Denominational Divisions in the Protestant Church
Numerous divisions exist within Protestant Christianity, resulting in a plethora of individual denominations that differ based on both theological views as well as organizational ideas pertaining to the freedoms and abilities of local congregations, authority within denominations and individual churches, and the relationship between churches and secular groups. Researcher Kevin D. Dougherty and his team of scholars reveal in a relatively recent study that church and denominational divisions also result from a series of social factors in addition to theological and organizational factors. Dougherty explains that "community transitions in age structure, social class, and sexual orientation present challenges to congregations" and that "the most persistent external challenges to congregations have been demographic shifts in race and ethnicity" (669).
Religious denominations are threefold in their definition: denominations are national-level entities; they impose a structure of religious authority, such as by appointing church leaders (including pastors), setting rules for membership, and ensuring that members uphold the doctrine of the denominations; and they build and exercise a resource-based structure that focuses on outreach, such as publishing books and studies, developing religious curricula, and carrying out mission work. According to researchers John Sutton and Mark Chaves, denominational divisions, or schisms, “occur through the creation of a new nonlocal organization that successfully mobilizes the loyalty and the resources of a subset of existing congregations” (172). As a result of these schisms, numerous groups of Protestant Christians exist, each in their own unique denomination defined by differences in theological thought and organization of the church system.
Some of the most well known denominations within contemporary Protestantism include Presbyterian, Presbyterian-Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Brethren, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and Evangelical. Multiple O’Connor stories mention or allude to some of these denominations. “The Partridge Festival” directly mentions Episcopalians, and “Judgement Day” directly mentions Baptists. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” do not specifically mention a denomination, but each alludes to Methodism by referring to its founder, John Wesley. The theological views of many denominations in Protestantism overlap greatly with only subtle, infrequent discrepancies in Biblical interpretation.
Works Cited
Dougherty, Kevin D., et al. "Congregational Diversity and Attendance in a Mainline Protestant Denomination." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 54, no. 4, 2015, pp. 668-83. MLA International Bibliography, https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12229.
O'Connor, Flannery. The Complete Stories. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971.
Sutton, John R., and Mark Chaves. "Explaining Schism in American Protestant Denominations, 1890-1990." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 43, no. 2, June 2004, pp. 171-90. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1388121.