Ecclesiastical separatism is the withdrawal of people and churches from Christian denominations, usually to form new denominations. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the separating puritans advocated departure from the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

. These people became known as dissenters. Ecclesiastical separatism has also been associated with

Christian fundamentalism Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...

(at times other forms of theological conservatism), and such withdrawals have been mainly due to (perceived)

theological liberalism Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position, ...

within the established state churches,

national churches National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, and mainline Protestant denominations. They have often been accompanied by a refusal to have any further association with the parent denomination/Christian fellowship with its members, or denominations cutting ties of full communion or

altar and pulpit fellowship Altar and pulpit fellowship describes an ecumenical collaboration between two Christian organizations, and is a Lutheran term for full communion, or ''communio in sacris.'' ''Altar'' refers to the altar in Christian churches, which holds the sacr ...

with other denominations.

George Marsden George Mish Marsden (born 1939) is an American historian who has written extensively on the interaction between Christianity and American culture, particularly on Christianity in American higher education and on American evangelicalism. He ...

notes that

Arno C. Gaebelein Arno Clemens Gaebelein (August 27, 1861 – December, 1945) was a Methodist minister in the United States. He was a prominent teacher and conference speaker. He was also the father of educator and philosopher of Christian education Frank E. Gaebel ...

was one of the early fundamentalist leaders to advocate ecclesiastical separation in a conference address in 1914. Gaebelein had left the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

in 1899. For Carl McIntire in the 1930s and 1940s, separation meant leaving liberal denominations (he formed the Bible Presbyterian Church) as well as organizations such as the

National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Uni ...

(he formed the rival American Council of Christian Churches). McIntire also separated from evangelical groups, such as the

National Association of Evangelicals The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is an association of evangelical denominations, organizations, schools, churches and individuals, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. The association represents more than 45,000 local churches ...

, which he believed had compromised with the liberalism of the National Council of Churches. In fundamentalism, ecclesiastical separatism is closely connection to the

doctrine of separation The doctrine of separation, also known as the doctrine of non-fellowship, is a belief among some Protestant religious groups that the members of a church should be separate from "the world" and not have association with those who are "of the world". ...

, in which Christians are urged to be personally separate from the world. This is often based on

2 Corinthians The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in th ...

6:17: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." Dennis Costella bases his ideas of separation on God's holiness, and argues that this requires not just "withdrawal from counterfeit, apostate Christianity", but also "separation from disobedient brethren". The "refusal to associate with groups who endorse questionable doctrinal beliefs or moral practices" is known as "first-degree separation", while "second-degree separation" means "refraining from association or identification with groups or individuals who do not practice first-degree separation." Many separatist denominations and groups still exist today. For example, the Biblical Graduate School of Theology affirms belief "in the principle of biblical separation which calls the individual and the church to holiness, being separated to God and from the world." Its statement of faith goes on to say that "ecclesiastical separation involves rejecting any fellowship with organizations which deny the cardinal truths of Scripture in word or deed". Peter Masters laments that "biblical Separation from denominational heresy and apostasy (nowadays including homosexual immorality) is no longer widely followed by evangelicals." He argues that this has "led to a weakened, worldly, psychological evangelicalism in Britain." Masters' congregation, the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, separated from the Baptist Union of Great Britain in 1971.

References

Sources

* {{Cite book, last=Meyendorff, first=John, author-link=John Meyendorff, year=1989, title=Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D., series=The Church in history, volume=2, location=Crestwood, NY, publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J_YAAAAMAAJ Christian fundamentalism Ecclesiology Separatism