The branches today: one faith, many traditions

Out of this history come the three great families of Christians alive today, which together with the ancient Oriental Orthodox make up the whole. Roman Catholicism, the largest, led by the pope in communion with the world's bishops, holds Scripture and sacred tradition together, seven sacraments, and a special honor for Mary and the saints. Eastern Orthodoxy, a communion of self-governing national churches (Greek, Russian, and others) under honored patriarchs rather than a single pope, treasures the seven ecumenical councils, the ancient liturgy, and icons, and understands salvation as theosis, sharing in God's life. Protestantism is not one church but a wide range of traditions descended from the Reformation, Lutheran, Reformed/Presbyterian, Anglican, Anabaptist, Baptist, Methodist, and, from the twentieth century, the fast-growing Pentecostal and charismatic movements, generally holding to Scripture as final authority and justification by grace through faith, while differing among themselves on baptism, church government, and the sacraments. What unites them is as striking as what divides them: all confess the Nicene faith, the Trinity, and Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man, crucified and risen. Where they differ is on authority (pope, councils, or Scripture alone), the sacraments, justification, and the place of Mary and the saints. Bubble Bible describes each tradition in its own terms and leaves the reader, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, or seeker, free to weigh them.