‘Protestant’ (PROT-uh-stuhnt) can mean at least two different things. Pay attention to the context, so you don’t mix them up!

• ‘Protestant’ in the NARROW sense refers to the Churches which separated from the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century.

• This process began when Martin Luther publicly criticised the teachings of the Catholic Church in 1517.

• His supporters became known as ‘Protestants’ (from the Latin word prōtestārī, ‘to testify’).

• The sixteenth-century Protestant churches include:

  • The Lutheran Churches

  • The Reformed Churches

  • The Anabaptist Churches

• Their theologies are somewhat different, but they do have a few beliefs in common:

  • They value Scripture (the Bible) over tradition.

  • They believe that people are justified (saved) by their faith alone, not by doing good works.

  • They have a ‘priesthood of all believers’, rather than a separate ordained priesthood.

• ‘Protestant’ in the BROAD sense refers to any Church which is neither Catholic nor Orthodox.

• Because this second sense is so broad, it is difficult to say anything that is true of all these churches!

• The Church of England is a special case.

• It could be considered Protestant in both senses.

• But Anglicans sometimes refer to themselves as a via media (‘middle way’), which is neither fully Catholic nor fully Protestant.

• For the exam, you must know what one or more Protestant Churches teach about:

  • Believers’ Baptism

  • The Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion)

  • Justification

    • N.B. This is true of the AQA Specification (2025: 11–12). If you use a different exam board, check their specification!

• It will usually be easiest to pick one or two Protestant denominations and just learn their beliefs for all of these!

References:

• AQA. 2025. ‘GCSE Religious Studies A’ <https://cdn.sanity.io/files/p28bar15/green/ab272d86486eb6b391a2c33de9072a5031e0f584.pdf?_gl=1*1az4jlv*_gcl_au*MTg5MTYzMDk2Mi4xNzg4MjY0NzQ3> accessed 12 September 2026.