Differences between the Christian sects

Alright. So I'm wondering what prime differences between the various different branches of Christianity are. Specifically if someone could provide me with a brief glance at the differences in beliefs between.

Eastern Orthodox
Celtic Orthodox* (I'm super interested in comparisons with and info on this one)
Catholic (Post-Reformation)
Lutheran
Anglican

It would be much appreciated.

Also with all these different ways of looking at the same message, how does one determine which to pay attention to? Do you look at that which feels...the most correct to you personally. Or is there some other reason?

Thank you in advance.

Howdy.

To be brief, the Roman Catholic church gathers around the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, as its leader because they believe Jesus ordained Saint Peter as the first Pope, that Peter was the first Bishop of Rome, and that all subsequent Bishops of Rome are his legitimate successor.

Roman Catholicism is very hierarchical, with an emphasis on authority and church structure. They place great emphasis on sacraments, which are rituals using physical elements to convey God's grace.

The Eastern Orthodox churches are very similar theologically to Catholicism except for their rejection of the Pope as the universal leader of all Christians. Their liturgy is culturally very different. They arguably "broke away" from Catholicism in the 11th century over both political and creedal differences, although, if you ask the Orthodox, they'll certainly say it was the Catholics that "broke away" from them.

In the 16th century Reformation, Martin Luther began the Protestant tradition by publicly teaching against several Roman Catholic doctrines - primarily, he questioned Catholic salvation theology (teaching about how people get saved and go to heaven) and Catholic church authority/structure (the Pope). The first Lutheran church was what formed when Luther and his followers were excommunicated from Catholicism. Subsequently other Protestant denominations formed as large parts of Europe left Catholicism under other reformers inspired by Luther. Today, Lutherans, Presbyterians/Reformed Christians, Baptists, Methodists, and many other denominations are all together lumped in as "Protestant."

The Anglican church/Church of England is a little unique. It's not quite Catholic and not quite Protestant. It formed when Henry VIII wanted to break the English church's union with the Pope but otherwise kept the church largely Catholic in its beliefs and practices. It's almost like "popeless Catholicism", if that makes any sense.

All of the above, however, are tied together in that they all hold to the "orthodox" theology of the ancient church. They all subscribe to the Trinitarian teachings of the Nicene Creed, a 4th century statement about the nature of Christ which has defined since what is considered an "official" Christian versus a "heterodox" one.

How do you know which one to "choose"? Well, that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. That, is something you'd have to research and decide for yourself.

Peace

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It would be rather hard to answer that in less than a modest sized book. But the one you highlight - Celtic Orthodox - is a tiny, modern, largely N American invention that bears little or no resemblance to the the historical Celtic church of the early centuries AD.

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life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us."
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I'm non-denominational, of the conservative evangelical variety. I don't have a horse in that race.

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Do not add to His words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar.
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Sovereignty is not racism.

They belongs to the Western-Rite Orthodox, which is a recent (20 century) and small development of Orthodoxy in areas which historically belong to the Roman Rite (of the Catholic Church, such as France): these Orthodox were primary emigrants from the East (or some converted) who maintained the Eastern-Christianity spirituality but left the Byzantine Rite in order to adopt a Western Rite, heavily adapted to the Orthodox nous.

As well the Western Rites are more variegate than the only Roman Rite, in the same way the Western Orthodox want to re-live ancient Western rites. So they use the so-called "Divine Liturgy of Saint Gregory" (which is based on the Roman Rite Canon) or the "Liturgy of Saint Tikhon" (based on the Anglican Book of Common Prayer) or some other "celtic" uses, such as the "Liturgy of Saint Germanus" or "The Liturgy of Saint John the Divine".

These last two liturgies, as well as other similar celtic liturgies, are (a part from their high-flown names) modern (20 century) compositions, only slightly based on some portions of ancient texts, heavily Byzantinized and however far away from what was the true celtic liturgy in use in the first millennium, whose peculiarities have been not re-utilized because not compatible with the Orthodox nous .

These Celtic Orthodox have not any historical direct link with the ancient celtic liturgies/communities (which evolved into the Catholic Church), but are modern and arbitrary revivals: the gap is some ten centuries, not a small period.

Personally I think that if you like the Eastern-Christianity spirituality, you should follow the Byzantine Rite (in a Orthodox or Eastern-Catholic Church), not to follow a modern mix which has not a own historical tradition along the centuries

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Sola Scriptura has hindered rather than helped the understanding of Christianity

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From a theological perspective the Catholic and Orthodox churches are generally described as 'Semi-Pelagian'; they accept some contribution of man's works and God's works for salvation.

I read a brief outline of Protestantism once that broke Reformation theology into three main branches: Calvinist/Reformed, Lutheran, and Arminian. Calvinists teach some form of the 5 point TULIP (derived from the Belgic Confession if memory serves) and the keys to their view of soteriology (doctrine of salvation) are God's sovereignty, mankind's inability, and double predestination. Lutherans are closer to Calvinism than Arminianism but are distinct. They emphasize God's grace due to mankind's inability and teach single predestination (only of the saved) and the possibility of disbelief. Arminianism teaches limited free will for mankind and God's prevenient (or assisting grace) in salvation.

There is much variation in the teaching of individual Anglican theologians but as a whole, the church seems to be officially more or less Calvinist. Yet it borrows its ritual almost exclusively from the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

I hate to point out the obvious, but your best bet is probably to google it.

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Thanks Peter, it's nice to see a few of the comparisons between the sects. I'm slightly surprised at how much of that I already knew. But the comparisons were super helpful!

As for choosing, yeah... that certainly is a whole nother kettle of fish. I'm mostly just wondering. Because I mean I have done a bunch of research, and am doing more. But...how does one actually...decide. I mean. If I'm just picking whatever appeals to me most how do I know I'm really following His will.

Ebia: I know, and I've been doing research on my own about them, just figured I'd take advantage of my account here and ask for some info from people with direct interaction, rather than based on my understanding of articles. It also means I can ask more questions if need be.
Thanks for the run down on Celtic Orthodox. I definitely had the impression it was older than it was.

A_nvt: So very helpful, but raises so many more questions for me. The uninformed, than it answers. What exactly is eastern-christian spirituality? Is that the belief in being able to see God through in the world? Or the use of lots of rites? Actually maybe I should just follow the advice of the last poster and google some of the specific terms. Thanks.


Shane: Double...single predestination? You lost me. I'll probably look those up. If these definitions are wrong: Double: Predestination of Heaven and Hell; Single: Predestination of Heaven?
You've been very helpful thanks. I kept running across the term arminian while doing research so know what that means will be helpful.

Pup: I know. I've been doing lots of it already. Just trying to supplement it, with extra info.

150 years ago arguments in the US tended to be between Protestant and Catholic, and among Protestants between the various denominations.

However I'd argue that today things have changed. The so-called mainline, which is the direct descendants of the original Reformers, have become more "liberal" (though that term may be misleading – what's really happened is that they accept modern critical thought). As such, differences are much less important than they used to be. And most growth has been in more conservative or evangelical churches. As a result traditional theological differences are less significant now. I'd argue that the major decisions are roughly:

4 major approaches:
* Catholic/Orthodox: focus on traditional beliefs and liturgy going back to the early church, differing in that Catholics tend to be more legalistic, and have a single central leader with more authority
* mainline: make use of modern critical thought, traditional theological differences not as important. There are Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and other denominations, but they are normally willing to learn from many traditions, and don't see the distinctions as highly important; but normally people choose based on characteristics of the specific local churches more than denomination
* conservative doctrinal: the conservative versions of Lutheran, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, etc. These folks are committed to doctrines from 16th and 17th Cent, tend to reject modern Biblical scholarship and to varying degrees science, archaeology, etc. They are committed to their specific traditions, so it matters whether you choose Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc
* evangelical: not so committed to a specific doctrinal tradition; still tend to reject modern scholarship, in some cases science, history, etc, but not always quite so consistently; more likely to learn from multiple theological traditions; the more liberal evangelicals are becoming identical to the mainline (and in my opinion may end up replacing them). Many non-denominational churches fall here.

I wouldn't start looking into doctrinal details such as predestination until you've decided on the broader approach. Those matter most in the conservative doctrinal churches.

Well on Wiki you can find the history and the differences on doctrines, but it is more difficult to find the difference in perspectives and in spiritualities.

Actually about spirituality you could place the various Christian sets/churches on a line, in which at the left you find the Protestants, and on the right the Orthodox, as follows:
Calvinists - Lutherans - Arminians - Anglicans - Roman Catholics - Eastern Catholics - Eastern Orthodox - Oriental Orthodox

In this hypothetical line on the left you find the denominations that focus more on Salvation (not to go to hell), and on the right ends the churches that consider the salvation only as the starting point and focus on becoming more and more God-like (2Cor 3,18).
This has a deep impact on the religious live: so the more you towards a Eastern spirituality (the more you move right on the line) you find an increasing interest on mysticism, monks, liturgy, fasting ect. On the contrary the more you go towards the Protestantism you find a more interest in Bible, own personal history, sins/love ect.

Just to give you an example, the celebration of the Eucharist among many Protestants is named "Lord's supper" in remembrance of the Christ Last Supper, while on the East it is named "Divine Liturgy" having as example the heavenly liturgy performed by the angels in front of God as described in the apocalypse: so the liturgies in the far Christian West are simple as a supper, while in the far Christian East are as elaborate and solemn as a heaven liturgy: here the mystical importance of the liturgy.

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Sola Scriptura has hindered rather than helped the understanding of Christianity

Margaret Barker, Biblical scholar