Traditional Marriage Ethic50 The view that marriage is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, and that sexual relations belong only within it.
Episcopal Polity110 Church government by bishops, who oversee clergy and congregations in a region and ordain new ministers.
Premillennialism150 The view that Christ will return before a literal thousand-year reign on earth, which follows his coming and precedes the final judgement.
Orthodox Eucharistic Mystery155 The teaching that the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Christ through the invocation of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy, while the manner of the change is left a mystery.
Holy Tradition180 The Orthodox teaching that the faith is handed down as one living tradition, of which Scripture is the central part, together with the creeds, the councils, the Fathers, the liturgy and the icons.
Infant Baptism200 The practice of baptising the infant children of believers, as well as adult converts.
Christian Universalism230 The view that God will in the end reconcile all people to himself, so that no one is lost forever. A softer form, “hopeful universalism”, holds only that Christians may hope and pray for this.
Arianism318 The teaching that the Son of God was created by the Father, so that he is not eternal and not God in the same sense as the Father.
Theosis318 Salvation as union with God: humans come to share in the divine life, becoming by grace what God is by nature, a phrase common in Orthodox writing.
Conciliarity325 The view that the highest authority in the church belongs to bishops acting together in council, guided by the Holy Spirit, with no single bishop ruling over the rest.
Classical Theism400 The view that God is eternal, unchanging and simple, and knows all things, including every future free choice, with complete certainty.
Pelagianism411 The view that humans can choose good and obey God by their own natural powers: Adam’s sin set a bad example but did not damage human nature, so grace helps but is not strictly necessary.
Amillennialism426 The view that the thousand years of Revelation 20 are symbolic and describe the present age, in which Christ already reigns, between his first coming and his return.
Eternal Conscious Torment426 The view that those who die separated from God remain conscious and suffer punishment forever.
Church of the East Christology431 The teaching that Christ is one person (parsopa) with two natures, divine and human, each keeping its own properties, so that the Word dwells fully in the man Jesus without the two being mixed.
Papal Primacy445 The teaching that the bishop of Rome, as successor of Peter, holds full and universal authority over the whole church, and can teach infallibly on faith and morals under defined conditions.
Chalcedonian Christology451 The teaching that Christ is one person in two natures, divine and human, united without confusion, change, division or separation.
Miaphysitism451 The teaching that in Christ divinity and humanity are united in one nature, without mixture, confusion or change, following Cyril of Alexandria’s phrase “one incarnate nature of God the Word”.
Filioque589 The teaching that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son, expressed by adding filioque (“and the Son”) to the Nicene Creed.
Procession from the Father Alone867 The teaching that the Holy Spirit takes his eternal origin from the Father alone, who is the single source of the Son and the Spirit within the Trinity.
Transubstantiation1215 The teaching that at the consecration the whole substance of the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ, while the appearances of bread and wine remain.
Lutheran Justification1517 Justification by grace alone through faith alone: God declares the sinner righteous for Christ’s sake, crediting (imputing) Christ’s righteousness to them. Good works follow as fruit, not as a cause.
Sola Scriptura1519 The Protestant principle that Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith, and that church tradition, councils and teachers are subject to it.
Sacramental Union1520 The Lutheran teaching that Christ’s true body and blood are present “in, with and under” the bread and wine, which remain bread and wine.
Believer's Baptism1525 The view that baptism should be given only to those who personally confess faith in Christ, so infants are not baptised.
Memorialism1525 The view that the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ’s death, in which bread and wine are signs and Christ is present to faith rather than bodily in the elements.
Calvinism1536 Salvation as entirely God’s sovereign work: before creation God unconditionally chose those he would save, and his grace brings them to faith without fail.
Penal Substitution1536 The view that on the cross Christ took the place of sinners and bore the punishment their sin deserved, satisfying God’s justice so that they can be forgiven.
Spiritual Presence1536 The Reformed teaching that believers truly feed on Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, not by a change in the elements but by the work of the Holy Spirit, who unites them to Christ in heaven.
Presbyterian Polity1541 Church government by elders (presbyters), with ministers and lay elders sharing authority through a series of councils from the local church up to a general assembly.
Magisterium1546 The Catholic teaching that the authentic interpretation of Scripture and tradition belongs to the church’s living teaching office, the pope and the bishops in communion with him.
Catholic Justification1547 Justification as both forgiveness and inner renewal: God’s grace is poured into the soul, making the person truly righteous, and the person freely cooperates with that grace.
Congregational Polity1580 Church government in which each local congregation is self-governing under Christ, choosing its own ministers and making its own decisions, with no higher church authority over it.
Arminianism1610 Salvation as God’s gift that a person can accept or resist: God’s prevenient grace frees the will to respond, election rests on God’s foreknowledge of faith, and Christ died for everyone.
Postmillennialism1700 The view that Christ will return after a long era of peace and righteousness, brought about as the gospel spreads and most of the world turns to Christ.
Old Earth Creationism1814 The view that the earth and universe are billions of years old, as mainstream science holds, while God created life, and especially humans, by direct acts rather than through common descent.
Annihilationism1846 The view, also called conditional immortality, that the lost will not suffer forever but will finally be destroyed and cease to exist.
Evolutionary Creation1860 The view that God created life, including humans, through the evolutionary processes that mainstream biology describes, while still affirming God as creator and sustainer of all things.
Biblical Inerrancy1881 The view that Scripture, as originally written, is without error in everything it affirms, including matters of history and science, because it is God’s inspired word.
Continuationism1906 The view that all the gifts of the Spirit described in the New Testament, including tongues, prophecy and healing, continue in the church today.
Cessationism1918 The view that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, such as tongues, prophecy and healing, ended with the apostles and are not given to the church today.
Christus Victor1931 The view that the atonement is above all Christ’s victory over the powers that hold humanity captive: sin, death and the devil.
Lordship Salvation1959 The view that saving faith includes submission to Jesus as Lord, so that a genuine conversion always produces repentance and a changed life.
Young Earth Creationism1961 The view that God created the universe in six ordinary days roughly 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, and that Noah’s flood was a global event that explains much of the geological record.
Black Theology1969 A theology that interprets the gospel from the experience of Black people under racism, holding that God is revealed as siding with the oppressed in their struggle for freedom.
Affirming Theology1970 The view that faithful, lifelong same-sex relationships can be holy, and that churches should bless or marry same-sex couples and ordain gay and lesbian people on the same terms as others.
Liberation Theology1971 A theology that reads the gospel from the side of the poor, holding that God has a preferential option for the poor and that salvation includes liberation from unjust social and economic structures.
Limited Inerrancy1972 The view that Scripture is fully truthful and authoritative in what it teaches for faith and practice, but is not necessarily precise in every incidental historical or scientific detail.
Prosperity Gospel1974 The teaching that God wills financial prosperity and physical health for believers, and that these are received through faith, spoken confession and giving.
Male Priesthood1976 The teaching that only men can be ordained priests or bishops, because the priest acts in the person of Christ and the church is bound by Christ’s choice of twelve men as apostles.
New Perspective on Paul1977 A reading of Paul which holds that first-century Judaism was not a religion of earning salvation by works, and that Paul’s teaching on justification mainly concerns how Jews and Gentiles belong together in God’s covenant people.
Free Grace Theology1981 The view that eternal life is received by faith alone, understood as trusting Christ’s promise, with repentance, submission and good works belonging to discipleship rather than to the condition of salvation.
Complementarianism1987 The view that men and women are equal in dignity and worth but have distinct, complementary roles, with the office of pastor or elder, and headship in marriage, given to men.
Egalitarianism1987 The view that women and men share equally in leadership and authority in the church and in marriage, so every ministry, including pastor and bishop, is open to women.
Open Theism1994 The view that the future is partly open, so God knows it as a range of possibilities rather than as settled fact, and responds to the free choices of people.