Protestantism and Non-Christian Religions

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Is it realistic to talk about Christian unity except in the broad, far-off sense of praying that someday the divided Christian world might come together again? After all, there have been divisions among Christians since the time of the Apostles; the great Eastern Schism which drew the Oriental churches […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. A body in the Methodist tradition with a strong emphasis on the Wesleyan principles of sanctification of believers and evangelistic missionary work. In 1897 Martin Wells Knapp, a Methodist minister in Cincinnati, Ohio, organized the International Apostolic Holiness Union to restore the primitive spirit of John *Wesley on “apostolic […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Defections from the Catholic Church are as old and familiar as the Church itself, going back to the first century of the Christian era. In the United States the problem of leakage is recognized as an established fact and appropriate measures are being taken to control it. While the […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Contrary to the negative implication of the word itself, Protestantism is a positive affirmation of religious belief based on the principles of the Reformation. As a system of teaching, worship, and practice, it is frequently described as any form of Christianity, which is not Catholic. The name is derived […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. American Catholics [1] is a stimulating book by six Jewish and Protestant writers who were asked to tell us what they think we should know in order to meet our commitments in a pluralistic society. The contributors express their mind with perfect candor and great charity, considering the delicate […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. After the Protestant Reformation those who broke with the Church still retained many terms from their Catholic tradition. However, their theology and forms of church government gave the terms a different meaning for them. In addition, developments within their churches gave rise to new terms. Thus the Protestant vocabulary […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Outline In its nature and in its development, Protestantism in the United States differs widely from its counterpart in other countries. The growth of a great many separate and independent churches has produced a distinctively American variety of denominations. This, in turn, has stimulated mergers and federations that have […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Seeking to achieve unity among believers through what he called a restoration of primitive Christianity, Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander founded the Christian Association of Washington, Pa., in 1810. In 1830, the Campbells’ followers came to be known as Disciples of Christ. See REVIVALISM. In 1906, a long-standing […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Religious bodies that adhere to Calvinism are called Reformed Churches according to the proper present-day use of the term. By this usage they are distinguished from the Lutheran or Evangelical Churches that believe in justification by faith alone but that reject the Calvinist view of predestination. During the period […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. The term “ritualism” means the conducting of religious worship according to a code of ceremonies. It may also mean the observance of external forms in the church liturgy or excessive devotion to such forms and to ritualistic detail. Ritualism as here used means the recent development of a liturgical […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. From time to time in the history of American Protestantism there have been mass re-awakenings of religious faith and devotion throughout the country. These movements are part of revivalism, a name that applies also to the method of intensive preaching and prayer meetings that inspire such mass religious fervor. […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Few men since the turn of the century and no American in the past generation have made a greater impact on the Protestant mind than Reinhold Niebuhr. Until his retirement in 1960 – to a still active life on the faculty – he was for more than thirty years […]