What is the difference between Calvinism, Lutherinism and Protestantism?

We were studying the reformation movement at university but we never went into details about the difference between the various movements. I tried speedways convoluted and hard to draw distinct differences between the movements

Though I presume Lutherinism and Calvinism are just two different form of Protestantism.

Can anyone provide a clean explanation of the differences?

Also does the Calvinist Church still exist? I know the Lutheran one does.

I believe Lutheran and Protestantism go hand in hand BC that is my religion, and i have heard us describe ourselves as Lutheran or Protestants...Calvinism was founded by John Calvin and they believed in the predestination proclamation.That is where God already knows whether you are going to Hell or Heaven even b4 you are born so there is no way to redeem you self with God.Lutherans and protestants believe in redemption and forgiveness.

The Lutheran Church was the first Protestant church (excepting for the spat between Henry VIII and the Pope), and was responsible for much of Protestantism today. Calvin followed shortly after. What Luther was "protesting" has been entirely lost on Protestants today. I'm not certain if Calvinism proper even exists today, but Calvinist theology continues on in the Baptist church.

Protestantism eventually disintegrated into thousands of different factions. It's a sad commentary that Protestantism (if there is such a thing) is the view of most, at least in the US, when they think of Christianity. To most of the world Christianity is divided into either Catholicism or Protestantism, with Protestantism termed "Christianity".


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Lutheran is Protestant. Although they are close to the Catholics.
Calvinism is a theological persuasion.
Many Presbyterians and Baptist are Calvinist, though they are all considered Protestant.

In Protestantism, the theology developed and advanced by John Calvin. It was further developed by his followers and became the foundation of the Reformed church and Presbyterianism. As shaped by Calvin's successor at Geneva, Theodore Beza (1519 ? 1605), Calvinism emphasizes the doctrine of predestination, holding that God extends grace and grants salvation only to the chosen, or elect. It stresses the literal truth of the Bible, and it views the church as a Christian community in which Christ is head and all members are equal under him. It therefore rejects the episcopal form of church government in favor of an organization in which church officers are elected. Calvinism was the basis of theocracies in Geneva and Puritan New England (see Puritanism), and it strongly influenced the Presbyterian church in Scotland.

In a broad sense, Calvinism can be virtually synonymous with "Reformed Protestantism" or Reformed theology, encompassing the whole body of doctrine taught by Reformed churches and represented in various Reformed Confessions such as the Belgic Confession of Faith (1561) and the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647).

The Calvinist doctrine of salvation is summarized in what is commonly called the Five Points of Calvinism, or the Doctrines of Grace, known by the acronym TULIP

Total depravity
Unconditional election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace
Perseverance of the saints


Lutheranism, major Protestant denomination, which originated as a 16Th-century movement led by Martin Luther. Luther, a German Augustinian monk and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony (Sachsen), originally had as his goal the reformation of the Western Christian church. Because Luther and his followers were excommunicated by the pope, however, Lutheranism developed in a number of separate national and territorial churches, thus initiating the breakup of the organizational unity of Western Christendom.

according to Lutheran teaching, does not depend on worthiness or merit but is a gift of God?s sovereign grace. All human beings are considered sinners and, because of original sin, are in bondage to the powers of evil and thus unable to contribute to their liberation (see Justification). Lutherans believe that faith, understood as trust in God?s steadfast love, is the only appropriate way for human beings to respond to God?s saving initiative. Thus, ?salvation by faith alone? became the distinctive and controversial slogan of Lutheranism. Opponents claimed that this position failed to do justice to the Christian responsibility to do good works, but Lutherans have replied that faith must be active in love and that good works follow from faith as a good tree produces good fruit.

John Calvin (July 10, 1509 ? May 27, 1564
Martin Luther(November 10, 1483?February 18, 1546)

Perhaps Calvin was influenced by Luther and followed his lead in the reforming of the Catholic church.

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