Protestantism

Protestantism, principles of the Reformation. The name derives from the Protestatio of the minority reforming delegates at the Diet of Speyer (1529). Protestantism is characterized by subordinating tradition to the Bible as the basis for doctrine and practice, and stresses justification by faith, biblical preaching, and a high personal morality. In reaction to Roman Catholicism it rejects papal claims, the mass, and the worship of saints. The main original branches were Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, and Zwinglianism, with small Anabaptist sects. Exercise of the right of privacy judgment in interpreting Scripture led to fragmentation, a trend reversed in recent decades by the Ecumenical Movement. Later Protestant churches include the Congregational churches, Baptists, Quakers, Methodists, the Moravian Church, and the Pentecostal churches.

See also: Reformation.