reformed Christianity

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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. Today, it is largely represented by the Continental, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Anglican and Baptist traditions.

A foundational event that divided the Reformed from the Lutheran tradition occurred in 1529 when reformer Huldrych Zwingli of Zürich broke with Martin Luther on the topic of the Lord's Supper. A separate Reformed tradition developed over several generations, especially in Switzerland, Scotland and the Netherlands.

In the seventeenth century, Jacobus Arminius and the Remonstrants were expelled from the Dutch Reformed Church over disputes regarding predestination and salvation, and from that time Arminians are usually considered to be a distinct tradition from the Reformed. This dispute produced the Canons of Dort, the basis for the "doctrines of grace" or "five points" of Calvinism.

Reformed theology emphasizes the authority of the Bible, the sovereignty of God, and covenant theology, a framework for understanding the Bible based on God's covenants with people. Reformed churches have emphasized simplicity in worship. Several forms of ecclesiastical polity are exercised by Reformed churches, including presbyterian, congregational, and some episcopal. (Full article...)

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Anne Hutchinson, born Anne Marbury (1591–1643), was a Puritan spiritual adviser, mother of 15, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy that shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her strong religious convictions were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the Boston area, and her popularity and charisma helped create a theological schism that threatened to destroy the Puritans' religious community in New England. She was eventually tried and convicted, then banished from the colony with many of her supporters.

Hutchinson is a key figure in the development of religious freedom in England's American colonies and the history of women in ministry. She challenged the authority of the ministers, exposing the subordination of women in the culture of colonial Massachusetts. She is honoured by Massachusetts with a State House monument calling her a "courageous exponent of civil liberty and religious toleration." She has been called the most famous, or infamous, English woman in colonial American history.

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Image 1Dutch prime minister Abraham Kuyper initiated Neo-Calvinism. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 2Moses Amyraut formulated Amyraldism, a modified Calvinist theology regarding the nature of Jesus' atonement. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 3Calvin preached at St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 4The burning of the Guernsey Martyrs during the Marian persecutions in 1556 (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 5Statues of William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza, and John Knox, influential theologians in developing the Reformed faith, at the Reformation Wall in Geneva (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 6The Parable of the Prodigal Son, depicted in a portrait by Rembrandt, illustrates forgiveness. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 7Early Calvinism was known for simple, unadorned churches as depicted in this 1661 portrait of the interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 8The Directory for Public Worship described what should (and shouldn't) occur in worship. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 9The seal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, an early American Presbyterian church founded in 1789 (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 10John Calvin depicted on his deathbed with church members in The last moments of Calvin, a late 19th century portrait by Lluís Domènech i Montaner (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 11Fall of Man by Jacob Jordaens (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 12The Shield of the Trinity diagrams the classic doctrine of the Trinity. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 13A Reformed church in Koudekerk aan den Rijn in the Netherlands in the 19th century (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 14Stephen Bocskai, leader of Hungarian Calvinists in the anti-Habsburg rebellion and first Calvinist prince of Transylvania (r. 1605–1606) (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 15The Grote Kerk in Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, c. 1665 (from Reformed Christianity)

Did you know...

... that the 1919 demolition of "one of the most costly religious edifices" in New York City, the 1906 Madison Square Presbyterian Church, was called "a distinct architectural loss"?

...that in Reformed theology, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is believed to strengthen Christians' union with Christ by the spiritual eating of his true body and blood?

... that the 1643 Westminster Assembly was appointed by Parliament to restructure the Church of England and produced the Westminster Confession, which is the foundation of the Presbyterian Church?

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Subcategories

Topics

Background: Christianity • St. Augustine • The Reformation • John Calvin • Five Solas • Synod of Dort

Theology: Five Points (TULIP) • Covenant Theology • Regulative principle

Documents: Calvin's Institutes • Confessions of faith • Geneva Bible

Influences: Theodore Beza • John Knox • Jonathan Edwards • Princeton theologians • Henry Cooke

Churches: Reformed • Presbyterian • Congregationalist • Reformed Baptist

Peoples: Afrikaner Calvinists • Huguenots • Pilgrims • Puritans • Scots • Ulster Protestants

WikiProjects

Religion
- Christianity
  - Bible
  - Calvinism
  - Lutheranism

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Cleanup : Imputed righteousness
Copyedit : Better integrate Calvinism, the Five points of Calvinism (and the pages for each point), and the History of Calvinist-Arminian debate. Revise unconditional election.
Expand : Presbyterian worship, Unconditional election, Regulative principle of worship, More...
NPOV : Charles Hodge, A. A. Hodge
Stubs : Split-leaf psalter, Gaspar Karolyi, Westminster Standards, Christian philosophy, More...
Verify : Puritan, Presuppositional apologetics
Wikify : Imputed righteousness, First Great Awakening

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