a Continental Reformed church, its doctrines and practices reflect a Calvinist theology, for which the Hungarian term is református.
Ecclesiastical polity is the government of a church.
Anglican doctrine is the body of Christian teachings used to guide the religious and moral practices of Anglicanism.
The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Reformed (Calvinist) churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Christian communion in the world after the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. This ecumenical Christian body was formed in June 2010 by the union of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).
Reformed Christianity originated with the Reformation in Switzerland when Huldrych Zwingli began preaching what would become the first form of the Reformed doctrine in Zürich in 1519.
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. The five solae summarize the basic theological beliefs of mainstream Protestantism.
The Covenant Presbyterian Church (CPC) is a Protestant, Reformed denomination, founded in the United States in 2006 by a group of churches that split from the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Protestantism:
Reformed orthodoxy or Calvinist orthodoxy was an era in the history of Calvinism in the 16th to 18th centuries. Calvinist orthodoxy was paralleled by similar eras in Lutheranism and tridentine Roman Catholicism after the Counter-Reformation. Calvinist scholasticism or Reformed scholasticism was a theological method that gradually developed during the era of Calvinist Orthodoxy.
The Reformed Church in Austria is a Christian denomination in Austria. The origin of the church can traced to the Edict of Tolerance in 1781 and in 1861. The Counter-Reformation changed this, and Protestant worship was not permitted until the toleration act. Some Protestants were able to survive these decades in the valleys of the mountains of Carinthia and Upper Austria. In 1861 full freedom of Protestant worship and public practice were granted.
Presbyterianism has had a presence in the United States since colonial times and has exerted an important influence over broader American religion and culture.
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