Portal:Reformed Christianity

The Reformed Christianity Portal

Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Anglican, Baptist and Waldensian traditions, in addition to a minority of people belonging to the Methodist faith (known as Calvinistic Methodists).

Reformed Christianity emphasizes the authority of the Bible and the sovereignty of God, as well as covenant theology, a framework for understanding the Bible based on God's covenants with people. Reformed churches emphasize simplicity in worship. Several forms of ecclesiastical polity are exercised by Reformed churches, including presbyterian, congregational, and some episcopal. Articulated by theologian John Calvin, the Reformed faith holds to a spiritual (pneumatic) presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper.

Emerging in the 16th century, the Reformed tradition developed over several generations, especially in areas of Switzerland, Scotland and the Netherlands. In the 17th century, Jacobus Arminius and the Remonstrants were expelled from the Dutch Reformed Church over disputes regarding predestination and salvation, and from that time Arminians are usually considered to be a distinct tradition from the Reformed. This dispute produced the Canons of Dort, the basis for the "doctrines of grace" also known as the "five points" of Calvinism.

Calvinism influenced social, economic, and political life by promoting hard work, trade, and wealth accumulation within ethical limits, laying the groundwork for modern capitalism, especially in Northern Europe and the United States. Its emphasis on elected church elders, the priesthood of all believers, and mixed government inspired early democratic practices, separation of powers, and protections for religious minorities, shaping colonies in North America and liberal political thought in England. Calvinist-inspired reforms also advanced social causes like abolition, women’s suffrage, education, and humanitarian efforts worldwide. (Full article...)

Selected article

The Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney (P.L.C. Sydney), is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for girls, located in Croydon, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the longest continuously running Presbyterian Church school in New South Wales.

Founded in 1888 by a committee of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales, the school has a non-selective enrolment policy for all years apart from Year 11, and currently caters for approximately 1350 girls from Branxton Reception (4 years old) to Year 12 (18 years old), including 70 boarders. Student's attend P.L.C from all regions of the greater metropolitan area, New South Wales country regions, and overseas.

Formerly a school of the Presbyterian Church, Pymble Ladies' College is P.L.C's 'daughter school' in Pymble.

Selected images

Image 1The burning of the Guernsey Martyrs during the Marian persecutions in 1556 (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 2Calvin preached at St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 3The seal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, an early American Presbyterian church founded in 1789 (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 4Fall of Man by Jacob Jordaens (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 5The Parable of the Prodigal Son, depicted in a portrait by Rembrandt, illustrates forgiveness. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 6The Grote Kerk in Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, c. 1665 (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 7Dutch prime minister Abraham Kuyper initiated Neo-Calvinism. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 8A Reformed church in Koudekerk aan den Rijn in the Netherlands in the 19th century (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 9John Calvin depicted on his deathbed with church members in The last moments of Calvin, a late 19th century portrait by Lluís Domènech i Montaner (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 10The Shield of the Trinity diagrams the classic doctrine of the Trinity. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 11The Directory for Public Worship described what should (and should not) occur in worship. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 12Moses Amyraut formulated Amyraldism, a modified Calvinist theology regarding the nature of Jesus' atonement. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 13Early Calvinism was known for simple, unadorned churches as depicted in this 1661 portrait of the interior of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam. (from Reformed Christianity)
Image 14Stephen Bocskai, leader of Hungarian Calvinists in the anti-Habsburg rebellion and first Calvinist prince of Transylvania (r. 1605–1606) (from Reformed Christianity)

Did you know...

... that the 1919 demolition of "one of the most costly religious edifices" in New York City, the 1906 Madison Square Presbyterian Church, was called "a distinct architectural loss"?

...that in Reformed theology, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is believed to strengthen Christians' union with Christ by the spiritual eating of his true body and blood?

...that John Duncan, a Scottish Presbyterian theologian and missionary, was affectionately known as "Rabbi", due to his knowledge of Hebrew and his passion for the Jewish people?