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admin sinfulldude · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:20 pm Post subject: Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus, the Christ, as recounted in the New Testament.

With an estimated 2.1 billion adherents1, Christianity is the world's largest religion. Its origins are intertwined with Judaism, with which it shares much sacred text and early history; specifically, it shares the Hebrew Bible, known in the Christian context as the Old Testament (see Judeo-Christian).2 Christianity is considered an Abrahamic religion, along with Judaism and Islam.

In the Christian scriptures, the name "Christian" and so "Christianity" is first attested in Acts 11:26: "For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch Jesus' disciples were first called Christians"

History and Origins

Christianity began within the Jewish religion among the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Under the leadership of the Apostles Peter and Paul, it opened up early to Gentiles, gradually distinguishing itself from and parting ways with Rabbinical Judaism. Some Jewish Christians rejected this approach and developed into various sects of their own. A church hierarchy seems to have developed, at least by the time of the writing of the Pastoral Epistles, and was certainly formalized by the 3rd century.

Christianity spread across the Mediterranean Basin, enduring persecution by Roman Emperors. As Christianity expanded beyond Palestine, it also came into contact with Greek philosophy; Hellenistic ideas would become a significant influence on Christian thought. Early Christian theologians such as Origen worked to create a synthesis between Greek philosophy, especially Platonism, and Christianity, developing a distinctly Christian theology. Christianity also had to deal with internal heresies, especially Gnosticism (the belief that salvation came through spiritual knowledge), various mystery cults, and possibly Mithraism. Various elements of the cults may have been absorbed into Christianity, although scholars differ as to the level of influence thus exerted. That there were many pagan beliefs incorporated into Christian ideas remains a minority view among mainstream scholarship.

Early in the 4th century, the Emperor Constantine the Great legalized Christianity. Theodosius I established it as the official religion of the Roman Empire near the end of the century. From that time onwards, the history of Christianity is difficult to extricate from that of Europe (and several other culture-regions). After the religion's legalization, doctrinal disputes, especially regarding Christology, intensified, leading to internal strife and clearer dogmatic definitions through ecumenical councils. The Roman Empire, having become Christian, now suppressed the old pagan cults and also Christian heresies. Other peoples adopted Christianity, as in Armenia and Ethiopia, while among others ancient Christian minority communities developed, as in Persia and India. Various forms of monasticism also developed. In AD 302, Armenia became the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its official state religion.

After the Western Roman Empire had been shattered during the Migration Period, the Germanic peoples and the Irish converted to Roman Christianity, while the Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe adopted the Byzantine form of Christianity (e.g. Russia in 988). This was a gradual process, taking a long time in some regions, as seen in the pagan remnants in medieval literary works such as Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied. Cultural differences and disciplinary disputes divided East and West and resulted in the Great Schism (conventionally dated in 1054). This formally divided Christendom into two main groups: Roman Catholicism in the west, and Eastern Orthodoxy in the east.

From the 7th century, Christianity was challenged by Islam, which quickly conquered the Middle East and Northern Africa. Numerous military struggles followed, including the Crusades, the Spanish Reconquista and the eventual conquest of the Byzantine Empire and south-eastern Europe by the Turks.

Western Christianity in the Middle Ages was characterized by cooperation and conflict between the secular rulers and the Church under the Pope and the development of scholastic theology and philosophy. Later, increasing discontent with corruption and immorality among the clergy resulted in attempts to reform Church and society; but only after Martin Luther had published his 95 theses in 1517 and started the Protestant Reformation, did the Roman Catholic Church manage to renew itself at the Council of Trent. During the following centuries, Catholicism and Protestantism — the latter increasingly divided into denominations — competed with each other, while Christianity also spread to the Americas, Oceania, East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Christianity was also confronted with the discoveries of science (notably heliocentricism, evolution), Enlightenment thinking, biblical criticism, social issues, and modern ideologies. Important developments in the 20th century were Ecumenism and the Charismatic Movement.

For the contributions of Christianity to the humanities and world culture, see Christian philosophy, Christian art, Christian literature, Christian music, Christian architecture.

Within Christianity, numerous distinct groups have developed, with diverse beliefs that vary widely by culture and place. Since the Reformation, Christianity is usually represented as being divided into three main branches:

* Catholicism: The Roman Catholic Church, the largest single body — which includes several Eastern Catholic communities — as well as certain smaller communities (e.g., the Old-Catholics), with more than 1 billion baptized members.

* Eastern Christianity: Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, with a combined membership of more than 240 million baptized members.

* Protestantism: Numerous denominations and groups such as Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed, Evangelical, Charismatic, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Anabaptists, and Pentecostals. The oldest of these groups separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. The later groups typically formed as separations from the older ones. Some Protestants identify themselves simply as Christian, or born-again Christian. Others, particularly among Anglicans and in Neo-Lutheranism, identify themselves as being "both Catholic and Protestant". Worldwide total is just under 500 million.

Other denominations and churches which self-identify as Christian but which distance themselves from the above classifications together claim around 275 million members. These include African indigenous churches with up to 110 million members (estimates vary widely), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also called Mormons) with more than 12 million members 3, Jehovah's Witnesses with approximately 6.6 million members 4, and other groups 5. The early leaders of most of these groups were originally Protestant adherents.

These broad divisions do not themselves encompass unanimity. On the contrary, some branches encompass vast disagreements, while in other cases the divisions overlook strong sympathies between and among the groups. Nevertheless, this tends to be the standard overview of distinctions, especially as viewed in the Western world.

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