Is Catholicism the Oldest Christian Religion?
Comparing Catholic and Protestant Differences in History
Apr 27, 2009
Over two billion people today are considered part of Christianity. Yet Christianity itself is divided into three main branches, which are Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.
In addition, there are numerous variants within those branches and many Christians and churches completely off on their own. Sorting through and understanding Christianity today can be a daunting task. It is equally challenging to understand Christian history.
Is Catholicism the Oldest Christian Religion?
For the first hundred years, the Christian church was organized locally and most congregations were at least regionally autonomous. Still, they saw themselves as part of a universal or "catholic" Christian family.
In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul writes of "one body and one Spirit" (Ephesians 4:4) and Clement of Alexandria, writing in ca. A.D. 195, called the "pre-eminence" of the church its "oneness," and declared it is the "basis of union" (Bercot, David W., ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. Peabody: Henrickson Publishers, 1998).
By the third and fourth centuries, most congregations answered to regional bishops, and there was greater coordination between those bishops. In addition, numerous councils met to canonize the Scriptures and work through thorny disputes over doctrine.
By the end of the fifth century, with the western Roman Empire having fallen, the Bishop of Rome stood as the most stable authority (religious as well as civil) in the West. This primacy, however, was not recognized in the East.
After a series of disputes between East and West, the final break occurred in the 11th century, leaving the Bishop of Rome the undisputed head of the vast majority of western Christian churches. The eastern "Patriarchates" of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch were completely independent from the Vatican.
Not surprisingly, both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church consider themselves to be the "original" church, founded by Jesus and the apostles.
Protestantism, as a historical movement, began in 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the wall of the Wittenberg church in Germany. Luther's subsequent campaign against corruption in the Catholic Church and his enunciation of doctrinal differences triggered the Protestant Reformation, which ultimately led to an explosion of various Christian sects and denominations.
In 1534, the fracture continued, with the Church of England removing itself from papal authority. That schism, resulting from King Henry VIII wanting a divorce, led to the founding and development of the Anglican and Episcopal traditions.
The Original Christian Church
While the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches both trace their origins to Jesus and the apostles, their assertions are problematic from a historical perspective. Two major qualifications need to be addressed.
Firstly, at the beginning of Christianity, the geographic focal point was Jerusalem, not Rome. Thus, it would be, at the very least, a technical error to assert that Roman Catholicism was present at the beginning of the Christian faith.
What's more, there is no indication that the churches in the first century answered to a singular human authority. While the apostles carried enormous influence, there was no central bishop over all the congregations, as they spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. For example, the church in Corinth did not take its orders from the church in Rome or the church in Jerusalem.
Secondly, both the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church (and, for that matter, the Anglican Communion and some Protestant denominations) have cultivated an extremely sophisticated theology and organizational structure over the centuries that bear little resemblance to the first century Christian world.
The truth is that all Christian congregations and denominations, which hold to the authority of the Scriptures and teach the "doctrine of Christ" as outlined in the New Testament, can claim historic origins in the first century.
Those denominations which have added new doctrines since the first century face problems in making such a case. Whether this expansion of Christian doctrine and tradition is warranted revolves around the degree of authority God gave the Church (institutionally) as well as one's understanding of "apostolic succession."
For this reason, asking whether Roman Catholicism is the oldest Christian religion is a misleading question and fails to address the most important point. According to the Bible, the key is not how far back a denomination or church can trace its organizational history, but rather which churches have remained true to their ultimate founder.
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