(1689)

While the Independents and the Dissenting Brethren of Westminster were effective in developing and spreading a new tolerant attitude toward other faith-groups with their new denominational theory, this view of the church found only limited acceptance in England, where the Church of England still retained a favored position, even after the Act of Toleration in 1689 recognized the rights of Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists and Quakers to worship freely.

[tags]Act-of-Toleration, Baptists, BlogRodent, church-history, Church-of-England, ChurchRodent, Congregationalists, Dissenting-Brethren, history, Presbyterians, Quakers, Westminster[/tags]

The real architects of the denominational theory of the church were the seventeenth century Independents (Congregationalists) who represented the minority voice at the Westminster Assembly (1642-49). The majority at the Assembly held to Presbyterian principles and expressed these convictions classically in the Westminster Confession of Faith and in The Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

The Independents, however, who held to congregational principles, were keenly aware of the dangers of "dividing the godly Protestant party" in England so they looked for some way to express Christian unity even when Christians did not agree.

These Dissenting Brethren of Westminster articulated the denominational theory of the church in several fundamental truths: First, considering man's inability to always see the truth clearly, differences of opinion about the outward form of the church are inevitable. Second, even though these differences do not involve fundamentals of the faith, they are not matters of indifference.

(see Congregationalists)

[tags]BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Congregationalists, Denominations, history[/tags]

Today the direct descendants of the Anabaptists are the Mennonites and the Hutterites. Only one section of the Mennonites today, the Old Order Amish, hold tenaciously to the old ways. What unites the various types of Mennonites is not a style of dress or a mode of transportation, but a shared set of beliefs and values. Many of these beliefs are now accepted by other Christians. So the distant relatives of the Anabaptists today include the Baptists, the Quakers and, in one sense, the Congregationalists.

[tags]Anabaptists, Baptists, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Congregationalists, history, Hutterites, Mennonites, Quakers[/tags]

Calvin's leadership in Geneva shaped a third reformation tradition. Today we call it Reformed or Calvinistic Christianity. It includes all Presbyterians, Dutch and German Reformed Churches, and many Baptists and Congregationalists.

[tags]Baptists, BlogRodent, church-history, ChurchRodent, Congregationalists, history, Presbyterians, Reformed-Christianity[/tags]

When King Charles I tried to force his high church brand of Anglican religion upon the Presbyterian Scots they rose in opposition and joined in a "National League of the Covenant". To defend their Church they dared to take up arms against their king. To put an army in the field, Charles was forced to convene Parliament. But once parliament assembled, conflicting loyalties led to a "Royalist Party" and a "Parliamentary Party". The Parliamentarians, clearly a majority, were agreed on the broad Puritan principles but were divided over the form of the church. On the one hand were Presbyterians; on the other were Independents (or Congregationalists). United in their hatred of Archbishop Laud, the Parliamentarians succeeded in bringing him to trial and seeing him beheaded.

When Charles tried to punish the leaders of this opposition, civil war erupted. The Royalist members of Parliament left London to join the forces