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Christianity was traditionally understood to be founded by Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul of Tarsus, after his conversion on the road to Damascus, worked tirelessly
to establish Christianity among both Jews and God-fearing Gentiles of the
Diaspora. Clues in the New Testament indicate that there was a significant rift
between Paul and the Jewish leadership early in the history of the Church. It is
primarily Paul's writings which has most influenced the Church today. Christians
span the globe and are present on all the inhabited continents and in most of
the world's societies. As Christianity is a universalizing religion, it embraces
all nations and peoples. Major Teachings: Most Christian denominations and sects
teach that man is sinful and can never inherit eternal life in the presence of
God as a result of the sins of our first parents, Adam and Eve,as well as our
own personal sin.
It thus became necessary for God to become man in the person of Jesus Christ
who as the Son of God was sinless and unblemished. His purpose was to suffer and
die in atonement for the sins of all who accept his sacrifice for sin.
Individual salvation is dependent upon the acceptance of this atonement. The
Church is the Bride of Christ whose purpose is to spread this message, the
Gospel, to all people before Christ's return to the earth to rule all nations as
the heir to the throne of David. This is primary message of most Christians.
Other sects will have variations on this message, and may include many other
doctrines they find necessary to their own message or purpose. Scriptures and
Other Significant Writings:
The New Testament together with the Jewish Bible make up the canon of
Christianity. The Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox branches of
Christianity also include books in their canons that many Protestants do not,
called the Apocrypha or the Deuterocanonicals. Also important are the writings
of the early church fathers and early church councils, which established much of
the doctrine now considered dogma in the Church today. As of 1986, at least one
book of the Christian Bible has been translated into 1,848 languages of the
world. A book has been compiled by the United Bible Societies which lists
languages alphabetically, chronologically, and geographically Of the present
missionary efforts by many of Christianity's sects, biblical translation is just
one of many. Symbols: The most well known symbol of Christianity is the cross,
or crucifix, symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
An ancient symbol of Christianity is the fish formed by two intersecting
arcs. Often the Greek word for fish, IXTHYS, appears within being an acronym for
Jesus Christ God's Son. Major Divisions: The three major branches of
Christianity are Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. There
are, arguably, other sects such as Mormonism claiming this distinction due to
major departures from orthodox doctrines. Major Holy Days: Although the
differing divisions and sects of Christianity may celebrate differing holidays,
place emphasis on certain holidays rather than others, or may use a differing
calendar, the major holy days of Christianity are: Lent, Easter, Advent, and
Christmas The Details about Christianity: Christianity arose as an obscure
Jewish sect, and through the dedicated missionary efforts of such persons as the
Apostle Paul was distributed throughout the Mediterranean basin. Church
tradition suggests that each of the remaining Apostles of Jesus taught in such
diverse places as the British Isles and India. After years of official
persecution by the Roman Empire, Christianity was embraced as the state religion
by Emperor Constantine.Several important church councils were held during this
time period to decide on controversies over doctrine.
Eventually, the decisions of these councils provided guidelines to determine
orthodoxy or heresy. The many divisions and sects now found in Christianity
today has been the result of opinions which differed from the established
doctrine. The Geography of Christianity: Christianity has greatly influenced the
geography of medieval Europe, and later, the rest of the world due to
colonization and missionary efforts. Perhaps the most significant contribution
of Christianity was the reorganization of Europe from pagan bands and villages
into the centrally organized holds of feudal Europe. This reorganization was
patterned after the ecclesiastical hierarchy envisioned by the Church and set
the stage for all that was to come in the future. Monasteries were set up
throughout Europe as either destinations or as waystations for pilgrimages.
Monasteries became the repositories of civilization, learning, and often wealth.
The Church provided sanction and divine recognition for governments of the
day in the form of Divine Right. The Church was responsible for the ordination
of kings and often arbitrated disputes over territory. Until the Reformation,
the Church was a power to be reckoned with in both religious and secular
matters. Also important in the geography of Christianity is the special
distribution of the various denominations, each denomination's geographic
divisions, and what effects each denomination has upon the land. For example,
many new Protestant sects such as the Shakers experimented with new communal
living arrangements in a quest for utopia during the first part of the
nineteenth century. Although most of these efforts eventually failed, they
created intentionally designed settlements of farms and workshops expressing new
cultural and societal ideals. Roman Catholicism and Mormonism express their
ecclesiastical geography through dividing the world into a hierarchy of areas.
Catholics and many Protestant groups have missionary territories throughout the
world.
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