FYI -- I chose to forward this message for its thorough, informative, historical style. It is not meant to inflame or upset anyone -- purely informative. Please read and understand it that way. I have a backlog of some 500 messages related to Lutheran persons, Lutheran churches and other Lutheran-connected topics that I have now received through this Personalized Mailing List feature. I will probably condense some of them and send them as a bunch, but it will most likely be after Christmas before I can do this. Once I get caught up with the backlog of messages, then it should settle down a bit. I should have waited to start this service after my papers were done for the semester -- that's why I haven't sent very many so far. One presentation and one paper down, two papers left.... -- Mary Taffet List Administrator for LUTHERAN-ROOTS mdtaffet@syr.edu -------- Original Message -------- Subject: PML Search Result matching Lutheran ANDNOT LUTHERAN-ROOTS* Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 20:11:09 -0800 From: Giftge@t-online.de (Erika Giftge) To: mdtaffet@mailbox.syr.edu ============================================================ A result of your requested PML search. To refine or cancel this search, please visit http://pml.rootsweb.com/ ============================================================ Source: GERMAN-AMERICAN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [GERMAN-AMERICAN-L] The complicated history of German American religious denominations (fwd) here is David's explanation that I wanred for all of you religious interested people: > Hello Erika > This stuff is right up my alley so to speak. Apart from the English > Americans I do not think that any other nationality group has so much > historical religious diversity as German American does. Here is is my best > summation on the religious history and background of German Americans. > First, there were four main groups of Protestants at the time of the > reformation in Europe. l. Lutherans-l519 break by Martin Luther from Roman > Catholic Church. Spread amoung central and north Germans, Swedes, Danes, > Norweigians, Finns, Latvians and Estonians. Not a radical break from > Catholicism but new ideas of priesthood of all believers and justification > by faith alone and not faith and good works that Catholics said you need. > Many externals of religion are similar to Catholic. > 2. Anglican or Episcopal or Church of England all the > same. Again, not a radical break from Rome. Found mostly in England and > English speaking countries. Some of their churches are more protestant and > some are very Catholic with robes, crosses, incense much ritual. Virginia > was founded by Anglicans. > 3. Calvinist or Reformed Churches a much more radical > break with Rome. Some Germans were or are reformed. They are strongest in > Switzerland, Holland, Scotland and parts of Hungary. In the states we have > Reformed Churches and Presbyterian Churches which are essentially the same. > The Calvinist were the ones who destroyed the statues and altars in Catholic > Churches in the low countries and Germany and the Puritans also called > Congregationalist did the same in England. The Presbyterians did the same in > Scotland. Keep in mind that in Germany, the Kaiser united the Reformed and > Lutheran churches together in many states in the early l800's. The people > who founded Plymouth were English Calvinist who we call Congregationlist. > 4. The most radical movement in the reformation was > the Anabaptist movement. These were originally Swiss people but also Dutch > and German people. The Mennonite Church and the Amish Mennonites are > examples of Anabaptist in the States. Everyone hated them. The Calvinist, > Catholics and Lutherans persecuted them. Some people say the Baptists are > anabaptist because they both share the believe that only adults or persons > over age l6 should be baptised. The Baptist are of mainly English and black > background in USA. There is a small denonimation of German Baptists called > North American Baptist Conference. Technically, the Baptist are not > anabaptist as they are not directly related to the Mennonites. > Now that we have the big four historical divisions down the real fun > begins. What religious affliations do German-Americans belong to > historically speaking. About one third of German-Americans are Roman > Catholics. They came primarily from Bavaria and Rhineland areas where > Catholics are dominant. They are never called evangelical and never called > themselves that. Cities like Chicago, St. Louis, Millwaukee and Cinncinati > have large concentrations of German Catholics. Whole villages left Bavaria > and bought large tracts of land in North and South Dakota and parts of > Minnesota to keep themselves Catholic. > The Lutherans in Germany call themselves Evangelical Church but in the > states they call themselves Evangelcal Lutheran, or Missouri Synod Lutheran > and Wisconsin Synod Lutheran. The synod Lutherans are very conservative and > the Evangelical Lutherans are very liberal. I suspect the Pommeranians that > came here are found now mostly in the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. > Lutherans are found all over the USA and are the third largest Protestant > group but they are very strong in Pennsylvania, and the mid west. They total > 8,5 million in USA. > The Church of the Brethren is yet another historical German church. > They hold beliefs similar to the Baptist and like the Mennonites they do not > believe in military service and are pacifist. They came from Krefeld, > Germany starting in 1708 and settled mostly in Pennsylvania originally. They > number a quarter of a million. They are also called Dunkards for dunking the > baptised in the river. > The Mennonites started coming over in 1683 to Pennsylvania. They number > between a quarter and a half million. They are divided into at least 20 > sects but the largest are the Mennonite Church and the Amish Mennonites. > Some live modern styles of life and others live like 300 years ago. You see > horse and buggy Mennonnites in Penn., Indiana and Ohio and even in Canada. > Some have moved to Vermont and Maine looking for farm land. > The Moravian Church is essentially German background also. This church > has two centers in USA namely Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Bethlehem, > Penn. The founder was John Hus a Czech priest burned in Constance in mid > l400's before reformation. He advocated bible in language of people not in > Latin as well as services in language of people. He also wanted communion > cup given to people. Roman Church only gave bread not wine to people. Over > 50,000 in USA. > There was a church called the Evangelical and Reformed Church which was > a mixed Lutheran and Calvinist (Reformed) body of 800,000 which merged with > the Congregational Christian Church (English Calvinist background) in l957 > to form the current United Church of Christ the most liberal prostestant > church in USA today. The old Evangelical & Reformed Church was strongest in > Penn., and mid west and was very German. > Finally, where do the Methodist fit in with the Germans. Well, that is > an easy one. The second largest Protestant church in USA is a church called > the United Methodist Church. It has 8,5 million members. In l968 a group of > people of German background called the Evangelical United Brethren who were > Germans in Penn and elsewhere who were essentially Methodist merged with > the Methodist Church to form the current United Methodist Church. The German > segment numbered about 750,000 at the time of the merger. Methodists are > protestant but are of more recent origin than the reformation. They came out > of the Anglican or Episcopal (English) tradition in England and USA and > formed their own church in 1784. > Well, there are other smaller German religious groups like the > Schwenkfelders and the Amana Church Society small pious groups but the above > are the major groups that modern German-Americans either founded or belonged > to. > In this 3rd. week of Advent David In case you want to talk to David personally, mail him at katefw@neca.com ==== GERMAN-AMERICAN Mailing List ==== This GERMAN-AMERICAN list is currently available for adoption! Interested in becoming the list manager? Go here: http://resources.rootsweb.com/surnames/adoptrequest.html ============================== Free Web space. ANY amount. ANY subject. RootsWeb's Freepages put you in touch with millions. http://cgi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/acctform.cgi