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| The 7th-century Khor
Virap monastery in the shadow of Mount Ararat;
Armenia was the first state to adopt
Christianity as the state religion, in AD 301. |
Christianity
Christianity is the largest world religion by number of
adherents (around 2.4 billion). Members of the religion
are called Christians. Christians generally believe
Jesus to be the Son of God, the second person of the
Trinity. It is a monotheistic religion, meaning it has
only one God.. It is based on the life and teachings of
Jesus of Nazareth.
To most of the people of his time Jesus was a preacher,
teacher, healer, and prophet from ancient Judea.
However, his disciples believed him to be much more than
that: they believed that Jesus was God's one and only
son who was sent down to earth to die on a cross for
their sins. The man said to be his father, Joseph, was a
carpenter. Jesus was executed by being nailed to a cross
(or crucified) under Pontius Pilate, the local Roman
governor at the time. His life and followers are written
about in the New Testament, part of the Bible.
Christians consider the Bible, both the Old Testament
and New Testament, as sacred. The Gospels or "The Good
News" are the first four books of the New Testament and
are about the life of Jesus, his death, and him rising
from the dead.
God created the world. Jesus is the name of God the Son.
Christians believe Him to be the Son of God. They
believe that He was the human son of the Virgin Mary and
the divine Son of God. They believe he suffered and died
to free humans from their sin and was later raised from
the dead. He then went up into Heaven. At the end of
time, Jesus will come back to Earth to judge all
mankind, both alive and dead, giving everlasting life to
those who believe in him. The Holy Spirit is the spirit
of God on the Earth that spoke through prophets.
The prophets foretold in the Old Testament of Jesus as
the Savior. Christians think of Jesus Christ as a
teacher, a role model, and someone who revealed who the
Christian God was.
Just like Judaism and Islam, Christianity is an
Abrahamic religion. Christianity started out as a Jewish
sect in the eastern Mediterranean. It quickly grew in
number of believers and influence over a few decades,
and by the 4th Century it had become the dominant
religion in the Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Aksum
became the first empire to adopt Christianity. During
the Middle Ages, the rest of Europe mostly was
Christianized. At that time, Christians were mostly a
religious minority in the Middle East, North Africa, and
parts of India. Following the Age of Discovery, through
missionary work and colonization, Christianity spread to
Africa, the Americas, and the rest of the world.
Christianity has been an important part of the shaping
of the world. As of the early 21st century, Christianity
has approximately 2.2 billion followers. |
|
Jesus Christ
The most basic part of Christianity is the belief in
Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah (Christ). The title
"Messiah" comes from the Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ (māšiáħ)
meaning anointed one. The Greek translation Χριστός (Christos)
is the source of the English word "Christ". Joshua is
English for the Hebrew word Yeshua.
Christians believe that, as the Messiah, Jesus was
anointed by God as ruler and savior of all people.
Christians also believe that Jesus' coming was the
fulfillment of prophecies of the Old Testament. The
Christian belief of the Messiah is much different than
the contemporary Jewish concept. The main Christian
belief is that, through the death and resurrection of
Jesus, sinful humans can be reconciled to God. Through
this, they believe they are given salvation and eternal
life.
There have been many theological disagreements over the
nature of Jesus over the first centuries of Christian
history. But Christians generally believe that Jesus is
God incarnate and "true God and true man." Jesus, having
become fully human, suffered the pain and temptations of
a mortal man, but he did not sin. As fully God, he
defeated death and came back to life again. According to
the Bible, "God raised him from the dead," he ascended
to heaven, is "seated at the right hand of the Father"
and will return again to fulfill the rest of Messianic
prophecy such as the Resurrection of the Dead, the Last
Judgment, and the final creation of the Kingdom of God.
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke say that Jesus was
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin
Mary. Only a little of Jesus' childhood is written in
the canonical gospels, but infancy gospels were popular
in antiquity. However, the time of Jesus' adulthood the
week before his death is written much about in the
gospels. Some of the Biblical writings of Jesus'
ministry are: his baptism, miracles, preaching,
teaching, and deeds.
Death and resurrection of
Jesus
Christians believe the resurrection of Jesus to be the
main part of their faith (see 1 Corinthians 15) and the
most important event in human history because it would
show that Jesus has power over death and has the
authority to give people eternal life.
Among Christian beliefs, the death and resurrection of
Jesus are two main events of Christian doctrine and
theology. From what the New Testament says, Jesus was
crucified, died a physical death, was buried in a tomb,
and rose from the dead on the third day afterwards. Most
Christians place his death on a Friday each year, which
is the first day of his death. Saturday is the second
day, and Sunday is the third day. The New Testament
writes that several times Jesus appeared many times
before his Twelve Apostles and disciples, and one time
before "more than five hundred brethren at once," before
Jesus' Ascension to heaven. Jesus' death and
resurrection are remember by Christians in their worship
services, and most commonly during Holy Week, which has
Good Friday and Easter Sunday in the week
Salvation of Christ
Protestantism teaches that eternal salvation is a gift
that is given to a person by God's grace. It is
sometimes called "unmerited favor." This would mean that
Salvation is God bringing humans into a right
relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. It
is the belief that one can be saved (rescued) from sin
and forever death. Many Protestants believe in the
"assurance of salvation"—that God can put confidence in
a believer that he has truly received salvation from
Jesus Christ.
Catholicism teaches that although in most cases someone
must be baptized a Catholic to be saved, it is sometimes
possible for people to be saved who have not fully
joined the Catholic Church. Catholics normally believe
in the importance of "faith working through love" and
sacraments in receiving salvation. The Catholic Church
teaches that good works and piety, such as obedience to
commands, taking the sacraments, going to church, doing
penance giving alms, saying prayers, and other things,
are important in becoming holy, but strongly emphasize
that salvation is through God's grace alone, and all we
can do is receive it.
Different denominations and traditions of Christianity
believe in forms divine grace. Roman Catholicism and
Eastern Orthodoxy teach the complete importance of the
free will to work together with grace. Reformed theology
teaches the importance of grace by teaching that a
person is completely incapable of self-redemption, but
the grace of God overcomes even the unwilling heart.
Arminianism believes in a synergistic view, while
Lutheran and most other Protestant denominations teach
justification by grace through faith alone.
Scriptures
Christianity uses the Bible, a collection of many
canonical books in two parts, the Old Testament and the
New Testament. It is believed by Christians that they
were written by people who were inspired by the Holy
Spirit, and therefore it is most often believed to be
the word of God. The Bible has been translated into over
600 languages. The translators are able to verify
accuracy by using thousands of handwritten copies of the
scriptures which are in the original languages of Hebrew
Aramaic, and Greek.
Creeds
Creeds (from Latin credo meaning "I believe") are direct
doctrinal statements or confessions, usually of
religious beliefs. They started as formulas used when
someone was baptised. During the Christological
controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries they became
statements of faith.
Some main Christian creeds are: |
- The Apostles' Creed (Symbolum
Apostolorum)
- The Nicene Creed
|
Many Christians accept the use of creeds, and often use at
least one of the creeds given above. A smaller number of
Protestants, notably Restorationists, a movement formed in
the wake of the Second Great Awakening in the 19th century
of the 19th century United States, oppose the use of creeds.
Trinitarianism
The Bible mentions God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, and yet Christian believe that there is only one
God. This idea, called Trinity, was started at the First
Council of Nicaea, in 325, and developed during several
church meetings or councils. Today, many Christian groups
agree with it. Oriental Orthodox Churches did not agree with
the idea, and split after the council. The biggest of the
Oriental Orthodox is the Coptic Orthodox Church. The
Oriental Orthodox Churches agree with the ideas in the First
Council of Nicaea, but they disagree with other councils.
Trinitarianism is the teaching that God is three different
persons, or has three different relations, within One God;
the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. In
the words of the Athanasian Creed, "the Father is God, the
Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are
not three Gods but one God."
Trinitarianism is the group of Christians who believe in the
doctrine of Trinity. Today, most Christian denominations and
Churches believe this. Churches have different teachings
about the trinitarian formula. Some say the Spirit comes
only from the Father. Others say the Spirit comes both from
the Father and the Son. This is known as filioque.
Nontrinitarianism (also called Oneness) is the beliefs
systems that reject the Trinity. Many different
Nontrinitarian views, such as adoptionism or modalism,
existed in early Christianity, leading to the disputes about
Christology.
An example of a more recent Christian movement that rejects
trinitarianism is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. The Latter Day Saints started in the first half of
the 19th century, in the United States. There are other
smaller Christian groups who also reject trinitarianism.
The afterlife and end times
Christians believe that human beings will receive judgement
from God and are given either eternal life or eternal
damnation. This includes the "Last Judgment" as well as the
belief of a judgement particular to the soul after death.
There are also some differences among Christians in this
belief. For example, in Roman Catholicism, those who die in
a state of grace, go into purgatory, where they are cleansed
before they can go into heaven.
Christians believe that at the second coming of Christ at
the end of time, all who have died will be raised up from
the dead for the Last Judgment, when Jesus will establish
the Kingdom of God. There is also the belief of Universal
Reconciliation. That is the belief that all people will
someday be saved, and that hell is not forever. Christians
who believe in this view are known as Universalists.
Christians have different ways to talk about the purpose of
Jesus' coming: |
- to learn the best way to live and to
follow his example
- to pay the price of sin in our lives
by being the perfect sacrifice, without sin. (John 3:16)
- to tell people that their mistakes
and sins will be forgiven and will be saved if they
believe and have faith in the Lord Jesus and confess
that they have sinned (1 John 1:9) (John 3:16)
(Ephesians 1:7) (Romans 10:9).
- to teach people to forgive each
other and repent of their own sin through grace.
(Matthew 6:14)
- to "destroy the devil's work" (1
John 3 v 8)
- to help people share in his life
through the gift of God's Spirit.
|
|
Worship
Worship is thought by most Christians to be a very
important part of Christianity all through its history.
Many Christian theologians have called humanity homo
adorans, which means "worshiping ," and so the worship
of God is at the very center of what it means to be
human. This would mean that because God created all
humanity, Christians should worship and give praise to
God.
Most Christian worship has Scripture reading, talk about
Scripture from a leader, singing, prayer together, and a
small time for Church work. Christians may meet in
special buildings, also called Churches, or outdoors, or
at schools, or anywhere Christians feel they are needed.
The main worship service in Catholic Churches is the
Mass and the main worship service in many Orthodox
Churches is called the Divine Liturgy. In both of these
Churches, along with the other parts of worship, the
Eucharist or Communion is central. Here a priest by
prayer asks God to change a small amount of bread and
wine into what Catholics and Orthodox believe is Jesus's
real body and blood, but without changing the accidents
(appearance, taste, colour, etc.) of the bread and wine.
Then the people each may receive a portion. Many
Protestant churches have worship services similar to the
Mass, some every week, others a few times a year. Some
Protestants believe Jesus is really present at the
Communion service, and some believe the bread and wine
are symbols to help them remember what Jesus did
The Catholic Church has developed a short ceremony,
Eucharistic Benediction, worshiping Jesus present in the
Eucharist. They also may visit a Church building to pray
in the presence of the Eucharist, Eucharistic Adoration.
The Orthodox and Catholic Churches spirituality place
importance on the use of human senses such as sight and
on the use of beautiful things. Catholic spirituality
often involves the use of statues and other artistic
representations, candles, incense, and other physical
items as reminders or aids to prayer. The Orthodox
Churches also use candles, incense, bells, and icons,
but not statues. Orthodox and Catholic worship also
makes use of movements, such as the Sign of the Cross,
made by each person touching first the forehead, then
chest, one shoulder, then the other shoulder. There is
also bowing, kneeling, and prostration in Catholic and
Orthodox worship.
Sacraments
In Catholic belief and practice, a sacrament is a
religious symbol or often a rite which shows divine
grace, blessing, or sanctity for the Christian who
receives it. Examples of sacraments are Baptism and the
Mass." The word is taken from the Latin word sacramentum,
which was used to translate the Greek word for mystery.
The two most regularly used sacraments are Baptism and
Eucharist (communion). Most Catholics use seven
Sacraments: Baptism, the ritual immersion of a candidate
to welcome them into the church; Confirmation, the
sealing of the Covenant; the Eucharist, a ritual where
consecrated bread (discs of unleavened, toasted bread)
and wine representing Jesus' body and blood are
consumed; Holy Orders, Reconciliation of a Penitent
(confession), Anointing of the Sick, and Marriage. Some
Christian denominations prefer to call them ordinances.
These are the Orders from Christ to all believers found
in the New Testament.
Liturgical calendar
Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Christians, and
traditional Protestant groups center their worship
around a liturgical calendar. Some events that are part
of this calendar are the "holy days", such as
solemnities which honor an event in the life of Jesus or
the saints, times of fasting such as Lent, and other
events, such as memoria. Christian groups that do not
follow a liturgical tradition often keep some
celebrations, such as Christmas, Easter,and Pentecost. A
few churches do not use a liturgical calendar.
History
Christianity has had a large history from the time of
Jesus and his apostles to the present time. Christianity
began in the 1st century AD as a Jewish sect but quickly
spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Although it was
originally persecuted under the Roman Empire, it later
became the state religion. In the Middle Ages it spread
into Northern Europe and Russia. During the Age of
Exploration, Christianity expanded throughout the world,
and is now the largest religion of the world.
The religion had schisms and theological disputes that
had as result ten main branches or groupings:
Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Church of the East (Nestorianism),
Oriental Orthodoxy (Miaphysitism), Lutheranism, the
Reformed churches (Calvinism), Anglicanism, Anabaptism,
Evangelicalism—these last five often grouped and labeled
as Protestant—and Nontrinitarianism.
Types of Christianity
People who call themselves Christians may show or live
their faith in different ways. They may also believe
different things. Through history the ten main groups or
"denominations" of Christianity have been the (Eastern)
Orthodox, the Church of the East (Nestorian), the
Oriental Orthodox (Miaphysite), the Catholic, the
Anglican, the Lutheran, the Reformed, the Anabaptist,
the Evangelical, and the Nontrinitarian churches. These
latter six are often grouped together as Protestant, but
Nontrinitarians are also more commonly grouped
separately. Not all Christians use these titles. Some
believe Christianity is bigger and includes others. Some
believe Christianity is smaller and does not include all
these churches.
Disagreements
Some of these groups could not agree on certain points
about Christian teaching (called “doctrine”) or
practice. The first split was in the 5th century after
the Church Council of Ephesus. The council agreed
Nestorianism was wrong. The Assyrian Church of the East
did not agree and split from the rest. The argument was
about the nature of Jesus. Should he be regarded as God
and human in one combined nature, or in two separate
natures? Most of the bishops, following the Pope (the
Bishop of Rome), refused to stay in communion with any
bishop who would not say "two separate natures". This
was also discussed at the Council of Chalcedon, about 20
years later. The Christians who did not agree with the
decision of the Council to excommunicate them, became
the non-Chalcedonian Orthodox. The largest Non-Chalcedonian
Churches are the Coptic Orthodox in Egypt, the Ethiopian
Orthodox, the Armenian, and some Lebanese Orthodox
Churches. In general, these churches are known as
Oriental Orthodox Churches. Recent discussions between
the Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II and the Coptic
Orthodox Pope Shenouda III concluded that they believe
many of the same things after all, even though the
Coptic Church does not recognize the Pope of Rome as its
leader.
The third split happened in the 11th century. It is
called the Great Schism. It was mostly based on the
creed being translated incorrectly from Greek into
Latin. The disagreements were made worse because the two
cultures often did not understand one another. Also,
many Crusaders from Western Europe behaved badly. The
Christians in Western Europe were led by the Bishop of
Rome, known also as the Pope. They are called the
Catholic Church. Most Christians in Eastern Europe,
Russia, the Middle East and South Asia, and northeast
Africa belong to Orthodox, Nestorian, and Miaphysite
Christianity, led by the Bishops of other cities or
areas.
In the 15th century the invention of the printing press
made it easier for more people to read and study the
Bible. This led many thinkers over the years to return
to biblical ideas and to break away from the Catholic
Church. They started the Protestant Reformation. The
most important Protestant leaders were Jan Hus, Martin
Luther, and John Calvin. Later some of these groups
disagreed amongst themselves so that these denominations
split again into smaller groups. The largest Protestant
denominations today are within Evangelical, Lutheran,
and Reformed Christianity. In England, a similar protest
against the Pope, first political and later religious,
led to the Church of England which has bishops and
officially calls itself Reformed Catholic but is often
referred to as Protestant. The Anglican communion of
churches includes several churches called "Episcopal" or
"Episcopalian" because they have bishops. Some Anglican
Churches have a style of worship that is closer to the
Protestant services, others worship more like Catholics,
but none of them accept the Pope, or are accepted by
him. The Anabaptists also arose from disagreements with
Lutheran and Reformed Protestants during what is often
called the Radical Reformation. The Evangelical churches
arose in reaction to what they views as needs for reform
within mainstream Protestantism. This can be seen in the
rise of non-conformist movements against the Anglican
church in Britain and during revivalist movements,
prominently in the several Great Awakenings in Britain
and North America. Denominations that arose or surged as
a result of these Evangelical reform, renewal, and
revival movements include Quakers, Baptists, Moravians,
Methodists, the Restoration (Stone-Campbell) movement,
Adventists, the Holiness movement, Pentecostals, the
Fundamentalist movement, the Charismatic movement,
Messianic Judaism, among others including many
independent and non-denominational churches. In general,
some Protestant denominations, especially within
Anabaptism and Evangelicalism, differ from the Catholic,
Orthodox, Nestorian, and Miaphysite churches in having
given up some of the traditional sacraments, having no
ordained priesthood, and not having the same fondness
for Mary, the mother of Jesus, that the Catholic and
Eastern churches have. |
- Groups have different ideas on the
nature of God.
- Groups have different ideas on the
nature and work of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life.
- The pope is the leader of all
Catholics. Other churches have leaders similar to the
pope. For example, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, these
are called Patriarchs. Still other groups let each
church decide about things.
- Some Christians say that women may
not become priests or pastors.
- Some Christians say married people
may not become priests.
- Some Christians say that priests can
forgive sins by giving out the forgiveness of God,
others say that only God can do this.
- In modern times, the rise of atheism
and scientific challenges to the traditional Christian
story of creation have caused some to believe in "Young
Earth Creationism", or a literal interpretation of the
first chapters of the Bible, and others to argue that
those parts of the Bible are not literally true, but
more like poetry.
- Most Christians worship on Sunday,
but some believe that Saturday is the true "Sabbath" and
should be kept.
- Some Christians believe that baptism
must mean going fully under water, others put some water
on the head.
- Some Christian groups baptize
babies, while Baptists only baptize persons who have
chosen for themselves to follow Jesus.
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Demographics
With an estimated number of Christians being somewhere
around to 2.2 billion, split into around 34,000
different denominations, Christianity is the world's
largest religion. The Christian share of the world's
population has been around 33% for the last hundred
years. This has caused Christianity to spread throughout
the world, mainly in Europe and North America. It is
still the main religion of Europe, the Americas, the
Philippines, and Southern Africa. However it is becoming
smaller in some areas, some of them are; Oceania
(Australia and New Zealand), Northern Europe (with Great
Britain, Scandinavia and other places), France, Germany,
the Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, and
Quebec, the Western and Northern parts of the United
States, and parts of Asia (especially the Middle East,
South Korea, Taiwan and Macau).
In most countries in the developed world, the number of
people going to church who claim to be Christians has
been dropping over the last few decades. Some believe
that this is only because many no longer use regular
membership in places, for example, churches, while
others believe it is because people may be thinking that
religion is no longer important.
Ecumenism
Most churches have for a long time showed that they want
to be tolerant with other belief systems, and in the
20th century Christian ecumenism (the uniting of
Christians from different backgrounds), advanced in two
ways. One way was more cooperation between groups, such
as the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of Protestants in
1910, the Justice, Peace and Creation Commission of the
World Council of Churches started in 1948 by Protestant
and Orthodox churches, and similar national councils,
for example the National Council of Churches in
Australia with Roman Catholics.
The other way was creating unions for different churches
to join together. Congregationalist, Methodist, and
Presbyterian churches joined together in 1925 to form
the United Church of Canada, and in 1977 to form the
Uniting Church in Australia. The Church of South India
was formed in 1947 by the union of Anglican, Methodist,
Congregationalist, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches.
And other such formations have been done by different
Christian groups throughout the years. |
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