Protestanism denominations

[Capuano231]

Why do some people label themselves (like on this board for example) Protestant? Doesn't Protestant mean that you are part of one of the denominations in Protestantism? Why not label your self Anabaptist, Baptist, Lutheran, etc...

In other words, what does it mean to be just a plain Protestant?

 

[Aibrean]

I'd rather label myself Lutheran (or Catholic in exile). Protestant is too watered down for my taste.

 

[Mr Dave]

I think it's people who either

1) Really not bothered by denominational distinctions.

2) Circumstances have left them in limbo; My sister was brought up in a Methodist Church but where she has moved to with her job means that she goes to an Anglican Church. She wouldn't call herself Methodist or Anglican, but would go with Protestant to be slightly more general.

3) The different Protestant denominations are very British/American; next year I'm going to be living in France where Protestantism is so small that although there are a few small denominations, most have formed to create the Eglise Reformée, so there is that or the Roman Catholic Church, as well as a few Pentecostal churches. Essentially in very RC countries, if you are a Christian, you are Catholic or Protestant, and no real distinction within those groups, like you would find in GB/USA.

 

[Celtic D]

Why do some people label themselves (like on this board for example) Protestant? Doesn't Protestant mean that you are part of one of the denominations in Protestantism? Why not label your self Anabaptist, Baptist, Lutheran, etc...

In other words, what does it mean to be just a plain Protestant?

One could ask the same of you; why do you label yourself Christian and not a denomination?

 

[a_ntv]

3) The different Protestant denominations are very British/American; next year I'm going to be living in France where Protestantism is so small that although there are a few small denominations, most have formed to create the Eglise Reformée, so there is that or the Roman Catholic Church, as well as a few Pentecostal churches. Essentially in very RC countries, if you are a Christian, you are Catholic or Protestant, and no real distinction within those groups, like you would find in GB/USA.

No, also in France each protestant denomination has it own name
"Eglise Reformée" means "Reformed Church", which is not a general name for "Protestantism" but it identifies churches based on Calvinistic doctrine (in US the term more used is "Presbyterian"), and even if quite popular in France, for sure it does not include Lutherans, Pentacostals, Baptists, Episcopalians, etc (all denominations you can find in France)

 

[Mr Dave]

No, also in France each protestant denomination has it own name
"Eglise Reformée" means "Reformed Church", which is not a general name for "Protestantism" but it identifies churches based on Calvinistic doctrine (in US the term more used is "Presbyterian"), and even if quite popular in France, for sure it does not include Lutherans, Pentacostals, Baptists, Episcopalians, etc (all denominations you can find in France)

I know it means Reformed Church and doesn't contain all French Protestant denominations, but is a collection of a few (several reformed churches as well as methodists (not Calvinist) joined together to form it). There are several of the other large denominations but individual congregations are few and far between (e.g. 31 Protestant Churches in Brittany (Bretagne), 24 if you don't include the ERF (the largest)). 31 Protestant congregations in an area the size of South Carolina. 12 of the 22 Protestant denominations have no congregation there. Protestants have come together in the Fédération Protestant de France as a unified Protestant body (with some differences amongst denominations) much more than in GB/USA. If you don't want to be Roman Catholic, your options are much more limited, so there is more of a feeling of Protestant than is common in other countries. That was what I was trying to say, not deny the existence of different Protestant denominations.

 

[a_ntv]

I know it means Reformed Church and doesn't contain all French Protestant denominations, but is a collection of a few (several reformed churches as well as methodists (not Calvinist) joined together to form it). There are several of the other large denominations but individual congregations are few and far between (e.g. 31 Protestant Churches in Brittany (Bretagne), 24 if you don't include the ERF (the largest)). 31 Protestant congregations in an area the size of South Carolina. 12 of the 22 Protestant denominations have no congregation there. Protestants have come together in the Fédération Protestant de France as a unified Protestant body (with some differences amongst denominations) much more than in GB/USA. If you don't want to be Roman Catholic, your options are much more limited, so there is more of a feeling of Protestant than is common in other countries. That was what I was trying to say, not deny the existence of different Protestant denominations.

The "Églises réformées" in France (and also in US) are strictly of Calvinist roots. Check for example Wiki: Églises réformées - Wikipédia
Lutherans are for example a different branch of Protestantism, which have always been separate from the Calvinism.
Here a simple chart of historical protestant history of denominations: you can see that the "reformed churches" are only a branch: Filerotestantbranches.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In France anyway the larger historical branch of Protestantism is the "Reformed", as in Germany is the Lutheran, in England the Anglicans and in US perhaps the Baptist/not-denominational.
"Fédération Protestant de France" is not a Over-Denomination, a unified body, but simply a federation to have more strengh in public issues (Fédération Protestant de France "Cependant, chacune des Églises et des associations membres de la FPF conserve sa liberté sur ses spécificités et son identité, aussi bien théologique que pratique", "thus, each of the churches and the associations which are member of the FPF keeps its liberty, its specificy, its identity both theological and of uses")

 

[Nova Scotian Boy]

Some people just dont care about the label. I prefer to identifie with a specific tradition.