That's wholly subjective, but would've started the top of this theological genealogy tree with the ancient Canaanite religion as culprit, rather than ancient Israelite religion (which stage of said religion: ancient Canaanite Pagan-J&daism, which is just basically the syncretic Egypto-Canaanite religion but with some emphasis on El-Elyon and not building any temples or shrines in the fashion of the ancient Amorites and nomadic Aramean tribes, as well as of some pastoral Canaanite tribes used to-- Abraham style?? Yahveism?? Post-Ahab reformed Yahveism, meant to distinguish the national religion of the overrulers from the influence of ancient Idumean religion and their very similar Yahveh-like chief deity, while removing polytheistic influence from the Canaanites/Phoenicians and Phillistines??? Or rather _Post-Exilic/Second Temple period ancient Israelite Religion_ , which was heavily influenced by the international sway of proto-Hermeticism/hidden Wisdom of Thoth, pre-Hellenistic period, Babylonian religion and Zoroastrism???) . Added ancient Egypto-Kushite religion as a peripheral influence all over said culprit down to the first schism in ancient J%daism. As well as Buddhism, Dharmic religions, Egypto-Hellenistic Gymnosophism and Gnosticism to the Essenes, Gnosticism again all over varying branchs of early Christianity to post-Nicean Christianity, Arianism, medieval to modern Christian esoterism, Kabbalistic J&daism, Bahaism, and pre-schism Islam; then Egypto-Hellenistic religion, ancient Persian religions and Platonicism as influences all over early Christianity. Mithraism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonicism, Egypto-Hellenistic Soterianism (of all religions: most any traditional portrayals of Jesus in history from late Antiquity to present times are all LITERALLY based upon the portrayal of the Egypto-Hellenistic syncretic god Soterus: young, lean face of a man in his thirties with Eastern Mediterranean features, long flowing mane of hair and beard, a certain air of virile androgenity, divine figure of the Sun, basically the Son of God) and the Sol Invictus cult upon post-Nicean Christianity, influences from Greek-Roman and other pagan religions from all over the Old World on both Christianity and early Islam, then at last Egypto-Hellenistic religion, Neo-Platonicism, Sophism, Gnoticism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Yogism, Kabbalism, Hermeticism, medieval "proto-Masonism" , Arabian polytheism and Iranian religions upon Sufism and Islamic esoterism.
@@ptolemeeselenion1542 - I think you dived a little too deeply into the details here. None of it made one lick of sense. This is UA-cam, not post-graduate religious studies.
As a nonreligious person very interested in early Church history I found this video extremely useful in breaking down all the major denominations and the crucial theological divisions that separated them. I hope you continue along in this vein.
Yes, I am also irreligious, but I really like this video and also the earlier video(s) - originally several parts but later published as a single long "omnibus" video - about the Bible. It's interesting from a historical point of view, even though I don't care about religious doctrine.
Hi Matt, I hope you are going to include European Old Catholic church (Union off Utrecht). This is a Catholic alternative in Europe that is schismatic within the Catholic stream of Christianity and is significantly more liberal than those around the bishop of Rome.
Same. I got interested in early Christianity when my history of science lecturer (himself atheist, fwiw) pointed out that its theological arguments about the non-physical realm were key to developing and promoting logic, and therefore mathematics, as a legitimate means of knowing.
This series is exactly what I've spent my whole life waiting for. I grew up part of a protestant church and going to that private school but no adult could ever *really* explain to me what Christianity meant in relation to every other religion, and the history was just too muddy for a young adult to parse out on his own when I started my own digging on the internet. Thank you for this, Matt!
@christianity2052 yes, but that respect shouldn't mean we pretend there are no differences between us, it is important to realize that, it does not mean that we should hate eachother though, in fact, it should cause us to seek further information about eachother, and therefore, about God and His Church.
My public school taught the basic outlines of different denominations to explain the reasons behind various migrations, wars, social changes etc. I can't imagine European history without it!
As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I found this to be my favorite episode ever! Fair and unbiased is so painfully rare in this matter! If I've weren't a subscriber already... I would be now. Just wow... awesome work!
Yeah, only problem was he used the Creed with the Filioque in the example of the Creed, which was a little annoying given it was definitely not the original, and he also called them Patriarchies, not Patriarchates. Not really a big deal though. I can't wait to see what he does with the next part
@@lorinpartain3548 that’s fair for sure. I mean to be fair he’s a Jew so it’s not like it’s coming from an Atheist’s perspective, but he didn’t say anything wrong or leave out any major details. It could have been better and you can very much tell he is not a Christian, but he didn’t do anything wrong or malicious it seems like. My one major gripe was labeling the Father as God while trying to depict the Trinity. I thought it was really misleading especially for those who don’t understand Trinitarian theology and could easily make it appear as though the Son and the Holy Spirit are not God and are not of the exact same essence of the Father. Especially when discussing Nicene Christianity in opposition to Arianism, it’s important to stress the Divinity of the Son and the Spirit as that was kind of the whole point of the council
@@hcct The secularists never see their own bias. It's staring you right in the face just from the graphic. And things he said about early Christianity are obviously from a secular perspective. C.E. anyone? lol
I binge-watched these months ago when I started asking questions about my Christian faith. I wanted an unbiased view as I was discerning denominations, so thank you for that. After further bible study, historical research, and prayer, I am now making my way to the Catholic church God willing. God bless you!
Just have to say, love the hard pivot into religion based videos. Always love seeing people talking about things near their fields of expertise, and this has been extremely informative!
just a note: you comment on how "Tewahedo" means "unified" in Ge'ez; the use of this in the name of the Ethiopian church is actually a direct statement of faith _against_ rival competing doctrines which developed (in Ethiopia) during the 17 and 1800s - namely the _Qebat_ and _Şäga Lejoč_ interpretations. Maybe something to consider mentioning in the future; Ethiopian Christianity, while de jure under the Coptic church, has been functionally independent for many centuries and thus the host of a number of... interesting, even if relatively isolated, schisms and controversies. Actually, maybe that's something for me to get into aswell, haha.
@@hiddenhist Is it "better" that Relgion shoudl transcend national borders, or be established in countries ( but not to the extent of backing a specific regieme in war just because they are the leadership of that country against brother/comrade christians) where the church can have influence hopefully to the good within the structure of that country ?
As the son of a Catholic dad and Jewish mom I'd wish both my Christian and Jewish upbringing included all the topics you discuss such as the ones in this videos, and can't emphasise enough how much I like it and appreciate it. My recently passed away grandma who doesn't speak English loved History of Religion and we always talked about it. Since I discovered your channel I enjoyed a lot telling her the things I learn from your videos, and watching them now makes me think a lot about her.
Like you I am half and half. Although I am baptized catholic, I am just as proud to be Jewish. I always tell folks I have guilt on both sides of the family :)
@@christophersalinas2722 Judaism is more of a culture and way of life ( and identity) than it is a religion per se. I am Ashkenazi and born to Jews on both sides of my family ie Jewish by birth.
I've always been quite confused about the different churches and I've been dying for a video like this, absolutely cannot wait for the next episodes, might be my favorite series on your channel!
This video is extremely in accurate and wrong. If you want to learn it's best to hear people talk about the early church fathers because in the 1st-3rd century there was only one church, the others were heretics and weren't seen as Christian.
I can not tell you how much love I have for this channel and you Matt, and this video especially. I'm actually making this donation before I even watch it because it came up in my notifications and I've been waiting for this video for months and I know you've been working on it for months as well. Thank you so much seriously!!!! Keep doing what you're doing this is the content that I live for
@@EnthusiastCarHangar its a "thanks". If you're on your phone go right about the comments where the like bottom is. It's the button with a heart that says thanks. You might have to scroll to the right.
When clicking the button a message pops up about a contract. Rather intimidating. Especially as there is no way to see the contract. I like to support the channel but not this way. Somebody has more info?
@@bewew8156 Super thanks are basically just UA-cam's built-in mechanism of making one-time donations to a UA-cam channel, as well as making your comment with the thanks more visible. It'll probably need your credit card info and whatnot in order for the transaction to work, but it's just UA-cam. Nothing shady. Or at least nothing shadier than what's already been happening on UA-cam, depending on your view of the platform lol
Please continue this series!! As a Pennsylvania resident, I'd probably be most interested to here you talk about the Amish, Mennonites, and other anabaptist groups.
Me too, since many fundamental baptist claim apostolic succession from anabaptist. I’ve only seen evidence that Amish , Mennonite’s, puritans came from anabaptist, not fundamental baptist.
So refreshing to have interesting historical information put forth that does NOT include snide remarks or commentary that hints at an agenda or bias. Thank you and please keep up the excellent work.
I always recommend your religious videos to my friends. Your videos on this subject are some of the best on UA-cam and they deserve all the respect they deserve.
As a Jew who grew up in the Midwest (one synagogue, multiple churches who all said the others weren't 'real' Christians), the branching of Christianity as a whole is so fascinating!!! I think I'm most eager to hear about the baptists and how they split off.
I was raised southern Baptist, and I remember being taught that they don't consider themselves to be "protestants" because they supposedly trace the church's lineage all the way back to the early christians, before there was a Catholic Church.
From what I have read, Baptists are an off-shoot of Congregationalists, who themselves were/are a branch of Anglican, all originating in Britain. Two of my ancestors, Obadiah Holmes and Chad Browne, were among the founders of the Baptist Church in America, back when it was relatively Progressive. Holmes was, by the Puritans, publicly whipped in the stocks for ministering to an ill church member, who lived in Puritan held MA. Coincidentally, of his daughters, one my ancestress, the other is ancestress to Abe Lincoln, making him my 6th cousin, 6x removed. American genealogy and Religious Studies often end up being a deeper education on how things really were back in their day.
If you are curious about the history of the Baptist movement my suggestion is to read the Baptist Story by Hayken. But suffice to say Baptists see there Genesis in the early 17th century when two Congregationalist ministers who were living in Exile in the Netherlands by the name of John Smyth and Thomas Helwys became convinced of believers baptism over and opposed to infant Baptism. That being said there is a lot more that can be said. Interestingly the Congregationalist group that they formerly were associated with was what we know as the Pilgrims of Thanksgiving game.
Do study how the Catholics mass-murdered their opponents because they believed they had the authority to determine what is heresy and what is not. Also, study how Catholics adapted doctrines from pagan religions as a political strategy to win more followers. That begs the question, is Catholic a pure Christian church or a political organization.
One thing about all this is that the Religion of following Messiah was called The Way in ACTS. It is and SHOULD ALWAYS be considered the True Israel of God and not Judaism or the daughters who moved Chrisitianity away form Christ and the Apostles teaching who taught obedience to God's Law by FAITH> Not to be exploited by men to accept all the traditions of Judaism that oppose God which is called being of the Circumcision as a proselyte. Jews in Jesus day stopped following the traditions that broke God's Law that is all to follow Christ who is called Gods Word made flesh by John and they did that by faith that God forgives when they trust and repent towards the TRUTH. Most of modern Christianity actually oppose Christ's teachings. Justyn Matyr made up an early bible and taught the God of the Old Tetament was harsh and evil instead of men's hearts were hard and deceptive and didn't love God. Yeshua said the Jewish leadership made the Word of God of none effect. If you believed Moses you would believe in ME. The New Covenant was given to Israel alone by God in Ezekiel 36 : 36 -37. Gentiles who turn to God actually are grafted into Messiah to become the Israel of God to be the children promised to Abraham & also receive the fullness of the New Covenant that avails adoption into the True Root Messiah. Mat 5:17-22 tells us the law of Moses remains but has a change to the Priesthood being Melchizedek ( Christ ) whose blood offering was done in heaven and is so perfect is enabled to cleanse the conscience of a faithful person to no longer desire to SIN not that the Law of God is removed and we make up our own righteousness. Blessings.
As an Orthodox leaning christian, I believe everything about Catholics are valid except two things. The Papacy and the Filoque. During the first 1000 years there was no Papal supremacy; meaning the Patriarch of Rome (Now the pope) had no extra ordinary rights over the other Patriarchs. So why after 1000 years of functioning did the Pope, first among equals, suddenly become infalliable and change the Nicene Creed without council? This change to the creed is the Filioque, meaning "and the Son." in Latin, referring to the Holy spirit being begotten from the Father "and the Son." To me, this is a rather trivial difference but I do see how it places less importance on the Holy Spirit and makes the Son, and the Father dominant. Even if the Filioque is right, what gave the Pope extraordinary rights to change the Creed without a council first when the Pope always had particiapated in every other council before? Lastly, the Catholic Church through the various Eastern Catholic groups it controls, venerates and Canonised a few Eastern Orthodox Saints, that were born after the Schism. One of these Saints is Gregory Palamas who was vehemently opposed to the Filioque and Papal supremacy. So how then, does an Eastern Orthodox Saint, that was against the very fibre of Catholicism become venerated and Canonised by this Church unless it accepts every other Eastern Orthodox member? To me, all these contradictions can be answered by simply answering, no, they're heretical. So why would the Patriarch of Rome do such things? Because of jealousy and Geopolitical factors. I don't know too much about the details, but from what I know, due to there being only one Patriarch in Western Europe, which represented more kingdoms and people than what the east had, and four in the east, as the population of Western Christians grew and the amount of Eastern Christians stagnated, Western European kings started to feel jealous they urged the Pope to have more power.
@nuphhrffe875 you're right. There were better ways to go about the filioque. While I do believe in the filioque and the seat of Peter, I can agree to this. Pope leo(I don't remember what number) did try to avoid using the filioque, but ig it stuck. But, the filioque is true because in scripture, the Holy Spirit is also referred to as the Spirit of Christ. It does not make the Holy Spirit any lesser. And I think you forget that the pentarchy of antioch and alexandria are actually disputed between the Orientals and the Eastern. With the orientals actually being the majority in the regions. And then the eastern Catholics as well. So don't exactly think the EO owns the remaining 4 pentarchies.
My three charts (Timeline of the Bible, Writing Systems of the World, and Biblical Family Tree) came in right before Christmas and I could not be happier! They're framed and hanging in my room at this very moment. Can't wait to add this one to the collection
I hope the Eastern Catholics get at least a mention in the next video. They’re unfortunately often left out of such discussions but I think are important to always include
The Coptics quote themselves as beliving in the Catholic (as in Universal) Church ( effectively identify that all Christians are equal before God , even if Christian leadership is split)
100%! I want to see a timeline of the branching and rejoining between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, especially where the naming is not obvious. I was born Antiochian Orthodox, and my family became Catholic when I was 12. I have attended Roman Catholic churches since then, but I still feel a connection to my Eastern roots.
Isn't that crookedness on the part of the Latin church of Rome to split the Eastern churches and steal their faithfuls in a clandestine way when they were vulnerable under the Islamic rule and the heavy oppression. Out of the 24 independent churches which together form the Roman catholic church, 23 are formed like that ! I wish the Latin church gave them all their freedom and allow them to go back and join with their parent churches during the 3rd Vatican council at least if not earlier !
Well, catholicism, as a real and "codified" separate denomination, occured later down the road, so I bet they will appear when the part includes the late 11th century and foward, which I guess it would be the second or third part.
Its always so interesting to me how church groups split off due to theological points that seem so small now, but you know back then it was a huge deal. I appreciate the break down of the theology as a Christian because I feel like I identify with some of these groups that I didn't even know existed or thought were so different than my group.
So true. The example of the monophysites really highlights this. They didn't so much disagree about Christ's nature as the wording of it. Is Christ fully human and fully divine, or is he fully human and divine? Monophysites were essentially saying you can't have more than 100% of a nature and the Chalcedonian wording was illogical. Meanwhile, the Chalcedonians were saying that the Monophysite wording downplayed Christ's paradoxical nature and thus made him either less human, less divine, or both.
@@Stephen-uz8dm Yes, a lot of the schisms had their roots in people fighting for political and economic control. That's why the doctrinal differences sometimes seem so ridiculous; they're more like legal loopholes to justify a schism to gain control than they are actual differences in belief.
The theological debates of the first few centuries centered on the Nature of Christ. It seems to me that if you are going to have something called "Christianity" it would very important to understand who/what Christ is. these are hardly "so small now" and are just as "huge a deal" as they once were. the difference that the matter is settle now theologically
1. Denominations of Eastern Orthodox 2. Denominations of Roman Catholics 3. Denominations of Protestants 4. Branches of Judaism too Definitely looking forward to them all, great insight Matt, Syawish & Ali.
Outstanding. Your brief asides are particularly excellent, both informative & reassuring, sort of like telling a driver that there’ll be a left turn in two miles. It tells them what’s coming and confirms that they’re on course. Looking forward to the next one!
Growing up in a catholic school I was taught that the Roman Catholic Church was the one true faith for pretty obvious reasons. Aside from two classes I missed in a public university, units in 7th and 8th grade that I’ve almost completely forgotten, and a few pages of my 12th grade theology book that weren’t even covered in class, this is my first look at the overall structure and history of Christianity and it is absolutely fascinating.
*Ignatius of Antioch* “Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains [i.e., a presbyter]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” _(Letter to the Smyrneans_ 8:2 [A.D. 110]). *The Martyrdom of Polycarp* “And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled” _(Martyrdom of Polycarp_ 16:2 [A.D. 155]). *The Muratorian Canon* “Besides these [letters of Paul] there is one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in affection and love, but nevertheless regarded as holy in the Catholic Church, in the ordering of churchly discipline. There is also one [letter] to the Laodiceans and another to the Alexandrians, forged under the name of Paul, in regard to the heresy of Marcion, and there are several others which cannot be received by the Church, for it is not suitable that gall be mixed with honey. The epistle of Jude, indeed, and the two ascribed to John are received by the Catholic Church (Muratorian fragment [A.D. 177]). *Tertullian* “Where was [the heretic] Marcion, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago-in the reign of Antonius for the most part-and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherius, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled” _(Demurrer Against the Heretics_ 30 [A.D. 200]). *Cyprian of Carthage* “You ought to know, then, that the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishops; and if someone is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church. They vainly flatter themselves who creep up, not having peace with the priest of God, believing that they are secretly in communion with certain individuals. For the Church, which is one and catholic, is not split or divided, but is indeed united and joined by the cement of priests who adhere to one another” _(Letters_ 66[67]:8 [A.D. 253]). *Council of Nicaea I* “But those who say: ‘There was [a time] when he [the Son] was not,’ and ‘before he was born, he was not,’ and ‘because he was made from non-existing matter, he is either of another substance or essence,’ and those who call ‘God the Son of God changeable and mutable,’ these the Catholic Church anathematizes” _(Appendix to the Creed of Nicaea_ [A.D. 325]). “Concerning those who call themselves Cathari [Novatians], that is, ‘the Clean,’ if at any time they come to the Catholic Church, it has been decided by the holy and great council that, provided they receive the imposition of hands, they remain among the clergy. However, because they are accepting and following the doctrines of the catholic and apostolic Church, it is fitting that they acknowledge this in writing before all; that is, both that they communicate with the twice married and with those who have lapsed during a persecution” (Canon 8). *Cyril of Jerusalem* “[The Church] is called catholic, then, because it extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly, and because it brings every race of men into subjection to godliness, governors and governed, learned and unlearned, and because it universally treats and heals every class of sins, those committed with the soul and those with the body, and it possesses within itself every conceivable form of virtue, in deeds and in words and in the spiritual gifts of every description” _(Catechetical Lectures_ 18:23 [A.D. 350]). “And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is-for the others, sects of the impious, attempt to call their dens ‘houses of the Lord’-nor ask merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiar to this holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God” (ibid., 18:26). *The Apostles’ Creed* “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen” _(Apostles’ Creed_ [A.D. 360 version, the first to include the term “Catholic”] *Council of Constantinople I* “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets; in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” _(Nicene Creed_ [A.D. 381]). “Those who embrace orthodoxy and join the number of those who are being saved from the heretics, we receive in the following regular and customary manner: Arians, Macedonians, Sabbatians, Novatians, those who call themselves Cathars and Aristeri, Quartodecimians or Tetradites, Apollinarians- these we receive when they hand in statements and anathematize every heresy which is not of the same mind as the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of God” (Canon 7). *Augustine* “We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is catholic and which is called catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless they distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard” _(The True Religion_ 7:12 [A.D. 390]). “We believe in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church; for heretics and schismatics call their own congregations churches. But heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God, and not schismatics, because the Church loves neighbor” _(Faith and Creed_ 10:21 [A.D. 393]). “If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, ‘I do not believe’? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so” (ibid., 5:6). “[T]here are many other things which most properly can keep me in her [the Catholic Church’s] bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15-17], up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called ‘Catholic,’ when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house” _(Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation”_ 4:5 [A.D. 397]). *Vincent of Lerins* “I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical depravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect: that whether I or anyone else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they arise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways: first, by the authority of the divine law [Scripture], and then by the tradition of the Catholic Church. But here some one perhaps will ask, ‘Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it the authority of the Church’s interpretation?’ For this reason: Because, owing to the depth of holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, another in another, so that it seems to be capable of as many interpretations as there are men. . . . Therefore, it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such various errors, that the rule for the right understanding of the prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance with the standard of ecclesiastical and catholic interpretation” _(The Notebooks_ 2:1-2 [A.D. 434]). *Council of Chalcedon* “Since in certain provinces readers and cantors have been allowed to marry, this sacred synod decrees that none of them is permitted to marry a wife of heterodox views. If those thus married have already had children, and if they have already had the children baptized among heretics, they are to bring them into the communion of the Catholic Church” (Canon 14 [A.D. 451]).
The Catholic Church has some other branches that are not within the purview of this video ("Eastern Catholic Churches") that are in full communion but are not "Roman", however together they are the one Church, the same one founded on the Apostles by Jesus and continuing in Apostolic Succession. Catholic is from a Greek word meaning universal, Jesus founded one Church for the whole world, a visible unity, to bear witness to the one Truth. The Church is Jesus' Body and He has one Body only. There CANNOT be more than one Body of Christ. But a correlate of all this is that the various divisions cleaving us apart really matter. Jesus prayed after the the Last Supper that we may all be one. We have to love those we are separated from and seek unity in Christ.
The Catholic Church can show a historical succession of bishops in Rome since the times of Simon Peter. In fact that St Peter's Cathedral was built right on top of Peter's tomb and archeological excavations showed this in the 40s but especially in 1965 when the bones of St Peter were identified. None of this video's other so-called "branches" can claim this.
One interesting side note you didn't mention about the Nestorians is that they established a somewhat successful branch in China, starting in the 7th century and survived all the way to the 14th century before fading away
I remember reading about ancient Chinese Nestorian Tombs! Nowadays It seems the only official form of Christianity in the country is the Chinese Parti Catholic church's which is mostly Catholicism with slight differences and an emphasis on not having to answer or be relegated to the Vatican. I wonder if Nestorian Chinese Christianity managed to hide like the Kirishtans of Japan under different eras and kept a fringe church active or if people grew back to It...
Love this!!! Studied the history of the Christian church in college and have remained very fascinated/interested ever since. I appreciate how you're assembling, organizing, and presenting. Thank you! Looking forward to the rest of the series.
You have no idea how long I've been looking forward to this series. I'm most interested in seeing you cover the Baptists since their history is pretty complicated, even for Protestants. It might take an entire episode just to cover all the different types of Baptists! However, I also hope you mention my own former denomination, the Church of the Nazarene. It's a fairly small denomination that isn't very different from Methodists theologically, but it has its own distinct culture that sets it apart.
You might like the channel Ready To Harvest. He also does a great job of remaining unbiased and objective in his videos about different Christian sects
I want to know more about the Baptists as well. I used to be one. I was led to believe they came from Anabaptists, but I've since been told they came from the Puritans, which makes sense tbh... I'd like to get clarification on that.
You are such a good educator! Easy to follow but not shallow. Of course things are more complex but this is the such a great introduction to this history. I especially liked the background in Judaism and various sources and influences. One point (which may come up later): your copy of of the Nicene Creed includes the words, "...and the son", the so-called "Filioque" which was not part of the original creedal text but added in the West later, with much controversy. This was used on both sides as arguments against the other. It is amazing how much trouble, and later bloodshed, can come about with the addition or subtraction of a word or two.
It's great to finally have a clear relationship chart for all of this, I've been trying to look it up on my own and sources are difficult to compile. Thanks !
Thank you !!! I remember discovering the history of different Christians as a freshman in college and it shook my world along with many other discoveries. I've never been the same.
This looks like it's shaping up to be a great series. I'm not sure how granular you're going to get, but I'm looking forward to the various Charismatic and Evangelical breakdown.
For the sake of honesty and brevity, if I were him, I would just refer to them as the Great Apostacy referred to in 2 Thessalonica 2: 1 - 12. Where does one even begin to give an overview of the heresies, false teachings, insanity, and glorification of man and self as taught in these movements?
@@stephanterblanche4597 The problem is, _all_ denominations label _the other_ denominations as heretical. Also, the point of this tree is not about "which denomination exists," but rather, is meant to be a genetic tree for denominations: where did each denomination come from, and why?
@angelmendez-rivera351 every denomination starts out because it deviates, through reinterpretation of, adding to or removing from the original teaching (orthodoxy). That deviation is referred to as a heresy. This tree is exactly about which denominations exist, where they come from and why they exist. 😂
@@stephanterblanche4597 That doesn't address my point at all in the slightest, but I don't care enough to try to have a conversation with you, since it's clearly that you lack the capacity to overcome your bias and be objective here. Bye.
@@stephanterblanche4597 It's really interesting considering what I think you might be getting at. If we accept your principle that only the original teaching is valid and adding or removing from it is deviation and heresy, I am assuming you are Jewish? You wrote that deviation and heresy "starts out because it deviates, through reinterpretation of, adding to or removing from the original teaching...". This does appear to be what Christianity is compared to its roots in Judaism, similar to how Islam appears to be compared to Christianity, etc. I'm curious how you think of this. Thoughts?
This is soooo great. I learned so many new things, especially the existence of many popes. That was an eye-opener. Thank you for your contribution of your personal time in order to facilitate the development of these treasures. Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated.
Oh, this is amazing! It is so detailed, yet so clear. It already helped me systematise some things I was a bit lost about. This series is going to be awesome. BTW, I kinda hope to see the Polish Brethren somewhere on this tree, among the minor historical Protestant denominations. They were basically an early variety of Unitarians, derogatory labeled "Arians" that arose in Poland-Lithuania and, for a time, gained some relative prominence. I find them very interesting.
This is so interesting to me! I was raised in a home with Methodists, and I currently practice as an omnist. I love getting to learn where religions have come from and how they are connected. Thank you for your hard work!
As an ordained PC(USA) pastor, I've very interested to see the relationship laid out between the Luther-based Protestants and the Reformed-based Protestants. This episode was a nice trip down my first church history class in seminary! I'll definitely want to buy this chart whenever it is done!
YES THANK YOU MATT!! If you have it in you after this project you should totally do a family tree of the Buddhist schools as well. I've noticed a distinct lack of a decent version of that particular chart on the internet.
@@king_halcyon Hinduism might be a bit too fluid to visualize like this, but Buddhism and its development is pretty well-demarcated and documented from c. 200 BCE onwards.
I grew up in a "Word of Faith" megachurch and the story of how Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity started in the Azusa Street revival and turned into a global trans-denominational phenomenon is a really interesting one. I've seen somewhere that 1/4 Christians about 300 million are charismatic. Can't wait till you get to that part.
I tend to feel that Pentecostal and related charismatic churches have evolved into their own branch of Christianity that is distinct and largely separate from Protestantism. As an interested observer who is not terribly religious, I'm curious about how theologians see that concept.
@@Dave_Sisson It is also interesting how the "Revival" was about the same kind of time as the likes of the Welsh Revival/s (mainly , but not exclusively Methodism / Ebenezer Baptist ) and a lot of "Christian Mission" outworking to the urban and rural "poor masses" that the established churches had excluded
Thanks for this. I have a BA in religion (1978), and this was one of the most useful educations in the development of early Christianity. I have seen the other videos, but should have watched this one first.
I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for the valuable content that you create on your UA-cam channel, "Useful Charts". Your charts and data visualizations are incredibly informative and make it easy to understand complex information. I have found your videos to be incredibly helpful in my own research and understanding of various topics. Thank you for all the hard work and dedication you put into creating such high-quality content. Your efforts are truly appreciated. Peter- Panayotis
Man, this is fascinating stuff! I love seeing the diversity and complexity within Christianity that you don't really understand when you were born and raised atheist. Extremely interesting history. Keep it up!
What mostly are BS. According to Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism), God in fact has at least seven or eight avatars (take a mind number is symbolical and they are refereed by different names by various sources, so I also skip that part). Anyway it is why God say "we create" in the Bible, as those seven spirits around God's throne say that. But there is also eighth one (the man or animal sitting on the throne), who is one called by Christians God the Father and by Jews Metatron (King of Angels). He is equal to other spirits what operate as sort of hive mind, but he represent aspects of personality and so may take specific personas in contact with other angels. Over time he take role of voice of God (take a note that God himself is separated from creation as direct contact would uncreate it), but they all should be considered as the same God. But the quite important bit is that this aspect of the God can take different personas and in fact there are two other Archangels (as Princes of Heavens) who answer directly to God. Quite fun fact. Kabbalah has in fact concept of Trinity! When Metatron rule the heaven and his word is the law. His "twin brother" Sandelphon (possibly also known as Abbadon, though name is mistakenly confused with demon) is one who rule the Shaol (underworld), including material realm. It is wild realm of creation and destruction. Angels are prohibited to enter for safety reasons (place is inhabited by eldritch elemental angels usually refereed as Living Beasts), but not actually prevented (place also don't fallow the usual law). In fact he is what is known as Holly Spirit, a direct representation of God in the creation if not the material creation itself. The third one is Raziel Helal, Archangel of Wisdom, who was originally believed regular Archangel, until conflict with Satan (who for reminder is Prosecutor figure, not actually fallen) reveal him as God's persona. He was one who descent into material realm to bring fallen humanity to God and then comeback (yes, the Christ). In fact several times. Man known as Enoch (Noah Grandfather) was believed to be him and become later Metatron. Anyway though technically we do have God himself, who then present himself as Spirits of God's throne, of who one present himself as the Trinity of Archangels. Those are still the same being and arguing who is more important make no sense. In fact opposite order of "creation" make most sense. Holly Spirit always exist as part of the material world (most likely formless), then the same spirit take position of "regular" Archangel (in animal form) and then finally take form of a man who recto actively represent him, as member of Spirits/Lights of the God. Anyway. Arguing over the order is pointless. At least Satan has legit point to question someone claiming to be a God.
I'm always so happy to see the comment section of these videos. I feel like each video is a great launching point for deeper understanding of faith traditions and occasionally those who aren't believers. So excited to see the connection of your previous faith and the "2nd Great awakening". All the blessings!
As a Christian I really appreciate your work and desire not to show bias. I can’t wait to buy this chart once it’s available. Appreciate your take on this!
I’m a Christian, Episcopalian to be exact. We are a pretty modernist oriented church overall, so I find this fascinating. I make sense of it all through divine revelation over time, so again, this history is all very interesting to me, and I can make use of it spiritually too. So thanks :)
I have been a huge fan of UsefulCharts for a few years now and find myself resorting to your videos for fact checking on anything to do with history. I have always been curious regarding the origins and reasonings behind the many branches, denominations, and sects within Christianity. You sir once again have answered my curiosity with this series on Christianity. Wonderful explanation. Thank you for your amazing work...Cheers !!.
I can't wait for the full chart! This is such a cool topic and I'm excited to see all the branching of both Protestant and Catholic (both Roman and Orthodox) churches. It always looks like such a mess when I've seen other charts of it, so I'm really excited to see how you organize it cleanly.
@George Kalogeras while North Americans dont consider Orthodox and Roman Catholic to be related, many Orthodox Christians internationally would call themselves Catholics and believe themselves to be the true decendents from the church established by Peter. Additionally, despite many differences, Orthodox and Roman Catholics share more similarities than than Roman Catholics and Protestants.
@@kuklaboy no, based in 5 cities, Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Furthermore they both also use Catholic as their official names, to avoid confusion one is called Catholic and one is called Orthodox but in reality they both claim their name to be "The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" catholic meaning universal.
Very good i am local people in Thailand only 2% Christian (catholic + protestant) 70 million population I use home for church now as early church. So good to know the time line.
Love this one. Loved the previous bible ones. Currently studying theology, of which this semester is Church History so we did this last few weeks and now onto the UK (where we're based). Nice watching and having it kicking in my memory 😀 always a great affirmation
Very excited for this series! Hope you give some love to the non-Roman Catholic Churches. There’s 22 other distinct Churches outside of the Roman rite!
I am really excited for this series. I was raised Roman Catholic and have always been fascinated by the divisions of Christianity. I also liked that you mentioned in early times there were people who believed in one god but did not dismiss the possible existence of other gods/religions. That is something I always felt personally.
I have found this most interesting thus far. I was completely unaware of the Oriental Eastern churches and Miephysical churches. Thank you I look forward to seeing the other videos in the series.
Hell yes I love your videos on the development of both Judaism and Christianity! The "Who Wrote the Bible" series had quite a lot of that which I really enjoyed.
As a Muslim, I find Christian mystics like Neville Goddard and William Blake very very fascinating! Their writings are mind-blowing and pretty much changed my views on 'God' and the meaning life entirely, they also really inspired me to look into the scripture!
Oh man, this is terrific!! REALLY looking fForward to this series!! Thank you so much! I will absolutely be buying the completed chart when it goes up fFor sale!!!
Thanks so much for doing this, Matt! As a non-Christian, I have a lot of trouble understanding the differences between Christian denominations. I'm looking forward to Episode 3. Hopefully this series will help me understand my Christian friends' point of view. 😊
@@lafcursiax Exactly. If they even care. It's difficult to imagine that more than a tiny fraction of christians arrived at their current denomination through a thorough examination of the various competing theological distinctions and minutiae. A vanishingly-small few would have a strong opinion on the difference in wording between "fully human and fully divine" vs "fully human and divine". People are, for the most part, in the denominations of their parents, or their friends, or a group that felt welcoming.
A series about the development of religions? A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one! I do hope that you will end up going back and making a similar series about Rabbinic Judaism (Maybe invite Sam Aronow again to host that one?) You could even combine the Christian chart, Jewish chart the Islamic branches chart you covered in a video last October into a unified mega-chart of the Abrahamic Religions family!
Head Spins. Looking forward to see you try to chart the *Millerite* branches after the "Great Disappointment"... The bloom of *Adventism* from the Presbyterian / Episcopal / Evangelism of the 19th Century is going to be epic. I cannot wait to see how you begin to unpack all that. LDS, SDA, JW... I'm a SDA member myself and I would love to know how my church fits into all this, let's face it, mess!
@@UsefulCharts Then I shall expect something especially magnificent. Perhaps a chart the churches themselves can use, and Wikipedia too! Anticipation I am.
This has been the most detailed history I have seen personally of the origins and divisions of the Christian denominations. Fascinating and very well crafted. Thank you!
grew up catholic, dropped out at 14, then searched on my own, now belong to episcopal church but not practicing. I had no idea there were still so many splinter groups - wrongly thinking orthodox were just that, one group! What an interesting story. Thank you so very much. Now I want to learn more about all these different groups (saw some of the weird ethiopian churches in rocks and dug out of the ground but no info on their beliefs)
This is so cool! I've been needing this resource and explanation for decades, wondering about the evolution of Christianity and how all the different sects came to be formed.
Nice idea for a series. I am most looking forward to the episode(s) about Protestant denominations. It's by far the most complex, the most confusing, and maybe the most consequential. I don't know what direction you want to take it, but if you cover the interaction between the early protestant movements, mainly Lutheran, Reformed, and those that trace back to the Radical Reformation, I'd be interested to hear what you have to say about that.
Extremely satisfying and informative. I thought I knew almost everything there was to know about the history of Christianity, but you have added so much to my meagre store.
This might not be popular, but could you do a chart on the Thomas Christians of Kerala? I think there is a convoluted/fractured tree and an interesting history surrounding it.
Go to a channel called Islamic Origins. Look up Odin Lafontaine + Islamic Origins(Christian Channel). He was a guest speaker and just did a huge research about the connections and the aramaic oral tradition of Christianity... China, India etc.. ... Its very fascinating! Ther 2 videos with him from last couple weeks or so...
Yeah I was going to comment the same. Itd be interesting to see the early differing starting point, the connection to the church later, and then further splits. Since its still a large and active sect
As an agnostic since the age of 4, I found this presentation enthralling! Religion has always fascinated me and I truly appreciate the deep dive you provide here. I'm greatly looking forward to the next installment. Thank you!!
Thanks for this series, Matt. I'm finding it interesting. I love how you can step back and objectively looks at these religions, even the one you practice. As for which I'm looking forward to? I think the ones I don't know about are the ones that interest me the most. keep up the nice work!
I am absolutely loving this already. Great covering of the early church. I'm excited to see the next episode. Seriously great job of keeping everything academic when this topic can get so heated. I also appreciate you mentioning how your personal faith impacted the writing and recording of the episode. Looking forward to the next episode. :D
Wow, this was incredibly interesting and clarifying! I remember when I was a kid (in Italy), people like Sadducees, Zealots and Pharisees were just presented to us as "the baddies", without much of an explanation.
I've been so excited for this video! This kind of thing fascinates me. I hope you mention Unitarian Universalism in the video on protestants, that's the religion I grew up in and its interesting that while it was born out of two Christian denominations, it's not really Christian anymore. In a similar vein, I'm interested to hear more about trinitarianism vs nontrinitarian branches of Christianity, and where some more unusual groups fall in, like Mormons.
@@Masahanate-777 yes, but I don't think it can be denied that they have ties to Christianity, and it would be interesting to see where they fall in this tree.
@@Masahanate-777, in many ways a number of those religions should be a dotted line from Arianism and other earlier forms of Christianity that died out. They may have been initially split from trinitarian Christianity, but they utterly reject core doctrines in their attempt to "restore" the early Church. There are a whole group of religions (Universal Unitarian, Oneness Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist, LDS, et cetera) that claim Christian patrimony but embrace heresies that were rejected by the early church. They may have a veneer of Christianity but, as you say, they are a different religion.
Looking forward to viewing the rest of the series! I am particularly interested in your take of the so-called "Restoration Movement" in the late 1700's through 1800's.
What an insight of how various religious groups evolved. This is thru historical evidences collected, compilation, verified by religious leaders. I'm looking forward for expanded Roman Catholic religion.
I am definitely interested in the inclusion of anabaptist movements (I think they get referred to as Armenianism?) since they often get left our of Catholic vs Protestant discussions. I’m also curious whether your tree will delve into other extinct movements such as the Cathars.
Armenians are from Armenia, near Turkey; the term is Arminians, which refers to followers of Jakob Arminius who argued against the more extreme forms of Calvinism, such as the idea that some are appointed to salvation and others to condemnation since the beginning of the creation, and that Christ's death is effective only for those already chosen to be saved. While the Anabaptists (a very mixed group) probably sided with Arminius, as did the early General Baptists, they are probably more "pre -Calvinist" than "anti-Calvinist"; that is, they arose at times and in places where Calvinism wasn't well known.
Funny trivia about the Council of Nicaea. St. Nicolas, the guy who would later be associated with Santa Claus, was a Nicaean Bishop attending the council. He got in an argument with one of the Arians, and it got so heated that St. Nick decked the other guy.
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That's wholly subjective, but would've started the top of this theological genealogy tree with the ancient Canaanite religion as culprit, rather than ancient Israelite religion (which stage of said religion: ancient Canaanite Pagan-J&daism, which is just basically the syncretic Egypto-Canaanite religion but with some emphasis on El-Elyon and not building any temples or shrines in the fashion of the ancient Amorites and nomadic Aramean tribes, as well as of some pastoral Canaanite tribes used to-- Abraham style?? Yahveism?? Post-Ahab reformed Yahveism, meant to distinguish the national religion of the overrulers from the influence of ancient Idumean religion and their very similar Yahveh-like chief deity, while removing polytheistic influence from the Canaanites/Phoenicians and Phillistines??? Or rather _Post-Exilic/Second Temple period ancient Israelite Religion_ , which was heavily influenced by the international sway of proto-Hermeticism/hidden Wisdom of Thoth, pre-Hellenistic period, Babylonian religion and Zoroastrism???) .
Added ancient Egypto-Kushite religion as a peripheral influence all over said culprit down to the first schism in ancient J%daism. As well as Buddhism, Dharmic religions, Egypto-Hellenistic Gymnosophism and Gnosticism to the Essenes, Gnosticism again all over varying branchs of early Christianity to post-Nicean Christianity, Arianism, medieval to modern Christian esoterism, Kabbalistic J&daism, Bahaism, and pre-schism Islam; then Egypto-Hellenistic religion, ancient Persian religions and Platonicism as influences all over early Christianity. Mithraism, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonicism, Egypto-Hellenistic Soterianism (of all religions: most any traditional portrayals of Jesus in history from late Antiquity to present times are all LITERALLY based upon the portrayal of the Egypto-Hellenistic syncretic god Soterus: young, lean face of a man in his thirties with Eastern Mediterranean features, long flowing mane of hair and beard, a certain air of virile androgenity, divine figure of the Sun, basically the Son of God) and the Sol Invictus cult upon post-Nicean Christianity, influences from Greek-Roman and other pagan religions from all over the Old World on both Christianity and early Islam, then at last Egypto-Hellenistic religion, Neo-Platonicism, Sophism, Gnoticism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Yogism, Kabbalism, Hermeticism, medieval "proto-Masonism" , Arabian polytheism and Iranian religions upon Sufism and Islamic esoterism.
@@ptolemeeselenion1542 - I think you dived a little too deeply into the details here. None of it made one lick of sense. This is UA-cam, not post-graduate religious studies.
@@wickedcabinboy If you say so. I think this matters.
Does Ma Baker from Chicago also belong to house Atrastehuele? 😂
I know that you discontinued the lineage of Arian Christians, but id posit to say Jehovah's Witnesses have trace Arianistic views.
As a nonreligious person very interested in early Church history I found this video extremely useful in breaking down all the major denominations and the crucial theological divisions that separated them. I hope you continue along in this vein.
Couple of simple Penguin Books on The Early Christian Church, and The Early Christian Martyrs.
Yes, I am also irreligious, but I really like this video and also the earlier video(s) - originally several parts but later published as a single long "omnibus" video - about the Bible. It's interesting from a historical point of view, even though I don't care about religious doctrine.
Same here....
Hi Matt, I hope you are going to include European Old Catholic church (Union off Utrecht). This is a Catholic alternative in Europe that is schismatic within the Catholic stream of Christianity and is significantly more liberal than those around the bishop of Rome.
Same. I got interested in early Christianity when my history of science lecturer (himself atheist, fwiw) pointed out that its theological arguments about the non-physical realm were key to developing and promoting logic, and therefore mathematics, as a legitimate means of knowing.
I bought my Wife your language family tree for Christmas and it is now up in her 9th grade English classroom.
She enjoyed it very much!
That's such a great idea!
Do you mean the Writing Systems of the World chart?
I didn't know Matt had a language family tree. Do you mean the alphabet one?
What a waste if maybe you could gift her a nice dress
@@RachaelWillahhh a part of human history such a waste ahhh
This series is exactly what I've spent my whole life waiting for. I grew up part of a protestant church and going to that private school but no adult could ever *really* explain to me what Christianity meant in relation to every other religion, and the history was just too muddy for a young adult to parse out on his own when I started my own digging on the internet. Thank you for this, Matt!
I was a protestant and am now Orthodox, I pray that God guides you wherever you may go ☦️❤️
@@randomguy1453 but Protestantism is also Good we should respect eachother✝️❤️☦️
@christianity2052 yes, but that respect shouldn't mean we pretend there are no differences between us, it is important to realize that, it does not mean that we should hate eachother though, in fact, it should cause us to seek further information about eachother, and therefore, about God and His Church.
You would probably love the channel religion for breakfast! He is a religious scholar who breaks down various religious histories
My public school taught the basic outlines of different denominations to explain the reasons behind various migrations, wars, social changes etc. I can't imagine European history without it!
It is way too rare to find someone that is chill about religions other than their own. Thank you, UsefulCharts
I thought so too
As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I found this to be my favorite episode ever! Fair and unbiased is so painfully rare in this matter! If I've weren't a subscriber already... I would be now.
Just wow... awesome work!
Yeah, only problem was he used the Creed with the Filioque in the example of the Creed, which was a little annoying given it was definitely not the original, and he also called them Patriarchies, not Patriarchates. Not really a big deal though. I can't wait to see what he does with the next part
@@nicoallison9228 I would not characterize this as "unbiased". The secular bias here is evident.
@@lorinpartain3548 that’s fair for sure. I mean to be fair he’s a Jew so it’s not like it’s coming from an Atheist’s perspective, but he didn’t say anything wrong or leave out any major details. It could have been better and you can very much tell he is not a Christian, but he didn’t do anything wrong or malicious it seems like. My one major gripe was labeling the Father as God while trying to depict the Trinity. I thought it was really misleading especially for those who don’t understand Trinitarian theology and could easily make it appear as though the Son and the Holy Spirit are not God and are not of the exact same essence of the Father. Especially when discussing Nicene Christianity in opposition to Arianism, it’s important to stress the Divinity of the Son and the Spirit as that was kind of the whole point of the council
@@lorinpartain3548 secular bias how? Because he isn't picking a side? I'm not sure I get the criticism.
@@hcct The secularists never see their own bias. It's staring you right in the face just from the graphic. And things he said about early Christianity are obviously from a secular perspective. C.E. anyone? lol
I binge-watched these months ago when I started asking questions about my Christian faith. I wanted an unbiased view as I was discerning denominations, so thank you for that. After further bible study, historical research, and prayer, I am now making my way to the Catholic church God willing.
God bless you!
Just have to say, love the hard pivot into religion based videos. Always love seeing people talking about things near their fields of expertise, and this has been extremely informative!
just a note: you comment on how "Tewahedo" means "unified" in Ge'ez; the use of this in the name of the Ethiopian church is actually a direct statement of faith _against_ rival competing doctrines which developed (in Ethiopia) during the 17 and 1800s - namely the _Qebat_ and _Şäga Lejoč_ interpretations. Maybe something to consider mentioning in the future; Ethiopian Christianity, while de jure under the Coptic church, has been functionally independent for many centuries and thus the host of a number of... interesting, even if relatively isolated, schisms and controversies. Actually, maybe that's something for me to get into aswell, haha.
You should totally do a video on it! I'd definitely point people your way.
@@hiddenhist Is it "better" that Relgion shoudl transcend national borders, or be established in countries ( but not to the extent of backing a specific regieme in war just because they are the leadership of that country against brother/comrade christians) where the church can have influence hopefully to the good within the structure of that country ?
@@hiddenhist Are these the group that preserved the book of Enoch? I was trying to figure out where that line goes in this chart.
As the son of a Catholic dad and Jewish mom I'd wish both my Christian and Jewish upbringing included all the topics you discuss such as the ones in this videos, and can't emphasise enough how much I like it and appreciate it. My recently passed away grandma who doesn't speak English loved History of Religion and we always talked about it. Since I discovered your channel I enjoyed a lot telling her the things I learn from your videos, and watching them now makes me think a lot about her.
Like you I am half and half. Although I am baptized catholic, I am just as proud to be Jewish. I always tell folks I have guilt on both sides of the family :)
@@TheRicsilver48 are you religiously Jewish?
@@christophersalinas2722 no, to the extent I practice anything, it's as catholic. My Jewishness is more cultural.
@@TheRicsilver48 Can you explain cultural Judaism is to me?
@@christophersalinas2722 Judaism is more of a culture and way of life ( and identity) than it is a religion per se. I am Ashkenazi and born to Jews on both sides of my family ie Jewish by birth.
I've always been quite confused about the different churches and I've been dying for a video like this, absolutely cannot wait for the next episodes, might be my favorite series on your channel!
This video is extremely in accurate and wrong. If you want to learn it's best to hear people talk about the early church fathers because in the 1st-3rd century there was only one church, the others were heretics and weren't seen as Christian.
I can not tell you how much love I have for this channel and you Matt, and this video especially. I'm actually making this donation before I even watch it because it came up in my notifications and I've been waiting for this video for months and I know you've been working on it for months as well. Thank you so much seriously!!!! Keep doing what you're doing this is the content that I live for
How does the money thing work?
@@EnthusiastCarHangar its a "thanks". If you're on your phone go right about the comments where the like bottom is. It's the button with a heart that says thanks. You might have to scroll to the right.
Thank you so much!
When clicking the button a message pops up about a contract. Rather intimidating. Especially as there is no way to see the contract. I like to support the channel but not this way. Somebody has more info?
@@bewew8156 Super thanks are basically just UA-cam's built-in mechanism of making one-time donations to a UA-cam channel, as well as making your comment with the thanks more visible. It'll probably need your credit card info and whatnot in order for the transaction to work, but it's just UA-cam. Nothing shady. Or at least nothing shadier than what's already been happening on UA-cam, depending on your view of the platform lol
Please continue this series!! As a Pennsylvania resident, I'd probably be most interested to here you talk about the Amish, Mennonites, and other anabaptist groups.
100% agree with this - I also live in the general area, and want to know more about the Amish & Mennonites.
Agree. Anabaptist. Please include Quakers too.
Me too, since many fundamental baptist claim apostolic succession from anabaptist. I’ve only seen evidence that Amish , Mennonite’s, puritans came from anabaptist, not fundamental baptist.
So refreshing to have interesting historical information put forth that does NOT include snide remarks or commentary that hints at an agenda or bias. Thank you and please keep up the excellent work.
I always recommend your religious videos to my friends. Your videos on this subject are some of the best on UA-cam and they deserve all the respect they deserve.
By definition 🧐
As a Jew who grew up in the Midwest (one synagogue, multiple churches who all said the others weren't 'real' Christians), the branching of Christianity as a whole is so fascinating!!! I think I'm most eager to hear about the baptists and how they split off.
I was raised southern Baptist, and I remember being taught that they don't consider themselves to be "protestants" because they supposedly trace the church's lineage all the way back to the early christians, before there was a Catholic Church.
@Jet Tison what does that even mean
From what I have read, Baptists are an off-shoot of Congregationalists, who themselves were/are a branch of Anglican, all originating in Britain. Two of my ancestors, Obadiah Holmes and Chad Browne, were among the founders of the Baptist Church in America, back when it was relatively Progressive. Holmes was, by the Puritans, publicly whipped in the stocks for ministering to an ill church member, who lived in Puritan held MA. Coincidentally, of his daughters, one my ancestress, the other is ancestress to Abe Lincoln, making him my 6th cousin, 6x removed. American genealogy and Religious Studies often end up being a deeper education on how things really were back in their day.
If you are curious about the history of the Baptist movement my suggestion is to read the Baptist Story by Hayken. But suffice to say Baptists see there Genesis in the early 17th century when two Congregationalist ministers who were living in Exile in the Netherlands by the name of John Smyth and Thomas Helwys became convinced of believers baptism over and opposed to infant Baptism. That being said there is a lot more that can be said. Interestingly the Congregationalist group that they formerly were associated with was what we know as the Pilgrims of Thanksgiving game.
@@injunsun And where do they all lead to?
I’m someone converting to Catholicism and this helped me with church history a lot!
Do study how the Catholics mass-murdered their opponents because they believed they had the authority to determine what is heresy and what is not.
Also, study how Catholics adapted doctrines from pagan religions as a political strategy to win more followers. That begs the question, is Catholic a pure Christian church or a political organization.
One thing about all this is that the Religion of following Messiah was called The Way in ACTS. It is and SHOULD ALWAYS be considered the True Israel of God and not Judaism or the daughters who moved Chrisitianity away form Christ and the Apostles teaching who taught obedience to God's Law by FAITH> Not to be exploited by men to accept all the traditions of Judaism that oppose God which is called being of the Circumcision as a proselyte. Jews in Jesus day stopped following the traditions that broke God's Law that is all to follow Christ who is called Gods Word made flesh by John and they did that by faith that God forgives when they trust and repent towards the TRUTH. Most of modern Christianity actually oppose Christ's teachings. Justyn Matyr made up an early bible and taught the God of the Old Tetament was harsh and evil instead of men's hearts were hard and deceptive and didn't love God. Yeshua said the Jewish leadership made the Word of God of none effect. If you believed Moses you would believe in ME. The New Covenant was given to Israel alone by God in Ezekiel 36 : 36 -37. Gentiles who turn to God actually are grafted into Messiah to become the Israel of God to be the children promised to Abraham & also receive the fullness of the New Covenant that avails adoption into the True Root Messiah. Mat 5:17-22 tells us the law of Moses remains but has a change to the Priesthood being Melchizedek ( Christ ) whose blood offering was done in heaven and is so perfect is enabled to cleanse the conscience of a faithful person to no longer desire to SIN not that the Law of God is removed and we make up our own righteousness. Blessings.
As an Orthodox leaning christian, I believe everything about Catholics are valid except two things. The Papacy and the Filoque.
During the first 1000 years there was no Papal supremacy; meaning the Patriarch of Rome (Now the pope) had no extra ordinary rights over the other Patriarchs. So why after 1000 years of functioning did the Pope, first among equals, suddenly become infalliable and change the Nicene Creed without council?
This change to the creed is the Filioque, meaning "and the Son." in Latin, referring to the Holy spirit being begotten from the Father "and the Son."
To me, this is a rather trivial difference but I do see how it places less importance on the Holy Spirit and makes the Son, and the Father dominant. Even if the Filioque is right, what gave the Pope extraordinary rights to change the Creed without a council first when the Pope always had particiapated in every other council before?
Lastly, the Catholic Church through the various Eastern Catholic groups it controls, venerates and Canonised a few Eastern Orthodox Saints, that were born after the Schism. One of these Saints is Gregory Palamas who was vehemently opposed to the Filioque and Papal supremacy. So how then, does an Eastern Orthodox Saint, that was against the very fibre of Catholicism become venerated and Canonised by this Church unless it accepts every other Eastern Orthodox member?
To me, all these contradictions can be answered by simply answering, no, they're heretical.
So why would the Patriarch of Rome do such things? Because of jealousy and Geopolitical factors. I don't know too much about the details, but from what I know, due to there being only one Patriarch in Western Europe, which represented more kingdoms and people than what the east had, and four in the east, as the population of Western Christians grew and the amount of Eastern Christians stagnated, Western European kings started to feel jealous they urged the Pope to have more power.
@nuphhrffe875 you're right. There were better ways to go about the filioque. While I do believe in the filioque and the seat of Peter, I can agree to this. Pope leo(I don't remember what number) did try to avoid using the filioque, but ig it stuck.
But, the filioque is true because in scripture, the Holy Spirit is also referred to as the Spirit of Christ. It does not make the Holy Spirit any lesser.
And I think you forget that the pentarchy of antioch and alexandria are actually disputed between the Orientals and the Eastern. With the orientals actually being the majority in the regions. And then the eastern Catholics as well. So don't exactly think the EO owns the remaining 4 pentarchies.
@@nuphhrffe875the filioque is not mandatory as most eastern Catholics don't use it. It's just the papal supremacy part that differs.
THIS IS THE TREE I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH MATT!! ❤❤❤
My three charts (Timeline of the Bible, Writing Systems of the World, and Biblical Family Tree) came in right before Christmas and I could not be happier! They're framed and hanging in my room at this very moment. Can't wait to add this one to the collection
At last I find someone to explain this craziness of churches splitting and splitting and splitting. Thank you so very much
I hope the Eastern Catholics get at least a mention in the next video. They’re unfortunately often left out of such discussions but I think are important to always include
The Coptics quote themselves as beliving in the Catholic (as in Universal) Church ( effectively identify that all Christians are equal before God , even if Christian leadership is split)
100%! I want to see a timeline of the branching and rejoining between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, especially where the naming is not obvious. I was born Antiochian Orthodox, and my family became Catholic when I was 12. I have attended Roman Catholic churches since then, but I still feel a connection to my Eastern roots.
Isn't that crookedness on the part of the Latin church of Rome to split the Eastern churches and steal their faithfuls in a clandestine way when they were vulnerable under the Islamic rule and the heavy oppression. Out of the 24 independent churches which together form the Roman catholic church, 23 are formed like that ! I wish the Latin church gave them all their freedom and allow them to go back and join with their parent churches during the 3rd Vatican council at least if not earlier !
Well, catholicism, as a real and "codified" separate denomination, occured later down the road, so I bet they will appear when the part includes the late 11th century and foward, which I guess it would be the second or third part.
Go Maronites. In full Communion with Rome.
Its always so interesting to me how church groups split off due to theological points that seem so small now, but you know back then it was a huge deal. I appreciate the break down of the theology as a Christian because I feel like I identify with some of these groups that I didn't even know existed or thought were so different than my group.
So true. The example of the monophysites really highlights this. They didn't so much disagree about Christ's nature as the wording of it. Is Christ fully human and fully divine, or is he fully human and divine? Monophysites were essentially saying you can't have more than 100% of a nature and the Chalcedonian wording was illogical. Meanwhile, the Chalcedonians were saying that the Monophysite wording downplayed Christ's paradoxical nature and thus made him either less human, less divine, or both.
Also a lot would be in respect of money and finance, as buildings and control structures became (necessary) as well as general teaching.
It is as much geopolitical as theological.
@@Stephen-uz8dm Yes, a lot of the schisms had their roots in people fighting for political and economic control. That's why the doctrinal differences sometimes seem so ridiculous; they're more like legal loopholes to justify a schism to gain control than they are actual differences in belief.
The theological debates of the first few centuries centered on the Nature of Christ. It seems to me that if you are going to have something called "Christianity" it would very important to understand who/what Christ is. these are hardly "so small now" and are just as "huge a deal" as they once were. the difference that the matter is settle now theologically
This is so well done. I finally understood the timeline leading to Catholic Church, which I wondered for years and was pretty hard to search. Thanks!
1. Denominations of Eastern Orthodox
2. Denominations of Roman Catholics
3. Denominations of Protestants
4. Branches of Judaism too
Definitely looking forward to them all, great insight Matt, Syawish & Ali.
There are no denominations of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in the way there are denominations of Protestantism.
Outstanding. Your brief asides are particularly excellent, both informative & reassuring, sort of like telling a driver that there’ll be a left turn in two miles. It tells them what’s coming and confirms that they’re on course. Looking forward to the next one!
Growing up in a catholic school I was taught that the Roman Catholic Church was the one true faith for pretty obvious reasons. Aside from two classes I missed in a public university, units in 7th and 8th grade that I’ve almost completely forgotten, and a few pages of my 12th grade theology book that weren’t even covered in class, this is my first look at the overall structure and history of Christianity and it is absolutely fascinating.
*Ignatius of Antioch*
“Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains [i.e., a presbyter]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” _(Letter to the Smyrneans_ 8:2 [A.D. 110]).
*The Martyrdom of Polycarp*
“And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled” _(Martyrdom of Polycarp_ 16:2 [A.D. 155]).
*The Muratorian Canon*
“Besides these [letters of Paul] there is one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in affection and love, but nevertheless regarded as holy in the Catholic Church, in the ordering of churchly discipline. There is also one [letter] to the Laodiceans and another to the Alexandrians, forged under the name of Paul, in regard to the heresy of Marcion, and there are several others which cannot be received by the Church, for it is not suitable that gall be mixed with honey. The epistle of Jude, indeed, and the two ascribed to John are received by the Catholic Church (Muratorian fragment [A.D. 177]).
*Tertullian*
“Where was [the heretic] Marcion, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago-in the reign of Antonius for the most part-and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherius, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled” _(Demurrer Against the Heretics_ 30 [A.D. 200]).
*Cyprian of Carthage*
“You ought to know, then, that the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishops; and if someone is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church. They vainly flatter themselves who creep up, not having peace with the priest of God, believing that they are secretly in communion with certain individuals. For the Church, which is one and catholic, is not split or divided, but is indeed united and joined by the cement of priests who adhere to one another” _(Letters_ 66[67]:8 [A.D. 253]).
*Council of Nicaea I*
“But those who say: ‘There was [a time] when he [the Son] was not,’ and ‘before he was born, he was not,’ and ‘because he was made from non-existing matter, he is either of another substance or essence,’ and those who call ‘God the Son of God changeable and mutable,’ these the Catholic Church anathematizes” _(Appendix to the Creed of Nicaea_ [A.D. 325]).
“Concerning those who call themselves Cathari [Novatians], that is, ‘the Clean,’ if at any time they come to the Catholic Church, it has been decided by the holy and great council that, provided they receive the imposition of hands, they remain among the clergy. However, because they are accepting and following the doctrines of the catholic and apostolic Church, it is fitting that they acknowledge this in writing before all; that is, both that they communicate with the twice married and with those who have lapsed during a persecution” (Canon 8).
*Cyril of Jerusalem*
“[The Church] is called catholic, then, because it extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly, and because it brings every race of men into subjection to godliness, governors and governed, learned and unlearned, and because it universally treats and heals every class of sins, those committed with the soul and those with the body, and it possesses within itself every conceivable form of virtue, in deeds and in words and in the spiritual gifts of every description” _(Catechetical Lectures_ 18:23 [A.D. 350]).
“And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is-for the others, sects of the impious, attempt to call their dens ‘houses of the Lord’-nor ask merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiar to this holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God” (ibid., 18:26).
*The Apostles’ Creed*
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen” _(Apostles’ Creed_ [A.D. 360 version, the first to include the term “Catholic”]
*Council of Constantinople I*
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke through the prophets; in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church” _(Nicene Creed_ [A.D. 381]).
“Those who embrace orthodoxy and join the number of those who are being saved from the heretics, we receive in the following regular and customary manner: Arians, Macedonians, Sabbatians, Novatians, those who call themselves Cathars and Aristeri, Quartodecimians or Tetradites, Apollinarians- these we receive when they hand in statements and anathematize every heresy which is not of the same mind as the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of God” (Canon 7).
*Augustine*
“We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is catholic and which is called catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless they distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard” _(The True Religion_ 7:12 [A.D. 390]).
“We believe in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church; for heretics and schismatics call their own congregations churches. But heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God, and not schismatics, because the Church loves neighbor” _(Faith and Creed_ 10:21 [A.D. 393]).
“If you should find someone who does not yet believe in the gospel, what would you [Mani] answer him when he says, ‘I do not believe’? Indeed, I would not believe in the gospel myself if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so” (ibid., 5:6).
“[T]here are many other things which most properly can keep me in her [the Catholic Church’s] bosom. The unanimity of peoples and nations keeps me here. Her authority, inaugurated in miracles, nourished by hope, augmented by love, and confirmed by her age, keeps me here. The succession of priests, from the very see of the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after his resurrection, gave the charge of feeding his sheep [John 21:15-17], up to the present episcopate, keeps me here. And last, the very name Catholic, which, not without reason, belongs to this Church alone, in the face of so many heretics, so much so that, although all heretics want to be called ‘Catholic,’ when a stranger inquires where the Catholic Church meets, none of the heretics would dare to point out his own basilica or house” _(Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation”_ 4:5 [A.D. 397]).
*Vincent of Lerins*
“I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical depravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect: that whether I or anyone else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they arise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways: first, by the authority of the divine law [Scripture], and then by the tradition of the Catholic Church. But here some one perhaps will ask, ‘Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it the authority of the Church’s interpretation?’ For this reason: Because, owing to the depth of holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, another in another, so that it seems to be capable of as many interpretations as there are men. . . . Therefore, it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such various errors, that the rule for the right understanding of the prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance with the standard of ecclesiastical and catholic interpretation” _(The Notebooks_ 2:1-2 [A.D. 434]).
*Council of Chalcedon*
“Since in certain provinces readers and cantors have been allowed to marry, this sacred synod decrees that none of them is permitted to marry a wife of heterodox views. If those thus married have already had children, and if they have already had the children baptized among heretics, they are to bring them into the communion of the Catholic Church” (Canon 14 [A.D. 451]).
The Catholic Church has some other branches that are not within the purview of this video ("Eastern Catholic Churches") that are in full communion but are not "Roman", however together they are the one Church, the same one founded on the Apostles by Jesus and continuing in Apostolic Succession. Catholic is from a Greek word meaning universal, Jesus founded one Church for the whole world, a visible unity, to bear witness to the one Truth. The Church is Jesus' Body and He has one Body only. There CANNOT be more than one Body of Christ. But a correlate of all this is that the various divisions cleaving us apart really matter. Jesus prayed after the the Last Supper that we may all be one. We have to love those we are separated from and seek unity in Christ.
@@ElizabethDMadison 🎯
The Catholic Church can show a historical succession of bishops in Rome since the times of Simon Peter. In fact that St Peter's Cathedral was built right on top of Peter's tomb and archeological excavations showed this in the 40s but especially in 1965 when the bones of St Peter were identified. None of this video's other so-called "branches" can claim this.
@@hanamaluhasafacts
One interesting side note you didn't mention about the Nestorians is that they established a somewhat successful branch in China, starting in the 7th century and survived all the way to the 14th century before fading away
Was axed after the tang dynasty was defeated, the church was seen as a western religion.
More like persecutions by Mongol Islam converts and the Tang Dynasty. Islam also took over some of the churches they used.
I remember reading about ancient Chinese Nestorian Tombs! Nowadays It seems the only official form of Christianity in the country is the Chinese Parti Catholic church's which is mostly Catholicism with slight differences and an emphasis on not having to answer or be relegated to the Vatican. I wonder if Nestorian Chinese Christianity managed to hide like the Kirishtans of Japan under different eras and kept a fringe church active or if people grew back to It...
Love this!!! Studied the history of the Christian church in college and have remained very fascinated/interested ever since. I appreciate how you're assembling, organizing, and presenting. Thank you! Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Saw this episode on VTH's channel and now Iv'e got an incredible library of videos to go through. Such high quality stuff Matt, thanks.
You have no idea how long I've been looking forward to this series. I'm most interested in seeing you cover the Baptists since their history is pretty complicated, even for Protestants. It might take an entire episode just to cover all the different types of Baptists! However, I also hope you mention my own former denomination, the Church of the Nazarene. It's a fairly small denomination that isn't very different from Methodists theologically, but it has its own distinct culture that sets it apart.
Yeah! I'll watch an every-version-of- Baptist episode too.
@@ju_aych39 I'll give him extra props if he mentions Baptist successionism and "The Trail of Blood."
You might like the channel Ready To Harvest. He also does a great job of remaining unbiased and objective in his videos about different Christian sects
@@kaiudall2583 I already follow him on TikTok and somehow missed that he also had a UA-cam channel! Thanks!
I want to know more about the Baptists as well. I used to be one. I was led to believe they came from Anabaptists, but I've since been told they came from the Puritans, which makes sense tbh... I'd like to get clarification on that.
You are such a good educator! Easy to follow but not shallow. Of course things are more complex but this is the such a great introduction to this history. I especially liked the background in Judaism and various sources and influences.
One point (which may come up later): your copy of of the Nicene Creed includes the words, "...and the son", the so-called "Filioque" which was not part of the original creedal text but added in the West later, with much controversy. This was used on both sides as arguments against the other. It is amazing how much trouble, and later bloodshed, can come about with the addition or subtraction of a word or two.
Yeah. Will definitely point that out when covering the great schism.
This is facinating . I'm going through a faith transition and so knowing history of Christianity has helped me dissect my faiths.
It's great to finally have a clear relationship chart for all of this, I've been trying to look it up on my own and sources are difficult to compile. Thanks !
Wow! Info I've wanted for 60 years. SO looking forward to more in this series. Thank you so much!
Thank you !!! I remember discovering the history of different Christians as a freshman in college and it shook my world along with many other discoveries. I've never been the same.
This looks like it's shaping up to be a great series. I'm not sure how granular you're going to get, but I'm looking forward to the various Charismatic and Evangelical breakdown.
For the sake of honesty and brevity, if I were him, I would just refer to them as the Great Apostacy referred to in 2 Thessalonica 2: 1 - 12. Where does one even begin to give an overview of the heresies, false teachings, insanity, and glorification of man and self as taught in these movements?
@@stephanterblanche4597 The problem is, _all_ denominations label _the other_ denominations as heretical. Also, the point of this tree is not about "which denomination exists," but rather, is meant to be a genetic tree for denominations: where did each denomination come from, and why?
@angelmendez-rivera351 every denomination starts out because it deviates, through reinterpretation of, adding to or removing from the original teaching (orthodoxy). That deviation is referred to as a heresy. This tree is exactly about which denominations exist, where they come from and why they exist. 😂
@@stephanterblanche4597 That doesn't address my point at all in the slightest, but I don't care enough to try to have a conversation with you, since it's clearly that you lack the capacity to overcome your bias and be objective here. Bye.
@@stephanterblanche4597 It's really interesting considering what I think you might be getting at. If we accept your principle that only the original teaching is valid and adding or removing from it is deviation and heresy, I am assuming you are Jewish? You wrote that deviation and heresy "starts out because it deviates, through reinterpretation of, adding to or removing from the original teaching...". This does appear to be what Christianity is compared to its roots in Judaism, similar to how Islam appears to be compared to Christianity, etc.
I'm curious how you think of this. Thoughts?
This is soooo great.
I learned so many new things, especially the existence of many popes. That was an eye-opener.
Thank you for your contribution of your personal time in order to facilitate the development of these treasures.
Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated.
My friend, where’s part two?! You’re killing me! ❤️
Same! Eagerly waiting for part two💀
@@jasminewang5514 same here..I keep checking👀
Just dropped
Patience is a virtue!
This is truly an amazing work. We need more channels like yours ♥️
Thank you for making this video! Early christianity is quite complicated, so having somebody showing the main points is quite cool!
You have done an excellent job of laying out the history of Christianity in a streamlined manner. Concise yet informative and also accurate.
Oh, this is amazing! It is so detailed, yet so clear. It already helped me systematise some things I was a bit lost about. This series is going to be awesome.
BTW, I kinda hope to see the Polish Brethren somewhere on this tree, among the minor historical Protestant denominations. They were basically an early variety of Unitarians, derogatory labeled "Arians" that arose in Poland-Lithuania and, for a time, gained some relative prominence. I find them very interesting.
This is the series I've been hoping for for all the time I've been subbed. Salivating at the thought of learning so much!
This is so interesting to me! I was raised in a home with Methodists, and I currently practice as an omnist. I love getting to learn where religions have come from and how they are connected. Thank you for your hard work!
As an ordained PC(USA) pastor, I've very interested to see the relationship laid out between the Luther-based Protestants and the Reformed-based Protestants. This episode was a nice trip down my first church history class in seminary! I'll definitely want to buy this chart whenever it is done!
YES THANK YOU MATT!!
If you have it in you after this project you should totally do a family tree of the Buddhist schools as well. I've noticed a distinct lack of a decent version of that particular chart on the internet.
I too would be interested in seeing this.
I hope not the Hindu ones... those are overcomplicated.
@@king_halcyon Hinduism might be a bit too fluid to visualize like this, but Buddhism and its development is pretty well-demarcated and documented from c. 200 BCE onwards.
I'm impressed with your teaching. It all makes sense even after seminary.
I grew up in a "Word of Faith" megachurch and the story of how Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity started in the Azusa Street revival and turned into a global trans-denominational phenomenon is a really interesting one. I've seen somewhere that 1/4 Christians about 300 million are charismatic. Can't wait till you get to that part.
I think they are 400 million now
I wouldn't say I like the fact it is the product of imperialism.
@@MrJMB122 oh yeah I'm not saying it's a positive. I'm agnostic and deconstructed now. I just think it's an interesting story
I tend to feel that Pentecostal and related charismatic churches have evolved into their own branch of Christianity that is distinct and largely separate from Protestantism. As an interested observer who is not terribly religious, I'm curious about how theologians see that concept.
@@Dave_Sisson It is also interesting how the "Revival" was about the same kind of time as the likes of the Welsh Revival/s (mainly , but not exclusively Methodism / Ebenezer Baptist ) and a lot of "Christian Mission" outworking to the urban and rural "poor masses" that the established churches had excluded
Wow, this is a huge history to cover. Thanks for putting in all the work and producing these really helpful videos!
Thanks for this. I have a BA in religion (1978), and this was one of the most useful educations in the development of early Christianity. I have seen the other videos, but should have watched this one first.
I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for the valuable content that you create on your UA-cam channel, "Useful Charts". Your charts and data visualizations are incredibly informative and make it easy to understand complex information. I have found your videos to be incredibly helpful in my own research and understanding of various topics. Thank you for all the hard work and dedication you put into creating such high-quality content. Your efforts are truly appreciated.
Peter- Panayotis
Man, this is fascinating stuff! I love seeing the diversity and complexity within Christianity that you don't really understand when you were born and raised atheist. Extremely interesting history. Keep it up!
I am super excited to continue this series and I love how you include information about key theologic differences.
What mostly are BS. According to Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism), God in fact has at least seven or eight avatars (take a mind number is symbolical and they are refereed by different names by various sources, so I also skip that part). Anyway it is why God say "we create" in the Bible, as those seven spirits around God's throne say that. But there is also eighth one (the man or animal sitting on the throne), who is one called by Christians God the Father and by Jews Metatron (King of Angels). He is equal to other spirits what operate as sort of hive mind, but he represent aspects of personality and so may take specific personas in contact with other angels. Over time he take role of voice of God (take a note that God himself is separated from creation as direct contact would uncreate it), but they all should be considered as the same God. But the quite important bit is that this aspect of the God can take different personas and in fact there are two other Archangels (as Princes of Heavens) who answer directly to God. Quite fun fact. Kabbalah has in fact concept of Trinity! When Metatron rule the heaven and his word is the law. His "twin brother" Sandelphon (possibly also known as Abbadon, though name is mistakenly confused with demon) is one who rule the Shaol (underworld), including material realm. It is wild realm of creation and destruction. Angels are prohibited to enter for safety reasons (place is inhabited by eldritch elemental angels usually refereed as Living Beasts), but not actually prevented (place also don't fallow the usual law). In fact he is what is known as Holly Spirit, a direct representation of God in the creation if not the material creation itself. The third one is Raziel Helal, Archangel of Wisdom, who was originally believed regular Archangel, until conflict with Satan (who for reminder is Prosecutor figure, not actually fallen) reveal him as God's persona. He was one who descent into material realm to bring fallen humanity to God and then comeback (yes, the Christ). In fact several times. Man known as Enoch (Noah Grandfather) was believed to be him and become later Metatron.
Anyway though technically we do have God himself, who then present himself as Spirits of God's throne, of who one present himself as the Trinity of Archangels. Those are still the same being and arguing who is more important make no sense. In fact opposite order of "creation" make most sense. Holly Spirit always exist as part of the material world (most likely formless), then the same spirit take position of "regular" Archangel (in animal form) and then finally take form of a man who recto actively represent him, as member of Spirits/Lights of the God. Anyway. Arguing over the order is pointless. At least Satan has legit point to question someone claiming to be a God.
@@TheRezro dont think this person asked for an essay in reply to their excitement
Edit: I just thought this was funny. Wasn’t trying to be rude
@@ashamedmarshy..6039 It is debate about religion. You should expect that.
@@TheRezro okay but like….this was just excitement and nothing about it sparked a multi paragraph essay pookie
@@ashamedmarshy..6039 In what world you live? Most wars were over the religion.
I'm always so happy to see the comment section of these videos. I feel like each video is a great launching point for deeper understanding of faith traditions and occasionally those who aren't believers.
So excited to see the connection of your previous faith and the "2nd Great awakening". All the blessings!
As a Christian I really appreciate your work and desire not to show bias. I can’t wait to buy this chart once it’s available. Appreciate your take on this!
WOW....this is brilliant, clear, concise, and laid out so well. I love your work and have done so for many years. Thank you!
I’m a Christian, Episcopalian to be exact.
We are a pretty modernist oriented church overall, so I find this fascinating. I make sense of it all through divine revelation over time, so again, this history is all very interesting to me, and I can make use of it spiritually too.
So thanks :)
Great video! You handle such complex material with a clean simplistic approach that really helps my understanding.
I have been a huge fan of UsefulCharts for a few years now and find myself resorting to your videos for fact checking on anything to do with history. I have always been curious regarding the origins and reasonings behind the many branches, denominations, and sects within Christianity. You sir once again have answered my curiosity with this series on Christianity. Wonderful explanation. Thank you for your amazing work...Cheers !!.
I can't wait for the full chart! This is such a cool topic and I'm excited to see all the branching of both Protestant and Catholic (both Roman and Orthodox) churches. It always looks like such a mess when I've seen other charts of it, so I'm really excited to see how you organize it cleanly.
Ur mistaken. Catholic has nothing to do with Orthodox Christianity.
@George Kalogeras while North Americans dont consider Orthodox and Roman Catholic to be related, many Orthodox Christians internationally would call themselves Catholics and believe themselves to be the true decendents from the church established by Peter. Additionally, despite many differences, Orthodox and Roman Catholics share more similarities than than Roman Catholics and Protestants.
@@kuklaboythey were literally one entity at one point
@@dewd9327 Right, based in Constantinople
@@kuklaboy no, based in 5 cities, Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Furthermore they both also use Catholic as their official names, to avoid confusion one is called Catholic and one is called Orthodox but in reality they both claim their name to be "The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" catholic meaning universal.
So excited for the rest of this series! I hope you will discuss Rabbinic Judaism as well!
Very good i am local people in Thailand only 2% Christian
(catholic + protestant)
70 million population
I use home for church now as early church. So good to know the time line.
based. God bless you ☦️
These videos keep being more and more interesting, you're a great communicator
Very cool series. I'm looking forward to just learning all the differences/schisms.
Love this one. Loved the previous bible ones. Currently studying theology, of which this semester is Church History so we did this last few weeks and now onto the UK (where we're based). Nice watching and having it kicking in my memory 😀 always a great affirmation
Very excited for this series! Hope you give some love to the non-Roman Catholic Churches. There’s 22 other distinct Churches outside of the Roman rite!
better talking "sui iuris" Churches.
I am really excited for this series. I was raised Roman Catholic and have always been fascinated by the divisions of Christianity. I also liked that you mentioned in early times there were people who believed in one god but did not dismiss the possible existence of other gods/religions. That is something I always felt personally.
I have found this most interesting thus far. I was completely unaware of the Oriental Eastern churches and Miephysical churches. Thank you I look forward to seeing the other videos in the series.
Hell yes I love your videos on the development of both Judaism and Christianity! The "Who Wrote the Bible" series had quite a lot of that which I really enjoyed.
As a Muslim, I find Christian mystics like Neville Goddard and William Blake very very fascinating! Their writings are mind-blowing and pretty much changed my views on 'God' and the meaning life entirely, they also really inspired me to look into the scripture!
This historical expose is indeed a great service to humanity. I cannot wait for the other episodes. Keep it up.
Oh man, this is terrific!! REALLY looking fForward to this series!! Thank you so much! I will absolutely be buying the completed chart when it goes up fFor sale!!!
Thanks so much for doing this, Matt! As a non-Christian, I have a lot of trouble understanding the differences between Christian denominations. I'm looking forward to Episode 3. Hopefully this series will help me understand my Christian friends' point of view. 😊
It's not always easy for Christians to tell the difference either, to be honest... 😄
@@lafcursiax Exactly. If they even care. It's difficult to imagine that more than a tiny fraction of christians arrived at their current denomination through a thorough examination of the various competing theological distinctions and minutiae. A vanishingly-small few would have a strong opinion on the difference in wording between "fully human and fully divine" vs "fully human and divine". People are, for the most part, in the denominations of their parents, or their friends, or a group that felt welcoming.
thank you thank you for these charts. I am today blessed to find the origins of much of my own search through churches. Lev:23 is the answer.
A series about the development of religions? A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one!
I do hope that you will end up going back and making a similar series about Rabbinic Judaism (Maybe invite Sam Aronow again to host that one?)
You could even combine the Christian chart, Jewish chart the Islamic branches chart you covered in a video last October into a unified mega-chart of the Abrahamic Religions family!
Yup. Already been talking to Sam about it.
Great idea! I would love to have that.
@@UsefulCharts Like, literally right now.
@samaronow & @usefulcharts where do the Samaritan’s fit in?
Wouldn’t they be a split before 2nd Temple Rabbinic Judaism?
Head Spins. Looking forward to see you try to chart the *Millerite* branches after the "Great Disappointment"... The bloom of *Adventism* from the Presbyterian / Episcopal / Evangelism of the 19th Century is going to be epic. I cannot wait to see how you begin to unpack all that. LDS, SDA, JW... I'm a SDA member myself and I would love to know how my church fits into all this, let's face it, mess!
That's going to be my favorite part! I grew up in that branch so it has a special place in my heart.
@@UsefulCharts Then I shall expect something especially magnificent. Perhaps a chart the churches themselves can use, and Wikipedia too! Anticipation I am.
What does SDA mean?
Seventh Day Adventist
This has been the most detailed history I have seen personally of the origins and divisions of the Christian denominations. Fascinating and very well crafted. Thank you!
Fascinating! Can’t wait for episode 2!
I cannot wait for this series. I'm definitely going to grab this poster as soon as it's available.
grew up catholic, dropped out at 14, then searched on my own, now belong to episcopal church but not practicing. I had no idea there were still so many splinter groups - wrongly thinking orthodox were just that, one group! What an interesting story. Thank you so very much. Now I want to learn more about all these different groups (saw some of the weird ethiopian churches in rocks and dug out of the ground but no info on their beliefs)
calling it weird is disrespectful, take notes out of useful charts vocabulary book.
This is so cool! I've been needing this resource and explanation for decades, wondering about the evolution of Christianity and how all the different sects came to be formed.
Great episode. I was hoping for some more info on the Armenian church, since Armenia calls itself the oldest Christian country.
As an orthodox Jew who needs to know church history to be a tour guide in Israel, I found your videos extremely helpful. Thank you.
Thank you for making this video. I'm really looking forward to this series.
Nice idea for a series.
I am most looking forward to the episode(s) about Protestant denominations. It's by far the most complex, the most confusing, and maybe the most consequential.
I don't know what direction you want to take it, but if you cover the interaction between the early protestant movements, mainly Lutheran, Reformed, and those that trace back to the Radical Reformation, I'd be interested to hear what you have to say about that.
Extremely satisfying and informative. I thought I knew almost everything there was to know about the history of Christianity, but you have added so much to my meagre store.
I am looking forward to seeing where the Celtic Church flows into this chart. Can't wait for Episode 2!
This might not be popular, but could you do a chart on the Thomas Christians of Kerala? I think there is a convoluted/fractured tree and an interesting history surrounding it.
Go to a channel called Islamic Origins. Look up Odin Lafontaine + Islamic Origins(Christian Channel). He was a guest speaker and just did a huge research about the connections and the aramaic oral tradition of Christianity... China, India etc.. ...
Its very fascinating!
Ther 2 videos with him from last couple weeks or so...
Yeah I was going to comment the same. Itd be interesting to see the early differing starting point, the connection to the church later, and then further splits. Since its still a large and active sect
Yes please include Thomas Christians, very interested to know where they fall in this chart
@@nehadsouza3593 Thomas Christians are the Malankara Orthodox listed under Syriac Orthodox Church. Malankara means of Kerala.
@@iridescent.r No, as far ás I know, there is a thomasian branch, which means, a gnostic one based on Thomas' gospel.
As an agnostic since the age of 4, I found this presentation enthralling! Religion has always fascinated me and I truly appreciate the deep dive you provide here. I'm greatly looking forward to the next installment. Thank you!!
Thanks for this series, Matt. I'm finding it interesting. I love how you can step back and objectively looks at these religions, even the one you practice. As for which I'm looking forward to? I think the ones I don't know about are the ones that interest me the most. keep up the nice work!
It is the difference between schooling and college learnings that give you "Religious Education" and those that give you "religious instruction"
I am absolutely loving this already. Great covering of the early church. I'm excited to see the next episode. Seriously great job of keeping everything academic when this topic can get so heated. I also appreciate you mentioning how your personal faith impacted the writing and recording of the episode. Looking forward to the next episode. :D
Anglican here. Loving this series you’ve done. Great work.
Really cool series! Hoping to see similar ones for other religions later as well
Wow, this was incredibly interesting and clarifying!
I remember when I was a kid (in Italy), people like Sadducees, Zealots and Pharisees were just presented to us as "the baddies", without much of an explanation.
I'd this put this channel among the top 1% most important on UA-cam.
I've been so excited for this video! This kind of thing fascinates me. I hope you mention Unitarian Universalism in the video on protestants, that's the religion I grew up in and its interesting that while it was born out of two Christian denominations, it's not really Christian anymore. In a similar vein, I'm interested to hear more about trinitarianism vs nontrinitarian branches of Christianity, and where some more unusual groups fall in, like Mormons.
I got the feeling Mormons made it up from wish list rather than any kind of reveluation
they are not christian, they have their own religion
@@Masahanate-777 yes, but I don't think it can be denied that they have ties to Christianity, and it would be interesting to see where they fall in this tree.
@@capernex Probably shown as a different religion with some Christian influence like Islam was shown.
@@Masahanate-777, in many ways a number of those religions should be a dotted line from Arianism and other earlier forms of Christianity that died out. They may have been initially split from trinitarian Christianity, but they utterly reject core doctrines in their attempt to "restore" the early Church. There are a whole group of religions (Universal Unitarian, Oneness Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist, LDS, et cetera) that claim Christian patrimony but embrace heresies that were rejected by the early church. They may have a veneer of Christianity but, as you say, they are a different religion.
Looking forward to viewing the rest of the series! I am particularly interested in your take of the so-called "Restoration Movement" in the late 1700's through 1800's.
What an insight of how various religious groups evolved. This is thru historical evidences collected, compilation, verified by religious leaders. I'm looking forward for expanded Roman Catholic religion.
I am definitely interested in the inclusion of anabaptist movements (I think they get referred to as Armenianism?) since they often get left our of Catholic vs Protestant discussions. I’m also curious whether your tree will delve into other extinct movements such as the Cathars.
Armenians are from Armenia, near Turkey; the term is Arminians, which refers to followers of Jakob Arminius who argued against the more extreme forms of Calvinism, such as the idea that some are appointed to salvation and others to condemnation since the beginning of the creation, and that Christ's death is effective only for those already chosen to be saved.
While the Anabaptists (a very mixed group) probably sided with Arminius, as did the early General Baptists, they are probably more "pre -Calvinist" than "anti-Calvinist"; that is, they arose at times and in places where Calvinism wasn't well known.
Funny trivia about the Council of Nicaea. St. Nicolas, the guy who would later be associated with Santa Claus, was a Nicaean Bishop attending the council. He got in an argument with one of the Arians, and it got so heated that St. Nick decked the other guy.
The other guy was being too naughty 🤣
It's okay to punch an Arian!
@@greatwolf5372 Yes and i guess that it's okay to punch an Chalcedonian too just like the Arian one ?
Your video on Christian Sources and denominations is excellent. Clear and well-researched. I ordered the Chart. Thanks so much!