Why “Protestant and Related Churches”?
When I was growing up in Texas, you were either Protestant or Catholic. Life is more complicated, though. In The Gospel in Christian Traditions, I deal with a wide range of churches, including a chapter on “Protestant and Related Churches.” Why the awkward expression?
For one thing, many Anglicans don’t like to be classified as “Protestants” — they point out that the Church of England existed long before the Reformation. But then again, that’s also true of the Waldensian Church and of the Moravian Church, insofar as the latter grew from the pre-Reformation Unitas Fratrum in Bohemia. One might even include the ancient Mar Thomas of Church of India, which is a very ancient Christian community significantly influenced by Anglicanism.
So for the third chapter of The Gospel in Christian Traditions, I decided to go with this awkward construction, “Protestant and Related Churches,” even including Methodist churches, which might also have gone into the category of “Evaneglical Christian Communities” in chapter four.
Blessings to all in the New (civil) Year,
/ted
