Complete Guide to Christian Denominations, The

Ron Rhodes

The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations: Understanding the History, Beliefs, and Differences

• Ron Rhodes
• Harvest House Publishers
• 2005
• ISBN 0736912894 (pbk)

This is a concise guide to denominations and their origins, teachings, and distinctive characteristics. The book is clearly more of a reference work than something to be read cover to cover.

I chose this book over Mead’s Handbook of Denominations in the United States, because it cost significantly less and yet seemed to have a bit more information about each denomination. Mead’s book does, however, include information about non-Christian relgions and their various sects.

The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations includes a number of features I find helpful.

First, the book begins with a brief history of Christianity and how its denominations came to be. This provides a rough framework allowing the reader to better picture where a denomination fits in the Christian family tree.

Next are the sections describing each denominational group, arranged alphabetically. Within each section are the individual denominations belonging to the group, again arranged alphabetically. Each section begins with historical background and overview of basic doctrinal beliefs. This pattern continues for each denomination.

The information for individual denominations is sometimes a bit sparse. But Rhodes provides the address of the denomination’s web site for more information. After browsing a few sites, I can appreciate the difficulty in writing a book like this. Some denominations either don’t fully explain their distinctive beliefs, or they make it hard to find the information on their repective sites.

Sprinkled throughout the book are “Fast Facts” charts. They provide topic summaries, as well as handy comparisons of doctrinal differences.

Finally, the book includes with end notes, a bibliography, and a variety of indexes.

I found the index of denominations unnecessarily cumbersome. All the entries are arranged by denominational groups, rather than as a single list. If you don’t know in which denominational grouping a particular denomination falls, you have to scan each group until you find your quarry.

Overall, the book is an excellent aid for discovering more about various denominations, particularly if you are in search of a new church home.