Meaning of Christianity
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ScribdTranslationsMeaning of Christianity
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ScribdTranslationsMeaning of Christianity
What is Christianity:
Christianity is one of the three monotheistic religions that exist in the world today. It
is based and founded on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, also called Jesus
Christ, who is considered the Messiah announced in the Old Testament, that is, in
the Jewish religious tradition.
Christianity is currently one of the most widespread religions in the world. In 2015,
it had more than two billion followers.
The largest Christian churches and trends are divided into:
the Roman Catholic Church or Catholicism;
the Orthodox Church or Church of the East;
the Anglican Church or Anglicanism;
Protestants or Protestantism:
o Lutherans,
o Presbyterians,
o Calvinists,
o Free Evangelicals and others.
See also Characteristics of Christianity.
History and origin of Christianity
Christianity as a doctrine is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth,
who is considered the Messiah, savior and Son of God the Father.
Christianity has as its sacred book the Bible, composed of the Old Testament,
which brings together the books of the Jewish religious tradition, and the New
Testament, which contains the life and teachings of Jesus, the acts of the apostles
and the pastoral letters of the first Christians. The teachings of the New Testament
are almost exclusive to the Christian religion.
It can be said that, as a religion, Christianity begins to structure itself from the
death and resurrection of Jesus, when the apostles become aware of the teachings
received and decide to proclaim the gospel in an organized manner.
See also:
Old Testament.
New Testament.
Officialization of the Christian religion
Like Judaism, Christianity's monotheistic character was intolerant of Roman
paganism, but unlike the Jewish religion, Christianity was proselytizing, which
made it the target of bloody persecution by the empire. This period is known as
early Christianity or early Christianity.
However, adherence to the new religion grew to the point of being uncontrollable.
In 313 AD, Emperor Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan, which established
freedom of worship, ending the persecution of Christians and the entry of
Christianity into the Byzantine court.
The entry of Christianity into the court implied the need to unify the doctrine, a task
that was undertaken through a series of councils. Thus, the resurrection of Jesus
and his divinity will be one of the points discussed by the authorities.
It will be with the edict of Thessalonica promulgated by Theodosius in the year
380 AD that Christianity is formally established as the official religion of the Roman
Empire.
Councils of the Christian Church
The birth of Christianity led to several schools of thought for the interpretation of
the birth, life and death of Jesus. These gave rise to numerous councils, even
before the officialization of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire.
Following the entry of Christianity into the Byzantine court, the Council of Nicaea
took place, the first held by Constantine. It was made in the year 325 BC. of C. and
from it emerged the so-called Nicene Creed.
Along with the Council of Constantinople in 381 BC, the dual divine and human
nature of Jesus and the existence of the Trinity that declared the communion of
God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit were established as dogma.
With this resolution, the Athanasian Creed was approved and Arianism was
condemned as heresy, since Arius (256-336) and his followers, despite believing in
Jesus as the Messiah, claimed that Jesus and God were not comparable, rejecting
the concept of the Trinity.
Many other councils were held after these. But in this process of almost a thousand
years, Christianity was divided as a consequence of dogmatic divergences.
First schism of the Christian Church
The first official separation of the Christian Church occurred in the year 1054, when
Leo IX and Michael Cerulius, representative of the Eastern Church, came into
conflict over the definition of powers that was already on the table.
The seat in Constantinople provoked the schism of 1054 in which all the churches
under the jurisdiction of Rome separated from it, dividing into the Roman Catholic
Apostolic Church and the Orthodox Church.