Saturday, June 16, 2007

Theological Dictionary word of the day: denomination
Glasgow Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland. Taken by Finlay McWalter on 2nd March 2004A religious denomination, (also simply denomination) is a large, long-established subgroup within a religion that has existed for many years. However, in Islam such subgroups are referred to as "sects", not denominations.

The term is frequently used to describe the different Christian churches (Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and the many varieties of Protestantism); it is also used to describe the four organised branches of Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist), and (less often, though it would not be inappropriate) to describe the two main branches of Islam (Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims).


Hinduism is also traditionally divided into four major denominations: Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Smartism.

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