Church Denominations

Do you ever wonder what the difference is between one denomination and another? Why are there so many kinds of Baptist or Presbyterian or Lutheran churches? Where do those names come from, anyway? You can find answers in this concise but comprehensive guide. Learn about the leaders, teachings, and history of most of the church families in America. In addition to membership statistics, you'll find... a brief explanation of how the denomination began a short summary of its teaching on God, the Bible, the church, and other important topics a quick overview of some of its distinctive characteristics Whether you're looking for a new church or enriching your fellowship with believers from other traditions, you'll be much better prepared with this revised and expanded edition of The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations.

This unique reference work provides students and the general public alike with coverage of more than 2, 300 North American religious groups in the U.S. and Canada -- from Adventists to Zen Buddhists. The culmination of more than forty years of research, the information is presented in 26 chapters, each of which focuses on a different religious family. Each chapter includes an overview of the familys history, followed by directory entries on specific groups within that family. The directory entries provide factual information including, when available, rubrics for membership figures, educational facilities, and periodicals. This ninth edition of Meltonâ??s Encyclopedia of American Religions is an enormous leap forward for a title already acclaimed for its unique coverage. This edition is now two volumes instead of one, reflecting the expanded coverage of Canadian religion. Volume 1 covers the U.S., and Volume 2 covers Canada; both volumes include the same chapters for easy comparison between U.S. and Canadian religious expression. The Canadian volume also includes the Defunct Appendix (for all the religious groups that no longer exist), an alphabetical listing of all religious groups, a geographic listing for an additional way to search the content, and a subject index.

These companion volumes presents over 500 religious creeds, confessions, statements of faith, summaries of belief and articles of religion associated with the many branches of Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and other religions practiced in America.

There are numerous reference volumes dealing with Christianity. Remarkably, however, until now there has been no one-volume encyclopedia dedicated Christianity on a global scale.This exhaustive work presupposes no prior knowledge of Christianity, and can usefully be consulted by Jews and Muslims, people of other faiths or no faith at all. It covers all forms of Christianity throughout history and the world. Over 300 major articles by distinguished internationalcontributors are linked through a novel series of pointers that provide different angles on topics and show the connections between them. The contributors include the leading experts on the topics under consideration, which range from regional surveys to portraits of denominations and sects,explorations of theological and moral questions, relationships with other faiths, and a "Who's Who" of Christianity. In addition to the main articles, helpful "fact boxes" present basic factual material, often in the form of lists, bringing together information that is often surprisingly difficultto find: creeds, councils, popes, miracles and parables of Jesus, religious orders, and much more. This remarkable resource, more than ten years in the making, fills a major gap in the literature on world Christianity.

Includes but not limited to descriptions of denominations, listing of theological schools and Bible colleges, statistical information for denominations, a listing of religious periodicals.