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Christianity

A cross, the symbol of Christianity as the instrument on which Jesus was crucified

Christianity is the largest world religion by number of followers (around 2.4 billion). Members of the religion are called Christians. Christians generally believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.[1] It is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, meaning it has only one God and believes Him to be the same Deity who spoke to Abraham.[2] It has its roots in Judaism and is based on the life and teachings of Jesus.

To most of the people of his time, Jesus was a preacher, teacher, healer, and prophet from ancient Judea. However, his disciples believed him to be much more than that. They believed that Jesus was God's one and only son, who was sent down to Earth to die on a cross for their sins.

The man said to be his father, Joseph, was a carpenter. Jesus was executed by being nailed to a cross (or crucified) under Pontius Pilate, the local Roman governor at the time.[3] His life and followers are written about in the New Testament, part of the Bible. Christians consider the Bible, both the Old Testament and New Testament, as sacred.[4] The Gospels or "The Good News" are the first four books of the New Testament and are about Jesus' life, death, and his rising from the dead.

God created the world. Jesus is the name of God the Son. Christians believe Him to be the Son of God. They believe that He was the human son of the Virgin Mary and the divine Son of God. They believe he suffered and died to free humans from their sin[5] and was later raised from the dead. He then went up into Heaven. At the end of time, Jesus will come back to Earth to judge all mankind, both alive and dead, giving everlasting life to those who believe in him. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God on the Earth that spoke through prophets.

The prophets foretold in the Old Testament of Jesus as the Savior. Christians think of Jesus Christ as a teacher, a role model, and someone who revealed who the Christian God was.

Just like Judaism and Islam, Christianity is an Abrahamic religion.[6][7] Christianity started out as a Jewish sect[8][9] in the eastern Mediterranean. It quickly grew in number of believers and influence over a few decades, and by the 4th Century it had become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. Armenia was the First Nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, under the rule of King Tiridates III of the Arsacid dynasty in the early 4th century.[10] The Kingdom of Aksum became the first empire to adopt Christianity. During the Middle Ages, the rest of Europe mostly was Christianized. At that time, Christians were mostly a religious minority in the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of India.[11] Following the Age of Discovery, through missionary work and colonization, Christianity spread to Africa, the Americas, and the rest of the world.

Christianity has been an important part of the shaping of the world.[12] As of the early 21st century, Christianity has approximately 2.2 billion followers.[13][14]

  1. ↑ Alexander. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. pp. 514ff.
  2. ↑ "Monotheism". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  3. ↑ Tacitus tells about this in his Annales: Perseus-Project: Annales 15,44 Archived 2008-01-27 at the Wayback Machine In the passage, Tacitus talks about the burning of Rome, which Nero attributed to the Christians: Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.
  4. ↑ "BBC - Religion & Ethics - 566, Christianity". BBC. Archived from the original on 2017-08-02. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  5. ↑ McGrath, Christianity: An Introduction, p. 4-6.
  6. ↑ J.Z.Smith, p. 276.
  7. ↑ Anidjar, p. 3.
  8. ↑ Robinson, Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs and Rituals, p. 229.
  9. ↑ Esler. The Early Christian World. p. 157f.
  10. ↑ "Armenia, the first Christian nation". 16 March 2018. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  11. ↑ McManners, Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, p. 301-303.
  12. ↑ Orlandis, A Short History of the Catholic Church (1993), preface.
  13. ↑ "Major Religions Ranked by Size". Archived from the original on 2018-12-24. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  14. ↑ 33.2% of 6.7 billion world population (under the section 'People') "World". CIA world facts. Archived from the original on 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2012-01-24.

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