Protestantism

Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners by grace through faith alone, 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.

Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Roman Catholic Church of Western Christianity from accumulated perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies that had grown since the Medieval / Middle Ages era. The Reformation began in Central Europe, among the various German states, kingdoms, duchies and principalities of the 600 year old Holy Roman Empire).}} On October 31st, 1517, when Dr. Martin Luther (1483-1546), published his "''Ninety-five Theses" by nailing a copy on the All Saints' Castle / Church huge wooden doors (which had traditionally longtime served as an informal university bulletin board) at his University of Wittenberg, in the town of Wittenberg, Saxony in the Empire, The large poster contained an inscribed list of a series of his proposals and statements ("Theses")'' for an academic and theological discussion, argument and debate. It summarized his long held reaction against abuses in recent decades in the practice and sale of oss and indulgences by his Roman Catholic Church, which purported to offer the remission of the temporal punishment of sins to their purchasers. The term, however, derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes / electors of the Empire in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical.

In the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Northern Europe's Scandinavia region of Denmark–Norway, Sweden, Finland, Livonia, and further northwest across the North Atlantic Ocean to the remote island of Iceland. Calvinist churches spread in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland, France, and even to Eastern Europe along the shipping and trade routes of the Baltic Sea to Poland, and coastal kingdoms of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia by both Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed church missionaries.

The new Western Christian revival of spirit in Protestantism expressed by the faith, doctrine and lives of three most important and influential 16th century theologians and priests / ministers: French/Swiss John Calvin (1509-1564), Swiss Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), and in Scotland of John Knox (1514-1572). The political separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church under King Henry VIII (1491-1547, reigned 1509-1547), began Anglicanism, bringing his two realms in the British Isles of the Kingdom of England and associated Principality of Wales to the west nto this broad Reformation movement, under the leadership of reformer and Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556, served 1533-1555), whose work forged Church of England and future Anglicanism doctrine and identity.

Protestantism is diverse, being divided into various denominations on the basis of theology and ecclesiology, not forming a single structure as with the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy. Protestants adhere to the concept of an invisible church, in contrast to the Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox Church. The lesser known Oriental Orthodox Churches, such as the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East, which all understand themselves as the one and only original church—the "one true church"—founded by Jesus Christ (though certain Protestant denominations, including historic Evangelical Lutheranism, hold to this position). Some denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of church membership, while others are confined to a single region or country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of Protestant denominational historical families such as: Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans/Episcopalians, Baptists, Calvinists/Reformed / Congregationalists/Presbyterians, It includes Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, many of united and uniting churches, as well as historic Continental Reformed churches in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, and elsewhere.}} Evangelical Lutherans, Methodists, Moravians, Plymouth Brethren, and the Society of Friends ("Quakers") . Nondenominational, charismatic, Pentecostal / holiness and inter-denominational / independent churches are also on the rise, having recently expanded rapidly throughout much of the world, and constitute a significant part of Protestantism. These various movements, collectively labeled "popular Protestantism" by scholars such as Peter L. Berger, have been called one of the contemporary world's most dynamic religious movements.

As of today it has a total of 625,606,000 million members worldwide. |archive-date=2020-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523002949/https://books.google.com/books?id=PMSTAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA2-PA349 |url-status=live}} while a report by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary – 1,047,295,000 (with inclusion of independents as defined in this article) in mid-2024.}} Provided by Wikipedia