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Restorationism, sometimes called Christian primitivism, frequently describes religious movements that believe pristine, or original Christianity is restored in themselves to an important degree. These diverse groups teach that a restoration of Christianity has become necessary because Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians introduced defects into Christian faith and practice, or have lost a vital element of genuine Christianity. (see Great Apostasy).

As a descriptive label, restorationism applies to the Restoration Movement and numerous other movements that originated in the eastern United States and Canada and grew rapidly in the early and mid 19th century in the wake of the Second Great Awakening. Restoration is also a label applied by the Latter Day Saint movement, often called Mormonism, referring to a period which began with Joseph Smith and the publication of the Book of Mormon.

More recent groups also apply the label "restorationist" to themselves, describing their goal to re-establish Christianity in its original form, such as some anti-denominational "Restorationists" which arose in the 1970s in the United Kingdom^[1][2] and elsewhere. In comparable terms, earlier primitivist movements including the Paulicians, Hussites, Anabaptists, radical Baptists, and the Quakers have been described as examples of restorationism.^{[citation needed]}

Leading up to the 19th century, the Calvinist and Wesleyan revival called the Great Awakening had established the Congregationalist, Presbyterian, Baptist and new Methodist churches on competitive footing for social influence in the new America. As that "revival of religion" cooled, there was a retreat from the social gains that had been experienced by Evangelical churches. Furthermore, that revival had strengthened opinion in some quarters that Evangelical religions were weakened and divided, and that loyalty to traditional creeds and doctrines constituted an obstacle to salvation and Christian unity.

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