Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: What's the difference? Message-ID: Date: 13 Jul 90 08:05:58 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 37 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu > What's the difference between the various denominations of > Christianity? I'm curious as to why there are so many splinter groups > in the body of Christ? > > mark One poster answered your question by saying that the reason for the diversity is that there are different interpretations of Scripture. Historically, though, that is only the explanation of the splits within Protestantism, and does not address the original split between the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church. That was not due to disagreement over Scripture interpretation, but over the sources of Christian doctrine. Schisms over varying interpretations of Scripture are only possibly when there is no one authority with the divine mandate to interpret Scripture. The Reformers, during their attempt to correct the problems in the Roman Catholic Church, ended up adopting a different model of the sources of revealed truth. The Reformers couldn't say that an infallible Church fell into error; they stopped believing that the Church is infallible. They adopted the Bible as their source of doctrine, but this is not an objective source, as an infallible Church is. So Protestantism has had a lot of splintering. The other major split, of little importance in daily life in this country, is that between the Orthodox and the Catholics. This dates, in its final form, from 1054. It was mainly for non-dogmatic reasons, so the differences between Orthodox and Catholics are few. Primarily two: Papal jurisdiction over the whole Church, and the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son. Liturgically and doctrinally, one would have a hard time telling Orthodox from eastern rite Catholic without knowing what to look for. Joe Buehler