In its broadest sense, the term refers to those churches that broke away from the Church in Rome beginning in the 16th Cent Reformation. Protestantism is a rather meaningless term. Primarily, it refers to any of the beliefs of those groups that can trace their origin to that historic break with the Church in Rome, and is often used in distinction to the Roman Catholicism. In terms of specific doctrines, however, Protestants can differ from one another as widely as they do, as a whole, from Roman Catholics.
According to Diamaid MacCulloch the term
"originally related to a specific occasion, in 1529, when at the Holy Roman Empire's Diet (imperial assembly) held in the city of Speyer, the group of princes and cities who supported the programmes of reformation promoted by Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli found themselves in a voting minority: to keep their solidarity, they issued a 'Protestatio', affirming the reforming beliefs that they shared. The label 'Protestant' thereafter was part of German or imperial politics for decades, and did not have a wider reference than that. When the coronation of little King Edward VI was being organized in London in 1547, the planners putting in order the procession of dignitaries through the city appointed a place for 'the Protestants', by whom they meant the diplomatic representatives of these reforming Germans who were staying in the capital. Only rather later did the word gain a broader reference." (Reformation: Europe's House Divided)
Philip Schaff (Creeds of Christendom) sums up what consists of the essence of Protestantism:
"If it were a mere negation of popery, it would have vanished long since, leaving no wreck behind. It is constructive as well as destructive; it protests from the positive basis of the Gospel. It attacks human authority from respect for divine authority; it sets the Word of God over all the wisdom of men.
The Reformation was eminently practical in its motive and aim. It started from a question of conscience: 'How shall a sinner be justified before God?' And this is only another form of the older and broader question: 'What shall I do to be saved?' The answer given by the Reformers (German, Swiss, French, English, and Scotch), with one accord, from deep spiritual struggle and experience, was: 'By faith in the all-sufficient merits of Christ, as exhibited in the holy Scriptures.' And by faith they understood not a mere intellectual assent to the truth, or a blind submission to the outward authority of the Church, but a free obedience, a motion of the will, a trust of the heart, a personal attachment and unconditional surrender of the whole soul to Christ, as the only Saviour from sin and death. The absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Christ and his Gospel in doctrine and life, in faith and practice, is the animating principle, the beating heart of the Reformation, and the essential unity of Protestantism to this day.
Further Reading & Resources:
☰ James E. McGoldrick, "Three Principles of Protestantism," Reformation & Revival 1:1 (Winter 1992): 13-28.
☰ Tom Wells, "Reformation: A Pivotal Issue," Reformation & Revival 1:1 (Winter 1992): 29-37.
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