Traditions

The Greek for church (ekklesia) means “assembly” – a gathering of people for a shared purpose. Acts explores how the early Church grew through gatherings across the whole Graeco-Roman world, with shared links through people like St. Paul, and through shared beliefs such as those in St. Peter’s speech in Acts 2. We are encouraged that the believers “shared everything they had in common” (Acts 2) despite significant differences in their ethnicities, social standing, and wider backgrounds. Many biblical books, such as 1 John, emphasise love for one another as the defining principle of the Church.

In time different gatherings grew, and created creeds to articulate their main beliefs (link to Intro). As significant enough differences in belief, or practice, arose, different denominations arose as distinct groupings of Christians. These are also referred to as different “church traditions”. The most significant was the East/West Church schism in the 11th century, in part due to differing beliefs on the Holy Spirit, which led to the Catholic West and Orthodox East. The Reformations of the 16-17th centuries brought the Protestant tradition, which remains a name for several denominations who split with the Catholic tradition. 

We provide a brief summary of the main traditions on our site – Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism – with the caveat that traditions continue to change! 

Through these traditions there are several movements, which come from part of a particular tradition but then expand outwards to influence parts of other traditions. 

Evangelicals place a high importance on the authority of scripture, Christ’s death being understood as penal substitution, and on personal faith (often expressed through a regular “quiet time” to read scripture and pray). 

Charismatics are those who emphasise the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including tongues, prophecy, and healing. While historically not the case, influential traditions such as the Vineyard Movement have combined this with evangelical practices to form charismatic evangelicalism.

Contemplatives arguably date back to the first monks if not earlier, as those who seek more time in solitude and silent prayer. This is sometimes referred to as new monasticism, particularly if believers are adopting a Rule (shared set of practices) modelled on monastic vows.

Liberation theologians emerged in the late 20th century, grounded in Latin American contexts, emphasising the ways the Gospel brings social transformation to marginalised groups.

Readers might notice that while we occasionally use the terms as shorthand, we haven’t defined “conservative” or “liberal”. This is because these words can have a variety of meanings, and individual Christians may hold both “conservative” and “liberal” beliefs. These terms often appear in the context of ethics but can signify a wider approach to faith, and can (but not always) be tied to a Christian’s politics.

In this section

Further resources

Books
Gustavo Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
Sarah Sands, The Interior Silence
Douglas A. Sweeney, American Evangelical Story
Amos Yong, Mission After Pentecost

Well-known movements 
Charismatics / Evangelicals – Evangelical Alliance, Inclusive Evangelicals, New Wine

Contemplatives – Iona, Holy Island (Lindisfarne), Ignatian Spirituality, Taize