Restorationism
Restorationism, also known as Christian primitivism, is a religious perspective holding that the early beliefs and practices of the followers of Jesus were either lost or adulterated after his death, and therefore required restoration. It is a view that often "seeks to correct faults or deficiencies, in other branches of Christianity, by appealing to the primitive church as normative model".
Efforts to restore an earlier, purer form of Christianity are frequently a response to denominationalism. As Rubel Shelly put it, "the motive behind all restoration movements is to tear down the walls of separation by a return to the practice of the original, essential and universal features of the Christian religion." Different groups have attempted to implement the restorationist vision in various ways; for instance, some have focused on the structure and practice of the church, others on the ethical life of the church, and still others on the direct experience of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The relative importance assigned to the restoration ideal, and the extent to which the full restoration of the early church is believed to have been achieved, also varies among groups.
More narrowly, the term "Restorationism" is used to describe a number of unrelated movements that arose during the Great Awakenings, such as the Christadelphians, Swedenborgians, Irvingians, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, La Luz del Mundo, and Iglesia ni Cristo. In this sense, Restorationism has been regarded as one of the six taxonomic groupings of Christianity: the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Restorationism. These Restorationist groups share a belief that historic Christianity lost the true faith during the Great Apostasy and that the Church needed to be restored.
The term has been used in reference to the Stone–Campbell Movement in the United States, and has also been used by more recent groups describing their goal to re-establish Christianity in its original form, such as some anti-denominational Charismatic Restorationists, which arose in the 1970s in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
Uses of the term
The terms restorationism, restorationist and restoration are used in several senses within Christianity. "Restorationism" in the sense of "Christian primitivism" refers to the attempt to correct perceived shortcomings of the current church by using the primitive church as a model to reconstruct early Christianity, and has also been described as "practicing church the way it is perceived to have been done in the New Testament".Restorationism is called "apostolic" as representing the form of Christianity that the Twelve Apostles followed. These themes arise early in church history, first appearing in the works of Iranaeus, and appeared in some movements during the Middle Ages. It was expressed to varying degrees in the theology of the Protestant Reformation, and Protestantism has been described as "a form of Christian restorationism, though some of its forms – for example the Churches of Christ – are more restorationist than others".
A number of historical movements within Christianity may be described as "restoration movements", including the Glasites in Scotland and England, the independent church led by James Haldane and Robert Haldane in Scotland, the American Restoration Movement, the Landmarkists and the Mormons. A variety of more contemporary movements have also been described as "restorationist". Restorationism has been described as a basic component of some Pentecostal movements such as the Assemblies of God. The terms "Restorationism movement" and "Restorationist movement" have also been applied to the British New Church Movement.
Capitalized, the term is also used as a synonym for the American Restoration Movement. The term "restorationism" can also include the belief that the Jewish people must be restored to the promised land in fulfillment of biblical prophecy before the Second Coming of Christ. Christian restorationism is generally used to describe the 19th century movement based on this belief, though the term Christian Zionism is more commonly used to describe later forms.
The term primitive, in contrast with other uses, refers to a basis in scholarship and research into the actual writings of the Church Fathers and other historical documents. Since written documents for the underground first-century church are sparse, the primitive church passed down its knowledge verbally. Elements of the primitive Christianity movement reject the patristic tradition of the prolific extrabiblical 2nd- and 3rd-century redaction of this knowledge, and instead attempt to reconstruct primitive church practices as they might have existed in the Apostolic Age. To do this, they revive practices found in the Old Testament. The term apostolic refers to a nonmainstream, often literal, apostolic succession or historical lineage tracing back to the Apostles and the Great Commission. These restorationist threads are sometimes regarded critically as being Judaizers in the Ebionite tradition.
Historical models
The restoration ideal has been interpreted and applied in a variety of ways. Four general historical models can be identified based on the aspect of early Christianity that the individuals and groups involved were attempting to restore. These are:- Ecclesiastical Primitivism;
- Ethical Primitivism;
- Experiential Primitivism; and
- Gospel Primitivism.
Ecclesiastical Primitivism
Ethical Primitivism
Ethical primitivism focuses on restoring the ethical norms and commitment to discipleship of the early church. Ethical commitments and norms are described in first century primitive Christian writings: Pauline writings reject gentiles taking on the “yoke of slavery;” the didache of Syria does not require gentile Christians to keep the full law perfectly, but instructs them to “keep as much … as they can ‘bear’.”The movement often requires observance of universal commandments, such as a biblical Sabbath as given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the Hebrew calendar to define years, seasons, weeks, and days. Circumcision, animal sacrifices, and ceremonial requirements, as practiced in Judaism, are distinguished from the Ten Commandments, Noahide laws and High Sabbaths as given to, and in effect for, all humanity. The Sermon on the Mount and particularly the Expounding of the Law warn against antinomianism, the rejection of biblical teachings concerning observance of the Law.
The Anabaptists, Barton W. Stone and the Holiness Movement are examples of this form of restorationism.
Experiential Primitivism
Experiential primitivism focuses on restoring the direct communication with God and the experience of the Holy Spirit seen in the early church. Examples include the Latter Day Saint movement of Joseph Smith and Pentecostalism.Gospel Primitivism
Gospel primitivism may be best seen in the theology of Martin Luther. Luther was not, in the strictest sense, a restorationist because he saw human effort to restore the church as works righteousness and was sharply critical of other Reformation leaders who were attempting to do so. On the other hand, he was convinced that the gospel message had been obscured by the Roman Catholic Church of the time. He also rejected church traditions he considered contrary to Scripture and insisted on scripture as the sole authority for the church.These models are not mutually exclusive, but overlap; for example, the Pentecostal movement sees a clear link between ethical primitivism and experiential primitivism.
Middle Ages
According to American Jewish historian Barbara Tuchman, beginning in about 1470 a succession of Popes focused on the acquisition of money, their role in Italian politics as rulers of the papal states and power politics within the college of cardinals. Restorationism at the time was centered on movements that wanted to renew the church, such as the Lollards, the Brethren of the Common Life, the Hussites, and Girolamo Savonarola's reforms in Florence.While these pre-reformation movements did presage and sometimes discussed a break with Rome and papal authority, they also provoked restorationist movements within the church, such as the councils of Constance and Basle, which were held in the first half of the 15th century.
Preachers at the time regularly harangued delegates to these conferences regarding simony, venality, lack of chastity and celibacy, and the holding of multiple benefices. The lack of success of the restorationist movements led, arguably, to the Protestant Reformation.
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation came about through an impulse to repair the Church and return it to what the reformers saw as its original biblical structure, belief, and practice, and was motivated by a sense that "the medieval church had allowed its traditions to clutter the way to God with fees and human regulations and thus to subvert the gospel of Christ." At the heart of the Reformation, in the view of later Protestants, was an emphasis on "scripture alone".As a result, the authority of church tradition, believed to have taken practical precedence over scripture, was rejected. The Protestant Reformation was not a monolithic movement, but consisted of at least three identifiable sub-currents. One was centered in Germany, one was centered in Switzerland, and the third was centered in England. While these movements shared some common concerns, each had its own particular emphasis.