Protestant Branches

Protestantism is not a single Church but a family of ecclesial traditions born from the 16th-century Reformation. These traditions share the five solas but diverge on ecclesiology, sacraments, governance, and liturgy. There are more than 45,000 Protestant denominations worldwide.

The Four Major Protestant Families

Branches from the Revival Movements

Francophone liberal Protestantism

Liberal Protestantism constitutes a transversal theological family running through several confessional branches. Born in the 19th century in the wake of German biblical criticism (Schleiermacher, Strauss, Baur, Harnack, Troeltsch), it develops in the Francophone world — particularly in French-speaking Switzerland — with remarkable originality.

Structuring principles

• Historical-critical biblical reading with rigorous application of scientific methods;
• Rejection of fundamentalism and literalist readings;
• Faith-reason articulation in dialogue with the humanities and continental philosophy;
• Social ethics committed to human rights, ecology, interreligious dialogue;
• Theological pluralism without binding orthodoxy ("free quest for truth").

Romande schools

Major representatives:

• Lausanne: Pierre Bonnard (1911–2003), Daniel Marguerat (b. 1943, Life of Paul 2024), Jean Zumstein, François Bovon;
• Geneva (UNIGE): Pierre Gisel, Hans-Christoph Askani, Andreas Dettwiler, François Dermange;
• IPT Paris-Montpellier: Élian Cuvillier, Olivier Abel, Frédéric Rognon, Élisabeth Parmentier.

Major theological sources: Schleiermacher, Bultmann, Tillich, Ricœur.

The prosperity gospel

The prosperity gospel (or Health and Wealth Gospel) is a neo-Pentecostal movement that emerged in the United States in the 1940s–1950s and has become, in the 21st century, one of the most powerful religious phenomena worldwide. It develops mainly in the USA, Latin America (Brazil), sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Ghana) and East Asia (South Korea).

Central thesis

Authentic Christian faith should produce visible material results: health, financial success, professional flourishing. Illness and poverty are interpreted as a lack of faith. "Financial sacrifice" is conceived as a spiritual investment producing multiplied returns.

Founding figures

• Kenneth Hagin (1917–2003) — founder of the Word of Faith movement;
• Kenneth Copeland (b. 1936);
• T. D. Jakes (b. 1957) — The Potter's House;
• Joel Osteen (b. 1963) — Lakewood Church (45 000 weekly attendees);
• Edir Macedo — Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Brazil (1977);
• David Yonggi Cho (South Korea) — Yoido Full Gospel Church (480 000 members).

Academic critique

The prosperity gospel is unanimously criticised by theologians of all traditions (Reformed, Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and many classical Pentecostals). Main criticisms: defective hermeneutics (decontextualisation of verses), deficient Christology (eclipse of the theology of the cross), reduced soteriology (materialised salvation), problematic theodicy (blaming the poor and sick), ethical drift (personal enrichment of pastors, scandals).

Reference works: Kate Bowler, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (Oxford UP, 2013); Jones and Woodbridge, Health, Wealth and Happiness (Kregel, 2011).

Sarah Mullally — First woman primate of the Anglican Communion

The year 2026 marks a historic stage in the Anglican Communion: for the first time since its foundation in 597, a woman has acceded to the supreme position of Archbishop of Canterbury and primate of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Sarah Mullally (b. 1962), former Chief Nursing Officer of the English NHS (1999–2004), Bishop of London (2018–2026), is:

• Elected by the Crown Nominations Commission on 3 October 2025;
• Confirmed on 28 January 2026 — 106^th Archbishop of Canterbury;
• Enthroned on 25 March 2026 (Feast of the Annunciation) at Canterbury Cathedral in the presence of King Charles III;
• Succeeding Justin Welby, who resigned on 6 January 2025 following the Smyth abuse scandal.

This appointment concretises a process begun in 1992 (ordination of women priests in the Church of England) and 2014 (ordination of women bishops). It stands in continuity with women's ordination practised since 1976 in the American Episcopal Church and in several Anglican provinces (Hong Kong as early as 1944 with Florence Li Tim-Oi, the first in the entire Communion).

Archbishop Mullally inherits an Anglican Communion fractured by divergences on sexual ethics (blessing of same-sex couples in the Church of England since 2023) and on the structural role of Canterbury in a Communion that has become majority African and Asian. Several primates of the Global South (GAFCON) reject the centrality of Canterbury. This feminine accession to the supreme Anglican position represents one of the most visible advances of a Protestant ecclesiology of ministerial equality in the 21st century.