Why Protestant?

[FaithfulPilgrim]

Baptists are generally considered to be Protestants, though there are some that will deny that and others might say they are Anabaptists.

Baptists have much in common with the Anabaptists, such as rejection of infant baptism, advocacy religious freedom, and the emphasis on the believers' church.

However, we are generally considered Protestant, when most of Protestantism practices infant baptism, had state churches, and some of the earlier forms had a high church form of worship.

I say the only things Baptists really have in common with Protestants are the five solas and we are more tolerant towards Calvinism, unlike the Anabaptists.

If Anglicanism is a middle way between Catholic and Protestant, then could Baptist be a middle way between Protestant and Anabaptist?

 

[faroukfarouk]

Baptists are generally considered to be Protestants, though there are some that will deny that and others might say they are Anabaptists.

Baptists have much in common with the Anabaptists, such as rejection of infant baptism, advocacy religious freedom, and the emphasis on the believers' church.

However, we are generally considered Protestant, when most of Protestantism practices infant baptism, had state churches, and some of the earlier forms had a high church form of worship.

I say the only things Baptists really have in common with Protestants are the five solas and we are more tolerant towards Calvinism, unlike the Anabaptists.

If Anglicanism is a middle way between Catholic and Protestant, then could Baptist be a middle way between Protestant and Anabaptist?

The term Protestant is often used simply as a reference to those from the 16th century onwards who went back to the Bible instead of to church tradition. It's often used very generally.

 

[Albion]

Baptists are generally considered to be Protestants, though there are some that will deny that and others might say they are Anabaptists.

Baptists have much in common with the Anabaptists, such as rejection of infant baptism, advocacy religious freedom, and the emphasis on the believers' church.

However, we are generally considered Protestant, when most of Protestantism practices infant baptism, had state churches, and some of the earlier forms had a high church form of worship.

I say the only things Baptists really have in common with Protestants are the five solas and we are more tolerant towards Calvinism, unlike the Anabaptists.

If Anglicanism is a middle way between Catholic and Protestant, then could Baptist be a middle way between Protestant and Anabaptist?

No. For some reason, a lot of Baptists want to shed the title of Protestant, but they certainly are Protestant (the five solas , BTW, are not something incidental), even if they disagree with most other Protestants on a few issues such as infant baptism. On almost every fundamental of the Protestant Reformation, Baptists are on the same side with other Protestants.

As you suggest, they might stand (on some spectrum of belief and practice) somewhere between the historic Anabaptists and the rest of Protestantism, but Anabaptists are classified as Protestants, too.

 

[Dave-W]

If your church hisory broke off the Catholic Church, you are Protestant.

 

[-57]

Google denomination tree (images) Whole bunch like this.

 

[FaithfulPilgrim]

No. For some reason, a lot of Baptists want to shed the title of Protestant, but they certainly are Protestant (the five solas , BTW, are not something incidental), even if they disagree with most other Protestants on a few issues such as infant baptism. On almost every fundamental of the Protestant Reformation, Baptists are on the same side with other Protestants.

As you suggest, they might stand (on some spectrum of belief and practice) somewhere between the historic Anabaptists and the rest of Protestantism, but Anabaptists are classified as Protestants, too.

I wasn't aware of that. I though Anabaptists were a separate movement and considered themselves so.

 

[Albion]

I wasn't aware of that. I though Anabaptists were a separate movement and considered themselves so.

Many Anabaptists want to be thought of as something other than Protestants, but by the same token there are members of other Protestant denominations who do that also. One reason is that they think the word Protestant conveys a negative idea, and they want to emphasize what they stand for. In the case of Anabaptists, they were so roundly denounced by the mainline Protestant churches during the Reformation, that I'm not surprised that their descendants want to put some distance between themselves and those denominations even yet.

However, religious classifiers, academicians, and cataloguers, etc. consider all to be Protestant, and for good reason--they all adhere to the basic points of the Protestant Reformation, despite the differences between them.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

The history of how Baptists came about could (and does) fill several large books. So I'm not going to try here.

The term 'Protestant' derives from those who 'protested' some aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. Versions vary from 'indulgences' to treatment of those who differed (usually involving physical punishment) to all of the above. The term has morphed over the years (centuries) into all Christian groups NOT part of the Roman Catholic Church or any other 'orthodoxy'.

There are those who claim some Christian groups are not 'protestants' as our tradition comes from the early Christian Church and prior to the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church as the official state church of Rome in the Fourth Century. Which is not universally accepted.

I was raised as a Southern Baptist. I know of very few SoBaps (at least of the old school) who represent themselves as 'Protestants' on the basis of an older tradition. However, the overwhelming connotation of the word in use includes Baptists of all stripes. I personally don't see that issue as one upon which to fight and usually let it slide. My goal is to Glorify God and spread His message, not prove who was 'first'.

 

[Dave-W]

Google denomination tree (images) Whole bunch like this.

Yeah - they got a lot wrong on that chart. Like the Orthodox breaking off of the Catholics when it was the other way around.

And they have the Church of God in Christ coming from the Baptists when they and the Assembly of God (from Wesleyan Holiness) were one denomination until they split along racial lines in the early 1900s.

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But the Catholics brand us Messianics as "protestant" also - even though we have no real connection to that chart at all. We (modern Messianic movement) was started by 3 Eastern European rabbis in the late 1800s who came to faith apart from catholic or protestant influence.

 

[Albion]

The term 'Protestant' derives from those who 'protested' some aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. Versions vary from 'indulgences' to treatment of those who differed (usually involving physical punishment) to all of the above. The term has morphed over the years (centuries) into all Christian groups NOT part of the Roman Catholic Church or any other 'orthodoxy'.

Actually, the term comes from the Lutherans protesting against a decision of the German government to reverse an earlier policy that had granted them equal recognition with the Catholic Church. That's the protest. The word later was applied to all reformed movements and churches.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

Actually, the term comes from...

Albion, I will retire from this portion of the discussion. In my time I've heard multiple explanations of the same phenomenon in any number of instances and fields. I heard what I reported long ago from a source I thought at the time (and don't remember any more) and accepted it. Stuff I 'knew' once is still possible but by no means rock solid anymore. Some of it was so goofy I discarded it.

This could easily be one of them. It does NOT affect my salvation, so I won't get upset over it. (Some say I get upset easily.)

 

[PanDeVida]

Baptists are generally considered to be Protestants, though there are some that will deny that and others might say they are Anabaptists.

Baptists have much in common with the Anabaptists, such as rejection of infant baptism, advocacy religious freedom, and the emphasis on the believers' church.

However, we are generally considered Protestant, when most of Protestantism practices infant baptism, had state churches, and some of the earlier forms had a high church form of worship.

I say the only things Baptists really have in common with Protestants are the five solas and we are more tolerant towards Calvinism, unlike the Anabaptists.

If Anglicanism is a middle way between Catholic and Protestant, then could Baptist be a middle way between Protestant and Anabaptist?

A Protestant or a Protestant Church is any other Christian person or church that protests against the Catholic Church.

 

[Albion]

A Protestant or a Protestant Church is any other Christian person or church that protests against the Catholic Church.

That's not the meaning of the word. And it's quite obvious that there are a number of Christian churches that did not separate from the Roman Church and so aren't "protesting" anything about any former allegiance. What's more, the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox certain do take exception to certain doctrines taught by the Roman Catholic Church, but are not Protestant churches themselves.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

A Protestant or a Protestant Church is any other Christian person or church that protests against the Catholic Church.

Perhaps that is what you believe as a Catholic. It is pretty much the working definition assumed by the secular world. It does not particularly agree with the meaning accepted by many Christians who do not belong to the Catholic denomination and certainly isn't the original meaning.

 

[Dave-W]

Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox certain do take exception to certain doctrines taught by the Roman Catholic Church, but are not Protestant churches themselves.

Most catholics consider them to be protestant.

 

[Albion]

Most catholics consider them to be protestant.

Ooohh, I don't think that most do. The statement that "Pan" made was incorrect, but I think it was due to posting in haste or of stretching the truth in order to try to make his point. Of course I could be wrong about that, but I still think most Catholics know that the EOs, Armenians, Copts, and others are not Protestants.

 

[Dave-W]

Ooohh, I don't think that most do. The statement that "Pan" made was incorrect, but I think it was due to posting in haste or of stretching the truth in order to try to make his point. Of course I could be wrong about that, but I still think most Catholics know that the EOs, Armenians, Copts, and others are not Protestants.

I have joked with my Catholic friends that they were really the first protestants when Rome broke with Constantinople in 1054. They, almost to a person, understand it the other way around - that the Orthodox left the Catholic Church. They have been told (rightly or not) that ANYTHING Christian but not RCC is "protestant."

 

[-57]

Yeah - they got a lot wrong on that chart. Like the Orthodox breaking off of the Catholics when it was the other way around.

And they have the Church of God in Christ coming from the Baptists when they and the Assembly of God (from Wesleyan Holiness) were one denomination until they split along racial lines in the early 1900s.

===============================
But the Catholics brand us Messianics as "protestant" also - even though we have no real connection to that chart at all. We (modern Messianic movement) was started by 3 Eastern European rabbis in the late 1800s who came to faith apart from catholic or protestant influence.

I'm no denomination history major...but, which of the google images got it right?

 

[Albion]

Actually, that chart was pretty good. Not perfect, but then none them can be. For one thing, there are so many denominations that none of these diagrams can account for all of them, so there's always going to be some selectivity.

 

[Dave-W]

I'm no denomination history major...but, which of the google images got it right?

I have not seen one that is really much good.