Religious denomination
A
religious denomination, (also simply
denomination) is a large, long-established subgroup within a
religion that has existed for many years. However, in Islam such subgroups are referred to as "
sects", not denominations.
The term is frequently used to describe the different
Christian churches (
Eastern Orthodoxy,
Catholicism and the many varieties of
Protestantism); it is also used to describe the four organised branches of
Judaism (
Orthodox,
Conservative,
Reform and
Reconstructionist), and (less often, though it would not be inappropriate) to describe the two main branches of
Islam (
Sunni and
Shia).
Hinduism is also traditionally divided into four major denominations:
Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and
Smartism.
Denominations usually have a significant degree of authority over their member congregations, although the term is also used to describe religious groups when the congregations have authority over the "denomination", such as
Congregationalist church governance such as the
Unitarian Universalist Association, the
United Church of Christ, the
Disciples of Christ and the numerous
Baptist associations.
Denominations often form slowly over time for many reasons; due to historical accidents of geography, culture, and influence between different groups, members of a given religion slowly begin to diverge in their views. Over time members of a religion may find that they have developed significantly different views on
theology,
philosophy,
religious pluralism,
ethics and religious practices and rituals. As such, in any of a myriad of ways, different denominations eventually form. In other cases, denominations form very rapidly, either as a result from a split or schism in an existing denomination, or as people from many different denominations share an experience of spiritual revival or
spiritual awakening, and choose to form a new denomination based on that new experience or understanding.
An example within Christianity is the
Mennonite and the
Church of the Brethren denominations. Both denominations are similar in their beliefs, yet they are unique because they were started by a different person (
Menno Simons and
Alexander Mack respectively). Their division is administrative, and there is much communication and interaction between the two. Since its founding, the Mennonite denomination has split into a number of smaller Mennonite denominations, because of both geography and social and theological differences.
Another example is the
Roman Catholic Church and various Protestant churches such as the
Lutheran Church. When
Martin Luther founded the Lutheran Church, he and his followers were persecuted as
heretics. The early Lutherans in turn persecuted the
Anabaptists as heretics. Even today there are major ideological differences between them, even though there is no physical hostility.
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Sect*
Cult*
Religion*
Christian denomination*
Full communion*
Schism (a splitting of a group into more groups)
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List of Christian denominations*
Denominationalism*
Non-denominational*
Jewish denominations*
Islamic denominations
