There are two standard terms in religion to describe either “truth”, or a deviation of “truth”. They are ‘heresy’ and ‘orthodoxy’. Am I the only person who wonders that if ‘orthodoxy’ is so darned right, then why are there SO MANY competing versions of it, all claiming that their particular Holy Spirit quite certainly led them to where they are???
World Christian Encyclopedia (David A. Barrett; Oxford University Press, 1982) apparently estimated almost 21,000 denominations, and the updated World Christian Encyclopedia (Barrett, Kurian, Johnson; Oxford Univ Press, 2nd edition, 2001) estimated at least 33,000. “Denomination” is defined as “an organised christian group within a country”.
The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary estimated 34,000 denominations in 2000, rising to an estimated 43,000 in 2012. These numbers have exploded from 1,600 in the year 1900.