Restorationism

{{christianity}}
The label '''Restorationism''' is sometimes used by scholars of religion to denote a fourth branch of [[Christianity]] (after [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] and [[Protestant]]ism), encompassing [[denomination]]s which resemble Protestantism but do not have a direct lineage from the [[Protestant Reformation]] (nor, by extension, from the Catholic Church). Restorationist [[church]]es began as entirely new churches, mostly founded in the 19th and 20th centuries; they declared all the existing churches [[Apostasy|apostate]] and claimed that they themselves were restoring {{wpl|Early Christianity|the original church|.}}

==All other Christians are apostates==
Typical of Restorationist beliefs is that the early church fell into complete [[apostasy]], which they usually date to around 312 [[CE]] when the emperor Constantine of the [[Roman Empire]] either converted to Christianity or cynically co-opted it, depending on whom you ask. Some Restorationists will date this apostasy slightly earlier, to Tertullian's formulation of the doctrine of the [[trinity]], or to the switch from Saturday to Sunday worship. The apostasy is often viewed as a deliberate introduction of [[paganism]] into the church, including (depending on whom you ask) the Christianising and renaming of pagan festivals to become [[Christmas]] and [[Easter]], the introduction of [[goddess]] worship into the church under the guise of [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]], the acceptance of [[war]]fare and swearing oaths (both forbidden by the early church with oaths viewed as pagan rites), and/or the introduction of infant [[baptism]] and baptism by sprinkling rather than dunking. Examples of books purporting to trace exactly when and how the early church fell into apostasy are ''The [[Great Apostasy]]'' by [[Mormonism|Mormon]] leader James Talmage, and ''The Great Controversy'' by Seventh-day Adventist founder [[Ellen G. White]]. Other books, such as ''The Trail of Blood'' (a [[Baptist]] booklet) and the Anabaptist/Amish tome ''Martyr's Mirror'', also hold to this belief that the church as a whole fell into apostasy, but that a smallish persecuted remnant of true believers remained underground and carried on the true [[faith]] in a line of succession until the present.

==Restorationist groups==
The '''Church of Christ''', originally known as the [[Campbellites]] or the Restoration Movement, appears to account for the origin of the term "Restorationist". Some religious scholars use the term only to refer to the Campbellite movement and to [[Mormonism]] - due to the early connections between the two - and not to anyone else. Others employ a broader use of the term, including some or all of the following: [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Pentecostal]]ism (especially its [[Jesus-only baptism]] branch), [[Christian Identity]], [[Seventh-day Adventism]] and its offshoots (including the [[Waco| Branch Davidians]] and the [[Herbert W. Armstrong| Worldwide Church of God]]), {{wpl|Christadelphians||,}} the Plymouth Brethren, [[Joel's Army]], the [[Discipling and Shepherding]] movement, the [[Twelve Tribes]] communities, and the [[Local Church]] movement. Older movements with origins on the radically low-church end of the Protestant Reformation, such as the [[Puritans]], the [[Society of Friends]] (aka the Quakers) and the Anabaptists, are usually not included, even though they resemble in many ways the more recent Restorationist groups' attempts at restoring {{wpl|Primitive Christianity|primitive Christianity}} (primitive in the sense of "early, prior to standardization", not "primitive" in the usual sense).

A similar religious movement in the Philippines called ''[[Iglesia ni Cristo]]'' shares much of the core tenets with the above-listed groups, though it also incorporated concepts such as [[personality cult]]s towards its leaders and bloc voting under the guise of fostering "solidarity" among the congregation. The same can be said about the Kingdom of Jesus Christ religious movement by Filipino far-right fugitive pastor [[Apollo Quiboloy]], who employed not only a personality cult around himself but also engaged in [[human trafficking]] of women and girls where they are illegally brought to the States under false pretences.

==Disagreement==
It is notable that due to the nature of Restorationism, most of the groups so labelled have little in common with each other, other than declaring themselves to be ''the'' restoration of God's True Church™. They tend to differ greatly on which original practices they restore. One group may emphasize Saturday worship, another may emphasize [[Christian pacifism]], another may emphasize home church meetings, no liturgical music and rejection of denominational titles.

Most of these groups are notoriously [[fundamentalist]] and [[crank]]y, while at worst outright [[Cult|cultish]].

==Not to be confused with==
*The 19th century [[Zionism|Zionist]] movement also called Christian Restorationism.
*Christian Reconstructionism, a [[Theocracy|theocratic]] political movement closely linked to [[dominionism]] (the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably).
*[[Polytheistic reconstructionism]], which has nothing to do with Christianity in any sense.

==See also==
*[[Samaritans]] - Restorationists for [[Judaism]], in some ways. They believe Judaism has strayed too far and that their religion is closer to the original.

[[Category:Christianity]]

Categories: Christianity