General branches of Christianity

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Almeria

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Hi guys,

An Iranian coworker asked me for some assistance in him figuring out the general branches of Christianity. He hears people identify themselves as Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Evangetical, Baptist, Anglican, etc., but doesn’t understand the differences between them. Obviously, I can go through the Catholic Encyclopedia and pull out definations and make a map of the different faiths, but before I spend the large amount of time to do that, does one exist currently?
 
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Almeria:
a map of the different faiths, but before I spend the large amount of time to do that, does one exist currently?
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Dear Almeria,

Good idea, one picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a Time Line of Christianity which you can print out and share with him 😃

odox.net/A%20Timeline%20of%20Church%20History.pdf
 
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Almeria:
Hi guys,

An Iranian coworker asked me for some assistance in him figuring out the general branches of Christianity. He hears people identify themselves as Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Evangetical, Baptist, Anglican, etc., but doesn’t understand the differences between them. Obviously, I can go through the Catholic Encyclopedia and pull out definations and make a map of the different faiths, but before I spend the large amount of time to do that, does one exist currently?
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There is a hierartical chart here: (note you have to separate religious orders from faiths though):

philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/christ/

Lots of info here:
adherents.com/adh_branches.html
 
That’s a joke, right?
[/quote]

Although it gave me a smile, it is seriously touted (in modified form) by the churches that have broken off from the Catholic church, and appears as something called the “branch theory” in a number of communities. It’s part of the claims they make to be faithful to the early (primitive, New Testament, etc.) church, which the Catholic Church is not, they contend.

Former Calvinist Dr. Peter Kreeft tells the story of how he once was told at Calvin College that, if he and an RC went back in time to this early church, the Protestant would feel more at home there than the Catholic, because the early church certainly wasn’t the Catholic Church. So, he continues, he read the Church Fathers, found out they were undeniably Catholic, and joined the Church. Sort of puts these “branch” theories in perspective.

Blessings,

Gerry
 
Gerry Hunter:
Although it gave me a smile, it is seriously touted (in modified form) by the churches that have broken off from the Catholic church, and appears as something called the “branch theory” in a number of communities. It’s part of the claims they make to be faithful to the early (primitive, New Testament, etc.) church, which the Catholic Church is not, they contend.

Former Calvinist Dr. Peter Kreeft tells the story of how he once was told at Calvin College that, if he and an RC went back in time to this early church, the Protestant would feel more at home there than the Catholic, because the early church certainly wasn’t the Catholic Church. So, he continues, he read the Church Fathers, found out they were undeniably Catholic, and joined the Church. Sort of puts these “branch” theories in perspective.

Blessings,

Gerry
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I would say almost any branced church could claim that.
 
That’s a joke, right?
[/quote]

You have to understand that the Eastern Orthodox churches TRULY believe that they continued the TRUE apostolic line and teaching, and that Rome broke from that tradition. Fr. Ambrose, of course, is from an Eastern Orthodox church, so he holds this to be the truth.
 
Originally Posted by gilliam

:rotfl:
That’s a joke, right?
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tkdnick:
You have to understand that the Eastern Orthodox churches TRULY believe that they continued the TRUE apostolic line and teaching, and that Rome broke from that tradition. Fr. Ambrose, of course, is from an Eastern Orthodox church, so he holds this to be the truth.
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tkdnick is right. I am Russian Orthodox and that Timeline is how we see Church history.

We do not subscribe to the “branch theory” or the “two lung theory.” The Orthodox Church is aware of herself as the Una Sancta. For a bit more information on this claim go here
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=337256&postcount=12

Sorry I have taken this thread a little off topic. Almeria, my apologies.
 
Fr Ambrose:
tkdnick is right. I am Russian Orthodox and that Timeline is how we see Church history.

We do not subscribe to the “branch theory” or the “two lung theory.” The Orthodox Church is aware of herself as the Una Sancta. For a bit more information on this claim go here
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=337256&postcount=12

Sorry I have taken this thread a little off topic. Almeria, my apologies.
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Father,

I must admit that I know very little concerning the Eastern Orthodox Church, but I am curious why there are so few Eastern Orthodox Christians? Does the Eastern Orthodox church claim to be the true church? Because, just by the mere numbers, if you’re the true church then you all should be ashamed of yourselves. 2000 years and only 218 million members. I think God’s plan of salvation is more inclusive of all believers, right?

I really hope that the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches can reunite, what do you think?

I apologize for being off the topic of the thread, too…

Major Traditional Branches of Christianity
(mid-1995; source: Encyclopedia Britannica) BranchNumber of AdherentsCatholic968,000,000Protestant395,867,000Other Christians275,583,000Orthodox217,948,000Anglicans70,530,000

In Christ,

Cubby
<><
 
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Cubby:
Father,

I must admit that I know very little concerning the Eastern Orthodox Church, but I am curious why there are so few Eastern Orthodox Christians? Does the Eastern Orthodox church claim to be the true church? Because, just by the mere numbers, if you’re the true church then you all should be ashamed of yourselves. 2000 years and only 218 million members. I think God’s plan of salvation is more inclusive of all believers, right?

I really hope that the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches can reunite, what do you think?

I apologize for being off the topic of the thread, too…

Major Traditional Branches of Christianity
(mid-1995; source: Encyclopedia Britannica) BranchNumber of AdherentsCatholic968,000,000Protestant395,867,000Other Christians275,583,000Orthodox217,948,000Anglicans70,530,000

In Christ,

Cubby
<><
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Allow me to jump in here. Although I feel the orthodox are in error in their timeline, Truth and quantity have no correlation. There are countries in the EU where atheists are now the majority. That doesn’t make atheism any more true than not.

Not sure what the original poster wanted. He may want to clarify what kind of chart he wanted.
 
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Cubby:
t I am curious why there are so few Eastern Orthodox Christians? Does the Eastern Orthodox church claim to be the true church? Because, just by the mere numbers, if you’re the true church then you all should be ashamed of yourselves. 2000 years and only 218 million members.
<><
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Cubby, I think that was pretty harsh.

218 million isn’t a bad number, especially after enduring 1300 years of Islamic dominance. There are a lot of ways to look at this.

The defiant stand of the Byzantine Empire probably did much to insulate Western Europe from the Arabs and Turks.

Think about Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. They still have small but devout communities of Christians who are rooted to those places since Roman times. By contrast North Africa (which was Roman Catholic) lost all traces of the original Christian communities that existed there, those Catholics living in North Africa today arrived as colonists from Europe in more recent times.

The story of the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox is so mixed with tragedy, intolerance and persecution that we can only marvel at their resilience. We should be so strong in Faith.

+T+
 
Fr Ambrose:
tkdnick is right. I am Russian Orthodox and that Timeline is how we see Church history.

We do not subscribe to the “branch theory” or the “two lung theory.” The Orthodox Church is aware of herself as the Una Sancta. For a bit more information on this claim go here
forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=337256&postcount=12

Sorry I have taken this thread a little off topic. Almeria, my apologies.
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The Catholic Church is aware of herself as the true church also. The two lung idea does not mean that the Eastern Orthodox are not just as much the truth as the Catholic Church. It only means that there are both an eastern part of the church and a western part. There is both an eastern and a western part in the Catholic Church.

I would call the eastern Orthodox the lung with the cancer, not trying to insult, just trying to say that the Catholic Church looks at herself as the true church. Maybe God, will cure that cancer and bring her back to the truth.
 
Is there a thread for discussing the reasons why converts chose the Catholic Church over the Orthodox? If not, someone should start one. (Not that the Orthodox don’t have converts, too. But I considered it and rejected it, as I think many Catholic converts did.)

JMJ Jay
 
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Katholikos:
Is there a thread for discussing the reasons why converts chose the Catholic Church over the Orthodox? If not, someone should start one. (Not that the Orthodox don’t have converts, too. But I considered it and rejected it, as I think many Catholic converts did.)

JMJ Jay
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Good idea, I will start one.
 
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