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. It is the world’s largest religion, with about 2. 4 billion followers as of 2020. The four largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, Protestantism, the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy.
About Christianity in brief
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. It is the world’s largest religion, with about 2. 4 billion followers as of 2020. 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. The four largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, Protestantism, the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy. 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. Christians remain persecuted in some regions the world, especially in the Middle-East, North Africa, East Asia, and South Asia. 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. The Apostles’ Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator. The creed was apparently used as a summary of Christian doctrine in the apostolic period. It was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries as a response to the Nicene Creed, largely in response to Arianism at the Councils of Nicaea in 325 and 381.
Its points include: The baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome are those who believe that God is the Creator and the Trinity is the Word of God, and that Jesus was the Son of God. The church of the East split after the Council of Ephesus. The Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Church separated in the East–West Schism, especially over the authority of the bishop of Rome. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are the only two major churches that are still in existence today. The first recorded use of the term ‘Christianity’ was by Ignatius of Antioch, in around 100 AD. Early Jewish Christians referred to themselves as ‘The Way’, probably coming from Isaiah 40: 3, ‘prepare the way of the Lord.’ According to Acts 11: 26, the term ‘Christianity’ 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. Following the Age of Discovery, Christianity was spread into the Americas, Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world via missionary work. It also played a prominent role in the development of Western civilization, particularly in Europe from late antiquity and the Middle Ages. The Church of the West split in numerous denominations from the in the Reformation era over theological and ecclesiological disputes, most predominantly on the issue of justification and papal primacy.
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This page is based on the article Christianity published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
