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Article: Protestantism
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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PROTESTANTISM
PROTESTANTISM.
Martin Luther never set foot in North America, but the movement he unleashed in the sixteenth century profoundly shaped society and culture in America, informing everything from social policy and architecture to literature and health care. Protestantism has been, by far, the dominant religious tradition in America, although the denominational diversity of Protestantism has rendered its influence more diffuse.
Protestantism Defined
While Christianity remained fairly unified during its first millennium, cultural differences prompted a split between the Western church, based in Rome, and Eastern Christianity (Constantinople) in 1054. The Roman Catholic ...