| Ancient church | ||||||||||
| ↓ | ↓1 | ↓ | ||||||||
| Church of St Thomas (India)2 | Western church | Eastern church | ||||||||
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ||||||||
| Celtic church (Ireland, Scotland and England)3 |
Roman Catholic |
Eastern Orthodox Syrian Orthodox Russian Orthodox Greek Orthodox Serbian Orthodox Coptic Church Ethiopian Orthodox12 Nestorian Church13 |
||||||||
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | |||||||
| Roman Catholic | Anglican church4 Plymouth brethren5 Methodist church6 Salvation Army7 |
Reformation8 | ||||||||
| ↓ | ↓ | |||||||||
|
Lutherans Reformed9 Church of Scotland Presbyterian Dutch Reformed |
Anabaptists10 (Hutterites, Mennonites, Armish) Baptists11 |
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1The differences between Western and Eastern churches were at first mainly cultural, although doctrinal differences arose later.
2The church of St Thomas reportedly dated back to the apostle Thomas. When Roman Catholics took over, they destroyed all previous literature and forced most people to become Roman Catholics. Until that time it had not been part of either the eastern or western churches. A small remnant still remains as a separate denomination.
3These churches were the result of early missionary work and were quite independent until the Norman invasion, after which they became loyal to Rome.
4Henry VIII separated the English church from Rome.
5The Plymouth brethren was a reaction to the hierarchicalism of the Church of England.
6The Methodist Church was a revivalist movement led by John and Charles Wesley that grew out of the Anglican Church.
7The Salvation Army was a revivalist evangelistic movement led by William Booth that grew out of the Methodist Church.
8The Reformation was led by Martin Luther.
9John Calvin was a significant leader.
10The European Anabaptists had elements in common but were not a unified movement with a standardized set of beliefs. The Hutterites, Mennonites, and Armish are modern forms of Anabaptists.
11John Smith and Thomas Helwys brought the ideas of the the European Anabaptists to England and began the Baptist movement.
12The Ethiopian Orthodox church claims its roots go back to the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8.
13The Nestorian Church was at one stage considered heretical. It set up its base in Bagdad, became quite non-European, and spread as far as western China and Southeast Asia.