Principal Christian denominations in the UK since the Reformation

This page forms part of a brief outline of some of the aspects of Christianity about which some readers of AWE may want to know more. It is written in a sequence that you may want to follow. The best place to start, if you want to follow the whole course, is Principal Christian Denominations. Many users of AWE will come to this group of articles only wanting to know more about one of the denominations mentioned, or by way of links from other places. You should of course read a larger book if you are taking a serious interest in the Christian religion - our articles are the merest sketches of what is a vast array of complex ideas.

Principal Christian denominations in the UK since the Reformation. (As AWE is written primarily for studenytds in Higher Education in the British Isles, we make no apology fro the narrowness of the focus of this page.)

Since the time of the Protestant Reformation the Anglican Church (or Church of England) has been the established church in England, and until the last century has been the denomination to which the majority of the population belonged. However, since the sixteenth century other churches have been founded in the United Kingdom by those who were unable, for one reason or another, to remain within the Church of England. Of these non-conformist denominations, i.e, Protestant denominations other than the Church of England, the three principal ones are:

• the Congregational Church, which traces its origins to the ideas of a sixteenth century Anglican clergyman, Robert Browne (c1550-c1633), who believed that each congregation (i.e., each group of Christians in a particular locality) had the right to choose its own clergy independently of any oversight by a higher ecclesiastical authority (such as a bishop). In 1972 the Congregational Church in England and Wales merged with the Presbyterian Church in England to form the United Reformed Church.

• the Baptist Church, which owes its foundation to an Anglican clergyman, John Smyth (c1570-1612), who at the beginning of the seventeenth century was influenced by the views of Jacobus Arminius (Jacob Harmensen, 1560-1609), a Dutch theologian strongly opposed to John Calvin's doctrine of predestination. The first Baptist Church was built in London in 1612.

• the Methodist Church, which grew out of the activities of John Wesley (1703-1791), an Anglican (member of the Church of England) clergyman who led a revivalist movement within the Church of England. The formal break between Wesley's followers, the 'Methodists', and the Church of England occurred in 1795 after Wesley's death.

• the Church of Scotland, the established church in its own country and guaranteed independence by the Act of Union. The 'Kirk' of Scotland is a presbyterian church. It has had its own splits, and such sub-denominations as the Free Church of Scotland, the United Free Church of Scotland, the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Associated Presbyterian Churches and the Free Church of Scotland still exist.

• • The Church of Ireland is a branch of the Church of England. It operates throughout the island of Ireland; but in the Republic of Eire, by far the majority of Christians belong to the Roman Catholic church. Other denominations, chiefly presbyterian, have vigorous existence in Northern Ireland.

• • The Church in Wales (a name adopted almost accidentally rather than the favoured 'Church of Wales') is another branch of the Church of England. It was disestablished in 1920

This page is included in AWE's category:essentially contested concepts. This is designed to draw the reader's attention to the fact that there are some ideas that will always cause disagreement among the people who use them. For a fuller explanation, read the text at the head of the category.