Dictionary of Christianity in America

Top Highlights

“Justification,’ said John Wesley, ‘God does for us; sanctification, God does in us” (source)

“Church Government: Congregational. Congregationalism is a Protestant tradition of ecclesiology and church government maintaining that local congregations, consisting of men and women who acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ and seek his will, can minister and govern themselves through congregational vote, covenant and participation. The congregational tradition was brought to America by the Puritans and may be defined with a phrase drawn from colonial America: turning ‘the meeting house into a throne room.’” (source)

“Battle Creek College (later Andrews University) in 1875.” (source)

“Episcopal. A form of church government distinguished from presbyterian and congregational forms insofar as local churches are subject to the more or less monarchical authority of a bishop (derived from the Greek episkopos. meaning ‘overseer’). Roman Catholics, Orthodox and Episcopalians maintain the doctrine of apostolic succession, sometimes referred to as the ‘historic ministry,’ signifying that the episcopacy derives in direct line from the beginnings of Christianity and is indispensable to the church. Through the sacrament of orders, conferred by the imposition of a bishop’s hand on the head of a candidate, the powers of the episcopal office are transmitted from generation to generation.” (source)

“‘theonomists,’ Reconstructionists argue that Old Testament law applies today, in ‘exhaustive’ and ‘minutial’ detail. They anticipate a day when Christians will oversee all aspects of society, using the Bible as their guide. Third, Reconstructionists are postmillennial in their eschatology, believing the world is now in the millennial age. In the long term, societies are becoming more and more Christianized.” (source)