Inecclesiology, theChristian Church is what differentChristian denominations conceive of as being the true body ofChristians or the original institution established byJesus Christ.[1][2][3] "Christian Church" has also been used inacademia as a synonym forChristianity, despite the fact that it is composed of multiple churches or denominations, many of which hold a doctrinal claim of being theone true church to the exclusion of the others.[4][5][6]
TheGreek wordekklēsia, literally "called out" or "called forth" and commonly used to indicate a group of individuals called to gather for some function, in particular an assembly of the citizens of a city, as inActs 19:32–41, is theNew Testament term referring to the Christian Church (either a particularlocal group or thewhole body of the faithful). In theSeptuagint, the Greek word "ἐκκλησία" is used to translate theHebrew "קהל" (qahal). MostRomance andCeltic languages use derivations of this word, either inherited or borrowed from theLatin formecclesia.
TheEnglish language word "church" is from theOld English wordcirice orCirce, derived fromWest Germanic*kirika, which in turn comes from the Greekκυριακήkuriakē, meaning "of the Lord" (possessive form ofκύριοςkurios "ruler" or "lord").Kuriakē in the sense of "church" is most likely a shortening ofκυριακὴ οἰκίαkuriakē oikia ("house of the Lord") orἐκκλησία κυριακήekklēsia kuriakē ("congregation of the Lord").[16] Christian churches were sometimes calledκυριακόνkuriakon (adjective meaning "of the Lord") in Greek starting in the 4th century, butekklēsia andβασιλικήbasilikē were more common.[17]
Already in the 2nd century, Christians denounced teachings that they saw asheresies, especiallyGnosticism but alsoMontanism.Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of that century andIrenaeus at the end saw union with thebishops as the test of correct Christian faith. After legalization of the Church in the 4th century, the debate betweenArianism andTrinitarianism, with the emperors favouring now one side now the other, was a major controversy.[30][31]
In using the word ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia),early Christians were employing a term that, while it designated the assembly of a Greek city-state, in which only citizens could participate, was traditionally used by Greek-speakingJews to speak of Israel, the people of God,[32] and that appeared in theSeptuagint in the sense of an assembly gathered for religious reasons, often for aliturgy; in that translation ἐκκλησία stood for the Hebrew word קהל (qahal), which however it also rendered as συναγωγή (synagōgē, "synagogue"), the two Greek words being largely synonymous until Christians distinguished them more clearly.[33]
The term ἐκκλησία appears in only two verses of the Gospels, in both cases in theGospel of Matthew.[32] When Jesus says to Simon Peter, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church",[34] the church is the community instituted by Christ, but in the other passage the church is the local community to which one belongs: "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church."[35]
The term is used much more frequently in other parts of the New Testament, designating, as in the Gospel of Matthew, either an individual local community or all of them collectively. Even passages that do not use the term ἐκκλησία may refer to the church with other expressions, as in the first 14 chapters of theEpistle to the Romans, in which ἐκκλησία is totally absent but which repeatedly uses the cognate word κλήτοι (klētoi, "called").[36] The church may be referred to also through images traditionally employed in the Bible to speak of thepeople of God, such as the image of the vineyard used particularly in theGospel of John.[33]
The New Testament never uses the adjectives "catholic" or "universal" with reference to the Christian Church, but does indicate that the local communities are one church, collectively, that Christians must always seek to be in concord, as the Congregation of God, that the Gospel must extend to the ends of the earth and to allnations, that the church is open to all peoples and must not be divided, etc.[32]
The first recorded application of "catholic" or "universal" to the church is byIgnatius of Antioch in about 107 in his Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, chapter VIII: "Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."[37]
On February 27, 380, the Roman Empire officially adopted the Nicene version of Christianity asits state religion. Prior to this date,Constantius II (337–361) andValens (364–378) had personally favored Arian orSemi-Arian forms of Christianity, but Valens' successorTheodosius I supported the moreAthanasian or Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in theNicene Creed from the 1st Council of Nicaea.j
On this date, Theodosius I decreed that only the followers of Trinitarian Christianity were entitled to be referred to asCatholic Christians, while all others were to be considered to be heretics, which was considered illegal.[38] In 385, this new legal situation resulted, in the first case of many to come, in the capital punishment of a heretic, namelyPriscillian, condemned to death, with several of his followers, by a civil tribunal for the crime of magic.[39] In the centuries of state-sponsored Christianity that followed,pagans and heretical Christians were routinely persecuted by the Empire and the many kingdoms and countries that later occupied its place,[40] but someGermanic tribes remained Arian well into theMiddle Ages[41] (see alsoChristendom).
Even after thesplit of the Roman Empire the Church remained a relatively united institution (apart fromOriental Orthodoxy and some other groups which separated from the rest of the state-sanctioned Church earlier). The Church came to be a central and defining institution of the Empire, especially in the East orByzantine Empire, where Constantinople came to be seen as the center of the Christian world, owing in great part to its economic and political power.[44][45]
Once theWestern Empire fell to Germanic incursions in the5th century, the (Roman) Church became for centuries the primary link toRoman civilization for medievalWestern Europe and an important channel of influence in the West for the Eastern Roman, orByzantine, emperors. While, in the West, the so-calledorthodox Church competed against the Arian Christian and pagan faiths of the Germanic rulers and spread outside what had been the Empire to Ireland, Germany, Scandinavia, and the westernSlavs, in the East Christianity spread to the Slavs in what is nowRussia, south-central and eastern Europe.[46]
Starting in the7th century, theIslamic Caliphates rose and gradually began to conquer larger and larger areas of theChristian world.[46] ExceptingNorth Africa andmost of Spain, northern and western Europe escaped largely unscathed by Islamic expansion, in great part because richer Constantinople and its empire acted as a magnet for the onslaught.[47] The challenge presented by the Muslims would help to solidify the religious identity of eastern Christians even as it gradually weakened the Eastern Empire.[48] Even in theMuslim World, the Church survived (e.g., the modernCopts,Maronites, and others) albeit at times with great difficulty.[49][50]
The changes brought on by the Renaissance eventually led to theProtestant Reformation during which the Protestant Lutheran and the Reformed followers of Calvin, Hus, Zwingli, Melancthon, Knox, and others split from the Catholic Church. At this time, a series of non-theological disputes also led to theEnglish Reformation which led to the independence of theChurch of England. Then, during theAge of Exploration and theAge of Imperialism, Western Europe spread the Catholic Church and the Protestant churches around the world, especially in theAmericas.[52][53] These developments in turn have led to Christianity being the largest religion in the world today.[54]
The Catholic Church teaches in its doctrine that it is the original church founded by Christ on theApostles in the 1st century AD.
The encyclical ofPope Pius IX,Singulari Quidem, states: "There is only one true, holy, Catholic Church, which is the Apostolic Roman Church. There is only one See founded on Peter by the word of the Lord [...] Outside of the Church, no one can hope for life or salvation unless he is excused throughignorance beyond his control."
The papal encyclicalMystici corporis (Pope Pius XII, 1943), expresses the dogmatic ecclesiology of the Catholic Church thus: "If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ—which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church–we shall find no expression more noble, more sublime, or more divine, than the phrase which calls it 'the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ'." The Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution,Lumen gentium (1964), further declares that "the one Church of Christ which in the Creed is professed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, [...] constituted and organized in the world as a society,subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him".[55][56]
A 2007 declaration of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clarified that, in this passage, "'subsistence' means this perduring, historical continuity and the permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church, in which the Church of Christ is concretely found on this earth", and acknowledged thatgrace can be operative within religious communities separated from the Catholic Church due to some "elements of sanctification and truth" within them, but also added "Nevertheless, the word 'subsists' can only be attributed to the Catholic Church alone precisely because it refers to the mark of unity that we profess in the symbols of the faith (I believe... in the 'one' Church); and this 'one' Church subsists in the Catholic Church."[57]
The Catholic Church teaches that only corporate bodies of Christians led by bishops with valid holy orders can be recognized as "churches" in the proper sense. In Catholic documents, communities without such bishops are formally calledecclesial communities.
TheEastern Orthodox Church claims to be the original Christian Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church bases its claim primarily on its assertion that it holds to traditions and beliefs of the original Christian Church. It also claims that four out of the five sees of thePentarchy (excluding Rome) are still a part of it.
TheOriental Orthodox Churches claims to be the original Christian Church. The Oriental Orthodox churches' bases their claim primarily on its assertion that it holds to traditions and beliefs of the original Christian Church. They never adopted the theory of the Nature of God, which was formulated later than the break that followed theCouncil of Chalcedon.
The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. –Augsburg Confession[58]
TheLutheran churches traditionally hold that their tradition represents thetrue visible Church.[59] TheAugsburg Confession found within theBook of Concord, a compendium of belief of theLutheran Churches, teaches that "the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church".[60] When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession toCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1530, they believe to have "showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils".[60]
Nevertheless, the Lutheran churches teach that "there are indeed true Christians in other churches" as "other denominations also preach the Word of God, though mixed with error"; since the proclamation of the Word of God bears fruit, Lutheran theology accepts the appellation "Church" for other Christian denominations.[59]
Anglicans generally understand their tradition as a branch of the historical"Catholic Church" and as avia media ("middle way") between traditions, often Lutheranism and Reformed Christianity, or Roman Catholicism and Reformed Christianity.[61]
Reformed theology defines the Church as beinginvisible andvisible—the former includes the entirecommunion of saints and the latter is the "institution that God provides as an agency for God's saving, justifying, and sustaining activity", whichJohn Calvin referred to as "our mother".[62] The Reformedconfessions of faith emphasize "the pure teaching of the gospel (pura doctrina evangelii) and the right administration of the sacraments (recta administratio sacramentorum)" as "the two most necessary signs of the true visible church".[63]
Methodists affirm belief in "the one true Church, Apostolic and Universal", viewing their churches as constituting a "privileged branch of this true church".[65][66] With regard to the position of Methodism withinChristendom, the founder of the movement "John Wesley once noted that what God had achieved in the development of Methodism was no mere human endeavor but the work of God. As such it would be preserved by God so long as history remained."[67] Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, Wesley specifically taught that the propagation of the doctrine ofentire sanctification was the reason that God raised up the Methodists in the world.[68][64]
ManyBaptists, who uphold the doctrine ofBaptist successionism (also known asLandmarkism), "argue that their history can be traced across the centuries to New Testament times" and "claim that Baptists have represented the true church" that "has been, present in every period of history".[69][70] Walter B. Shurden, the founding executive director of the Center for Baptist Studies atMercer University, writes that the theology of Landmarkism, which he states is integral of the history of theSouthern Baptist Convention, upholds the ideas that "Only Baptist churches can trace their lineage in uninterrupted fashion back to the New Testament, and only Baptist churches therefore are true churches."[71] In addition Shurden writes that Baptists who uphold successionism believe that "only a true church-that is, a Baptist church-can legitimately celebrate the ordinances ofbaptism and theLord's Supper. Any celebration of theseordinances by non-Baptists is invalid."[70][71]
Other Baptists do not adhere to Landmarkism and thus hold a broader understanding of what constitutes the true Christian Church, e.g. theAmerican Baptist Churches (which are maintainecumenical relations with other Churches).[72]
InPentecostalism, "ecclesiology as seen through his concept of networks, where the Holy Spirit creates an openness in mission which allows for coordinated effort towards church planting and growth."[73]
Today there is a wide diversity of Christian groups, with a variety of different doctrines and traditions. These controversies between the various branches of Christianity naturally include significant differences in their respective ecclesiologies.
"Denomination" is a generic term for a distinct Christian body identified by traits such as a common name, structure, leadership, or doctrine. Individual bodies, however, may use alternative terms to describe themselves, such as "church" or "fellowship". Divisions between one group and another are defined by doctrine and church authority; issues such as thenature of Jesus, the authority ofapostolic succession,eschatology, andpapal primacy often separate one denomination from another. Groups of denominations often sharing broadly similar beliefs, practices, and historical ties are known as branches of Christianity.
Individual Christian denominations vary widely in the degree to which they recognize one another. Several claim to be the direct andsole authentic successor the church founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD. Others, however, believe in denominationalism, where some or all Christian denominations are legitimate churches of the same religion regardless of their distinguishing labels, beliefs, and practices. Because of this concept, some Christian bodies reject the term "denomination" to describe themselves, to avoid implying equivalency with other churches or denominations.[citation needed]
The Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church believe that the termone in theNicene Creed describes and prescribes avisible institutional and doctrinal unity, not only geographically throughout the world, but also historically throughout history. They see unity as one of the four marks that the Creed attributes to the genuine Church, and the essence of a mark is to be visible. A church whose identity and belief varied from country to country and from age to age would not be "one" in their estimation. As such they see themselves not as a denomination, but as pre-denominational; not as one of many faith communities, but the original and sole true Church.[citation needed]
ManyBaptist andCongregationalist theologians accept the local sense as the only valid application of the termchurch. They strongly reject the notion of a universal (catholic) church. These denominations argue that all uses of the Greek wordekklesia in the New Testament are speaking of either a particular local group or of the notion of "church" in the abstract, and never of a single, worldwide Church.[74][75]
Reformed Christians hold that every person justified by faith in the Gospel committed to the Apostles is a member of "One, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church". From this perspective, the real unity and holiness of the whole church established through the Apostles is yet to be revealed; and meanwhile, the extent and peace of the church on earth is imperfectly realized in a visible way.[citation needed]
TheLutheran Church–Missouri Synod declares that the Christian Church, properly speaking, consists only of those who have faith in the gospel (i.e., the forgiveness of sins which Christ gained for all people), even if they are in church bodies that teach error, but excluding those who do not have such faith, even if they belong to a church or hold a teaching office in it.[76]
A number of historians have noted a twentieth-century "global shift" in Christianity, from a religion largely found in Europe and the Americas to one which is found in theglobal south.[77][78][79] Described as "World Christianity" or "Global Christianity", this term attempts to convey the global nature of theChristian religion. However, the term often focuses on "non-Western Christianity" which "comprises (usually the exotic) instances of Christian faith in 'the global South', in Asia, Africa and Latin America."[80] It also includesindigenous ordiasporic forms in Western Europe and North America.[81]
^abcWeaver, Jonathan (1900).Christian Theology: A Concise and Practical View of the Cardinal Doctrines and Institutions of Christianity. United Brethren Publishing House. p. 245.There are distinctions between the general invisible church and the general visible church, which it is not necessary to carry out to the last analysis. In a sense, they are both visible. All who are members of the general invisible church are members of the general visible church. But all who are members of the general visible church are not members of the general invisible church. A clear and distinct difference between the visible and invisible church may be stated thus: (1) The general invisible church includes all out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation who are truly saved. No one denomination has in its communion all who belong to the invisible church. (2) The visible church includes all who are recognized as members of a Christian church. No one denomination can justly claim to be the general visible church.
^ab"What do Catholics believe?".Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing. Retrieved29 June 2021.We are the original Christian Church, which began when Jesus himself when he said to the Apostle Peter, "You are the rock on which I will build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it." Every pope since then has been part of an unbroken line of succession since Peter, the first pope.
^"Eastern Orthodox Church".BBC. 11 June 2008. Retrieved27 June 2021.The doctrine of the Christian Church was established over the centuries at Councils dating from as early as 325CE where the leaders from all the Christian communities were represented.
^F. L. Cross; Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds. (1997).The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-211655-X.OCLC38435185.
^McGrath, Alister E. (4 August 2016).Christian Theology: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. p. 362.ISBN978-1-118-87443-1.
^Kinsman, Frederick Joseph (1924).Americanism and Catholicism.Longman. p. 203.The one most talked about is the "Branch Theory," which assumes that the basis of unity is a valid priesthood. Given the priesthood, it is held that valid Sacraments unite in spite of schisms. Those who hold it assume that the Church is composed of Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, eastern heretics possessing undisputed Orders, and Old Catholics, Anglicans, Swedish Lutherans, Moravians, and any others who might be able to demonstrate that they had perpetuated a valid hierarchy. This is chiefly identified with High Church Anglicans and represents the survival of a seventeenth century contention against Puritans, that Anglicans were not to be classed with Continental Protestants.
^"The Church".Catholic Encyclopedia. 2020. Retrieved27 June 2021.It would appear, then, indisputable that in the earliest years of the Christian Church ecclesiastical functions were in a large measure fulfilled by men who had been specially endowed for this purpose with "charismata" of the Holy Spirit, and that as long as these gifts endured, the local ministry occupied a position of less importance and influence.
^Entry for Strong's #1577 - ἐκκλησία - StudyLight.org. Bible Lexicons - Old / New Testament Greek Lexical Dictionary. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
^Harper, Douglas (2001)."church".Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved2008-01-18.O.E.cirice "church," from W.Gmc. *kirika, from Gk.kyriake (oikia) "Lord's (house)," fromkyrios "ruler, lord."
^Harper, Douglas (2001)."church".Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved2008-01-18.Gk.kyriakon (adj.) "of the Lord" was used of houses ofChristian worship since c. 300, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense thanekklesia orbasilike.
^Donald H. Frew,Harran: Last Refuge of Classical Paganism Colorado State University Pueblo"The Virtual Pomegranate". Archived fromthe original on 2004-08-26. Retrieved2007-05-19.
^From Jesus to Christ: Maps, Archaeology, and Sources: Chronology, PBS, retrieved May 19, 2007[3]
^Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe,Christianity and the Roman Empire: Reasons for persecution, Ancient History: Romans, BBC Home, retrieved May 10, 2007[4]Archived 2009-08-25 at theWayback Machine
^Michael DiMaio, Jr., Robert Frakes,Constantius II (337-361 A.D.), De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families[5]
^Michael Hines,Constantine and the Christian State, Church History for the Masses[6]
^abcFrançois Louvel, "Naissance d'un vocabulaire chrétien" inLes Pères Apostoliques (Paris, Cerf, 2006ISBN978-2-204-06872-7), pp. 517-518
^Halsall, Paul (June 1997)."Theodosian Code XVI.i.2".Medieval Sourcebook: Banning of Other Religions. Fordham University. Archived fromthe original on 2007-02-27. Retrieved2006-11-23.
'^BYZANTINE ICONOCLASM AND POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE OF ARAB CONQUESTS – AN EMOTIONAL 'GUST, This Century's Review, retrieved May 24, 2007[11]
^The History of the Copts, California Academy of Sciences"Coptic History". Archived fromthe original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved2007-10-28., retrieved May 24, 2007
^Aristeides Papadakis, John Meyendorff,The Christian East and the Rise of the Papacy: The Church 1071-1453 A.D., St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, August 1994,ISBN0-88141-057-8,ISBN978-0-88141-057-0
^InThe Catholicity of the Church, p. 132,Avery Dulles noted that this document avoided explicitly calling the Church the "Roman" Catholic Church, replacing this term with the equivalent "which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him" and giving in a footnote a reference to two earlier documents in which the word "Roman" is used explicitly.
^abFrey, H. (1918). "Is One Church as Good as Another?".The Lutheran Witness. Vol. 37. pp. 82–83.
^abLudwig, Alan (12 September 2016). "Luther's Catholic Reformation".The Lutheran Witness.When the Lutherans presented the Augsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V in 1530, they carefully showed that each article of faith and practice was true first of all to Holy Scripture, and then also to the teaching of the church fathers and the councils and even the canon law of the Church of Rome. They boldly claim, "This is about the Sum of our Doctrine, in which, as can be seen, there is nothing that varies from the Scriptures, or from the Church Catholic, or from the Church of Rome as known from its writers" (AC XXI Conclusion 1). The underlying thesis of the Augsburg Confession is that the faith as confessed by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true catholic or universal church. In fact, it is actually the Church of Rome that has departed from the ancient faith and practice of the catholic church (see AC XXIII 13, XXVIII 72 and other places).
^Anglican and Episcopal History. Historical Society of the Episcopal Church. 2003. p. 15.Others had made similar observations, Patrick McGrath commenting that the Church of England was not a middle way between Roman Catholic and Protestant, but "between different forms of Protestantism," and William Monter describing the Church of England as "a unique style of Protestantism, a via media between the Reformed and Lutheran traditions." MacCulloch has described Cranmer as seeking a middle way between Zurich and Wittenberg but elsewhere remarks that the Church of England was "nearer Zurich and Geneva than Wittenberg.
^McKim, Donald K. (1 January 2001).The Westminster Handbook to Reformed Theology. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 34.ISBN9780664224301.
^Adhinarta, Yuzo (14 June 2012).The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Major Reformed Confessions and Catechisms of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Langham Monographs. p. 83.ISBN9781907713286.
^Davies, Rupert E.; George, A. Raymond; Rupp, Gordon (14 June 2017).A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume Three. Wipf & Stock Publishers. p. 225.ISBN9781532630507.
^McGoldrick, James Edward (1 January 1994).Baptist Successionism: A Crucial Question in Baptist History. Scarecrow Press. pp. 1–2.ISBN9780810836815.Although the two most popular textbooks used in America to teach Baptist history cite Holland and England early in the seventeenth century as the birthplace of the Baptist churches, many Baptists object vehemently and argue that their history can be traced across the centuries to New Testament times. Some Baptists deny categorically that they are Protestants and that the history of their churches is related to the success of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Those who reject the Protestant character and Reformation origins of the Baptists usually maintain a view of church history sometimes called "Baptist successionism" and claim that Baptists have represented the true church, which must be, and has been, present in every period of history. The popularity of the successionist view has been enhanced enormously by a booklet entitledThe Trail of Blood, of which thousands of copies have been distributed since it was published in 1931.
^abJohnson, Robert E. (13 September 2010).A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches. Cambridge University Press. p. 148.ISBN9781139788984.One was its belief that the Baptist Church was the only true church. Because only the Baptist Church was an authentically biblical church, all other so-called churches were merely human societies. This mean that only ordinances performed by this true church were valid. All other rites were simply rituals performed by leaders of religious societies. The Lord's Supper could correctly be administered only to members of the local congregation (closed communion). Pastors of other denominations could not be true pastors because their churches were not true churches.
^abShurden, Walter B. (1993).The Struggle for the Soul of the SBC: Moderate Responses to the Fundamentalist Movement. Mercer University Press. p. 103.ISBN9780865544246.Also, and perhaps more important for this study,The Trail of Blood should be remembered because it was one of the principal documents to support Landmarkism. No historical or doctrinal aberration, I believe, affected Southern Baptist thinking more during the nineteenth century-and still shapes Southern Baptist ecclesiology, especially in the Southwest-than that of Landmarkism. What were the teachings of J.R. Graves, J.M. Pendleton, A.C. Dayton-a dentist converted from Presbyterianism to Baptist Landmarkism-and J.M. Carroll? Briefly, proponents of Landmarkism insisted (1) There is no such entity as the "invisible church" or the "Church Universal." There are onlylocal churches. (2) Only Baptist churches bear the marks of the true New Testament church. (3) Only Baptist churches can trace their lineage in uninterrupted fashion back to the New Testament, and only Baptist churches therefore are true churches. (4) If you want to see the Kingdom of God at work, look at Baptist churches for they are the only visible signs of the Kingdom of God. In fact Landmarkism insisted, Baptist churches and the Kingdom of God are really two sides of the same coin. (5) All other so-called churches are counterfeit, imitations, or "human societies" as the Landmarkers called them, and Baptists should have no dealings whatsoever with them. (6) Finally, only a true church-that is, a Baptist church-can legitimately celebrate the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Any celebration of these ordinances by non-Baptists is invalid.
^FitzGerald, Thomas E. (30 April 2004).The Ecumenical Movement: An Introductory History. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.ISBN978-0-313-05796-0.Neither the American Baptist CHurches in the USA nor the more conservative Southern Baptist Convention have been active in Protestant union discussions. While the former is engaged in ecumenical activities, the latter has generally avoided ecumenical dialogues and associations.
Elwell, Walter; Comfort, Philip Wesley (2001).Tyndale Bible Dictionary. Tyndale House Publishers.ISBN0-8423-7089-7.
Mark Gstohl, Theological Perspectives of the Reformation,The Magisterial Reformation, retrieved May 10, 2007[15]
J. Faber,The Catholicity of the Belgic Confession, Spindle Works, The Canadian Reformed Magazine 18 (Sept. 20–27, Oct. 4–11, 18, Nov. 1, 8, 1969)-[16]
Boise State University: History of the Crusades:The Fourth Crusade[17]
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: ARTICLE 9 "I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH": 830-831[18]: Provides Catholic interpretations of the termcatholic
Kenneth D. Whitehead,Four Marks of the Church, EWTN Global Catholic Network[19]
Apostolic Succession, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001–05.[20]
Gerd Ludemann,Heretics: The Other Side of Early Christianity, Westminster John Knox Press, 1st American ed edition (August 1996),ISBN0-664-22085-1,ISBN978-0-664-22085-3
From Jesus to Christ: Maps, Archaeology, and Sources: Chronology, PBS, retrieved May 19, 2007[21]
Bannerman, James,The Church of Christ: A treatise on the nature, powers, ordinances, discipline and government of the Christian Church, Still Waters Revival Books, Edmonton, Reprint Edition May 1991, First Edition 1869.
Grudem, Wayne,Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England, 1994.
Kuiper, R.B.,The Glorious Body of Christ, The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1967
Mannion, Gerard and Mudge, Lewis (eds.),The Routledge Companion to the Christian Church, 2007
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