Christianity

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 Trinity 
o Father
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  Assyrian Church of the East
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Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings

of Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is
the Christ, whose coming as the messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible,
called the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament.[1] It is
the world's largest religion with about 2.4 billion followers.[2]
Christianity remains culturally diverse in its Western and Eastern branches, as well
as in its doctrines concerning justification and the nature of salvation,
ecclesiology, ordination, and Christology. Their creeds generally hold in common
Jesus as the Son of God—the logos incarnated—who ministered, suffered, and died
on a cross, but rose from the dead for the salvation of mankind; as referred to as the
gospel, meaning the "good news", in the Bible (scripture). Describing Jesus' life and
teachings are the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John with the
Jewish Old Testament as the gospel's respected background.
Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the 1st century in
the Roman province of Judea. Jesus' apostles and their followers spread around
the Levant, Europe, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Transcaucasia, Egypt, and Ethiopia,
despite initial persecution. It soon attracted gentile God-fearers, which led to a
departure from Jewish customs, and, after the Fall of Jerusalem, AD 70 which ended
the Temple-based Judaism, Christianity slowly separated from Judaism.
Emperor Constantine the Great decriminalized Christianity in the Roman Empire by
the Edict of Milan (313), later convening the Council of Nicaea (325) where Early
Christianity was consolidated into what would become the State church of the
Roman Empire (380). The early history of Christianity's united church before
major schisms is sometimes referred to as the "Great Church". The Church of the
East split after the Council of Ephesus (431) and Oriental Orthodoxy split after
the Council of Chalcedon (451) over differences in Christology,[3] while the Eastern
Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church separated in the East–West
Schism (1054), especially over the authority of the bishop of
Rome. Protestantism split in numerous denominations from the Latin
Catholic Church in the Reformation era (16th century)
over theological and ecclesiological disputes, most predominantly on the issue of
justification and papal primacy. Christianity played a prominent role in
the development of Western civilization, particularly in Europe from late antiquity.[4][5][6][7]
[8]
 Following the Age of Discovery (15th–17th century), Christianity was spread into
the Americas, Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world via missionary
work.[9][10][11]
The four largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church (1.3 billion/50.1%),
Protestantism (920 million/36.7%), the Eastern Orthodox Church (260 million) and
Oriental Orthodoxy (62 million/Orthodoxy combined at 11.9%), [12] amid various efforts
toward unity (ecumenism).[13] Despite a decline in adherence in the West, Christianity
remains the dominant religion in the region, with about 70% of the population
identifying as Christian.[14] Christianity is growing in Africa and Asia, the world's most
populous continents.[15] Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the
world, especially in the Middle-East, North Africa, East Asia, and South Asia.[16][17][18]

Contents

 1Etymology
 2Beliefs
o 2.1Creeds
o 2.2Jesus
 2.2.1Death and resurrection
o 2.3Salvation
o 2.4Trinity
 2.4.1Trinitarians
 2.4.2Nontrinitarianism
o 2.5Eschatology
 2.5.1Death and afterlife
 3Practices
o 3.1Communal worship
o 3.2Sacraments
o 3.3Liturgical calendar
o 3.4Symbols
o 3.5Baptism
o 3.6Prayer
 4Scriptures
o 4.1Catholic interpretation
o 4.2Protestant interpretation
  4.2.1Qualities of Scripture
 4.2.2Original intended meaning of Scripture
 5Ecclesiology
 6History
o 6.1Early Christianity
 6.1.1Apostolic Age
 6.1.2Ante-Nicene period
 6.1.3Spread and acceptance in Roman Empire
o 6.2Early Middle Ages
o 6.3High and Late Middle Ages
o 6.4Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation
o 6.5Post-Enlightenment
 7Demographics
 8Denominations
o 8.1Catholic Church
o 8.2Eastern Orthodox Church
o 8.3Oriental Orthodoxy
o 8.4Assyrian Church of the East
o 8.5Protestantism
o 8.6Restorationism
o 8.7Other
 9Influence on western culture
 10Ecumenism
 11Criticism, persecution, and apologetics
o 11.1Criticism
o 11.2Persecution
o 11.3Apologetics
 12See also
 13Notes
 14References
o 14.1Bibliography
 15Further reading
 16External links

Etymology
Early Jewish Christians referred to themselves as 'The Way' (της οδου), probably
coming from Isaiah 40:3, "prepare the way of the Lord."[19][note 1] According to Acts
11:26, the term "Christian" (Greek: Χριστιανός) was first used in reference to
Jesus's disciples in the city of Antioch, meaning "followers of Christ," by the non-
Jewish inhabitants of Antioch.[25] The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity"
(Greek: Χριστιανισμός) was by Ignatius of Antioch, in around 100 AD.[26]

Beliefs
While Christians worldwide share basic convictions, there are also differences of
interpretations and opinions of the Bible and sacred traditions on which Christianity is
based.[27]
Creeds
An Eastern Christian icon depicting Emperor Constantine and the Fathers of the First Council of
Nicaea (325) as holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381

Main articles: Creed §  Christian creeds, and List of Christian creeds

Wikisource has original
text related to this article:

Apostles' Creed

Wikisource has original
text related to this article:

Nicene Creed

Concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known

as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were later expanded during
the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of
faith.
The Apostles' Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of
Christian faith. It is used by a number of Christian denominations for
both liturgical and catechetical purposes, most visibly by liturgical churches
of Western Christian tradition, including the Latin Church of the Catholic
Church, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and Western Rite Orthodoxy. It is also used
by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists. This particular creed was
developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the
Trinity and God the Creator. Each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced
to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was apparently used as a
summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome.
[28]
 Its points include:

 Belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son of

God, and the Holy Spirit
 The death, descent into
hell, resurrection and ascension of Christ
  The holiness of the Church and the communion of
saints
 Christ's second coming, the Day of
Judgement and salvation of the faithful
The Nicene Creed was formulated, largely in response to Arianism, at the Councils
of Nicaea and Constantinople in 325 and 381 respectively,[29][30] and ratified as the
universal creed of Christendom by the First Council of Ephesus in 431.[31]
The Chalcedonian Definition, or Creed of Chalcedon, developed at the Council of
Chalcedon in 451,[32] though rejected by the Oriental Orthodox,[33] taught Christ "to be
acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably":
one divine and one human, and that both natures, while perfect in themselves, are
nevertheless also perfectly united into one person.[34]
The Athanasian Creed, received in the Western Church as having the same status
as the Nicene and Chalcedonian, says: "We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity
in Unity; neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance."[35]
Most Christians (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox,
and Protestant alike) accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the
creeds mentioned above.[36]
Many Evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even
while agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. Most Baptists do not
use creeds "in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative
confessions of faith on one another."[37]:111 Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots
in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ),
the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, and the Churches of Christ.[38][39]:14–15[40]:123
Jesus

Various depictions of Jesus

Main articles: Jesus, Jesus in Christianity, and Christ (title)

See also: Incarnation (Christianity) and Jesus in comparative mythology
The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God and
the Messiah (Christ). Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by
God as savior of humanity and hold that Jesus' coming was the fulfillment
of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of messiah
differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept. The core Christian belief
is that through belief in and acceptance of the death and resurrection of
Jesus, sinful humans can be reconciled to God, and thereby are offered salvation
and the promise of eternal life.[41]
While there have been many theological disputes over the nature of Jesus over the
earliest centuries of Christian history, generally, Christians believe that Jesus is God
incarnate and "true God and true man" (or both fully divine and fully human). Jesus,
having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but
did not sin. As fully God, he rose to life again. According to the New Testament,
he rose from the dead,[42] ascended to heaven, is seated at the right hand of the
Father,[43] and will ultimately return[Acts 1:9–11] to fulfill the rest of the Messianic prophecy,
including the resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, and the final
establishment of the Kingdom of God.
According to the canonical gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus was conceived by
the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary. Little of Jesus' childhood is recorded in
the canonical gospels, although infancy gospels were popular in antiquity. In
comparison, his adulthood, especially the week before his death, is well documented
in the gospels contained within the New Testament, because that part of his life is
believed to be most important. The biblical accounts of Jesus' ministry include: his
baptism, miracles, preaching, teaching, and deeds.
Death and resurrection
Main articles: Crucifixion of Jesus and Resurrection of Jesus
See also: Overview of resurrection appearances in the Gospels and Paul (table)

Crucifixion, representing the death of Jesus on the Cross, painting by Diego Velázquez, c. 1632

Christians consider the resurrection of Jesus to be the cornerstone of their faith

(see 1 Corinthians 15) and the most important event in history.[44] Among Christian
beliefs, the death and resurrection of Jesus are two core events on which much of
Christian doctrine and theology is based. [45] According to the New Testament, Jesus
was crucified, died a physical death, was buried within a tomb, and rose from the
dead three days later.[Jn. 19:30–31] [Mk. 16:1] [16:6]
The New Testament mentions several resurrection appearances of Jesus on
different occasions to his twelve apostles and disciples, including "more than five
hundred brethren at once",[1Cor 15:6] before Jesus' ascension to heaven. Jesus' death
and resurrection are commemorated by Christians in all worship services, with
special emphasis during Holy Week, which includes Good Friday and Easter
Sunday.
The death and resurrection of Jesus are usually considered the most important
events in Christian theology, partly because they demonstrate that Jesus has power
over life and death and therefore has the authority and power to give people eternal
life.[46]
Christian churches accept and teach the New Testament account of the resurrection
of Jesus with very few exceptions.[47] Some modern scholars use the belief of Jesus'
followers in the resurrection as a point of departure for establishing the continuity of
the historical Jesus and the proclamation of the early church.[48] Some liberal
Christians do not accept a literal bodily resurrection,[49][50] seeing the story as richly
symbolic and spiritually nourishing myth. Arguments over death and resurrection
claims occur at many religious debates and interfaith dialogues.[51] Paul the Apostle,
an early Christian convert and missionary, wrote, "If Christ was not raised, then all
our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless." [1Cor 15:14][52]
Salvation
Main article: Salvation (Christianity)

"The Law and the Gospel" by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1529); Moses and Elijah point the sinner to Jesus
for salvation

Paul the Apostle, like Jews and Roman pagans of his time, believed that sacrifice
can bring about new kinship ties, purity, and eternal life. [53] For Paul, the necessary
sacrifice was the death of Jesus: Gentiles who are "Christ's" are, like Israel,
descendants of Abraham and "heirs according to the promise". [Gal. 3:29][54] The God who
raised Jesus from the dead would also give new life to the "mortal bodies" of Gentile
Christians, who had become with Israel, the "children of God", and were therefore no
longer "in the flesh".[Rom. 8:9,11,16][53]
Modern Christian churches tend to be much more concerned with how humanity can
be saved from a universal condition of sin and death than the question of how both
Jews and Gentiles can be in God's family. According to Eastern Orthodox theology,
based upon their understanding of the atonement as put forward by
Irenaeus' recapitulation theory, Jesus' death is a ransom. This restores the relation
with God, who is loving and reaches out to humanity, and offers the possibility
of theosis c.q. divinization, becoming the kind of humans God wants humanity to be.
According to Catholic doctrine, Jesus' death satisfies the wrath of God, aroused by
the offense to God's honor caused by human's sinfulness. The Catholic Church
teaches that salvation does not occur without faithfulness on the part of Christians;
converts must live in accordance with principles of love and ordinarily must be
baptized.[55][56] In Protestant theology, Jesus' death is regarded as a substitutionary
penalty carried by Jesus, for the debt that has to be paid by humankind when it
broke God's moral law. Martin Luther taught that baptism was necessary for
salvation, but modern Lutherans and other Protestants tend to teach that salvation is
a gift that comes to an individual by God's grace, sometimes defined as "unmerited
favor", even apart from baptism.
Christians differ in their views on the extent to which individuals' salvation is pre-
ordained by God. Reformed theology places distinctive emphasis on grace by
teaching that individuals are completely incapable of self-redemption, but
that sanctifying grace is irresistible.[57] In contrast Catholics, Orthodox Christians,
and Arminian Protestants believe that the exercise of free will is necessary to have
faith in Jesus.[58]
Trinity
Main article: Trinity

The Trinity is the belief that God is one God in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy
Spirit[59]

Trinity refers to the teaching that the one God[60] comprises three distinct, eternally co-
existing persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate in Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.
Together, these three persons are sometimes called the Godhead,[61][62][63] although
there is no single term in use in Scripture to denote the unified Godhead. [64] In the
words of the Athanasian Creed, an early statement of Christian belief, "the Father is
God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods
but one God".[65] They are distinct from another: the Father has no source, the Son is
begotten of the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father. Though distinct, the
three persons cannot be divided from one another in being or in operation. While
some Christians also believe that God appeared as the Father in the Old Testament,
it is agreed that he appeared as the Son in the New Testament, and will still continue
to manifest as the Holy Spirit in the present. But still, God still existed as three
persons in each of these times.[66] However, traditionally there is a belief that it was
the Son who appeared in the Old Testament because, for example, when the Trinity
is depicted in art, the Son typically has the distinctive appearance, a cruciform
halo identifying Christ, and in depictions of the Garden of Eden, this looks forward to
an Incarnation yet to occur. In some Early Christian sarcophagi the Logos is
distinguished with a beard, "which allows him to appear ancient, even pre-existent." [67]
The Trinity is an essential doctrine of mainstream Christianity. From earlier than the
times of the Nicene Creed (325) Christianity advocated [68] the triune mystery-nature
of God as a normative profession of faith. According to Roger E. Olson and
Christopher Hall, through prayer, meditation, study and practice, the Christian
community concluded "that God must exist as both a unity and trinity", codifying this
in ecumenical council at the end of the 4th century. [69][70]
According to this doctrine, God is not divided in the sense that each person has a
third of the whole; rather, each person is considered to be fully God
(see Perichoresis). The distinction lies in their relations, the Father being unbegotten;
the Son being begotten of the Father; and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father
and (in Western Christian theology) from the Son. Regardless of this apparent
difference, the three "persons" are each eternal and omnipotent. Other Christian
religions including Unitarian Universalism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormonism, do
not share those views on the Trinity.
The Greek word trias[71][note 2] is first seen in this sense in the works of Theophilus of
Antioch; his text reads: "of the Trinity, of God, and of His Word, and of His Wisdom".
[75]
 The term may have been in use before this time; its Latin equivalent, [note 2] trinitas,
[73]
 appears afterwards with an explicit reference to the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, in Tertullian.[76][77] In the following century, the word was in general use. It is
found in many passages of Origen.[78]
Trinitarians
Main article: Trinitarianism
Trinitarianism denotes Christians who believe in the concept of the Trinity. Almost all
Christian denominations and churches hold Trinitarian beliefs. Although the words
"Trinity" and "Triune" do not appear in the Bible, theologians, beginning in the 3rd
century, developed the term and concept to facilitate comprehension of the New
Testament teachings of God as being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Since that time,
Christian theologians have been careful to emphasize that Trinity does not imply that
there are three gods (the antitrinitarian heresy of Tritheism), nor that each hypostasis
of the Trinity is one-third of an infinite God (partialism), nor that the Son and the Holy
Spirit are beings created by and subordinate to the Father (Arianism). Rather, the
Trinity is defined as one God in three persons.[79]
Nontrinitarianism
Main article: Nontrinitarianism
Nontrinitarianism (or antitrinitarianism) refers to theology that rejects the doctrine of
the Trinity. Various nontrinitarian views, such as adoptionism or modalism, existed in
early Christianity, leading to the disputes about Christology.[80] Nontrinitarianism later
appeared again in the Gnosticism of the Cathars between the 11th and 13th
centuries, among groups with Unitarian theology in the Protestant Reformation of the
16th century,[81] in the 18th-century Enlightenment, and in some groups arising during
the Second Great Awakening of the 19th century.
Eschatology
Main article: Christian eschatology
The 7th-century Khor Virap monastery in the shadow of Mount Ararat; Armenia was the first state to adopt
Christianity as the state religion, in AD 301[82]

The end of things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, or the
end of the world, broadly speaking, is Christian eschatology; the study of the destiny
of humans as it is revealed in the Bible. The major issues in Christian eschatology
are the Tribulation, death and the afterlife, (mainly for Evangelical groups) the
Millennium and the following Rapture, the Second Coming of Jesus, Resurrection of
the Dead, Heaven, (for liturgical branches) Purgatory, and Hell, the Last Judgment,
the end of the world, and the New Heavens and New Earth.
Christians believe that the second coming of Christ will occur at the end of time, after
a period of severe persecution (the Great Tribulation). All who have died will
be resurrected bodily from the dead for the Last Judgment. Jesus will fully establish
the Kingdom of God in fulfillment of scriptural prophecies.[83][84]
Death and afterlife
Most Christians believe that human beings experience divine judgment and are
rewarded either with eternal life or eternal damnation. This includes the general
judgement at the resurrection of the dead as well as the belief (held by Catholics,[85]
[86]
 Orthodox[87][88] and most Protestants) in a judgment particular to the individual
soul upon physical death.
In the liturgical branches (e.g. Catholicism or Eastern or Oriental Orthodoxy), those
who die in a state of grace, i.e., without any mortal sin separating them from God,
but are still imperfectly purified from the effects of sin, undergo purification through
the intermediate state of purgatory to achieve the holiness necessary for entrance
into God's presence.[89] Those who have attained this goal are
called saints (Latin sanctus, "holy").[90]
Some Christian groups, such as Seventh-day Adventists, hold to mortalism, the
belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal, and is unconscious during the
intermediate state between bodily death and resurrection. These Christians also hold
to Annihilationism, the belief that subsequent to the final judgement, the wicked will
cease to exist rather than suffer everlasting torment. Jehovah's Witnesses hold to a
similar view.[91]

Practices
Main articles: Christian worship and Church service
See also: Mass (liturgy), Reformed worship, and Contemporary worship
Samples of Catholic religious objects – the Bible, a crucifix and a rosary

Depending on the specific denomination of Christianity, practices may

include baptism, Eucharist (Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper), prayer (including
the Lord's Prayer), confession, confirmation, burial rites, marriage rites and the
religious education of children. Most denominations have ordained clergy and hold
regular group worship services.
Communal worship
Justin Martyr described 2nd-century Christian liturgy in his First Apology (c. 150) to
Emperor Antoninus Pius, and his description remains relevant to the basic structure
of Christian liturgical worship:
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together
to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are
read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased,
the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.
Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is
ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner
offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent,
saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over
which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the
deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and
what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and
widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those
who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care
of all who are in need.[92]
Thus, as Justin described, Christians assemble for communal worship on Sunday,
the day of the resurrection, though other liturgical practices often occur outside this
setting. Scripture readings are drawn from the Old and New Testaments, but
especially the gospel accounts. Often these are arranged on an annual cycle, using
a book called a lectionary. Instruction is given based on these readings, called
a sermon, or homily. There are a variety of congregational prayers, including
thanksgiving, confession, and intercession, which occur throughout the service and
take a variety of forms including recited, responsive, silent, or sung. The Lord's
Prayer, or Our Father, is regularly prayed.
Worship service at Dream City Church, affiliated to the Assemblies of God USA, in 2007,
in Phoenix, United States

Some groups depart from this traditional liturgical structure. A division is often made
between "High" church services, characterized by greater solemnity and ritual, and
"Low" services, but even within these two categories, there is great diversity in forms
of worship. Seventh-day Adventists meet on Saturday, while others do not meet on a
weekly basis. Charismatic or Pentecostal congregations may spontaneously feel led
by the Holy Spirit to action rather than follow a formal order of service, including
spontaneous prayer. Quakers sit quietly until moved by the Holy Spirit to speak.
Some evangelical services resemble concerts with rock and pop music, dancing and
use of multimedia. For groups which do not recognize a priesthood distinct from
ordinary believers, the services are generally led by a minister, preacher, or pastor.
Still others may lack any formal leaders, either in principle or by local necessity.
Some churches use only a cappella music, either on principle (for example,
many Churches of Christ object to the use of instruments in worship) or by tradition
(as in Orthodoxy).
Nearly all forms of churchmanship celebrate the Eucharist (Holy Communion), which
consists of a consecrated meal. It is reenacted in accordance with Jesus' instruction
at the Last Supper that his followers do in remembrance of him as when he gave his
disciples bread, saying, "This is my body", and gave them wine saying, "This is my
blood".[93] Some Christian denominations practice closed communion. They offer
communion to those who are already united in that denomination or sometimes
individual church. Catholics restrict participation to their members who are not in a
state of mortal sin. Most other churches practice open communion since they view
communion as a means to unity, rather than an end, and invite all believing
Christians to participate.
Worship can be varied for special events like baptisms or weddings in the service or
significant feast days. In the early church, Christians and those yet to complete
initiation would separate for the Eucharistic part of the worship. In many churches
today, adults and children will separate for all or some of the service to receive age-
appropriate teaching. Such children's worship is often called Sunday
school or Sabbath school (Sunday schools are often held before rather than during
services).
Sacraments
Main article: Sacrament
See also: Sacraments of the Catholic Church, Anglican sacraments, and Lutheran
sacraments
2nd-century description of the Eucharist
And this food is called among us Eukharistia [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man
who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the
remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread
and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh
by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food
which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished,
is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.
Justin Martyr[92]

In Christian belief and practice, a sacrament is a rite, instituted by Christ, that

confers grace, constituting a sacred mystery. The term is derived from
the Latin word sacramentum, which was used to translate the Greek word
for mystery. Views concerning both which rites are sacramental, and what it means
for an act to be a sacrament, vary among Christian denominations and traditions. [94]
The most conventional functional definition of a sacrament is that it is an outward
sign, instituted by Christ, that conveys an inward, spiritual grace through Christ. The
two most widely accepted sacraments are Baptism and the Eucharist (or Holy
Communion), however, the majority of Christians also recognize five additional
sacraments: Confirmation (Chrismation in the Orthodox tradition), Holy
orders (ordination), Penance (or Confession), Anointing of the Sick,
and Matrimony (see Christian views on marriage).[94]
Taken together, these are the Seven Sacraments as recognized by churches in
the High Church tradition—notably Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental
Orthodox, Independent Catholic, Old Catholic, many Anglicans, and
some Lutherans. Most other denominations and traditions typically affirm only
Baptism and Eucharist as sacraments, while some Protestant groups, such as the
Quakers, reject sacramental theology.[94] Christian denominations, such as Baptists,
which believe these rites do not communicate grace, prefer to call Baptism and Holy
Communion ordinances rather than sacraments.
In addition to this, the Church of the East has two additional sacraments in place of
the traditional sacraments of Matrimony and the Anointing of the Sick. These
include Holy Leaven (Melka) and the sign of the cross.[95]

Baptism, specifically infant baptism, in the Lutheran tradition

 
 A penitent confessing his sins in a Ukrainian Catholic church

 
 

A Methodist minister celebrating the Eucharist

 

Confirmation being administered in an Anglican church

 

Ordination of a priest in the Eastern Orthodox tradition

 

Crowning during Holy Matrimony in the Syro-Malabar Catholic

Church
 
 

Service of the Sacrament of Holy Unction served on Great and Holy

Wednesday

Liturgical calendar
Main article: Liturgical year
See also: Calendar of saints
Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Christians, and traditional Protestant communities
frame worship around the liturgical year. The liturgical cycle divides the year into a
series of seasons, each with their theological emphases, and modes of prayer, which
can be signified by different ways of decorating churches, colors
of paraments and vestments for clergy,[96] scriptural readings, themes for preaching
and even different traditions and practices often observed personally or in the home.
Western Christian liturgical calendars are based on the cycle of the Roman Rite of
the Catholic Church,[96] and Eastern Christians use analogous calendars based on the
cycle of their respective rites. Calendars set aside holy days, such
as solemnities which commemorate an event in the life of Jesus, Mary, or the saints,
and periods of fasting, such as Lent and other pious events such as memoria, or
lesser festivals commemorating saints. Christian groups that do not follow a liturgical
tradition often retain certain celebrations, such as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost:
these are the celebrations of Christ's birth, resurrection, and the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon the Church, respectively. A few denominations make no use of a liturgical
calendar.[97]
Symbols
Main article: Christian symbolism

The cross and the fish are two common symbols of Jesus Christ; letters of the Greek word
ΙΧΘΥΣ Ichthys (fish) form an acronym for "Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ", which translates into
English as "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior"
Christianity has not generally practiced aniconism, the avoidance or prohibition of
devotional images, even if early Jewish Christians and some modern denominations,
invoking the Decalogue's prohibition of idolatry, avoided figures in their symbols.
The cross, today one of the most widely recognized symbols, was used by Christians
from the earliest times.[98][99] Tertullian, in his book De Corona, tells how it was already
a tradition for Christians to trace the sign of the cross on their foreheads. [100] Although
the cross was known to the early Christians, the crucifix did not appear in use until
the 5th century.[101]
Among the earliest Christian symbols, that of the fish or Ichthys seems to have
ranked first in importance, as seen on monumental sources such as tombs from the
first decades of the 2nd century.[102] Its popularity seemingly arose from the Greek
word ichthys (fish) forming an acronym for the Greek phrase Iesous Christos Theou
Yios Soter (Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ),[note 3] (Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Savior), a concise summary of Christian faith. [102]
Other major Christian symbols include the chi-rho monogram, the dove (symbolic of
the Holy Spirit), the sacrificial lamb (representing Christ's sacrifice),
the vine (symbolizing the connection of the Christian with Christ) and many others.
These all derive from passages of the New Testament. [101]
Baptism
Main article: Baptism

The baptism of Jesus depicted by Almeida Júnior (1895)

Baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which a person is admitted to
membership of the Church. Beliefs on baptism vary among denominations.
Differences occur firstly on whether the act has any spiritual significance. Some,
such as the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, as well as Lutherans and
Anglicans, hold to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, which affirms that baptism
creates or strengthens a person's faith, and is intimately linked to salvation. Others
view baptism as a purely symbolic act, an external public declaration of the inward
change which has taken place in the person, but not as spiritually efficacious.
Secondly, there are differences of opinion on the methodology of the act. These
methods are: by immersion; if immersion is total, by submersion;
by affusion (pouring); and by aspersion (sprinkling). Those who hold the first view
may also adhere to the tradition of infant baptism;[103] the Orthodox Churches all
practice infant baptism and always baptize by total immersion repeated three times
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. [104][105] The Catholic Church also
practices infant baptism,[106] usually by affusion, and utilizing the Trinitarian formula.[107]
Prayer
Main article: Prayer in Christianity
"... ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.’"
— The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13, EHV[108]

Jesus' teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount displays a distinct lack of

interest in the external aspects of prayer. A concern with the techniques of prayer is
condemned as "pagan", and instead a simple trust in God's fatherly goodness is
encouraged.[Mat. 6:5–15] Elsewhere in the New Testament, this same freedom of access to
God is also emphasized.[Phil. 4:6][Jam. 5:13–19] This confident position should be understood in
light of Christian belief in the unique relationship between the believer and Christ
through the indweling of the Holy Spirit.[109]
In subsequent Christian traditions, certain physical gestures are emphasized,
including medieval gestures such as genuflection or making the sign of the
cross. Kneeling, bowing, and prostrations (see also poklon) are often practiced in
more traditional branches of Christianity. Frequently in Western Christianity, 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.
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[Acts 9:40] and by prophets of the Old Testament in favor of other
people.[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.[Jam 5:16–18] The effectiveness of prayer in Christianity derives from the
power of God rather than the status of the one praying. [109]
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. [110] 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.[111]
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." [112] The Book of
Common Prayer in the Anglican tradition is a guide which provides a set order for
church services, containing set prayers, scripture readings, and hymns or sung
Psalms.

Scriptures
Main articles: Bible, Biblical canon, and Development of the Christian biblical canon

The Bible is the sacred book in Christianity.

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 2 Timothy
3:16 is theopneustos, which literally means "God-breathed".[113]
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.[114][115][116] 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. [117] The New Testament,
originally written in Koine Greek, contains 27 books which are agreed upon by all
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".
[118]
 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[119] is thought by many to be a forgery by a follower of
Paul, a similar phrase in 1 Corinthians 14, [120] 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.[118] 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",[121] 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),[122] 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"),[123] is reminiscent of Luke 17:20–21[124][125]—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.
Catholic interpretation

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, the largest church in the world and a symbol of the Catholic Church

Main article: Catholic theology of Scripture

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.[126]
Catholic theology distinguishes two senses of scripture: the literal and the spiritual. [127]
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.[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[128][129]
 That the historicity of the Gospels must be absolutely
and constantly held[130]
 That scripture must be read within the "living Tradition of
the whole Church"[131] and
 That "the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the
bishops in communion with the successor of Peter,
the Bishop of Rome".[132]
Protestant interpretation

The Luther Bible (shown above) was an early translation of the Bible by a Protestant. Another early
unauthorized translation was Wycliffe's Bible.

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.[133] 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". [134] He advocated for
"one definite and simple understanding of Scripture". [134] John Calvin wrote, "all who
refuse not to follow the Holy Spirit as their guide, find in the Scripture a clear light".
[135]
 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.[136]
Original intended meaning of Scripture
Protestants stress the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture, the historical-
grammatical method.[137] The historical-grammatical method or grammatico-historical
method is an effort in Biblical hermeneutics to find the intended original meaning in
the text.[138] 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.[139] 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." [140] 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.[138]
Some Protestant interpreters make use of typology.[141]

Ecclesiology
Main article: Ecclesiology

History
Main article: History of Christianity
Early Christianity
Apostolic Age

Chapel of Saint Ananias, Damascus, Syria, an early example of a Christian house of worship; built in the
1st century AD

An early circular ichthys symbol, created by combining the Greek letters ΙΧΘΥΣ into a wheel, Ephesus,

Asia Minor
The Monastery of St. Matthew, located atop Mount Alfaf in northern Iraq, is recognized as one of the oldest
Christian monasteries in existence[142]

Kadisha Valley, Lebanon, home to some of the earliest Christian monasteries in the world

Main article: Christianity in the 1st century

Christianity developed during the 1st century CE as a Jewish Christian sect
of Second Temple Judaism.[143][144] 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 the Lord, Saint Peter, and John. They had known Jesus, and,
according to Paul, the arisen Christ had first appeared to James and Peter.
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, sufficed. 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.
Ante-Nicene period
Main article: 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.
According to the New Testament, Christians were from the beginning, subject
to persecution by some Jewish and Roman religious authorities. This involved
punishments, including death, for Christians such as Stephen[Acts 7:59] and James, son of
Zebedee.[Acts 12:2] Further widespread persecution of the Church occurred under nine
subsequent Roman emperors, most intensely under Decius and Diocletian.
Spread and acceptance in Roman Empire

An example of Byzantine pictorial art, the Deësis mosaic at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

See also: Edict of Thessalonica

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. [145] 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.[146][147][148] 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[82][149][150], 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. [151]
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. [152] 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.
[153]
 Influenced by his adviser Mardonius, Constantine's nephew Julian unsuccessfully
tried to suppress Christianity.[154] On 27 February 380, Theodosius I, Gratian,
and Valentinian II established Nicene Christianity as the State church of the Roman
Empire.[155] As soon as it became connected to the state, Christianity grew wealthy;
the Church solicited donations from the rich and could now own land. [156]
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 the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglican Communion,
and many Protestant churches.[36] Nicaea was the first of a series of ecumenical
councils, which formally defined critical elements of the theology of the Church,
notably concerning Christology.[157] 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,[158] and Constantinople remained the
leading city of the Christian world in size, wealth, and culture.[159] There was a
renewed interest in classical Greek philosophy, as well as an increase in literary
output in vernacular Greek.[160] 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.[161] 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.
[162]
 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,[162] 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.[162] Monasticism became a
powerful force throughout Europe,[162] 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.
[163]
 Beginning in the 8th century, with the rise of Carolingian leaders, the Papacy
sought greater political support in the Frankish Kingdom.[164]
The Middle Ages brought about major changes within the church. Pope Gregory the
Great dramatically reformed the ecclesiastical structure and administration.[165] 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.[166] In the early 10th century, Western Christian
monasticism was further rejuvenated through the leadership of the great Benedictine
monastery of Cluny.[167]
High and Late Middle Ages
Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, where he preached the First Crusade

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.
[168]
 These new universities expanded the curriculum to include academic programs
for clerics, lawyers, civil servants, and physicians. [169] The university is generally
regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting.[170]
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[171] and the Dominicans,[172] 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.[173]
From 1095 under the pontificate of Urban II, the Crusades were launched.[174] 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.[175]
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),[176] and an Eastern, largely Greek, branch
(the Eastern Orthodox Church). The two sides disagreed on a number of
administrative, liturgical and doctrinal issues, most notably papal primacy of
jurisdiction.[177][178] 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.[179][180]
Beginning around 1184, following the crusade against Cathar heresy,[181] 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.[182]
Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation

The Ninety-five Theses, which Luther published in 1517

Main articles: Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation

See also: European wars of religion
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.[183] 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.[184]
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.
[183]
 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.[185]
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.
Michelangelo's 1498-99 Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica; the Catholic Church was among the patronages of
the Renaissance[186][187][188]

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.[189] 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. [190]
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.[191]
Post-Enlightenment
A depiction of Madonna and Child in a 19th-century Kakure Kirishitan Japanese woodcut

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.[192] Events
ranged from mere anti-clericalism to violent outbursts against Christianity, such as
the dechristianization of France during the French Revolution,[193] the Spanish Civil
War, and certain Marxist movements, especially the Russian Revolution and
the persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union under state atheism.[194][195][196][197]
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. [198]
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,[199] 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, 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,[200] particularly in Czechia and Estonia,[201] 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, with the West no longer the chief standard bearer of
Christianity. Approximately 7 to 10% of Arabs are Christians,[202] most prevalent in
Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.

Demographics
Main articles: Christianity by country, Christian population growth, and Christian
denominations by membership
See also: Christendom and Christian state
With around 2.4 billion adherents,[203][204] split into three main branches of Catholic,
Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox, Christianity is the world's largest religion.[205] 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 Europe and North America.[206] According to a 2015 Pew Research
Center study, within the next four decades, Christians will remain the world's largest
religion; and by 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. [207]:60

A Christian procession in Brazil, the country with the largest Catholic population in the world

Trinity Sunday in Russia; the Russian Orthodox Church has experienced a great revival since the fall of
communism.

As a percentage of Christians, the Catholic

Church and Orthodoxy (both Eastern and Oriental) are declining in 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.[208][209]
[210]
 The so-called popular Protestantism[note 4] is one of the fastest growing religious
categories in the world.[211][212] 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.[213] Africa alone, by 2015, will be home to 230 million African Catholics.
[214]
 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.[215]
Christianity is the predominant religion in Europe, the Americas, and Southern Africa.
In Asia, it is the dominant religion in Georgia, Armenia, East Timor, and the
Philippines.[216] However, it is declining in many areas including the Northern and
Western United States,[217] Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), northern Europe
(including Great Britain,[218] Scandinavia and other places), France, Germany, and the
Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, and parts of Asia
(especially the Middle East, due to the Christian emigration,[219][220][221] South Korea,
[222]
 Taiwan,[223] and Macau[224]).
The Christian population is not decreasing in Brazil, the Southern United States,
[225]
 and the province of Alberta, Canada, [226] but the percentage is decreasing. In
countries such as Australia[227] and New Zealand,[228] the Christian population are
declining in both numbers and percentage.
Despite the declining numbers, Christianity remains the dominant religion in the
Western World, where 70% are Christians.[14] 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. [14][229]
[230][231]
 By 2010 about 157 countries and territories in the world had Christian
majorities.[205]
However, there are many charismatic movements that have become well established
over large parts of the world, especially Africa, Latin America, and Asia. [232][233][234][235]
[236]
 Since 1900, primarily due to conversion, Protestantism has spread rapidly in
Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America.[237] 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.[238] A study conducted by St. Mary's University
estimated about 10.2 million Muslim converts to Christianity in 2015.[239] The results
also state that significant numbers of Muslims converts to Christianity in Afghanistan,
[240]
 Albania,[239] Azerbaijan,[241][242] Algeria,[243][244] Belgium,[245] France,[244] Germany,[246] Iran,[247] I
ndia,[244] Indonesia,[248] Malaysia,[249] Morocco,[244][250] Russia,[244] the Netherlands,[251] Saudi
Arabia,[252] Tunisia,[239] Turkey,[244][253][254][255] Kazakhstan,[256] Kyrgyzstan,[239] Kosovo,[257] the
United States,[258] and Central Asia.[259][260] It is also reported that Christianity is popular
among people of different backgrounds in India (mostly Hindus), [261][262] and Malaysia,
[263]
 Mongolia,[264] Nigeria,[265] Vietnam,[266] Singapore,[267] Indonesia,[268][269] China,[270] Japan,[271] 
and South Korea.[272]
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.[273] Some sources view this simply as part of a drift away from traditional
membership institutions,[274] while others link it to signs of a decline in belief in the
importance of religion in general.[275] Europe's Christian population, though in decline,
still constitutes the largest geographical component of the religion. [276] According to
data from the 2012 European Social Survey, around a third of European
Christians say they attend services once a month or more, [277] Conversely about more
than two-thirds of Latin American Christians; according to the World Values Survey,
about 90% of African Christians (in Ghana, Nigeria, Rwand], South Africa and
Zimbabwe) said they attended church regularly. [277]
Christianity, in one form or another, is the sole state religion of the following nations:
Argentina (Catholic),[278] Tuvalu (Reformed), Tonga (Methodist), Norway (Lutheran),[279]
[280][281]
 Costa Rica (Catholic),[282] the Kingdom of Denmark (Lutheran),[283] England
(Anglican),[284] Georgia (Georgian Orthodox),[285] Greece (Greek Orthodox),[286] Iceland
(Lutheran),[287] Liechtenstein (Catholic),[288] Malta (Catholic),[289] Monaco (Catholic),
[290]
 and Vatican City (Catholic).[291]
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.[292]

Demographics of major traditions within Christianity (Pew Research Center, 2010 data)[293]

% of the % of the Dynamics in-

Follower
Tradition Followers Christian world and outside
dynamics
population population Christianity

Catholic 1,094,610,00
50.1 15.9  Growing  Growing
Church 0

Protestantism 800,640,000 36.7 11.6  Growing  Growing

Orthodoxy 260,380,000 11.9 3.8  Declining  Declining

Other
28,430,000 1.3 0.4  Growing  Growing
Christianity

2,184,060,00
Christianity 100 31.7  Growing  Stable
0

Regional median ages of Christians compared with overall median ages (Pew Research Center,
2010 data)[294]

Christian median age in region Regional median age

(years) (years)

World 30 --

Sub-Saharan Africa 19 18

Latin America-Caribbean 27 27

Asia-Pacific 28 29
 Regional median ages of Christians compared with overall median ages (Pew Research Center,
2010 data)[294]

Christian median age in region Regional median age

(years) (years)

Middle East-North
29 24
Africa

North America 39 37

Europe 42 40

The global distribution of Christians: Countries colored a darker shade have a higher proportion of
Christians.[295]

Countries with 50% or more Christians are colored purple while

countries with 10% to 50% Christians are colored pink
 
 

Nations with Christianity as their state religion are in blue

 

Nations with Christianity as their state religion (detailed map; see

legend for more)
 

Distribution of Catholics
 

Distribution of Protestants
 

Distribution of Eastern Orthodox

 

Distribution of Oriental Orthodox

 

Other Christians by number: black – more than 10 million; red –

more than 1 million
Denominations
Further information: List of Christian denominations and List of Christian
denominations by number of members

Major denominational families in Christianity:
This box: 
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Western Christianity
Eastern Christianity
Protestantism
Evangelicalism
Anabaptism
Anglicanism
Calvinism
Lutheranism
(Latin Church)
Catholic Church
(Eastern Catholic Churches)
Eastern Orthodox Church
Oriental Orthodox Churches
Church of the East
Nestorianism
Schism (1552)
Assyrian Church of the East
Ancient Church of the East
Protestant Reformation
(16th century)
Great Schism
(11th century)
Council of Ephesus (431)
Council of Chalcedon (451)
Early Christianity
State church of the
Roman Empire
"Great Church"
(Full communion)

Not shown: non-Nicene, nontrinitarian, and some restorationist denominations.

Additionally, the diagram above is simplified without depiction of crypto-
Protestants within Catholicism, crypto-Catholics and Protestant Eastern
Christianity in Protestantism, or interdenominational movements such as Pietism and
the Charismatic Movement.
The four primary divisions of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern
Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.[40]:14[296] 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.
However, there are other present[297] and historical[298] 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.[299] 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.[300]
By reason of Protestant ecclesiology, ever since its emergence in the 16th century,
Protestantism comprises the widest diversity of groupings and practices. In addition
to the Lutheran and Reformed (or Calvinist) branches of the
Reformation, Anglicanism appeared after the English Reformation.
The Anabaptist tradition was largely ostracized by the other Protestant parties at the
time, but has achieved a measure of affirmation in contemporary
history. Adventist, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, and other Protestant confessions
arose in the following centuries..

Diagram of Non-denominational systems in Christianity

Catholic Church
Main article: Catholic Church
Pope Francis, the current leader of the 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.[301][302] Like Eastern Orthodoxy, the Catholic
Church, through apostolic succession, traces its origins to the Christian community
founded by Jesus Christ.[303][304] 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 [305][306] and works
towards reconciliation among all Christians.[305] The Catholic faith is detailed in
the Catechism of the Catholic Church.[307][308]
The 2,834 sees[309] 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.[310] With more than 1.1 billion baptized
members, the Catholic Church is the largest Christian church and represents over
half of all Christians as well as one sixth of the world's population.[311][312][313]
Eastern Orthodox Church
Main article: Eastern Orthodox Church

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow is the tallest Eastern Orthodox Christian church in the world

The Eastern Orthodox Church consists of those churches in communion with

the patriarchal sees of the East, such as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
  Like the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church also traces its heritage to
[314]

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.
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 225–300 million adherents. [14][312]
[315]

Oriental Orthodoxy
Main article: 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.[316] These six churches, while being
in communion with each other, are completely independent hierarchically. [317] These
churches are generally not in communion with Eastern Orthodox Church, with whom
they are in dialogue for erecting a communion. [318]
Assyrian Church of the East

A 6th-century Nestorian church, St. John the Arab, in the Assyrian village of Geramon in Hakkari,

southeastern Turkey

Main article: 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.[319]
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).[320]
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. [321]
Protestantism
Main article: Protestantism

Part of a series on

Protestantism

Topics[show]

Major branches[show]

Minor branches[show]

Broad-based movements[show]

Other developments[show]

Related movements[show]

 Christianity portal

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In 1521, the Edict of Worms condemned Martin Luther and officially banned citizens

of the Holy Roman Empire from defending or propagating his ideas.[322] 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.[323]
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.[324][325]
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.)[326][327][328]
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 and revival movement.
[329]
 Several Pentecostal and non-denominational churches, which emphasize the
cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, in turn grew out of Methodism.[330] Because
Methodists, Pentecostals and other evangelicals stress "accepting Jesus as your
personal Lord and Savior",[331] which comes from Wesley's emphasis of the New Birth,
[332]
 they often refer to themselves as being born-again.[333][334]
Estimates of the total number of Protestants are very uncertain, but it seems clear
that Protestantism is the second largest major group of Christians after Catholicism
in number of followers, although the Eastern Orthodox Church is larger than any
single Protestant denomination.[312] Often that number is put at more than 800 million,
corresponding to nearly 40% of world's Christians.[208] The majority of Protestants are
members of just a handful of denominational families,
i.e. Adventists, Anglicans, Baptists, Reformed (Calvinists),[335] Lutherans, Methodists,
and Pentecostals.[208] Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, neo-charismatic,
independent, and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of
Protestant Christianity.[336]
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[337] by calling
themselves "non-denominational" or "evangelical". Often founded by individual
pastors, they have little affiliation with historic denominations. [338]
Historical chart of the main Protestant branches

Links between interdenominational movements and other developments within Protestantism

Restorationism
Main article: Restorationism
A 19th-century drawing of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receiving the Aaronic priesthood from John
the Baptist. Latter Day Saints believe that the Priesthood ceased to exist after the death of
the Apostles and therefore needed to be restored.

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. [339] 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.[340] 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.[341] 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,[342]
[343]
 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.
Other
Various smaller Independent Catholic communities, such as the Old Catholic
Church, 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.
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.[344][345]
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.[346]
Esoteric Christians regard Christianity as a mystery religion,[347][348] and profess the
existence and possession of certain esoteric doctrines or practices,[349][350] hidden from
the public but accessible only to a narrow circle of "enlightened", "initiated", or highly
educated people.[351][352] Some of the esoteric Christian institutions include
the Rosicrucian Fellowship, the Anthroposophical Society, and Martinism.

Influence on western culture

Main articles: Christian culture and Role of Christianity in civilization
Further information: Protestant culture, Cultural Christian, and Christian influences
in Islam

Set of pictures showcasing Christian culture and famous Christian leaders

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 cultural Christians. The notion of "Europe" and the "Western
World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and
Christendom". Many even attribute Christianity for being the link that created a
unified European identity.[353]
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.
[354]
 Until the Age of Enlightenment,[355] Christian culture guided the course of
philosophy, literature, art, music and science. [354][356] Christian disciplines of the
respective arts have subsequently developed into Christian philosophy, Christian
art, Christian music, Christian literature, etc.
Christianity has had a significant impact on education, as the church created the
bases of the Western system of education,[357] 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.[170] Historically,
Christianity has often been a patron of science and medicine. It has been prolific in
the foundation of schools, universities, and hospitals, and many Catholic clergy;
[358]
 Jesuits in particular,[359][360] have been active in the sciences throughout history and
have made significant contributions to the development of science.
[361]
 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.[362] The civilizing influence of Christianity includes social welfare,
[363]
 founding hospitals,[364] economics (as the Protestant work ethic),[365][366] politics,
[367]
 architecture,[368] literature,[369] personal hygiene,[370][371] and family life.[372]
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.[373][374][375] They also excelled
in philosophy, science, theology, and medicine.[376][377][378] Also, many scholars of
the House of Wisdom were of Christian background.[379]
Christians have made a myriad of contributions to human progress in a broad and
diverse range of fields,[380] including philosophy,[381] science and technology,[358][382][383][384]
[385]
 fine arts and architecture,[386] politics, literatures, music,[387] and business.
[388]
 According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of the Nobel Prizes award
between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have
identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.[389]
Postchristianity[390] 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.
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 it. Another frequent application of the term is to
distinguish political groups in areas of mixed religious backgrounds.

Ecumenism
Main article: Ecumenism
Ecumenical worship service at the monastery of Taizé in France

Christian groups and denominations have long expressed ideals of being reconciled,
and in the 20th century, Christian ecumenism advanced in two ways.[391] 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.[391]
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,[392] 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. [393]
The ecumenical, monastic Taizé Community is notable for being composed of more
than one hundred brothers from Protestant and Catholic traditions.[394] 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". [394] The
community is internationally known, attracting over 100,000 young pilgrims annually.
[395]

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;[396] the Anglican Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) working
towards full communion between those churches since 1970; [397] 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.[398]

Criticism, persecution, and apologetics

Main articles: Christian apologetics, Criticism of Christianity, and Persecution of
Christians
A copy of the Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, a famous Christian apologetic work

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).[399] 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.[400] 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. [401]
[402]
 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. [403][404][405] 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. [406][405]
By the 3rd century, criticism of Christianity had mounted, partly as a defense against
it. 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.[407][408] The Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry wrote the
fifteen-volume Adversus Christianos as a comprehensive attack on Christianity, in
part building on the teachings of Plotinus.[409][410]
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. [411] 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. [412] 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.[413]
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.[414] 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.[415]
Persecution
Main article: Persecution of Christians
Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, especially in
the Middle-East, North Africa and South and East Asia.[416]
In 2017, Open Doors estimated approximately 260 million Christians are subjected
annually to "high, very high, or extreme persecution" [417] with North Korea considered
the most hazardous nation for Christians.[418][419]
In 2019, a report[420][421] 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, among others, [17] and that it is
global and not limited to Islamic states. [421] This investigation found that approximately
80% of persecuted believers worldwide are Christians. [18]
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".[422] 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.[423][424] 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.[425][426] He pointed to the advance of Christian
civilizations as proof of its practicality.[427] 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.[428]

See also

 Christianity portal

 Religion portal

 Abrahamic religions
 Christianity and Judaism
 Christianity and politics
 Christian mythology
 Criticism of Christianity
 Judaism
  List of schisms in Christianity
 One true church
 Outline of Christianity

Notes
1. ^ It appears in the Acts of the Apostles, Acts 9:2, Acts
19:9 and Acts 19:23). Some English translations of the New
Testament capitalize 'the Way' (e.g. the New King James
Version and the English Standard Version), indicating that this was
how 'the new religion seemed then to be designated'[20] whereas
others treat the phrase as indicative—'the way', [21] 'that way'[22] or
'the way of the Lord'.[23] The Syriac version reads, "the way of God"
and the Vulgate Latin version, "the way of the Lord".[24]
2. ^ Jump up to:a b The Latin equivalent, from which English trinity is
derived,[72] is trinitas[73] though Latin also borrowed
Greek trias verbatim.[74]
3. ^ Iesous Christos Theou Hyios Soter would be a more complete
transliteration; in Greek though, the daseia or spiritus asper was
not—commonly—marked in the majuscule script of the time.
4. ^ A flexible term; defined as all forms of Protestantism with the
notable exception of the historical denominations deriving directly
from the Protestant Reformation.

References
1. ^ Woodhead, Linda (2004). Christianity: A Very Short
Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.  n.p.
2. ^ "World's largest religion by population is still Christianity". Pew
Research Center. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
3. ^ S. T. Kimbrough, ed. (2005).  Orthodox and Wesleyan Scriptural
understanding and practice. St Vladimir's Seminary
Press. ISBN 978-0-88141-301-4.
4. ^ Religions in Global Society. p. 146, Peter Beyer, 2006
5. ^ Cambridge University Historical Series, An Essay on Western
Civilization in Its Economic Aspects, p. 40: Hebraism, like
Hellenism, has been an all-important factor in the development of
Western Civilization; Judaism, as the precursor of Christianity, has
indirectly had had much to do with shaping the ideals and morality
of western nations since the christian era.
6. ^ Caltron J.H Hayas, Christianity and Western Civilization (1953),
Stanford University Press, p. 2: "That certain distinctive features of
our Western civilization—the civilization of western Europe and of
America—have been shaped chiefly by Judaeo – Graeco –
Christianity, Catholic and Protestant."
7. ^ Horst Hutter, University of New York, Shaping the Future:
Nietzsche's New Regime of the Soul And Its Ascetic
Practices (2004), p. 111: three mighty founders of Western culture,
namely Socrates, Jesus, and Plato.
8. ^ Fred Reinhard Dallmayr, Dialogue Among Civilizations: Some
Exemplary Voices (2004), p. 22: Western civilization is also
sometimes described as "Christian" or "Judaeo- Christian"
civilization.
9. ^ Muslim-Christian Relations. Amsterdam University Press.
2006.  ISBN  978-90-5356-938-2. Retrieved 18 October  2007. The
 enthusiasm for evangelization among the Christians was also
accompanied by the awareness that the most immediate problem
to solve was how to serve the huge number of new  converts.
Simatupang said, if the number of the Christians were double or
triple, then the number of the ministers should also be doubled or
tripled and the tole of the laity should be maximized and Christian
service to society through schools, universities, hospitals and
orphanages, should be increased. In addition, for him the Christian
mission should be involved in the struggle for justice amid the
process of modernization.
10. ^ Fred Kammer (1 May 2004). Doing Faith Justice. Paulist Press.
p. 77.  ISBN  978-0-8091-4227-9. Retrieved 18
October  2007. Theologians, bishops, and preachers urged the
Christian community to be as compassionate as their God was,
reiterating that creation was for all of humanity. They also
accepted and developed the identification of Christ with the poor
and the requisite Christian duty to the poor. Religious
congregations and individual charismatic leaders promoted the
development of a number of helping institutions-hospitals,
hospices for pilgrims, orphanages, shelters for unwed mothers-
that laid the foundation for the modern "large network of hospitals,
orphanages and schools, to serve the poor and society at large."
11. ^ Christian Church Women: Shapers of a Movement. Chalice
Press. March 1994.  ISBN  978-0-8272-0463-8. Retrieved 18
October  2007. In the central provinces of India they established
schools, orphanages, hospitals, and churches, and spread the
gospel message in zenanas.
12. ^ "Christian Traditions". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public
Life Project. 19 December 2011. About half of all Christians
worldwide are Catholic (50%), while more than a third are
Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the
world’s Christians.
13. ^ Peter, Laurence (17 October 2018).  "Orthodox Church split:
Five reasons why it matters". BBC. Retrieved 17 October  2018.
14. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Analysis (19 December 2011). "Global Christianity".
Pew Research Center. Retrieved  17 August 2012.
15. ^ Pew Research Center
16. ^ "Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'". BBC News. 3
May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
17. ^ Jump up to:    Kay, Barbara. "Our politicians may not care, but
a b

Christians are under siege across the world". National Post. 8 May

2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
18. ^ Jump up to:a b Wintour, Patrick. "Persecution of Christians coming
close to genocide' in Middle East - report". The Guardian. 2 May
2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
19. ^ Larry Hurtado (17 August 2017 ), "Paul, the Pagans’ Apostle"
20. ^ Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Acts
19, http://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb//acts/19.htm accessed 8
October 2015
21. ^ Jubilee Bible 2000
22. ^ American King James Version
23. ^ Douai-Rheims Bible
24. ^ Gill, J., Gill's Exposition of the Bible, commentary on Acts
19:23 http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/acts/19.htm accessed
8 October 2015
25. ^ E. Peterson (1959), "Christianus." In: Frühkirche, Judentum und
Gnosis, publisher: Herder, Freiburg, pp. 353–72
26. ^ Elwell & Comfort 2001, pp. 266, 828.
27. ^ Olson, The Mosaic of Christian Belief.
28. ^ Pelikan/Hotchkiss, Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the
Christian Tradition.
29. ^ ""We Believe in One God....": The Nicene Creed and Mass".
Catholics United for the Fath. February 2005. Retrieved  16
June  2014.
30. ^ Encyclopedia of Religion, "Arianism".
31. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, "Council of Ephesus".
32. ^ Christian History Institute, First Meeting of the Council of
Chalcedon.
33. ^ Peter Theodore Farrington (February 2006). "The Oriental
Orthodox Rejection of Chalcedon".  Glastonbury Review (113).
Archived from  the original on 19 June 2008.
34. ^ Pope Leo I, Letter to Flavian
35. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, "Athanasian Creed".
36. ^ Jump up to:    "Our Common Heritage as Christians". The United
a b

Methodist Church. Archived from the original  on 14 January 2006.

Retrieved 31 December 2007.
37. ^ Avis, Paul (2002) The Christian Church: An Introduction to the
Major Traditions, SPCK, London, ISBN 0-281-05246-8 paperback
38. ^ White, Howard A. The History of the Church.
39. ^ Cummins, Duane D. (1991).  A handbook for Today's Disciples
in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Revised ed.). St
Louis, MO: Chalice Press. ISBN 978-0-8272-1425-5.
40. ^ Jump up to:a b Ron Rhodes, The Complete Guide to Christian
Denominations, Harvest House Publishers, 2005, ISBN 0-7369-
1289-4
41. ^ Metzger/Coogan, Oxford Companion to the Bible, pp. 513, 649.
42. ^ Acts 2:24, 2:31–32, 3:15, 3:26, 4:10, 5:30, 10:40–
41, 13:30, 13:34, 13:37, 17:30–31, Romans 10:9, 1 Cor.
15:15, 6:14, 2 Cor. 4:14, Gal 1:1, Eph 1:20, Col 2:12, 1 Thess.
11:10, Heb. 13:20, 1 Pet. 1:3, 1:21
43. ^ s:Nicene Creed
44. ^ Hanegraaff. Resurrection: The Capstone in the Arch of
Christianity.
45. ^ "The Significance of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus for the
Christian". Australian Catholic University National. Archived
from  the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2007.
46. ^ John, 5:24, 6:39–40, 6:47, 10:10, 11:25–26, and 17:3
47. ^ This is drawn from a number of sources, especially the early
Creeds, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, certain theological
works, and various Confessions drafted during the Reformation
including the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England, works
contained in the Book of Concord.
48. ^ Fuller, The Foundations of New Testament Christology, p. 11.
49. ^ A Jesus Seminar conclusion held that "in the view of the
Seminar, he did not rise bodily from the dead; the resurrection is
based instead on visionary experiences of Peter, Paul, and Mary."
50. ^ Funk. The Acts of Jesus: What Did Jesus Really Do?.
51. ^ Lorenzen. Resurrection, Discipleship, Justice: Affirming the
Resurrection Jesus Christ Today, p. 13.
52. ^ Ball/Johnsson (ed.). The Essential Jesus.
53. ^ Jump up to:    Eisenbaum, Pamela (Winter 2004). "A Remedy for
a b

Having Been Born of Woman: Jesus, Gentiles, and Genealogy in

 Romans"  (PDF). Journal of Biblical Literature.  123  (4): 671–
702.  doi:10.2307/3268465.  JSTOR  3268465. Retrieved  3
April  2009.
54. ^ Wright, N.T. What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus
the Real Founder of Christianity? (Oxford, 1997), p. 121.
55. ^ CCC 846; Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 14
56. ^ See quotations from Council of Trent on Justification
at Justforcatholics.org
57. ^ Westminster Confession, Chapter X Archived 28 May 2014 at
the Wayback Machine;
Spurgeon, A Defense of Calvinism Archived 10 April 2008 at
the  Wayback Machine.
58. ^ "Grace and Justification". Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Archived from  the original on 15 August 2010.
59. ^ Definition of the Fourth Lateran Council quoted in Catechism of
the Catholic Church §253.
60. ^ Christianity's status as monotheistic is affirmed in, among other
sources, the Catholic Encyclopedia (article "Monotheism"); William
F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity; H. Richard
Niebuhr; About.com, Monotheistic Religion resources; Kirsch, God
Against the Gods; Woodhead, An Introduction to Christianity; The
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Monotheism; The New
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, monotheism; New Dictionary of
Theology, Paul, pp. 496–499; Meconi. "Pagan Monotheism in Late
Antiquity". pp. 111ff.
61. ^ Kelly. Early Christian Doctrines. pp. 87–90.
62. ^ Alexander. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. pp. 514ff.
63. ^ McGrath. Historical Theology. p. 61.
64. ^ Metzger/Coogan. Oxford Companion to the Bible. p. 782.
65. ^ Kelly. The Athanasian Creed.
66. ^ Oxford, "Encyclopedia of Christianity, pg1207
67. ^ Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal Carl Parsons, Interpreting Christian
Art: Reflections on Christian art, Mercer University Press,
2003, ISBN 0-86554-850-1, pp. 32–35.
68. ^ Examples of ante-Nicene statements:
Hence all the power of magic became dissolved; and every bond
of wickedness was destroyed, men's ignorance was taken away,
and the old kingdom abolished God Himself appearing in the form
of a man, for the renewal of eternal life.

— St. Ignatius of Antioch in Letter to the Ephesians, ch.4, shorter

version, Roberts-Donaldson translation
We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ
the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who
afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For 'the Word
was made flesh.' Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being
impassible, He was in a passable body; being immortal, He was in
a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He
might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them,
and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with
ungodliness and wicked lusts

— St. Ignatius of Antioch in Letter to the Ephesians, ch.7, shorter

version, Roberts-Donaldson translation
 The Church, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even
to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their
disciples this faith: ...one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them;
and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate
for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through
the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the
birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the
dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved
Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His manifestation from heaven in the
glory of the Father 'to gather all things in one,' and to raise up
anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ
Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the
will of the invisible Father, 'every knee should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that
every tongue should confess; to him, and that He should execute
just judgment towards all...

— St. Irenaeus in Against Heresies, ch.X, v.I, Donaldson, Sir

James (1950), Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1: Apostolic Fathers,
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,  William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., ISBN 978-0802880871
For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and
of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive
the washing with water

— Justin Martyr in  First Apology, ch. LXI,  Donaldson, Sir James
(1950),  Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 1: Apostolic Fathers, Justin
Martyr, Irenaeus, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company,  ISBN  978-0802880871

69. ^ Olson, Roger E. (2002). The Trinity. Wm. B. Eerdmans

Publishing. p. 15.  ISBN  978-0-8028-4827-7.
70. ^ Fowler. World Religions: An Introduction for Students. p. 58.
71. ^ τριάς. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English
Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
72. ^ Harper, Douglas.  "trinity". Online Etymology Dictionary.
73. ^ Jump up to:    trinitas. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin
a b

Dictionaryon Perseus Project.
74. ^ trias. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin
Dictionary on Perseus Project.
75. ^ Theophilus of Antioch.  "Book II.15". Apologia ad
Autolycum.  Patrologiae Graecae Cursus Completus  (in Greek and
Latin).  6.  Ὡσαύτως καὶ αἱ τρεῖς ἡμέραι τῶν φωστήρων γεγονυῖαι
τύποι εἰσὶν τῆς Τριάδος, τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τοῦ Λόγου αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς
Σοφίας αὐτοῦ.
76. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity. p. 50.
77. ^ Tertullian,  "21",  De Pudicitia (in Latin),  Nam et ipsa ecclesia
proprie et principaliter ipse est spiritus, in quo est trinitas unius
diuinitatis, Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus..
78. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, p. 53.
79. ^ Moltman, Jurgen. The Trinity and the Kingdom: The Doctrine of
God.Tr. from German. Fortress Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8006-2825-X
80. ^ Harnack, History of Dogma.
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The person to be baptized is also prayed over and blessed with
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273. ^ Putnam, Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital
in Contemporary Society, p. 408.
274. ^ McGrath, Christianity: An Introduction, p. xvi.
275. ^ Peter Marber, Money Changes Everything: How Global
Prosperity Is Reshaping Our Needs, Values and Lifestyles, p. 99.
276. ^ Philip Jenkins God's Continent, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2007, p. 56
277. ^ Jump up to:a b "The future of the world's most popular religion is
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278. ^ "Argentina". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved  11
May 2008.
279. ^ Løsere bånd, men fortsatt statskirke Archived 8 January 2014
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280. ^ Staten skal ikke lenger ansette biskoper, NRK
281. ^ Forbund, Human-Etisk.  "Ingen avskaffelse: / Slik blir den nye
statskirkeordningen".
282. ^ "Costa Rica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved  11
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283. ^ "Denmark". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved  11
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286. ^ "El Salvador".  Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11
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297. ^ "The LDS Restorationist movement, including Mormon
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298. ^ Ehrman, Bart D.  (2003). Lost Christianities: The Battles for
Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford University Press,
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299. ^ Sydney E. Ahlstrom, characterized denominationalism in
America as "a virtual ecclesiology" that "first of all repudiates the
insistences of the Catholic Church, the churches of the
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the true Church." (Ahlstrom, Sydney E.; Hall, David D. (2004). A
Religious History of the American People(Revised ed.). Yale
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 Nash, Donald A.  Why the Churches of Christ are Not a
Denomination  (PDF). pp. 1–3. Archived from the
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 Wendell Winkler, Christ's Church is not a Denomination;
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Study Course Lesson 8, II. How Did Modern Denominations
Begin?".  biblestudylessons.com. Retrieved 17 June  2014.
300. ^ "Nicene Creed".  Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
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301. ^ Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium Archived 6
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302. ^ Duffy, Saints and Sinners, p. 1.
303. ^ Hitchcock, Geography of Religion, p. 281.
304. ^ Norman, The Roman Catholic Church an Illustrated History,
pp. 11, 14.
305. ^ Jump up to:a b Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium Archived 6
September 2014 at the Wayback Machine, chapter 2, paragraph
15.
306. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph
865. Archived 12 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine
307. ^ Marthaler, Introducing the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Traditional Themes and Contemporary Issues (1994), preface.
308. ^ John Paul II, Pope (1997).  "Laetamur Magnopere". Vatican.
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309. ^ Annuario Pontificio (2012), p. 1142.
310. ^ Barry, One Faith, One Lord (2001), p. 71
311. ^ Central Intelligence Agency, CIA World Factbook (2007).
312. ^ Jump up to:a b c Adherents.com, Religions by Adherents
313. ^ Zenit.org, "Number of Catholics and Priests Rises Archived 25
February 2008 at the Wayback Machine", 12 February 2007.
314. ^ Cross/Livingstone. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
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315. ^ Fairchild, Mary. "Christianity:Basics:Eastern Orthodox Church
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316. ^ "Oriental Orthodox Churches". Wcc-coe.org. Archived
from  the original on 6 April 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
317. ^ "An Introduction to the Oriental Orthodox Churches".
Pluralism.org. 15 March 2005. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
318. ^ OONS.  "Syrian Orthodox Resources – Middle Eastern
Oriental Orthodox Common Declaration". Sor.cua.edu.
Retrieved 19 November 2010.
319. ^ Baumer, Christoph (2006). The Church of the East: An
Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. London-New York:
Tauris. ISBN 9781845111151.
320. ^ Hunter, Erica C.D. (2014). "The Holy Apostolic Catholic
Assyrian Church of the East". In Leustean, Lucian N.
(ed.).  Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century.
London & New York: Routledge. pp.  601–
620.  ISBN  9781317818663.
321. ^ "CNEWA: Ronald G. Roberson, C.S.P. – The Assyrian
Church of the East". Archived from the original  on 29 October
2012. Retrieved  15 August 2018.
322. ^ Fahlbusch, Erwin, and Bromiley, Geoffrey William, The
Encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 3. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Eerdmans, 2003. p. 362.
323. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity. pp. 251–
259.
324. ^ Sykes/Booty/Knight. The Study of Anglicanism, p. 219. Some
Anglicans consider their church a branch of the "One Holy Catholic
Church" alongside of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches,
a concept rejected by the Catholic Church, some Eastern
Orthodox, and many evangelical Anglicans themselves, for more
on this, see Gregory Hallam, Orthodoxy and Ecumenism.
325. ^ Gregory Mathewes-Green, "Whither the Branch
Theory?", Anglican Orthodox Pilgrim Vol. 2, No. 4. Archived 19
May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
326. ^ Benedetto, Robert; Duke, James O. (2008). The New
Westminster Dictionary of Church History. Westminster John Knox
Press. p.  22. ISBN 9780664224165.
327. ^ Littell, Franklin H. (2000). The Anabaptist View of the Church.
The Baptist Standard Bearer, Inc. p.  79. ISBN 978-
1579788360.  In reviewing the records, the reader is struck with
the Anabaptists' acute consciousness of separation from the
 "fallen" church—in which they included the Reformers as well as
the Roman institution. Some writers have therefore concluded that
Anabaptism is not merely a variant form of Protestantism, but
rather an ideology and practice quite different in kind from those of
both Rome and the Reformers.
328. ^ "Who We Are: A Quick Visual Guide". Mennonite Church US.
2018. Retrieved  26 April 2018.  Anabaptists: We are neither
Catholic nor Protestant, but we share ties to those streams of
Christianity. We cooperate as a sign of our unity in Christ and in
ways that extend the reign of God's Kingdom on earth. We are
known as "Anabaptists" (not anti-Baptist)—meaning "rebaptizers."
329. ^ "About The Methodist Church". Methodist Central Hall
Westminster. Archived from  the original on 21 January 2007.
Retrieved 31 December 2007.
330. ^ "Christianity: Pentecostal Churches". GodPreach, Inc.
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331. ^ "Statement of Belief". Cambridge Christ United Methodist
Church. Archived from  the original on 28 September 2007.
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332. ^ "The New Birth by John Wesley (Sermon 45)". The United
Methodist Church GBGM. Archived from the original  on 13
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333. ^ "God's Preparing, Accepting, and Sustaining Grace". The
United Methodist Church GBGM. Archived from the original  on 9
January 2008. Retrieved  31 December  2007.
334. ^ "Total Experience of the Spirit". Warren Wilson College.
Archived from  the original on 3 September 2006. Retrieved 31
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335. ^ This branch was first called Calvinism by Lutherans who
opposed it, and many within the tradition would prefer to use the
word Reformed. It includes Presbyterians and Congregationalists.
336. ^ World Council of Churches: Evangelical churches:
"Evangelical churches have grown exponentially in the second half
of the 20th century and continue to show great vitality, especially
in the global South. This resurgence may in part be explained by
the phenomenal growth of Pentecostalism and the emergence of
the charismatic movement, which are closely associated with
evangelicalism. However, there can be no doubt that the
evangelical tradition "per se" has become one of the major
components of world Christianity. Evangelicals also constitute
sizable minorities in the traditional Protestant and Anglican
churches. In regions like Africa and Latin America, the boundaries
between "evangelical" and "mainline" are rapidly changing and
giving way to new ecclesial realities."
337. ^ Confessionalism is a term employed by historians to refer to
"the creation of fixed identities and systems of beliefs for separate
churches which had previously been more fluid in their self-
understanding, and which had not begun by seeking separate
identities for themselves—they had wanted to be truly Catholic
and reformed." (MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History, p. xxiv.)
338. ^ "Classification of Protestant Denominations"  (PDF). Pew
Forum on Religion & Public Life / U.S. Religious Landscape
Survey. Retrieved  27 September 2009.
339. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, pp. 91ff.
340. ^ "The Restorationist Movements". Religious Tolerance.
Retrieved 31 December 2007.
341. ^ "LDS Statistics and Church Facts | Total Church
Membership".  mormonnewsroom.org. Retrieved 27 April  2018.
342. ^ Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American
People(2004)
343. ^ Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions (2009)
344. ^ Fahlbusch, Erwin (2008).  The Encyclodedia of Christianity.
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 208.  ISBN  978-0802824172.
345. ^ Fleming, John A.; Rowan, Michael J.; Chambers, James
Albert (2004). Folk Furniture of Canada's Doukhobors, Hutterites,
Mennonites and Ukrainians. University of Alberta. p. 4. ISBN 978-
0888644183.  The English Quakers, who had made contact with
the Doukhobors earlier, as well as the Philadelphia Society of
Friends, also determined to help with their emigration from Russia
to some other country—the only action which seemed possible.
346. ^ Ariel, Yaakov (2006).  "Judaism and Christianity Unite! The
Unique Culture of Messianic Judaism". In Gallagher, Eugene V.;
Ashcraft, W. Michael (eds.).  Jewish and Christian Traditions.
Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America. 2.
Westport, CN: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 208.  ISBN  978-0-
275-98714-5. LCCN 2006022954.  OCLC 315689134.
Retrieved 9 September2015.  For example, Messianic Jews,
without exception, believe that the way to eternal life is through the
acceptance of Jesus as one's personal savior and that no
obedience to the Jewish law or "works" is necessary in order to
obtain that goal....Remarkably, it has been exactly this adherence
to the basic Christian evangelical faith that has allowed Messianic
Jews to adopt and promote Jewish rites and customs. They are
Christians in good standing and can retain whatever cultural
attributes and rites they choose.
347. ^ Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion: Selected
Papers Presented at the 17th Congress
348. ^ Besant, Annie (2001).  Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser
Mysteries. City: Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4021-
0029-1.
349. ^ From the Greek ἐσωτερικός (esôterikos, "inner"). The
term esotericism itself was coined in the 17th century. (Oxford
English Dictionary Compact Edition, Volume 1, Oxford University
Press, 1971, p. 894.)
350. ^ Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek,
Jean-Pierre Brach, Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism,
Brill 2005.
351. ^ "Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: esotericism".
Webster.com. 13 August 2010. Archived from  the original on 2
December 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
352. ^ "Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: esoteric". Webster.com.
Archived from  the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 19
November 2010.
353. ^ Dawson, Christopher; Glenn Olsen (1961). Crisis in Western
Education (reprint ed.). p. 108.  ISBN  978-0813216836.
354. ^ Jump up to:a b Koch, Carl (1994).  The Catholic Church: Journey,
Wisdom, and Mission. Early Middle Ages: St. Mary's
Press. ISBN 978-0-88489-298-4.
355. ^ Koch, Carl (1994).  The Catholic Church: Journey, Wisdom,
and Mission. The Age of Enlightenment: St. Mary's
Press. ISBN 978-0-88489-298-4.
356. ^ Dawson, Christopher; Olsen, Glenn (1961).  Crisis in Western
Education (reprint ed.). ISBN 978-0-8132-1683-6.
357. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Forms of Christian education
358. ^ Jump up to:    Hough, Susan Elizabeth (2007),  Richter's Scale:
a b

Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man,  Princeton

University Press, p. 68,  ISBN  978-0-691-12807-8
359. ^ Woods 2005, p. 109.
360. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Jesuit
361. ^ Wallace, William A. (1984). Prelude, Galileo and his Sources.
The Heritage of the Collegio Romano in Galileo's Science. NJ:
Princeton University Press.
362. ^ Sztompka, 2003
363. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Church and social welfare
364. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Care for the sick
365. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Property, poverty, and the poor,
366. ^ Weber, Max (1905). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism.
367. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Church and state
368. ^ Sir Banister Fletcher, History of Architecture on the
Comparative Method.
369. ^ Buringh, Eltjo; van Zanden, Jan Luiten: "Charting the 'Rise of
the West': Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term
Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries", The
Journal of Economic History, Vol. 69, No. 2 (2009), pp. 409–445
(416, table 1)
370. ^ Eveleigh, Bogs (2002).  Baths and Basins: The Story of
Domestic Sanitation. Stroud, England: Sutton.
371. ^ Henry Gariepy (2009).  Christianity in Action: The History of
the International Salvation Army. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
p. 16.  ISBN  978-0-8028-4841-3.
372. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica The tendency to spiritualize and
individualize marriage
373. ^ Hill, Donald. Islamic Science and Engineering. 1993.
Edinburgh Univ. Press. ISBN 0-7486-0455-3, p. 4
374. ^ Brague, Rémi (2009). The Legend of the Middle Ages.
p. 164.  ISBN  978-0-226-07080-3.
375. ^ Kitty Ferguson (2011).  Pythagoras: His Lives and the Legacy
of a Rational Universe. Icon Books Limited. p.  100. ISBN 978-1-
84831-250-0. It was in the Near and Middle East and North Africa
that the old traditions of teaching and learning continued, and
where Christian scholars were carefully preserving ancient texts
and knowledge of the ancient Greek language
376. ^ Kaser, Karl (2011). The Balkans and the Near East:
Introduction to a Shared History. LIT Verlag Münster.
p. 135.  ISBN  978-3-643-50190-5.
377. ^ Rémi Brague, Assyrians contributions to the Islamic civilization
378. ^ Britannica, Nestorian
379. ^ Hyman and Walsh Philosophy in the Middle
Ages Indianapolis, 1973, p. 204' Meri, Josef W. and Jere L.
Bacharach, Editors, Medieval Islamic Civilization Vol. 1, A–K,
Index, 2006, p. 304.
380. ^ "Religion of History's 100 Most Influential People".
381. ^ "Religion of Great Philosophers".
382. ^ "Christian Influences in the Sciences".  rae.org. Archived
from  the original on 24 September 2015.
383. ^ "World's Greatest Creation Scientists from Y1K to
Y2K".  creationsafaris.com. Archived from  the original on 15
January 2016.
384. ^ "100 Scientists Who Shaped World History".
385. ^ "50 Nobel Laureates and Other Great Scientists Who Believe
in God". Many well-known historical figures who influenced
Western science considered themselves Christian such
as Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Isaac
Newton, Robert Boyle, Alessandro Volta, Michael
Faraday, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvinand James Clerk
Maxwell.
386. ^ "Religious Affiliation of the World's Greatest Artists".
387. ^ Hall, p. 100.
388. ^ "Wealthy 100 and the 100 Most Influential in Business".
389. ^ Baruch A. Shalev, 100 Years of Nobel Prizes (2003), Atlantic
Publishers & Distributors, p. 57: between 1901 and 2000 reveals
that 654 Laureates belong to 28 different religions. Most (65%)
have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious
preference. ISBN 978-0935047370
390. ^ G.C. Oosthuizen. Postchristianity in Africa. C Hurst & Co
Publishers Ltd (1968). ISBN 0-903983-05-2
391. ^ Jump up to:a b McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity,
pp. 581–584.
392. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity. pp.
413ff.
393. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, p. 498.
394. ^ Jump up to:    The Oxford companion to Christian thought. Oxford:
a b

Oxford University Press. 2000. p.  694. ISBN 978-0-19-860024-4.

395. ^ Oxford, "Encyclopedia of Christianity, p. 307.
396. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, p. 373.
397. ^ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, p. 583.
398. ^ "Methodist Statement"  (PDF). Archived from the
original  (PDF)on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
399. ^ International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J by Geoffrey W.
Bromiley 1982 ISBN 0-8028-3782-4 p. 175
400. ^ Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, A.D. 70 to
135 by James D.G. Dunn 1999 ISBN 0-8028-4498-7 pp. 112–113
401. ^ Asher Norman Twenty-six Reasons why Jews Don't Believe in
JesusFeldheim Publishers 2007 ISBN 978-0-977-19370-7 p. 11
402. ^ Keith Akers The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and
Nonviolence in Early Christianity. Lantern Books 2000 ISBN 978-
1-930-05126-3 p. 103
403. ^ Ferguson, Everett (1993). Backgrounds of Early
Christianity  (second ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 562–564. ISBN 978-0-8028-
0669-7.
404. ^ Thomas, Stephen (2004). "Celsus". In McGuckin, John
Anthony (ed.).  The Westminster Handbook to Origen. Louisville,
Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. pp.  72–73.  ISBN  978-0-
664-22472-1.
405. ^ Jump up to:a b Olson, Roger E. (1999), The Story of Christian
Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition & Reform, Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, p. 101,  ISBN  978-0-8308-1505-0
406. ^ McGuckin, John Anthony (2004). "The Scholarly Works of
Origen". The Westminster Handbook to Origen. Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 32–34. ISBN 978-0-664-
22472-1.
407. ^ Ferguson, Everett (1993). Backgrounds of Early
Christianity  (second ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company. pp.  556–561.  ISBN  978-0-8028-0669-7.
408. ^ Sherwin-White, A.N. (April 1964). "Why Were the Early
Christians Persecuted? – An Amendment".  Past and
Present.  27  (27): 23–
27.  doi:10.1093/past/27.1.23. JSTOR 649759.
409. ^ The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature, Volume 1 by George
Thomas Kurian and James Smith 2010 ISBN 0-8108-6987-X p.
527
410. ^ Apologetic Discourse and the Scribal Tradition by Wayne
Campbell Kannaday 2005 ISBN 90-04-13085-3 pp. 32–33
411. ^ A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations by Edward Kessler,
Neil Wenborn 2005 ISBN 0-521-82692-6 p. 168
412. ^ The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche by Bernd Magnus,
Kathleen Marie Higgins 1996 ISBN 0-521-36767-0 pp. 90–93
413. ^ Russell on Religion: Selections from the Writings of Bertrand
Russellby Bertrand Russell, Stefan Andersson and Louis
Greenspan 1999 ISBN 0-415-18091-0 pp. 77–87
414. ^ Christianity: An Introduction by Alister E. McGrath
2006 ISBN 1-4051-0899-1 pp. 125–126.
415. ^ " The Christ Myth Theory and its Problems ", published 2011
by American Atheist press, Cranford, NJ, ISBN 1-57884-017-1
416. ^ Kaplan, S. (1 January 2005). ""Religious Nationalism": A
Textbook Case from Turkey". Comparative Studies of South Asia,
Africa and the Middle East. 25 (3): 665–
676.  doi:10.1215/1089201x-25-3-665. ISSN 1089-201X.
417. ^ Weber, Jeremy. "'Worst year yet’: the top 50 countries where
it’s hardest to be a Christian". Christianity Today. 11 January
2017. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
418. ^ Enos, Olivia. "North Korea is the world's worst persecutor of
Christians". Forbes. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
419. ^ Worldwatchlist2020, Most dangerous countries for
Christians.  "Serving Persecuted Christians - Open Doors
USA". www.opendoorsusa.org. Retrieved 24 March  2020.
420. ^ Mounstephen, Philip. "Interim report". Bishop of Truro’s
Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for
Persecuted Christians. April 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
421. ^ Jump up to:a b Mounstephen, Philip. "Final Report and
Recommendations".Bishop of Truro’s Independent Review for the
Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for Persecuted Christians. July,
2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
422. ^ ἀπολογητικός, ἀπολογέομαι in Liddell and Scott.
423. ^ Dulles, Avery Robert Cardinal (2005).  A History of
Apologetics. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. p.  120. ISBN 978-0-
89870-933-9.
424. ^ L Russ Bush, ed. (1983).  Classical Readings in Christian
Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. p.  275. ISBN 978-0-310-
45641-4.
425. ^ "Why I Believe in Christianity – Society of Gilbert Keith
Chesterton".
426. ^ Hauser, Chris (History major, Dartmouth College class of
2014) (Fall 2011).  "Faith and Paradox: G.K. Chesterton's
Philosophy of Christian Paradox".  The Dartmouth Apologia: A
Journal of Christian Thought.  6 (1): 16–20. Retrieved 29
March  2015.
 427. ^ "Christianity". 6 December 2010.
428. ^ Howson, Colin (2011).  Objecting to God. Cambridge
University Press. p. 92.  ISBN  978-1139498562. Nor is the
agreement coincidental, according to a substantial constituency of
religious apologists, who regard the inflationary Big Bang model
as direct evidence for God. John Lennox, a mathematician at the
University of Oxford, tells us that 'even if the non-believers don't
like it, the Big Bang fits in exactly with the Christian narrative of
creation'. ... William Lane Craig is another who claims that the
Biblical account is corroborated by Big Bang cosmology. Lane
Craig also claims that there is a prior  proofthat there is a God who
created this universe.

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Further reading
 Gill, Robin  (2001). The Cambridge companion to Christian ethics.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.  ISBN  978-0-521-77918-
0.
 Gunton, Colin E. (1997). The Cambridge companion to Christian
doctrine. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.  ISBN  978-0-
521-47695-9.
  MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand
Years(Viking; 2010) 1,161 pp.; survey by leading historian
 MacMullen, Ramsay (2006).  Voting About God in Early Church
Councils. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-
11596-3.
 Padgett, Alan G.; Sally Bruyneel (2003). Introducing Christianity.
Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.  ISBN  978-1-57075-395-4.
 Price, Matthew Arlen; Collins, Michael (1999).  The story of Christianity.
New York: Dorling Kindersley.  ISBN  978-0-7513-0467-1.
 Ratzinger, Joseph  (2004). Introduction To Christianity (Communio
Books). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.  ISBN  978-1-58617-029-5.
 Roper, J.C., Bp. (1923), et al.. Faith in God, in series, Layman's Library
of Practical Religion, Church of England in Canada, vol. 2. Toronto,
Ont.: Musson Book Co. N.B.: The series statement is given in the more
extended form which appears on the book's front cover.
 Rüegg, Walter (1992).  "Foreword. The University as a European
Institution," in: A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1, Universities
in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press.  ISBN  0-521-36105-2.
 Tucker, Karen; Wainwright, Geoffrey (2006).  The Oxford history of
Christian worship. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University
Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513886-3.
 Verger, Jacques (1999). Culture, enseignement et société en Occident
aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles  (1st ed.). Presses universitaires de Rennes in
Rennes.  ISBN  978-2868473448.
 Wagner, Richard (2004). Christianity for Dummies. For
Dummies. ISBN 978-0-7645-4482-8.
 Webb, Jeffrey B. (2004).  The Complete Idiot's Guide to Christianity.
Indianapolis, Ind: Alpha Books. ISBN 978-1-59257-176-5.
 Wills, Garry, "A Wild and Indecent Book" (review of David Bentley
Hart, The New Testament: A Translation, Yale University Press, 577
pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 2 (8 February
2018), pp. 34–35. Discusses some pitfalls in interpreting and
translating the New Testament.
 Woodhead, Linda (2004). Christianity: a very short introduction. Oxford
[Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press.  ISBN  978-0-19-280322-1.

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 "Christianity". Encyclopædia Britannica
 Religion & Ethics – Christianity A number of introductory
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