النصرانية

جزء من سلسلة على
النصرانية
يسوع السيد المسيح الميلاد صلب القيامة
الكتاب المقدس أسس العهد القديم العهد الجديد الإنجيل كانون كنيسة العقيدة العهد الجديد
علم اللاهوت الله الثالوث أب ابن الروح القدس دفاعية المعمودية كريستولوجيا تاريخ اللاهوت مهمة خلاص
تاريخ التقليد الرسل نفذ بول ماري المسيحية المبكرة آباء الكنيسة قسنطينة المجالس أوغسطين الانقسام بين الشرق والغرب الحملات الصليبية الأكويني إعادة تشكيل لوثر
الطوائف مجموعات الغربي الروم الكاثوليك البروتستانتية السبتية قائل بتجديد عماد الأنجليكانية المعمدان إنجيلية قداسة اللوثرية ميثودي مورافيا الخمسينية كويكر تم إصلاحه الشرقية الشرقية الكاثوليكية الأرثوذكسية الشرقية الأرثوذكسية الشرقية كنيسة المشرق (النسطورية) مرمم شهود يهوه آخر يوم قديس Iglesia ni Cristo
مواضيع ذات صلة فن نقد المسكونية موسيقى ديانات أخرى دعاء خطبة رمزية يعبد
بوابة المسيحية
الخامس ر ه

المسيحية هي الإبراهيمية التوحيدية الدين على أساس الحياة و تعاليم من يسوع الناصري . إنها أكبر ديانة في العالم ، ويبلغ عدد أتباعها 2.4 مليار. ^[1] أتباعها، والمعروفة باسم المسيحيين ، تشكل غالبية السكان في 157 بلدا وإقليما ، ^[2] ويعتقدون أن يسوع هو المسيح ، الذي يأتي باسم المسيح كان تنبأ في الكتاب المقدس العبرية ، ودعا العهد القديمفي المسيحية ، وتأريخها في العهد الجديد . ^[3]

يبقى المسيحية المتنوعة ثقافيا في تقريرها الغربية و فروع الشرقية ، وكذلك في المذاهب المتعلقة مبرر وطبيعة الخلاص ، الكنسي ، التنسيق ، و كرستولوجيا . من المذاهب تعقد عادة في يسوع المشترك باعتباره ابن الله -The شعارات المتجسد -الذي خدم ، عانى و مات على الصليب ، ولكن ارتفع من بين الأموات ل خلاص البشرية. ويشار إليه بالإنجيل، تعني "الأخبار السارة". الحياة تصف يسوع وتعاليمه هي أربعة أناجيل الكنسي من ماثيو ، مارك ، لوقا ، و يوحنا ، مع العهد القديم كخلفية احترام الإنجيل و.

بدأت المسيحية باعتباره الهيكل الثاني اليهودية الطائفة في 1st قرن في الرومانية محافظة يهودا . يسوع الرسل وأتباعهم انتشرت في جميع أنحاء بلاد الشام ، أوروبا ، الأناضول ، بلاد ما بين النهرين ، القوقاز ، مصر ، و إثيوبيا ، على الرغم من الاضطهاد الأولي . وسرعان ما اجتذب مشرك الله fearers ، الأمر الذي أدى إلى رحيل من العادات اليهودية ، وبعد سقوط القدس، AD 70التي أنهت اليهودية القائمة على الهيكل ، انفصلت المسيحية ببطء عن اليهودية . ألغى الإمبراطور قسطنطين الكبير تجريم المسيحية في الإمبراطورية الرومانية بموجب مرسوم ميلانو (313) ، وعقد لاحقًا مجلس نيقية (325) حيث تم دمج المسيحية المبكرة في ما سيصبح كنيسة الدولة للإمبراطورية الرومانية (380). التاريخ المبكر للكنيسة موحدة المسيحية قبل كبرى الانشقاقات والتي يشار إليها أحيانا باسم " الكنيسة الكبرى " (على الرغم من الطوائف المتباينة موجودة في نفس الوقت، بما في ذلك الغنوصيين و المسيحيين اليهودية ). الكنيسة المشرق الانقسام بعد مجمع أفسس (431) و أرثوذكسية مشرقية الانقسام بعد مجمع خلقيدونية (451) بسبب خلافات في كرستولوجيا ، ^[4] في حين أن الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية الشرقية و الكنيسة الكاثوليكية فصل في الانشقاق بين الشرق والغرب ( 1054) ، ولا سيما على سلطة أسقف روما . البروتستانتية انقسام في العديد من الطوائف من الكنيسة الكاثوليكية في الإصلاح العصر (القرن ال16) على لاهوتية و الإكليزيولوجية النزاعات واكثرها في الغالببشأن مسألة التبرير و سيادة أسقف روما . لعبت المسيحية دورا بارزا في تنمية من الحضارة الغربية ، لا سيما في أوروبا من العصور القديمة المتأخرة و العصور الوسطى . ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]} بعد عصر الاستكشاف (القرن 15 ال17)، والمسيحية تنتشر في الأمريكتين ، أوقيانوسيا ، أفريقيا جنوب الصحراء الكبرى ، وبقية العالم عبر العمل التبشيري . ^{[10] [11] [12]}

أكبر أربعة فروع للمسيحية هي الكنيسة الكاثوليكية (1.3 مليار / 50.1٪) ، البروتستانتية (920 مليون / 36.7٪) ، الكنيسة الأرثوذكسية الشرقية (230 مليون) والأرثوذكسية الشرقية (62 مليون / الأرثوذكسية مجتمعة بنسبة 11.9٪) ، ^{[ 13] [14]} وسط جهود مختلفة نحو الوحدة ( المسكونية ). ^{[15] على} الرغم من انخفاض معدل الالتزام في الغرب ، لا تزال المسيحية هي الديانة السائدة في المنطقة ، حيث يعتبر حوالي 70٪ من السكان مسيحيين. ^[16] المسيحية تنمو في أفريقيا وآسيا ، القارات الأكثر اكتظاظًا بالسكان في العالم. ^[17] لا يزال المسيحيون مضطهدينفي بعض مناطق العالم ، وخاصة في الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا وشرق آسيا وجنوب آسيا. ^{[18] [19]}

علم أصول الكلمات

أشار المسيحيون اليهود الأوائل إلى أنفسهم باسم "الطريق" ( Koinē Greek : τῆς ὁδοῦ ، بالحروف اللاتينية:  tês hodoû ) ، ربما جاءوا من إشعياء 40: 3 ، " اعدوا طريق الرب". ^{[20] [ملحوظة 1]} طبقًا لأعمال الرسل 11:26 ، فإن مصطلح "مسيحي" ( Χρῑστῐᾱνός ، Khrīstiānós ) ، والذي يعني "أتباع المسيح" في إشارة إلى تلاميذ يسوع ، استخدم لأول مرة في مدينة أنطاكية من قبل غير اليهود. سكان هناك. ^[26] أقدم استخدام مسجل لمصطلح "المسيحية" ( Χρῑστῐᾱνισμός ،Khrīstiānismós) بواسطة إغناطيوس الأنطاكي حوالي عام 100 بعد الميلاد. ^[27]

المعتقدات

في حين المسيحيين في جميع أنحاء العالم تبادل القناعات الأساسية، وهناك أيضا اختلافات في تفسيرات وآراء الكتاب المقدس و التقاليد المقدسة التي يستند المسيحية. ^[28]

المذاهب

ويكي مصدر لديه نص أصلي متعلق بهذه المقالة: الرسل العقيدة

ويكي مصدر لديه نص أصلي متعلق بهذه المقالة: العقيدة نيقية

تُعرف البيانات العقائدية الموجزة أو اعترافات المعتقدات الدينية بالمذاهب . بدأوا كصيغ معمودية وتم توسيعهم لاحقًا خلال الخلافات الكريستولوجية في القرنين الرابع والخامس ليصبحوا بيانات إيمان.

قانون إيمان الرسل هو البيان الأكثر قبولًا لمواد الإيمان المسيحي. يتم استخدامه من قبل عدد من الطوائف المسيحية على حد سواء الليتورجية و التعليم المسيحي الأغراض، أكثر وضوحا من قبل الكنائس الليتورجية الغربية المسيحية التقليد، بما في ذلك الكنيسة اللاتينية في الكنيسة الكاثوليكية ، اللوثرية ، الأنغليكانية ، و الغربية الطقوس الأرثوذكسية . كما انها تستخدم من قبل الكنيسة المشيخية ، الميثودية ، و الابرشي. تم تطوير هذه العقيدة الخاصة بين القرنين الثاني والتاسع. المذاهب المركزية هي تلك التي من الثالوث و الله و الخالق . يمكن إرجاع كل من العقائد الموجودة في قانون الإيمان هذا إلى العبارات الحالية في الفترة الرسولية . تم استخدام قانون الإيمان على ما يبدو كملخص للعقيدة المسيحية لمرشحي المعمودية في كنائس روما. ^[29] تشمل نقاطه ما يلي:

• الاعتقاد في الله الآب ، يسوع المسيح باعتباره ابن الله ، و الروح القدس
• و فاة ، أصل إلى جحيم ، القيامة و الصعود المسيح
• قداسة الكنيسة وشركة القديسين
• المسيح هو المجيء الثاني ، و يوم القيامة و الخلاص من المؤمنين

تمت صياغة قانون إيمان نيقية، إلى حد كبير ردا على الأريوسية ، في مجالس نيقية و القسطنطينية عام 325 و 381 على التوالي، ^{[30] [31]} وصدقت باسم العقيدة الكونية لل مسيحية من قبل المجلس أولا وقبل مجمع أفسس في 431. ^{[32 ]}

و تعريف الخلقيدوني ، أو عقيدة مجمع خلقيدونية، وضعت في مجمع خلقيدونية سنة 451، ^[33] على الرغم من رفض من قبل الأرثوذكسية الشرقية ، ^[34] تعليم المسيح "لا بد من الاعتراف في طبيعتين، inconfusedly، بتقلب، انفصام، لا ينفصم": إله واحد وإنسان واحد ، وأن كلا الطبقتين ، على الرغم من الكمال في حد ذاتهما ، إلا أنهما متحدتان تمامًا في شخص واحد . ^[35]

و athanasian العقيدة ، وردت في الكنيسة الغربية عن وجود نفس وضعية نيقية والخلقيدوني، ويقول: "نحن نعبد الله واحد في ثالوث، والثالوث في الوحدة، ولا يفند الأشخاص ولا تقسيم المادة ". ^[36]

معظم المسيحيين ( الكاثوليكية ، الأرثوذكسية الشرقية ، الأرثوذكسية الشرقية ، و البروتستانت على حد سواء) قبول استخدام المذاهب، والاشتراك في واحدة على الأقل من المذاهب المذكورة أعلاه. ^[37]

يرفض العديد من البروتستانت الإنجيليين العقائد باعتبارها بيانات إيمانية نهائية ، حتى مع الموافقة على بعض أو كل جوهر المذاهب. معظم المعمدانيين لا يستخدمون المذاهب "من حيث أنهم لم يسعوا إلى إقامة اعترافات إيمانية ملزمة وموثوقة لبعضهم البعض". ^{[38] : 111} المذاهب رفض أيضا هي جماعات ذات جذور في الحركة استعادة ، مثل الكنيسة المسيحية (أتباع السيد المسيح) ، و الكنيسة الإنجيلية المسيحية في كندا ، و كنائس المسيح . ^{[39] [40] : 14-15 [41] : 123}

يسوع

مبدأ المركزية للمسيحية هو الاعتقاد في يسوع باعتباره ابن الله و المسيح ( المسيح ). ويعتقد المسيحيون أن المسيح، والمسيح، و مسحه الله كمخلص للبشرية ونرى أن يسوع آت لتحقيق نبوءات المسيح المنتظر من العهد القديم . يختلف المفهوم المسيحي للمسيح اختلافًا كبيرًا عن المفهوم اليهودي المعاصر . الاعتقاد المسيحي الأساسي هو أنه من خلال الإيمان بموت يسوع وقيامته وقبولهما ، يمكن للبشر الخطاة أن يتصالحوا مع الله ، وبالتالي يُمنحون الخلاص والوعد بـالحياة الأبدية . ^[42]

بينما كان هناك العديد من الخلافات اللاهوتية حول طبيعة يسوع على مدى القرون الأولى من التاريخ المسيحي ، يعتقد المسيحيون عمومًا أن يسوع هو الله المتجسد و " الإله الحقيقي والإنسان الحقيقي " (أو كلاهما إله كامل وإنسان كامل). بعد أن صار يسوع بشراً كاملاً ، عانى آلام وتجارب إنسان بشري ، لكنه لم يخطئ . كإله كامل قام إلى الحياة مرة أخرى. وفقا ل العهد الجديد ، وقال انه ارتفع من بين الأموات، ^[43] صعد إلى السماء، وجلس عن يمين الآب، ^[44] وسوف في نهاية المطاف يعود ^[45]لتحقيق بقية النبوة المسيانية ، بما في ذلك قيامة الأموات ، والدينونة الأخيرة ، والتأسيس النهائي لملكوت الله .

ووفقا لل الكنسي الانجيل من ماثيو و لوك ، كان يسوع تصور من قبل الروح القدس و ولد من مريم العذراء . تم تسجيل القليل من طفولة يسوع في الأناجيل الكنسية ، على الرغم من أن أناجيل الطفولة كانت شائعة في العصور القديمة. وبالمقارنة ، فإن بلوغه ، خاصة الأسبوع الذي سبق وفاته ، موثق جيدًا في الأناجيل الواردة في العهد الجديد ، لأنه يُعتقد أن هذا الجزء من حياته هو الأكثر أهمية. تشمل الروايات الكتابية عن خدمة يسوع : معموديته ، معجزاتهوالوعظ والتعليم والعمل.

الموت والقيامة

يعتبر المسيحيون أن قيامة المسيح هي حجر الزاوية في إيمانهم (راجع كورنثوس الأولى 15 ) وأهم حدث في التاريخ. ^{[46] من} بين المعتقدات المسيحية ، يعتبر موت وقيامة المسيح حدثين أساسيين تستند إليهما الكثير من العقيدة واللاهوت المسيحي. ^[47] وفقًا للعهد الجديد ، صلب يسوع ، ومات ميتًا جسديًا ، ودُفن داخل قبر ، وقام من بين الأموات بعد ثلاثة أيام. ^[48]

في العهد الجديد يذكر عدة مباريات بعد قيامة يسوع في مناسبات مختلفة لله الرسل الاثني عشر و التلاميذ ، بما في ذلك "أكثر من خمسمئة أخ دفعة واحدة"، ^[49] قبل يسوع الصعود إلى السماء. يحيي المسيحيون ذكرى موت يسوع وقيامته في جميع خدمات العبادة ، مع التركيز بشكل خاص خلال أسبوع الآلام ، والذي يشمل الجمعة العظيمة وأحد عيد الفصح .

يُعتبر موت وقيامة يسوع عادةً من أهم الأحداث في اللاهوت المسيحي ، ويرجع ذلك جزئيًا إلى أنهما يبرهنان على أن يسوع لديه سلطان على الحياة والموت وبالتالي لديه السلطة والقوة لمنح الناس الحياة الأبدية . ^[50]

تقبل الكنائس المسيحية وتعلم رواية العهد الجديد عن قيامة يسوع مع استثناءات قليلة جدًا. ^[51] يستخدم بعض العلماء المعاصرين إيمان أتباع يسوع بالقيامة كنقطة انطلاق لتأسيس استمرارية يسوع التاريخي وإعلان الكنيسة الأولى . ^[52] لا يقبل بعض المسيحيين الليبراليين القيامة الجسدية ، ^{[53] [54]} ويرون أن القصة أسطورة غنية بالرموز وتغذي الروح . الجدل حول المطالبات موت وقيامة تحدث في العديد الدينية المناقشات و الأديان الحوارات .^{[55] كتب} بولس الرسول ، وهو مسيحي مبكر ومبشر ، "إذا لم يكن المسيح قد قام ، فكل وعظنا لا جدوى منه ، وثقتك بالله لا فائدة منها". ^{[56] [57]}

خلاص

اعتقد بولس الرسول ، مثل اليهود والوثنيين الرومان في عصره ، أن التضحية يمكن أن تؤدي إلى روابط قرابة جديدة ونقاء وحياة أبدية. ^[58] بالنسبة لبولس ، كانت الذبيحة الضرورية هي موت يسوع: الأمم الذين هم "المسيح" هم ، مثل إسرائيل ، من نسل إبراهيم و "ورثة حسب الوعد" ^{[59] [60]} الإله الذي أقام يسوع من كما سيعطي الموتى حياة جديدة "للأجساد المميتة" للمسيحيين الأمميين ، الذين أصبحوا مع إسرائيل ، "أبناء الله" ، وبالتالي لم يعودوا "في الجسد". ^{[61] [58]}

تميل الكنائس المسيحية الحديثة إلى الاهتمام بكيفية إنقاذ البشرية من حالة عالمية من الخطيئة والموت أكثر من اهتمامها بمسألة كيف يمكن أن يكون كل من اليهود والأمم في عائلة الله. وفقًا للاهوت الأرثوذكسي الشرقي ، بناءً على فهمهم للتكفير كما طرحته نظرية التلخيص لإيرينيوس ، فإن موت يسوع هو فدية . هذا يعيد العلاقة مع الله، الذي هو المحبة وتمد يدها للبشرية، والعروض إمكانية التأله CQ divinization ، ليصبح هذا النوع من البشر الله يريد الإنسانية أن يكون. وفقًا للعقيدة الكاثوليكية ، فإن موت يسوع مرضيغضب الله الناجم عن إهانة إكرام الله بسبب خطية الإنسان. تعلم الكنيسة الكاثوليكية أن الخلاص لا يتم بدون أمانة من جانب المسيحيين. يجب أن يعيش المتحولون وفقًا لمبادئ المحبة ويجب عادةً أن يعتمدوا. ^[62] في اللاهوت البروتستانتي ، يعتبر موت يسوع بمثابة عقوبة بديلة قام بها يسوع ، للدين الذي يجب أن يدفعه الجنس البشري عندما يخالف قانون الله الأخلاقي. علّم مارتن لوثر أن المعمودية كانت ضرورية للخلاص ، لكن اللوثريين المعاصرين وغيرهم من البروتستانت يميلون إلى تعليم أن الخلاص هو هدية تأتي للفرد بنعمة الله ، والتي تُعرّف أحيانًا على أنها "خدمة غير مستحقة" ، حتى بصرف النظر عن المعمودية. ^{[الاقتباس مطلوب ]}

يختلف المسيحيون في وجهات نظرهم حول المدى الذي يحدِّده الله لخلاص الأفراد. يضع اللاهوت المصلح تأكيدًا مميزًا على النعمة من خلال تعليم أن الأفراد غير قادرين تمامًا على فداء الذات ، لكن هذه النعمة المقدّسة لا تُقاوم . ^[63] في المقابل ، يعتقد الكاثوليك والأرثوذكس والبروتستانت الأرمينيون أن ممارسة الإرادة الحرة ضرورية للإيمان بيسوع. ^[64]

الثالوث

الثالوث يشير إلى التعليم بأن الله واحد ^[66] تضم ثلاثة متميزة، إلى الأبد القائمة المشتركة الأشخاص: من الأب ، و الابن (المتجسد في يسوع المسيح)، و الروح القدس . يُطلق على هؤلاء الأشخاص الثلاثة معًا أحيانًا اسم الله ، ^{[67] [68] [69]} على الرغم من عدم وجود مصطلح واحد مستخدم في الكتاب المقدس للدلالة على اللاهوت الموحد. ^{[70] كما جاء} في كلمات قانون الإيمان الأثناسي ، وهو بيان مبكر للإيمان المسيحي ، "الآب هو الله ، والابن هو الله ، والروح القدس هو الله ، ومع ذلك لا يوجد ثلاثة آلهة بل إله واحد". ^[71]إنهم متميزون عن الآخر: الآب ليس له مصدر ، والابن مولود من الآب ، والروح من الآب. على الرغم من تميز الأشخاص الثلاثة ، لا يمكن فصلهم عن بعضهم البعض في الوجود أو العمل. بينما يعتقد بعض المسيحيين أيضًا أن الله ظهر كالآب في العهد القديم ، فمن المتفق عليه أنه ظهر باعتباره الابن في العهد الجديد ، وسيستمر في الظهور كروح القدس في الوقت الحاضر. لكن مع ذلك ، لا يزال الله موجودًا بثلاثة أقانيم في كل من هذه الأوقات. ^[72] ومع ذلك ، هناك اعتقاد تقليدي بأن الابن هو الذي ظهر في العهد القديم لأنه ، على سبيل المثال ، عندما يتم تصوير الثالوث في الفن ، فإن الابن عادة ما يكون له المظهر المميز ،هالة صليبية تحدد المسيح ، وفي صور جنة عدن ، هذا يتطلع إلى تجسد لم يحدث بعد. في بعض التوابيت المسيحية المبكرة ، تميزت الشعارات بلحية ، "مما يسمح له بالظهور قديمًا ، وحتى سابق الوجود". ^[73]

و الثالوث هو مذهب أساسي من التيار المسيحي. منذ ما قبل أيام قانون الإيمان النيقاوي (325) ، دعت المسيحية ^[74] إلى السر الثلاثي - طبيعة الله كمهنة معيارية للإيمان. وفقًا لروجر إي أولسون وكريستوفر هول ، من خلال الصلاة والتأمل والدراسة والممارسة ، خلص المجتمع المسيحي إلى "أن الله يجب أن يتواجد كوحدة وثلاثية" ، مما أدى إلى تقنين هذا في المجمع المسكوني في نهاية القرن الرابع. ^{[75] [76]}

وفقًا لهذه العقيدة ، لا ينقسم الله بمعنى أن لكل شخص ثلث الكل ؛ بالأحرى ، يُعتبر كل شخص هو الله بالكامل (انظر Perichoresis ). يكمن التمييز في علاقتهما ، فالآب غير مخلص ؛ الابن مولود من الآب. والروح القدس نابع من الآب و (في اللاهوت المسيحي الغربي ) من الابن . بغض النظر عن هذا الاختلاف واضحا، فإن "الأشخاص" الثلاثة هم كل الأبدي و القاهر . الديانات المسيحية الأخرى بما في ذلك التوحيد العالمي ، وشهود يهوه ، والمورمونية ، لا تشارك هذه الآراء حول الثالوث.

ظهرت الكلمة اليونانية ترياس ^{[77] [ملاحظة 2]} لأول مرة بهذا المعنى في أعمال ثيوفيلوس الأنطاكي . نصه يقول: "عن الثالوث ، والله ، وكلمته ، وحكمته". ^[81] المصطلح ربما كان قيد الاستخدام قبل هذا الوقت ؛ مكافئها اللاتيني ، ^{[ملاحظة 2]} trinitas ، ^[79] يظهر بعد ذلك مع إشارة صريحة إلى الآب والابن والروح القدس ، في ترتليان . ^{[82] [83]} في القرن التالي ، كانت الكلمة شائعة الاستخدام. تم العثور عليها في العديد من مقاطع أوريجانوس . ^[84]

الثالوثيين

يشير التثليث إلى المسيحيين الذين يؤمنون بمفهوم الثالوث . تقريبا كل الطوائف والكنائس المسيحية لديها معتقدات ثالوثية. على الرغم من أن الكلمتين "الثالوث" و "الثالوث" لا تظهران في الكتاب المقدس ، فقد طور اللاهوتيون بداية من القرن الثالث المصطلح والمفهوم لتسهيل فهم تعاليم العهد الجديد عن الله باعتباره الآب والابن والروح القدس. ومنذ ذلك الوقت، كانت اللاهوتيين المسيحيين حريصا على التأكيد على أن الثالوث لا يعني أن هناك ثلاثة آلهة (بدعة antitrinitarian من ثالوث إلهي )، ولا أن كل أقنوم من الثالوث هو ثالث واحد من الله لانهائي (شبق اجتزائي)، ولا أن الابن والروح القدس كائنات خلقها الآب وخاضع لها ( الآريوسية). بالأحرى ، يُعرَّف الثالوث بأنه إله واحد في ثلاثة أقانيم. ^[85]

اللامثالية

لاثالوثية (أو antitrinitarianism ) تشير إلى اللاهوت الذي يرفض عقيدة الثالوث. وُجدت آراء غير نونية مختلفة ، مثل التبني أو النموذجية ، في المسيحية المبكرة ، مما أدى إلى الخلافات حول كريستولوجيا . ^[86] لاثالوثية عادت الى الظهور في الغنوصية من الكاتار بين 11th و 13TH قرون، بين الجماعات مع الموحدين اللاهوت في الإصلاح البروتستانتي في القرن 16، ^[87] في 18 القرن التنوير ، وبعض الجماعات الناشئة خلال الثانية تنبيه رائع من القرن التاسع عشر.

الايمان بالآخرة

نهاية الأشياء ، سواء كانت نهاية حياة الفرد ، أو نهاية العصر ، أو نهاية العالم ، بالمعنى الواسع ، هي علم الأمور الأخيرة في المسيحية ؛ دراسة مصير البشر كما هو معلن في الكتاب المقدس. القضايا الرئيسية في علم الأمور الأخيرة المسيحية هي الضيقة والموت والحياة الآخرة (بشكل رئيسي للمجموعات الإنجيلية ) الألفية ونشوة الطرب التالية ، المجيء الثاني ليسوع ، قيامة الأموات ، الجنة ، ( للفروع الليتورجية ) المطهر ، والجحيم ، الدينونة الأخيرة ، نهاية العالم ، والسماوات الجديدة والأرض الجديدة .

يعتقد المسيحيون أن المجيء الثاني للمسيح سيحدث في نهاية الزمان ، بعد فترة من الاضطهاد الشديد (الضيقة العظيمة). كل من مات سيُقام جسديًا من الأموات ليوم القيامة. سيؤسس يسوع ملكوت الله بالكامل لتحقيق نبوءات الكتاب المقدس . ^{[89] [90]}

الموت والآخرة

يعتقد معظم المسيحيين أن البشر يختبرون الدينونة الإلهية ويتم مكافأتهم إما بالحياة الأبدية أو باللعنة الأبدية . يتضمن هذا الحكم العام بشأن قيامة الموتى بالإضافة إلى العقيدة (التي يتبناها الكاثوليك ، ^{[91] [92]} الأرثوذكس ^{[93] [94]} ومعظم البروتستانت) في حكم خاص بالنفس الفردية عند الموت الجسدي.

في الفرع الكاثوليكي للمسيحية ، أولئك الذين يموتون في حالة نعمة ، أي بدون أي خطيئة مميتة تفصلهم عن الله ، ولكنهم لا يزالون مطهرين بشكل ناقص من آثار الخطيئة ، يخضعون للتطهير من خلال حالة وسيطة من المطهر لتحقيق القداسة. ضروري للدخول إلى محضر الله. ^[95] يُطلق على أولئك الذين حققوا هذا الهدف قديسين ( مقدس لاتيني ، "مقدس"). ^[96]

تتمسك بعض الجماعات المسيحية ، مثل السبتيين السبتيين ، بالفناء ، والاعتقاد بأن الروح البشرية ليست خالدة بشكل طبيعي ، وأنها فاقدًا للوعي أثناء الحالة الوسيطة بين الموت الجسدي والقيامة. يتمسك هؤلاء المسيحيون أيضًا بمذهب الإبادة ، وهو الاعتقاد بأنه بعد الدينونة النهائية ، سيتوقف الأشرار عن الوجود بدلاً من أن يعانون من العذاب الأبدي. ويتمسك شهود يهوه بوجهة نظر مماثلة. ^[97]

الممارسات

اعتمادًا على طائفة معينة من المسيحية ، قد تشمل الممارسات المعمودية ، القربان المقدس ( القربان المقدس أو العشاء الرباني) ، الصلاة (بما في ذلك الصلاة الربانية ) ، الاعتراف ، التثبيت ، طقوس الدفن ، طقوس الزواج والتعليم الديني للأطفال. قامت معظم الطوائف بتعيين رجال دين يقودون خدمات العبادة الجماعية المنتظمة . ^[98]

العبادة الجماعية

تتبع خدمات العبادة نموذجًا أو شكلًا يعرف باسم الليتورجيا . ^{[note 3]} وصف جوستين الشهيد القداس المسيحي للقرن الثاني في اعتذاره الأول ( حوالي  150 ) للإمبراطور أنطونينوس بيوس ، ولا يزال وصفه وثيق الصلة بالبنية الأساسية للعبادة الليتورجية المسيحية:

وفي اليوم المسمى الأحد ، يجتمع كل من يعيش في المدن أو في الريف معًا في مكان واحد ، وتُقرأ مذكرات الرسل أو كتابات الأنبياء ، ما دامت المدة تسمح بذلك ؛ ثم ، عندما يتوقف القارئ ، يوجه الرئيس شفهيا ، ويحث على تقليد هذه الأشياء الطيبة. ثم نقوم جميعًا معًا ونصلي ، وكما قلنا من قبل ، عندما تنتهي صلاتنا ، يتم إحضار الخبز والخمر والماء ، ويؤدي الرئيس أيضًا الصلوات والشكر ، حسب قدرته ، وموافقة الشعب ، قائلا آمين؛ ويوجد توزيع على كل واحد ، ومشاركة ما تم تقديم الشكر عليه ، ويتم إرسال جزء من الشمامسة إلى الغائبين. والذين هم جيدون في العمل ، ويرغبون في إعطاء ما يراه كل منهم مناسبًا ؛ وما يتم تحصيله يودع لدى الرئيس ، الذي ينقذ الأيتام والأرامل والمحتاجين بمرض أو لأي سبب آخر ، ومن هم في القيود والغرباء المقيمون بيننا ، وبكلمة يعتني. من كل المحتاجين. ^[100]

وهكذا ، كما وصف جوستين ، يجتمع المسيحيون للعبادة الجماعية عادةً يوم الأحد ، يوم القيامة ، على الرغم من الممارسات الليتورجية الأخرى غالبًا ما تحدث خارج هذا المكان. قراءات الكتاب المقدس مستمدة من العهدين القديم والجديد ، وخاصة الأناجيل. ^{[note 4] [101]} يتم تقديم التعليمات بناءً على هذه القراءات ، وتسمى العظة أو العظة . هناك مجموعة متنوعة من صلوات الجماعة ، بما في ذلك الشكر والاعتراف والشفاعة ، والتي تحدث طوال الخدمة وتتخذ أشكالًا متنوعة بما في ذلك التلاوة أو الاستجابة أو الصمت أو الغناء. ^[98] المزامير أو الترانيم أو ترانيم العبادةقد تغنى. ^{[102] [103]} يمكن أن تتنوع الخدمات للمناسبات الخاصة مثل أيام الأعياد الهامة . ^[104]

تتضمن جميع أشكال العبادة تقريبًا الإفخارستيا ، التي تتكون من وجبة. تمت إعادة تمثيله وفقًا لتعليمات يسوع في العشاء الأخير ، أن أتباعه يفعلون ذلك في ذكرى له عندما أعطى تلاميذه الخبز قائلاً: "هذا هو جسدي" ، وأعطاهم خمرًا قائلاً: "هذا دمي" . ^[105] في الكنيسة الأولى ، كان المسيحيون وأولئك الذين لم يكملوا التنشئة سينفصلون عن الجزء الإفخارستي من الخدمة. ^[106] تستمر بعض الطوائف مثل الكنائس اللوثرية الطائفية في ممارسة " الشركة المغلقة ". ^[107]يقدمون الشركة لأولئك الذين هم بالفعل متحدين في تلك الطائفة أو في بعض الأحيان في الكنيسة الفردية. كما يقصر الكاثوليك المشاركة على أعضائهم الذين ليسوا في حالة خطيئة مميتة . ^[108] العديد من الكنائس الأخرى، مثل الانغليكاني و الكنيسة المتحدة في كندا ، والممارسة " فتح الشركة " لأنها عرض بالتواصل كوسيلة للوحدة، وليس غاية، ودعوة جميع المسيحيين المؤمنين للمشاركة. ^{[109] [110]}

الأسرار أو المراسيم

في العقيدة والممارسات المسيحية ، القربان هو طقس وضعه المسيح ، ويمنح النعمة ، ويشكل سرًا مقدسًا . المصطلح مشتق من الكلمة اللاتينية sacramentum ، والتي كانت تستخدم لترجمة الكلمة اليونانية للغموض . تختلف الآراء المتعلقة بكل من الطقوس المقدسة وما يعنيه أن يكون الفعل سرًا بين الطوائف والتقاليد المسيحية. ^[111]

إن أكثر تعريف وظيفي تقليدي للسر المقدس هو أنه علامة خارجية ، أسسها المسيح ، تنقل نعمة روحية داخلية من خلال المسيح. أكثر سارين قبولاً هما المعمودية والإفخارستيا. ومع ذلك، فإن الغالبية العظمى من المسيحيين أيضا التعرف على خمسة الأسرار إضافية: تأكيد ( الميرون في التقليد الشرقي)، الكهنوت (أو التنسيق )، التوبة (أو اعتراف )، مسحة المرضى ، و الزواج (انظر الزواج في المسيحية ). ^[111]

معا، وهذه هي سبعة الطقوس الدينية المعترف بها من قبل الكنائس في الكنيسة العليا تقليد ولا سيما الكاثوليكية ، الأرثوذكسية الشرقية ، الأرثوذكسية الشرقية ، الكاثوليكية المستقلة ، قديم الكاثوليكية ، وكثير من الانجيليين ، وبعض اللوثريين . تؤكد معظم الطوائف والتقاليد الأخرى عادةً على المعمودية والإفخارستيا فقط كأسرار مقدسة ، بينما ترفض بعض المجموعات البروتستانتية ، مثل الكويكرز ، اللاهوت الأسرار. ^{[111] تستخدم} الكنائس الإنجيلية الملتزمة بعقيدة كنيسة المؤمنين مصطلح " المراسيم ""للإشارة إلى المعمودية والشركة. ^[112]

بالإضافة إلى ذلك ، لدى كنيسة المشرق سراين إضافيين بدلاً من الأسرار التقليدية للزواج ومسحة المرضى. وتشمل هذه الخمر المقدس (ملكا) وعلامة الصليب . ^[113]

• تائب يعترف بخطاياه في كنيسة كاثوليكية أوكرانية

• و الميثودية وزير الاحتفال القربان المقدس

• التأكيد تدار في الكنيسة الأنجليكانية

• رسامة كاهن في التقليد الأرثوذكسي الشرقي

• التتويج خلال الزواج المقدس في الكنيسة الكاثوليكية السورية - مالابار

• خدم خدمة سر المسحة المقدسة يوم الأربعاء العظيم المقدس

التقويم الليتورجي

الكاثوليك والمسيحيون الشرقيون واللوثريون والأنجليكان وغيرهم من المجتمعات البروتستانتية التقليدية يؤطرون العبادة حول السنة الليتورجية . ^[114] والانقسامات دورة الليتورجية العام في سلسلة من الفصول ، ولكل منها التركيز اللاهوتية، وسائط للصلاة، والتي يمكن أن تدل عليه بطرق مختلفة من الكنائس تزيين، ألوان paraments و اثواب لرجال الدين، ^[115] قراءات ديني ، موضوعات للوعظ وحتى التقاليد والممارسات المختلفة التي غالبًا ما يتم ملاحظتها شخصيًا أو في المنزل.

تستند التقويمات الليتورجية الغربية المسيحية على دورة الطقوس الرومانية للكنيسة الكاثوليكية ، ^[115] ويستخدم المسيحيون الشرقيون تقاويم مماثلة بناءً على دورة طقوسهم . تضع التقويمات جانباً الأيام المقدسة ، مثل الاحتفالات التي تخلد ذكرى حدث في حياة يسوع أو مريم أو القديسين ، وفترات الصيام ، مثل الصوم الكبير والأحداث التقية الأخرى مثل الميموريا ، أو الأعياد الأقل إحياءً لذكرى القديسين. الجماعات المسيحية التي لا تتبع تقاليد الليتورجي غالبا ما تحتفظ بعض الاحتفالات، مثل عيد الميلاد ، عيد الفصح ، وعيد العنصرة : هذه هي الاحتفالات بميلاد المسيح وقيامته ونزول الروح القدس على الكنيسة على التوالي. لا تستخدم بعض الطوائف مثل المسيحيين الكويكرز التقويم الليتورجي. ^[116]

حرف او رمز

لم تمارس المسيحية عمومًا عدم الانتماء ، أو تجنب أو حظر الصور التعبدية ، حتى لو كان المسيحيون اليهود الأوائل وبعض الطوائف الحديثة ، مستشهدين بحظر الوصايا العشر لعبادة الأصنام ، يتجنبون الأرقام في رموزهم.

و عبر ، اليوم واحدة من الرموز المعترف بها على نطاق واسع، وكان يستخدم من قبل المسيحيين في اقرب وقت من الأوقات. ^{[117] [118]} يروي ترتليان في كتابه De Corona كيف كان تقليد المسيحيين تتبع علامة الصليب على جباههم. ^{[119] على} الرغم من أن الصليب كان معروفًا للمسيحيين الأوائل ، إلا أن الصليب لم يظهر قيد الاستخدام حتى القرن الخامس. ^[120]

من بين أقدم الرموز المسيحية ، يبدو أن رمز الأسماك أو Ichthys قد احتل المرتبة الأولى من حيث الأهمية ، كما رأينا في المصادر الأثرية مثل المقابر من العقود الأولى من القرن الثاني. ^[121] نشأت شعبيتها على ما يبدو من الكلمة اليونانية ichthys (الأسماك) التي شكلت اختصارًا للعبارة اليونانية Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter (Ἰησοῦς Χριστός ، Θεοῦ Υἱός ، Σωτήρ) ، ^{[ملاحظة 5]} (يسوع المسيح ، ابن الله ، المخلص ) ، ملخص موجز للإيمان المسيحي. ^[121]

تشمل الرموز المسيحية الرئيسية الأخرى حرف تشي-رو ، والحمامة (رمز الروح القدس) ، والحمل القرباني (الذي يمثل تضحية المسيح) ، والكرمة (التي ترمز إلى ارتباط المسيحي بالمسيح) وغيرها الكثير. كل هذه مستمدة من مقاطع من العهد الجديد. ^[120]

المعمودية

المعمودية هي عمل طقسي ، باستعمال الماء ، يمكن بواسطتها قبول الشخص في عضوية الكنيسة . تختلف المعتقدات حول المعمودية بين الطوائف. تحدث الاختلافات أولاً حول ما إذا كان للفعل أي أهمية روحية. البعض ، مثل الكنائس الكاثوليكية والأرثوذكسية الشرقية ، وكذلك اللوثريين والأنجليكان ، يتمسكون بعقيدة تجديد المعمودية ، التي تؤكد أن المعمودية تخلق أو تعزز إيمان الشخص ، وترتبط ارتباطًا وثيقًا بالخلاص. يرى البعض الآخر أن المعمودية فعل رمزي بحت ، وإعلان خارجي عام للتغيير الداخلي الذي حدث في الشخص ، ولكن ليس كفعل روحي. ثانياً ، هناك خلافات في الرأي حول منهجية الفعل. هذه الطرق هي: عن طريق الغمر؛ إذا الغمر هو مجموع، من خلال غمر . عن طريق الانصهار (السكب) ؛ و الانتقاد (الرش). أولئك الذين يحملون الرأي الأول قد يلتزمون أيضًا بتقليد معمودية الأطفال ؛ ^[122] تمارس جميع الكنائس الأرثوذكسية معمودية الأطفال وتعمد دائمًا بالتغطيس الكامل الذي يتكرر ثلاث مرات باسم الآب والابن والروح القدس. ^{[123] [124]} تمارس الكنيسة الكاثوليكية أيضًا معمودية الأطفال ، ^[125] عادة عن طريق الخداع ، واستخدام صيغة الثالوث . ^[126]

الإنجيلية الطوائف والتمسك بتعاليم الكنيسة المؤمنين ، ممارسة معمودية المؤمن ، عن طريق الغمر في الماء، وبعد ولادة جديدة و مهنة الايمان . ^{[127] [128]} لحديثي الولادة ، هناك احتفال يسمى تكريس الطفل . ^[129]

دعاء

في إنجيل القديس متى ، علّم يسوع الصلاة الربانية التي اعتبرت نموذجًا للصلاة المسيحية. ^[131] أُعطي الأمر للمسيحيين بصلاة الصلاة الربانية ثلاث مرات يوميًا في ديداتش ، وتلاه المسيحيون في الساعة 9 صباحًا و 12 ظهرًا و 3 مساءً. ^{[132] [133]}

في التقليد الرسولي للقرن الثاني ، أمر هيبوليتس المسيحيين بالصلاة في سبع أوقات ثابتة للصلاة : "عند الاستيقاظ ، عند إضاءة مصباح المساء ، عند النوم ، عند منتصف الليل" و "الساعات الثالثة والسادسة والتاسعة من اليوم ، كونها ساعات مرتبطة بآلام المسيح ". ^{[134] تم استخدام} أوضاع الصلاة ، بما في ذلك الركوع والوقوف والسجود لأوقات الصلاة السبع الثابتة هذه منذ أيام الكنيسة الأولى. ^[135] Breviaries مثل Shehimo و Agpeya يتم استخدامها من قبل المسيحيين الأرثوذكس الشرقيين للصلاة هذه الكنسي ساعاتبينما تواجه في اتجاه الشرق للصلاة . ^{[136] [137]}

لقد أوعز التقليد الرسولي إلى أن يستخدم المسيحيون علامة الصليب أثناء طرد الأرواح الشريرة من المعمودية ، وأثناء الوضوء قبل الصلاة في أوقات الصلاة المحددة ، وفي أوقات التجربة. ^[138]

Intercessory prayer is prayer offered for the benefit of other people. There are many intercessory prayers recorded in the Bible, including prayers of the Apostle Peter on behalf of sick persons^{‹See Tfd›[Acts 9:40]} and by prophets of the Old Testament in favor of other people.^{‹See Tfd›[1Ki 17:19–22]} In the Epistle of James, no distinction is made between the intercessory prayer offered by ordinary believers and the prominent Old Testament prophet Elijah.^{‹See Tfd›[Jam 5:16–18]} The effectiveness of prayer in Christianity derives from the power of God rather than the status of the one praying.^[139]

The ancient church, in both Eastern and Western Christianity, developed a tradition of asking for the intercession of (deceased) saints, and this remains the practice of most Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, and some Anglican churches. Churches of the Protestant Reformation, however, rejected prayer to the saints, largely on the basis of the sole mediatorship of Christ.^[140] The reformer Huldrych Zwingli admitted that he had offered prayers to the saints until his reading of the Bible convinced him that this was idolatrous.^[141]

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God."^[142] The Book of Common Prayer in the Anglican tradition is a guide which provides a set order for services, containing set prayers, scripture readings, and hymns or sung Psalms.^[143] Frequently in Western Christianity, when praying, the hands are placed palms together and forward as in the feudal commendation ceremony. At other times the older orans posture may be used, with palms up and elbows in.

Scriptures

Christianity, like other religions, has adherents whose beliefs and biblical interpretations vary. Christianity regards the biblical canon, the Old Testament and the New Testament, as the inspired word of God. The traditional view of inspiration is that God worked through human authors so that what they produced was what God wished to communicate. The Greek word referring to inspiration in ‹See Tfd›2 Timothy 3:16 is theopneustos, which literally means "God-breathed".^[144]

Some believe that divine inspiration makes our present Bibles inerrant. Others claim inerrancy for the Bible in its original manuscripts, although none of those are extant. Still others maintain that only a particular translation is inerrant, such as the King James Version.^{[145][146][147]} Another closely related view is biblical infallibility or limited inerrancy, which affirms that the Bible is free of error as a guide to salvation, but may include errors on matters such as history, geography, or science.

The books of the Bible accepted by the Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant churches vary somewhat, with Jews accepting only the Hebrew Bible as canonical; however, there is substantial overlap. These variations are a reflection of the range of traditions, and of the councils that have convened on the subject. Every version of the Old Testament always includes the books of the Tanakh, the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Catholic and Orthodox canons, in addition to the Tanakh, also include the deuterocanonical books as part of the Old Testament. These books appear in the Septuagint, but are regarded by Protestants to be apocryphal. However, they are considered to be important historical documents which help to inform the understanding of words, grammar, and syntax used in the historical period of their conception. Some versions of the Bible include a separate Apocrypha section between the Old Testament and the New Testament.^[148] The New Testament, originally written in Koine Greek, contains 27 books which are agreed upon by all major churches.

Modern scholarship has raised many issues with the Bible. While the King James Version is held to by many because of its striking English prose, in fact it was translated from the Erasmus Greek Bible, which in turn "was based on a single 12th Century manuscript that is one of the worst manuscripts we have available to us".^[149] Much scholarship in the past several hundred years has gone into comparing different manuscripts in order to reconstruct the original text. Another issue is that several books are considered to be forgeries. The injunction that women "be silent and submissive" in 1 Timothy 2^[150] is thought by many to be a forgery by a follower of Paul, a similar phrase in 1 Corinthians 14,^[151] which is thought to be by Paul, appears in different places in different manuscripts and is thought to originally be a margin note by a copyist.^[149] Other verses in 1 Corinthians, such as 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 where women are instructed to wear a covering over their hair "when they pray or prophesies",^[152] contradict this verse.

A final issue with the Bible is the way in which books were selected for inclusion in the New Testament. Other gospels have now been recovered, such as those found near Nag Hammadi in 1945, and while some of these texts are quite different from what Christians have been used to, it should be understood that some of this newly recovered Gospel material is quite possibly contemporaneous with, or even earlier than, the New Testament Gospels. The core of the Gospel of Thomas, in particular, may date from as early as AD 50 (although some major scholars contest this early dating),^[153] and if so would provide an insight into the earliest gospel texts that underlie the canonical Gospels, texts that are mentioned in Luke 1:1–2. The Gospel of Thomas contains much that is familiar from the canonical Gospels—verse 113, for example ("The Father's Kingdom is spread out upon the earth, but people do not see it"),^[154] is reminiscent of Luke 17:20–21^[155][156]—and the Gospel of John, with a terminology and approach that is suggestive of what was later termed Gnosticism, has recently been seen as a possible response to the Gospel of Thomas, a text that is commonly labeled proto-Gnostic. Scholarship, then, is currently exploring the relationship in the early church between mystical speculation and experience on the one hand and the search for church order on the other, by analyzing new-found texts, by subjecting canonical texts to further scrutiny, and by an examination of the passage of New Testament texts to canonical status.

Some denominations have additional canonical holy scriptures beyond the Bible, including the standard works of the Latter Day Saints movement and Divine Principle in the Unification Church.^[157]

Catholic interpretation

In antiquity, two schools of exegesis developed in Alexandria and Antioch. The Alexandrian interpretation, exemplified by Origen, tended to read Scripture allegorically, while the Antiochene interpretation adhered to the literal sense, holding that other meanings (called theoria) could only be accepted if based on the literal meaning.^[158]

Catholic theology distinguishes two senses of scripture: the literal and the spiritual.^[159]

The literal sense of understanding scripture is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture. The spiritual sense is further subdivided into:

• The allegorical sense, which includes typology. An example would be the parting of the Red Sea being understood as a "type" (sign) of baptism.^{‹See Tfd›[1Cor 10:2]}
• The moral sense, which understands the scripture to contain some ethical teaching.
• The anagogical sense, which applies to eschatology, eternity and the consummation of the world

Regarding exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation, Catholic theology holds:

• The injunction that all other senses of sacred scripture are based on the literal^[160][161]
• That the historicity of the Gospels must be absolutely and constantly held^[162]
• That scripture must be read within the "living Tradition of the whole Church"^[163] and
• That "the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome".^[164]

Protestant interpretation

Qualities of Scripture

Protestant Christians believe that the Bible is a self-sufficient revelation, the final authority on all Christian doctrine, and revealed all truth necessary for salvation. This concept is known as sola scriptura.^[165] Protestants characteristically believe that ordinary believers may reach an adequate understanding of Scripture because Scripture itself is clear in its meaning (or "perspicuous"). Martin Luther believed that without God's help, Scripture would be "enveloped in darkness".^[166] He advocated for "one definite and simple understanding of Scripture".^[166] John Calvin wrote, "all who refuse not to follow the Holy Spirit as their guide, find in the Scripture a clear light".^[167] Related to this is "efficacy", that Scripture is able to lead people to faith; and "sufficiency", that the Scriptures contain everything that one needs to know in order to obtain salvation and to live a Christian life.^[168]

Original intended meaning of Scripture

Protestants stress the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture, the historical-grammatical method.^[169] The historical-grammatical method or grammatico-historical method is an effort in Biblical hermeneutics to find the intended original meaning in the text.^[170] This original intended meaning of the text is drawn out through examination of the passage in light of the grammatical and syntactical aspects, the historical background, the literary genre, as well as theological (canonical) considerations.^[171] The historical-grammatical method distinguishes between the one original meaning and the significance of the text. The significance of the text includes the ensuing use of the text or application. The original passage is seen as having only a single meaning or sense. As Milton S. Terry said: "A fundamental principle in grammatico-historical exposition is that the words and sentences can have but one significance in one and the same connection. The moment we neglect this principle we drift out upon a sea of uncertainty and conjecture."^[172] Technically speaking, the grammatical-historical method of interpretation is distinct from the determination of the passage's significance in light of that interpretation. Taken together, both define the term (Biblical) hermeneutics.^[170]Some Protestant interpreters make use of typology.^[173]

History

Early Christianity

Apostolic Age

Christianity developed during the 1st century CE as a Jewish Christian sect of Second Temple Judaism.^[176][177] An early Jewish Christian community was founded in Jerusalem under the leadership of the Pillars of the Church, namely James the Just, the brother of Jesus, Peter, and John.^[178]

Jewish Christianity soon attracted Gentile God-fearers, posing a problem for its Jewish religious outlook, which insisted on close observance of the Jewish commands. Paul the Apostle solved this by insisting that salvation by faith in Christ, and participation in his death and resurrection by their baptism, sufficed.^[179] At first he persecuted the early Christians, but after a conversion experience he preached to the gentiles, and is regarded as having had a formative effect on the emerging Christian identity as separate from Judaism. Eventually, his departure from Jewish customs would result in the establishment of Christianity as an independent religion.^[180]

Ante-Nicene period

This formative period was followed by the early bishops, whom Christians consider the successors of Christ's apostles. From the year 150, Christian teachers began to produce theological and apologetic works aimed at defending the faith. These authors are known as the Church Fathers, and the study of them is called patristics. Notable early Fathers include Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen.

Persecution of Christians occurred intermittently and on a small scale by both Jewish and Roman authorities, with Roman action starting at the time of the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. Examples of early executions under Jewish authority reported in the New Testament include the deaths of Saint Stephen^{‹See Tfd›[Acts 7:59]} and James, son of Zebedee.^{‹See Tfd›[Acts 12:2]} The Decian persecution was the first empire-wide conflict,^[181] when the edict of Decius in 250 AD required everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods. The Diocletianic Persecution beginning in 303 AD was also particularly severe. Roman persecution ended in 313 AD with the Edict of Milan.

While Proto-orthodox Christianity was becoming dominant, heterodox sects also existed at the same time, which held radically different beliefs. Gnostic Christianity developed a duotheistic doctrine based on illusion and enlightenment rather than forgiveness of sin. With only a few scriptures overlapping with the developing orthodox canon, most Gnostic texts and Gnostic gospels were eventually considered heretical and suppressed by mainstream Christians. A gradual splitting off of Gentile Christianity left Jewish Christians continuing to follow the Law of Moses, including practices such as circumcision. By the fifth century, they and the Jewish–Christian gospels would be largely suppressed by the dominant sects in both Judaism and Christianity.

Spread and acceptance in Roman Empire

Christianity spread to Aramaic-speaking peoples along the Mediterranean coast and also to the inland parts of the Roman Empire and beyond that into the Parthian Empire and the later Sasanian Empire, including Mesopotamia, which was dominated at different times and to varying extents by these empires.^[182] The presence of Christianity in Africa began in the middle of the 1st century in Egypt and by the end of the 2nd century in the region around Carthage. Mark the Evangelist is claimed to have started the Church of Alexandria in about 43 CE; various later churches claim this as their own legacy, including the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.^{[183][184][185]} Important Africans who influenced the early development of Christianity include Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian, Athanasius, and Augustine of Hippo.

King Tiridates III made Christianity the state religion in Armenia between 301 and 314,^{[88][186][187]} thus Armenia became the first officially Christian state. It was not an entirely new religion in Armenia, having penetrated into the country from at least the third century, but it may have been present even earlier.^[188]

Constantine I was exposed to Christianity in his youth, and throughout his life his support for the religion grew, culminating in baptism on his deathbed.^[189] During his reign, state-sanctioned persecution of Christians was ended with the Edict of Toleration in 311 and the Edict of Milan in 313. At that point, Christianity was still a minority belief, comprising perhaps only five percent of the Roman population.^[190] Influenced by his adviser Mardonius, Constantine's nephew Julian unsuccessfully tried to suppress Christianity.^[191] On 27 February 380, Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II established Nicene Christianity as the State church of the Roman Empire.^[192] As soon as it became connected to the state, Christianity grew wealthy; the Church solicited donations from the rich and could now own land.^[193]

Constantine was also instrumental in the convocation of the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which sought to address Arianism and formulated the Nicene Creed, which is still used by in Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and many other Protestant churches.^[194][37] Nicaea was the first of a series of ecumenical councils, which formally defined critical elements of the theology of the Church, notably concerning Christology.^[195] The Church of the East did not accept the third and following ecumenical councils and is still separate today by its successors (Assyrian Church of the East).

In terms of prosperity and cultural life, the Byzantine Empire was one of the peaks in Christian history and Christian civilization,^[196] and Constantinople remained the leading city of the Christian world in size, wealth, and culture.^[197] There was a renewed interest in classical Greek philosophy, as well as an increase in literary output in vernacular Greek.^[198] Byzantine art and literature held a preeminent place in Europe, and the cultural impact of Byzantine art on the West during this period was enormous and of long-lasting significance.^[199] The later rise of Islam in North Africa reduced the size and numbers of Christian congregations, leaving in large numbers only the Coptic Church in Egypt, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the Horn of Africa and the Nubian Church in the Sudan (Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia).

Early Middle Ages

With the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the West, the papacy became a political player, first visible in Pope Leo's diplomatic dealings with Huns and Vandals.^[200] The church also entered into a long period of missionary activity and expansion among the various tribes. While Arianists instituted the death penalty for practicing pagans (see the Massacre of Verden, for example), what would later become Catholicism also spread among the Hungarians, the Germanic,^[200] the Celtic, the Baltic and some Slavic peoples.

Around 500, St. Benedict set out his Monastic Rule, establishing a system of regulations for the foundation and running of monasteries.^[200] Monasticism became a powerful force throughout Europe,^[200] and gave rise to many early centers of learning, most famously in Ireland, Scotland, and Gaul, contributing to the Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century.

In the 7th century, Muslims conquered Syria (including Jerusalem), North Africa, and Spain, converting some of the Christian population to Islam, and placing the rest under a separate legal status. Part of the Muslims' success was due to the exhaustion of the Byzantine Empire in its decades long conflict with Persia.^[201] Beginning in the 8th century, with the rise of Carolingian leaders, the Papacy sought greater political support in the Frankish Kingdom.^[202]

The Middle Ages brought about major changes within the church. Pope Gregory the Great dramatically reformed the ecclesiastical structure and administration.^[203] In the early 8th century, iconoclasm became a divisive issue, when it was sponsored by the Byzantine emperors. The Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (787) finally pronounced in favor of icons.^[204] In the early 10th century, Western Christian monasticism was further rejuvenated through the leadership of the great Benedictine monastery of Cluny.^[205]

High and Late Middle Ages

In the West, from the 11th century onward, some older cathedral schools became universities (see, for example, University of Oxford, University of Paris and University of Bologna). Previously, higher education had been the domain of Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools (Scholae monasticae), led by monks and nuns. Evidence of such schools dates back to the 6th century CE.^[206] These new universities expanded the curriculum to include academic programs for clerics, lawyers, civil servants, and physicians.^[207] The university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting.^{[208][209][210]}

Accompanying the rise of the "new towns" throughout Europe, mendicant orders were founded, bringing the consecrated religious life out of the monastery and into the new urban setting. The two principal mendicant movements were the Franciscans^[211] and the Dominicans,^[212] founded by St. Francis and St. Dominic, respectively. Both orders made significant contributions to the development of the great universities of Europe. Another new order was the Cistercians, whose large isolated monasteries spearheaded the settlement of former wilderness areas. In this period, church building and ecclesiastical architecture reached new heights, culminating in the orders of Romanesque and Gothic architecture and the building of the great European cathedrals.^[213]

Christian nationalism emerged during this era in which Christians felt the impulse to recover lands in which Christianity had historically flourished.^[214] From 1095 under the pontificate of Urban II, the Crusades were launched.^[215] These were a series of military campaigns in the Holy Land and elsewhere, initiated in response to pleas from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I for aid against Turkish expansion. The Crusades ultimately failed to stifle Islamic aggression and even contributed to Christian enmity with the sacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade.^[216]

The Christian Church experienced internal conflict between the 7th and 13th centuries that resulted in a schism between the so-called Latin or Western Christian branch (the Catholic Church),^[217] and an Eastern, largely Greek, branch (the Eastern Orthodox Church). The two sides disagreed on a number of administrative, liturgical and doctrinal issues, most prominently Eastern Orthodox opposition to papal supremacy.^[218][219] The Second Council of Lyon (1274) and the Council of Florence (1439) attempted to reunite the churches, but in both cases, the Eastern Orthodox refused to implement the decisions, and the two principal churches remain in schism to the present day. However, the Catholic Church has achieved union with various smaller eastern churches.

In the thirteenth century, a new emphasis on Jesus' suffering, exemplified by the Franciscans' preaching, had the consequence of turning worshippers' attention towards Jews, on whom Christians had placed the blame for Jesus' death. Christianity's limited tolerance of Jews was not new—Augustine of Hippo said that Jews should not be allowed to enjoy the citizenship that Christians took for granted—but the growing antipathy towards Jews was a factor that led to the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290, the first of many such expulsions in Europe.^[220][221]

Beginning around 1184, following the crusade against Cathar heresy,^[222] various institutions, broadly referred to as the Inquisition, were established with the aim of suppressing heresy and securing religious and doctrinal unity within Christianity through conversion and prosecution.^[223]

Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation

The 15th-century Renaissance brought about a renewed interest in ancient and classical learning. During the Reformation, Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses 1517 against the sale of indulgences.^[224] Printed copies soon spread throughout Europe. In 1521 the Edict of Worms condemned and excommunicated Luther and his followers, resulting in the schism of the Western Christendom into several branches.^[225]

Other reformers like Zwingli, Oecolampadius, Calvin, Knox, and Arminius further criticized Catholic teaching and worship. These challenges developed into the movement called Protestantism, which repudiated the primacy of the pope, the role of tradition, the seven sacraments, and other doctrines and practices.^[224] The Reformation in England began in 1534, when King Henry VIII had himself declared head of the Church of England. Beginning in 1536, the monasteries throughout England, Wales and Ireland were dissolved.^[226]

Thomas Müntzer, Andreas Karlstadt and other theologians perceived both the Catholic Church and the confessions of the Magisterial Reformation as corrupted. Their activity brought about the Radical Reformation, which gave birth to various Anabaptist denominations.

Partly in response to the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church engaged in a substantial process of reform and renewal, known as the Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reform.^[230] The Council of Trent clarified and reasserted Catholic doctrine. During the following centuries, competition between Catholicism and Protestantism became deeply entangled with political struggles among European states.^[231]

Meanwhile, the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 brought about a new wave of missionary activity. Partly from missionary zeal, but under the impetus of colonial expansion by the European powers, Christianity spread to the Americas, Oceania, East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Throughout Europe, the division caused by the Reformation led to outbreaks of religious violence and the establishment of separate state churches in Europe. Lutheranism spread into the northern, central, and eastern parts of present-day Germany, Livonia, and Scandinavia. Anglicanism was established in England in 1534. Calvinism and its varieties, such as Presbyterianism, were introduced in Scotland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Switzerland, and France. Arminianism gained followers in the Netherlands and Frisia. Ultimately, these differences led to the outbreak of conflicts in which religion played a key factor. The Thirty Years' War, the English Civil War, and the French Wars of Religion are prominent examples. These events intensified the Christian debate on persecution and toleration.^[232]

In the revival of neoplatonism Renaissance humanists did not reject Christianity; quite the contrary, many of the greatest works of the Renaissance were devoted to it, and the Catholic Church patronized many works of Renaissance art.^[233] Much, if not most, of the new art was commissioned by or in dedication to the Church.^[233] Some scholars and historians attributes Christianity to having contributed to the rise of the Scientific Revolution,^{[234][235][236][237][238]} Many well-known historical figures who influenced Western science considered themselves Christian such as Nicolaus Copernicus,^[239] Galileo Galilei,^[240] Johannes Kepler,^[241] Isaac Newton^[242] and Robert Boyle.^[243]

Post-Enlightenment

In the era known as the Great Divergence, when in the West, the Age of Enlightenment and the scientific revolution brought about great societal changes, Christianity was confronted with various forms of skepticism and with certain modern political ideologies, such as versions of socialism and liberalism.^[244] Events ranged from mere anti-clericalism to violent outbursts against Christianity, such as the dechristianization of France during the French Revolution,^[245] the Spanish Civil War, and certain Marxist movements, especially the Russian Revolution and the persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union under state atheism.^{[246][247][248][249]}

Especially pressing in Europe was the formation of nation states after the Napoleonic era. In all European countries, different Christian denominations found themselves in competition to greater or lesser extents with each other and with the state. Variables were the relative sizes of the denominations and the religious, political, and ideological orientation of the states. Urs Altermatt of the University of Fribourg, looking specifically at Catholicism in Europe, identifies four models for the European nations. In traditionally Catholic-majority countries such as Belgium, Spain, and Austria, to some extent, religious and national communities are more or less identical. Cultural symbiosis and separation are found in Poland, the Republic of Ireland, and Switzerland, all countries with competing denominations. Competition is found in Germany, the Netherlands, and again Switzerland, all countries with minority Catholic populations, which to a greater or lesser extent identified with the nation. Finally, separation between religion (again, specifically Catholicism) and the state is found to a great degree in France and Italy, countries where the state actively opposed itself to the authority of the Catholic Church.^[250]

The combined factors of the formation of nation states and ultramontanism, especially in Germany and the Netherlands, but also in England to a much lesser extent,^[251] often forced Catholic churches, organizations, and believers to choose between the national demands of the state and the authority of the Church, specifically the papacy. This conflict came to a head in the First Vatican Council, and in Germany would lead directly to the Kulturkampf,^[252] where liberals and Protestants under the leadership of Bismarck managed to severely restrict Catholic expression and organization.

Christian commitment in Europe dropped as modernity and secularism came into their own,^[253] particularly in Czechia and Estonia,^[254] while religious commitments in America have been generally high in comparison to Europe. The late 20th century has shown the shift of Christian adherence to the Third World and the Southern Hemisphere in general,^[255][256] with the West no longer the chief standard bearer of Christianity. Approximately 7 to 10% of Arabs are Christians,^[257] most prevalent in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.

Demographics

With around 2.4 billion adherents,^[258][259] split into three main branches of Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox, Christianity is the world's largest religion.^[260] The Christian share of the world's population has stood at around 33% for the last hundred years, which means that one in three persons on Earth are Christians. This masks a major shift in the demographics of Christianity; large increases in the developing world have been accompanied by substantial declines in the developed world, mainly in Western Europe and North America.^[261] According to a 2015 Pew Research Center study, within the next four decades, Christianity will remain the largest religion; and by 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion.^[262]:60

According to some scholars, Christianity ranks at first place in net gains through religious conversion.^[264][265] As a percentage of Christians, the Catholic Church and Orthodoxy (both Eastern and Oriental) are declining in some parts of the world (though Catholicism is growing in Asia, in Africa, vibrant in Eastern Europe, etc.), while Protestants and other Christians are on the rise in the developing world.^{[266][267][268]} The so-called popular Protestantism^{[note 6]} is one of the fastest growing religious categories in the world.^[269][270] Nevertheless, Catholicism will also continue to grow to 1.63 billion by 2050, according to Todd Johnson of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity.^[271] Africa alone, by 2015, will be home to 230 million African Catholics.^[272] And if in 2018, the U.N. projects that Africa's population will reach 4.5 billion by 2100 (not 2 billion as predicted in 2004), Catholicism will indeed grow, as will other religious groups.^[273] According to Pew Research Center, Africa is expected to be home to 1.1 billion African Christians by 2050.^[262]

In 2010, 87% of world's Christian population lived in countries where Christians are in the majority, while 13% of world's Christian population lived in countries where Christians are in the minority.^[16] Christianity is the predominant religion in Europe, the Americas, Oceania, and Southern Africa.^[16] In Asia, it is the dominant religion in Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, East Timor, and the Philippines.^[274] However, it is declining in some areas including the northern and western United States,^[275] some areas in Oceania (Australia^[276] and New Zealand^[277]), northern Europe (including Great Britain,^[278] Scandinavia and other places), France, Germany, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, and some parts of Asia (especially the Middle East, due to the Christian emigration,^{[279][280][281]} and Macau^[282]).

The Christian population is not decreasing in Brazil, the southern United States,^[283] and the province of Alberta, Canada,^[284] but the percentage is decreasing. Since the fall of communism, the proportion of Christians has been stable or even increased in the Central and Eastern European countries.^[285] Christianity is growing rapidly in both numbers and percentage in China,^[286][260] other Asian countries,^[260][287] Sub-Saharan Africa,^[260][288] Latin America,^[260] Eastern Europe,^[285][263] North Africa (Maghreb),^[289][288] Gulf Cooperation Council countries,^[260] and Oceania.^[288]

Despite the declining numbers, Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western World, where 70% are Christians.^[16] Christianity remains the largest religion in Western Europe, where 71% of Western Europeans identified themselves as Christian in 2018.^[290] A 2011 Pew Research Center survey found that 76% of Europeans, 73% in Oceania and about 86% in the Americas (90% in Latin America and 77% in North America) identified themselves as Christians.^{[16][291][292][293]} By 2010 about 157 countries and territories in the world had Christian majorities.^[260]

However, there are many charismatic movements that have become well established over large parts of the world, especially Africa, Latin America, and Asia.^{[294][295][296][297][298]} Since 1900, primarily due to conversion, Protestantism has spread rapidly in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America.^[299] From 1960 to 2000, the global growth of the number of reported Evangelical Protestants grew three times the world's population rate, and twice that of Islam.^[300] According to the historian Geoffrey Blainey from the University of Melbourne, since the 1960s there has been a substantial increase in the number of conversions from Islam to Christianity, mostly to the Evangelical and Pentecostal forms.^[301] A study conducted by St. Mary's University estimated about 10.2 million Muslim converts to Christianity in 2015,^[289] according to the study significant numbers of Muslims converts to Christianity can be found in Afghanistan,^[289][302] Azerbaijan,^[289][302] Central Asia (including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and other countries),^[289][302] Indonesia,^[289][302] Malaysia,^[289][302] the Middle East (including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,^[303] and other countries),^[289][302] North Africa (including Algeria, Morocco,^[304][305] and Tunisia^[306]),^[289][302] Sub-Saharan Africa,^[289][302] and the Western World (including Albania, Belgium, France, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Russia, Scandinavia, United kingdom, the United States, and other western countries).^[289][302] It is also reported that Christianity is popular among people of different backgrounds in Africa and Aisa, according to a report by the Singapore Management University, more people in Southeast Asia are converting to Christianity, many of them are young and have a university degree.^[287] According to scholar Juliette Koning and Heidi Dahles of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam there is a "rapid expansion" of Christianity in Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea.^[287] According to scholar Terence Chong from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, since 1980s Christianity is expanding in China, Singapore,^[307] Indonesia, Japan,^[308] Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea,^[16] and Vietnam.^[309]

In most countries in the developed world, church attendance among people who continue to identify themselves as Christians has been falling over the last few decades.^[310] Some sources view this simply as part of a drift away from traditional membership institutions,^[311] while others link it to signs of a decline in belief in the importance of religion in general.^[312] Europe's Christian population, though in decline, still constitutes the largest geographical component of the religion.^[313] According to data from the 2012 European Social Survey, around a third of European Christians say they attend services once a month or more,^[314] Conversely about more than two-thirds of Latin American Christians; according to the World Values Survey, about 90% of African Christians (in Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe) said they attended church regularly.^[314]

Christianity, in one form or another, is the sole state religion of the following nations: Argentina (Catholic),^[315] Tuvalu (Reformed), Tonga (Methodist), Norway (Lutheran),^{[316][317][318]} Costa Rica (Catholic),^[319] the Kingdom of Denmark (Lutheran),^[320] England (Anglican),^[321] Georgia (Georgian Orthodox),^[322] Greece (Greek Orthodox),^[323] Iceland (Lutheran),^[324] Liechtenstein (Catholic),^[325] Malta (Catholic),^[326] Monaco (Catholic),^[327] and Vatican City (Catholic).^[328]

There are numerous other countries, such as Cyprus, which although do not have an established church, still give official recognition and support to a specific Christian denomination.^[329]

Demographics of major traditions within Christianity (Pew Research Center, 2011 data)^[330]

Tradition	Followers	% of the Christian population	% of the world population	Follower dynamics	Dynamics in- and outside Christianity
Catholic Church	1,329,610,000	50.1	15.9	Growing	Growing
Protestantism	900,640,000	36.7	11.6	Growing	Growing
Orthodoxy	260,380,000	11.9	3.8	Growing	Declining
Other Christianity	28,430,000	1.3	0.4	Growing	Growing
Christianity	2,382,750,000	100	31.7	Growing	Stable

• Countries with 50% or more Christians are colored purple; countries with 10% to 50% Christians are colored pink

• Nations with Christianity as their state religion are in blue

• Distribution of Catholics

• Distribution of Protestants

• Distribution of Eastern Orthodox

• Distribution of Oriental Orthodox

• Distribution of other Christians

Churches and denominations

The four primary divisions of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.^[41]:14[336] A broader distinction that is sometimes drawn is between Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity, which has its origins in the East–West Schism (Great Schism) of the 11th century. Recently, neither Western or Eastern World Christianity has also stood out, for example, African-initiated churches. However, there are other present^[337] and historical^[338] Christian groups that do not fit neatly into one of these primary categories.

There is a diversity of doctrines and liturgical practices among groups calling themselves Christian. These groups may vary ecclesiologically in their views on a classification of Christian denominations.^[339] The Nicene Creed (325), however, is typically accepted as authoritative by most Christians, including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and major Protestant (including Anglican) denominations.^[340]

(Not shown are non-Nicene, nontrinitarian, and some restorationist denominations.)

Catholic Church

The Catholic Church consists of those particular churches, headed by bishops, in communion with the pope, the bishop of Rome, as its highest authority in matters of faith, morality, and church governance.^[341][342] Like Eastern Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church, through apostolic succession, traces its origins to the Christian community founded by Jesus Christ.^[343][344] Catholics maintain that the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church" founded by Jesus subsists fully in the Catholic Church, but also acknowledges other Christian churches and communities^[345][346] and works towards reconciliation among all Christians.^[345] The Catholic faith is detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.^[347][348]

Of its seven sacraments, the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass.^[349] The church teaches that through consecration by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Mother of God and Queen of Heaven, honoured in dogmas and devotions.^[350] Its teaching includes Divine Mercy, sanctification through faith and evangelization of the Gospel as well as Catholic social teaching, which emphasises voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church operates thousands of Catholic schools, hospitals, and orphanages around the world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world.^[351] Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organizations.

As the world's oldest and largest continuously functioning international institution,^[352] it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.^[353] The 2,834 sees^[354] are grouped into 24 particular autonomous Churches (the largest of which being the Latin Church), each with its own distinct traditions regarding the liturgy and the administering of sacraments.^[355] With more than 1.1 billion baptized members, the Catholic Church is the largest Christian church and represents 50.1%^[16] all Christians as well as one sixth of the world's population.^{[356][357][358]} Catholics live all over the world through missions, diaspora, and conversions.

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church consists of those churches in communion with the patriarchal sees of the East, such as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.^[360] Like the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church also traces its heritage to the foundation of Christianity through apostolic succession and has an episcopal structure, though the autonomy of its component parts is emphasized, and most of them are national churches.

Eastern Orthodox theology is based on holy tradition which incorporates the dogmatic decrees of the seven Ecumenical Councils, the Scriptures, and the teaching of the Church Fathers. The church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission,^[361] and that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles.^[362] It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith, as passed down by holy tradition. Its patriarchates, reminiscent of the pentarchy, and other autocephalous and autonomous churches reflect a variety of hierarchical organisation. It recognises seven major sacraments, of which the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in synaxis. The church teaches that through consecration invoked by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the God-bearer, honoured in devotions.

A number of conflicts with Western Christianity over questions of doctrine and authority culminated in the Great Schism. Eastern Orthodoxy is the second largest single denomination in Christianity, with an estimated 230 million adherents, although Protestants collectively outnumber them, substantially.^{[16][14][363]} As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Near East.^[364]

Oriental Orthodoxy

The Oriental Orthodox Churches (also called "Old Oriental" churches) are those eastern churches that recognize the first three ecumenical councils—Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus—but reject the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon and instead espouse a Miaphysite christology.

The Oriental Orthodox communion consists of six groups: Syriac Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (India), and Armenian Apostolic churches.^[365] These six churches, while being in communion with each other, are completely independent hierarchically.^[366] These churches are generally not in communion with Eastern Orthodox Church, with whom they are in dialogue for erecting a communion.^[367] And together have about 62 million members worldwide.^{[368][369][370]}

As some of the oldest religious institutions in the world, the Oriental Orthodox Churches have played a prominent role in the history and culture of Armenia, Egypt, Turkey, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and parts of the Middle East and India.^[371][372] An Eastern Christian body of autocephalous churches, its bishops are equal by virtue of episcopal ordination, and its doctrines can be summarized in that the churches recognize the validity of only the first three ecumenical councils.^[373]

Assyrian Church of the East

The Assyrian Church of the East, with an unbroken patriarchate established in the 17th century, is an independent Eastern Christian denomination which claims continuity from the Church of the East—in parallel to the Catholic patriarchate established in the 16th century that evolved into the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Pope. It is an Eastern Christian church that follows the traditional christology and ecclesiology of the historical Church of the East. Largely aniconic and not in communion with any other church, it belongs to the eastern branch of Syriac Christianity, and uses the East Syriac Rite in its liturgy.^[374]

Its main spoken language is Syriac, a dialect of Eastern Aramaic, and the majority of its adherents are ethnic Assyrians. It is officially headquartered in the city of Erbil in northern Iraqi Kurdistan, and its original area also spreads into south-eastern Turkey and north-western Iran, corresponding to ancient Assyria. Its hierarchy is composed of metropolitan bishops and diocesan bishops, while lower clergy consists of priests and deacons, who serve in dioceses (eparchies) and parishes throughout the Middle East, India, North America, Oceania, and Europe (including the Caucasus and Russia).^[375]

The Ancient Church of the East distinguished itself from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964. It is one of the Assyrian churches that claim continuity with the historical Patriarchate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon—the Church of the East, one of the oldest Christian churches in Mesopotamia.^[376]

Protestantism

In 1521, the Edict of Worms condemned Martin Luther and officially banned citizens of the Holy Roman Empire from defending or propagating his ideas.^[377] This split within the Roman Catholic church is now called the Reformation. Prominent Reformers included Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, and John Calvin. The 1529 Protestation at Speyer against being excommunicated gave this party the name Protestantism. Luther's primary theological heirs are known as Lutherans. Zwingli and Calvin's heirs are far broader denominationally, and are referred to as the Reformed tradition.^[378] Protestants have developed their own culture, with major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, and many other fields.^[379]

The Anglican churches descended from the Church of England and organized in the Anglican Communion. Some, but not all Anglicans consider themselves both Protestant and Catholic.^[380][381]

Since the Anglican, Lutheran, and the Reformed branches of Protestantism originated for the most part in cooperation with the government, these movements are termed the "Magisterial Reformation". On the other hand, groups such as the Anabaptists, who often do not consider themselves to be Protestant, originated in the Radical Reformation, which though sometimes protected under Acts of Toleration, do not trace their history back to any state church. They are further distinguished by their rejection of infant baptism; they believe in baptism only of adult believers—credobaptism (Anabaptists include the Amish, Apostolic, Mennonites, Hutterites and Schwarzenau Brethren/German Baptist groups.)^{[382][383][384]}

The term Protestant also refers to any churches which formed later, with either the Magisterial or Radical traditions. In the 18th century, for example, Methodism grew out of Anglican minister John Wesley's evangelical revival movement.^[385] Several Pentecostal and non-denominational churches, which emphasize the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, in turn grew out of Methodism.^[386] Because Methodists, Pentecostals and other evangelicals stress "accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior",^[387] which comes from Wesley's emphasis of the New Birth,^[388] they often refer to themselves as being born-again.^[389][390]

Protestantism is the second largest major group of Christians after Catholicism by number of followers, although the Eastern Orthodox Church is larger than any single Protestant denomination.^[357] Estimates vary, mainly over the question of which denominations to classify as Protestant. Yet, the total number of Protestant Christians is generally estimated between 800 million and 1 billion, corresponding to nearly 40% of world's Christians.^{[14][266][391][392]} The majority of Protestants are members of just a handful of denominational families, i.e. Adventists, Anglicans, Baptists, Reformed (Calvinists),^[393] Lutherans, Methodists, Moravians/Hussites, and Pentecostals.^[266] Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, neo-charismatic, independent, and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity.^[394]

Some groups of individuals who hold basic Protestant tenets identify themselves simply as "Christians" or "born-again Christians". They typically distance themselves from the confessionalism and creedalism of other Christian communities^[395] by calling themselves "non-denominational" or "evangelical". Often founded by individual pastors, they have little affiliation with historic denominations.^[396]

• Links between interdenominational movements and other developments within Protestantism

• Historical chart of the main Protestant branches

Restorationism

The Second Great Awakening, a period of religious revival that occurred in the United States during the early 1800s, saw the development of a number of unrelated churches. They generally saw themselves as restoring the original church of Jesus Christ rather than reforming one of the existing churches.^[397] A common belief held by Restorationists was that the other divisions of Christianity had introduced doctrinal defects into Christianity, which was known as the Great Apostasy.^[398] In Asia, Iglesia ni Cristo is a known restorationist religion that was established during the early 1900s.

Some of the churches originating during this period are historically connected to early 19th-century camp meetings in the Midwest and upstate New York. One of the largest churches produced from the movement is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[399] American Millennialism and Adventism, which arose from Evangelical Protestantism, influenced the Jehovah's Witnesses movement and, as a reaction specifically to William Miller, the Seventh-day Adventists. Others, including the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Evangelical Christian Church in Canada,^[400][401] Churches of Christ, and the Christian churches and churches of Christ, have their roots in the contemporaneous Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, which was centered in Kentucky and Tennessee. Other groups originating in this time period include the Christadelphians and the previously mentioned Latter Day Saints movement. While the churches originating in the Second Great Awakening have some superficial similarities, their doctrine and practices vary significantly.^[402]

Other

Within Italy, Poland, Lithuania, Transylvania, Hungary, Romania and United Kingdom Unitarian Churches emerged from the Reformed tradition in the 16th century;^[403] the Unitarian Church of Transylvania is an example such a denomination that arose in this era.^[404] They adopted the Anabaptist doctrine of credobaptism.^[405]

Various smaller Independent Catholic communities, such as the Old Catholic Church,^[406] include the word Catholic in their title, and arguably have more or less liturgical practices in common with the Catholic Church, but are no longer in full communion with the Holy See.^[407]

Spiritual Christians, such as the Doukhobor and Molokan, broke from the Russian Orthodox Church and maintain close association with Mennonites and Quakers due to similar religious practices; all of these groups are furthermore collectively considered to be peace churches due to their belief in pacifism.^[408][409]

Messianic Judaism (or the Messianic Movement) is the name of a Christian movement comprising a number of streams, whose members may consider themselves Jewish. The movement originated in the 1960s and 1970s, and it blends elements of religious Jewish practice with evangelical Christianity. Messianic Judaism affirms Christian creeds such as the messiahship and divinity of "Yeshua" (the Hebrew name of Jesus) and the Triune Nature of God, while also adhering to some Jewish dietary laws and customs.^[410]

Esoteric Christians regard Christianity as a mystery religion,^[411][412] and profess the existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices,^[413][414] hidden from the public but accessible only to a narrow circle of "enlightened", "initiated", or highly educated people.^[415][416] Some of the esoteric Christian institutions include the Rosicrucian Fellowship, the Anthroposophical Society, and Martinism.

Nondenominational Christianity or non-denominational Christianity consists of churches which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities^[395] by not formally aligning with a specific Christian denomination.^[417] Nondenominational Christianity first arose in the 18th century through the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, with followers organizing themselves simply as "Christians" and "Disciples of Christ",^{[note 7][417][418]} but many typically adhere to evangelical Christianity.^{[419][420][421]}

Influence on Western culture

Western culture, throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, and a large portion of the population of the Western Hemisphere can be described as practicing or nominal Christians. The notion of "Europe" and the "Western World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom". Many historians even attribute Christianity for being the link that created a unified European identity.^[422]

Though Western culture contained several polytheistic religions during its early years under the Greek and Roman empires, as the centralized Roman power waned, the dominance of the Catholic Church was the only consistent force in Western Europe.^[423] Until the Age of Enlightenment,^[424] Christian culture guided the course of philosophy, literature, art, music and science.^[423][425] Christian disciplines of the respective arts have subsequently developed into Christian philosophy, Christian art, Christian music, Christian literature, and so on.

Christianity has had a significant impact on education, as the church created the bases of the Western system of education,^[426] and was the sponsor of founding universities in the Western world, as the university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting.^[208] Historically, Christianity has often been a patron of science and medicine; many Catholic clergy,^[427] Jesuits in particular,^[428][429] have been active in the sciences throughout history and have made significant contributions to the development of science.^[430] Protestantism also has had an important influence on science. According to the Merton Thesis, there was a positive correlation between the rise of English Puritanism and German Pietism on the one hand, and early experimental science on the other.^[431] The civilizing influence of Christianity includes social welfare,^[432] founding hospitals,^[433] economics (as the Protestant work ethic),^{[434][435][436]} architecture,^[437] politics,^[438] literature,^[439] personal hygiene (ablution),^{[440][441][442]} and family life.^[443][444]

Eastern Christians (particularly Nestorian Christians) contributed to the Arab Islamic civilization during the reign of the Ummayad and the Abbasid, by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and afterwards, to Arabic.^{[445][446][447]} They also excelled in philosophy, science, theology, and medicine.^{[448][449][450]}

Christians have made a myriad of contributions to human progress in a broad and diverse range of fields, including philosophy,^[451] science and technology,^{[452][453][454][455]} medicine,^[456] fine arts and architecture,^[457] politics, literatures, music,^[458] and business.^[459] According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of the Nobel Prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.^[460]

Cultural Christians are secular people with a Christian heritage who may not believe in the religious claims of Christianity, but who retain an affinity for the popular culture, art, music, and so on related to the religion.^[461]

Postchristianity is the term for the decline of Christianity, particularly in Europe, Canada, Australia, and to a minor degree the Southern Cone, in the 20th and 21st centuries, considered in terms of postmodernism. It refers to the loss of Christianity's monopoly on values and world view in historically Christian societies.^[462]

Ecumenism

Christian groups and denominations have long expressed ideals of being reconciled, and in the 20th century, Christian ecumenism advanced in two ways.^[464][465] One way was greater cooperation between groups, such as the World Evangelical Alliance founded in 1846 in London or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of Protestants in 1910, the Justice, Peace and Creation Commission of the World Council of Churches founded in 1948 by Protestant and Orthodox churches, and similar national councils like the National Council of Churches in Australia, which includes Catholics.^[464]

The other way was an institutional union with united churches, a practice that can be traced back to unions between Lutherans and Calvinists in early 19th-century Germany. Congregationalist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches united in 1925 to form the United Church of Canada,^[466] and in 1977 to form the Uniting Church in Australia. The Church of South India was formed in 1947 by the union of Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian churches.^[467]

The Christian Flag is an ecumenical flag designed in the early 20th century to represent all of Christianity and Christendom.^[463]

The ecumenical, monastic Taizé Community is notable for being composed of more than one hundred brothers from Protestant and Catholic traditions.^[468] The community emphasizes the reconciliation of all denominations and its main church, located in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, France, is named the "Church of Reconciliation".^[468] The community is internationally known, attracting over 100,000 young pilgrims annually.^[469]

Steps towards reconciliation on a global level were taken in 1965 by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, mutually revoking the excommunications that marked their Great Schism in 1054;^[470] the Anglican Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) working towards full communion between those churches since 1970;^[471] and some Lutheran and Catholic churches signing the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in 1999 to address conflicts at the root of the Protestant Reformation. In 2006, the World Methodist Council, representing all Methodist denominations, adopted the declaration.^[472]

Criticism, persecution, and apologetics

Criticism

Criticism of Christianity and Christians goes back to the Apostolic Age, with the New Testament recording friction between the followers of Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes (e.g. Matthew 15:1–20 and Mark 7:1–23).^[473] In the 2nd century, Christianity was criticized by the Jews on various grounds, e.g. that the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible could not have been fulfilled by Jesus, given that he did not have a successful life.^[474] Additionally, a sacrifice to remove sins in advance, for everyone or as a human being, did not fit to the Jewish sacrifice ritual; furthermore, God is said to judge people on their deeds instead of their beliefs.^[475][476] One of the first comprehensive attacks on Christianity came from the Greek philosopher Celsus, who wrote The True Word, a polemic criticizing Christians as being unprofitable members of society.^{[477][478][479]} In response, the church father Origen published his treatise Contra Celsum, or Against Celsus, a seminal work of Christian apologetics, which systematically addressed Celsus's criticisms and helped bring Christianity a level of academic respectability.^[480][479]

By the 3rd century, criticism of Christianity had mounted. Wild rumors about Christians were widely circulated, claiming that they were atheists and that, as part of their rituals, they devoured human infants and engaged in incestuous orgies.^[481][482] The Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry wrote the fifteen-volume Adversus Christianos as a comprehensive attack on Christianity, in part building on the teachings of Plotinus.^[483][484]

By the 12th century, the Mishneh Torah (i.e., Rabbi Moses Maimonides) was criticizing Christianity on the grounds of idol worship, in that Christians attributed divinity to Jesus, who had a physical body.^[485] In the 19th century, Nietzsche began to write a series of polemics on the "unnatural" teachings of Christianity (e.g. sexual abstinence), and continued his criticism of Christianity to the end of his life.^[486] In the 20th century, the philosopher Bertrand Russell expressed his criticism of Christianity in Why I Am Not a Christian, formulating his rejection of Christianity in the setting of logical arguments.^[487]

Criticism of Christianity continues to date, e.g. Jewish and Muslim theologians criticize the doctrine of the Trinity held by most Christians, stating that this doctrine in effect assumes that there are three gods, running against the basic tenet of monotheism.^[488] New Testament scholar Robert M. Price has outlined the possibility that some Bible stories are based partly on myth in The Christ Myth Theory and its problems.^[489]

Persecution

Christians are one of the most persecuted religious group in the world, especially in the Middle-East, North Africa and South and East Asia.^[491] In 2017, Open Doors estimated approximately 260 million Christians are subjected annually to "high, very high, or extreme persecution"^[492] with North Korea considered the most hazardous nation for Christians.^[493][494] In 2019, a report^[495][496] commissioned by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to investigate global persecution of Christians found persecution has increased, and is highest in the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, North Korea, and Latin America,^{[clarification needed]} among others,^[497] and that it is global and not limited to Islamic states.^[496] This investigation found that approximately 80% of persecuted believers worldwide are Christians.^[19]

Apologetics

Christian apologetics aims to present a rational basis for Christianity. The word "apologetic" (Greek: ἀπολογητικός apologētikos) comes from the Greek verb ἀπολογέομαι apologeomai, meaning "(I) speak in defense of".^[498] Christian apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle. The philosopher Thomas Aquinas presented five arguments for God's existence in the Summa Theologica, while his Summa contra Gentiles was a major apologetic work.^[499][500] Another famous apologist, G. K. Chesterton, wrote in the early twentieth century about the benefits of religion and, specifically, Christianity. Famous for his use of paradox, Chesterton explained that while Christianity had the most mysteries, it was the most practical religion.^[501][502] He pointed to the advance of Christian civilizations as proof of its practicality.^[503] The physicist and priest John Polkinghorne, in his Questions of Truth, discusses the subject of religion and science, a topic that other Christian apologists such as Ravi Zacharias, John Lennox, and William Lane Craig have engaged, with the latter two men opining that the inflationary Big Bang model is evidence for the existence of God.^[504]

See also

• Outline of Christianity
• Christian atheism
• Christianity and Islam
• Christianity and Judaism
• Christianity and politics
• Christian mythology
• One true church
• Prophets of Christianity

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

• Christianity at Curlie
• "Christianity". Encyclopædia Britannica
• Religion & Ethics – Christianity A number of introductory articles on Christianity from the BBC