Christianity is the world’s largest religion with around 2.3 billion followers [PewForum]. Christianity is based on Jesus from the life and teachings of Nazareth, which is described in the New Testament, the second part of the Bible . In Christianity, Jesus is considered the Son of God.
Jesus Messiah = Jesus Christ
Christianity originated in Judea (modern-day Israel and Palestine ) about two thousand years ago. The area was at this time occupied by the Romans and the Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah to come and help them.
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The Jews considered the Messiah to be a good ruler sent by God to bring peace and happiness to the Jewish people. But the Messiah would not be divine, but a human being like everyone else. With God’s help, the Messiah would free Judea from Roman oppression.
The origin of Christianity
Around the year 33, a Jewish man was crucified and buried in Jerusalem . He was known as Jesus of Nazareth. Shortly thereafter, stubborn rumors began to circulate that Jesus was not dead. It was whispered that he had risen from the dead. Several witnesses claimed to have met him and stubbornly testified that he was alive. The Jesus whom the Romans had crucified must therefore be the Messiah – “the one chosen by God” – whom the prophets had promised God to send to save his people (the Jews ).
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Some time after Jesus’ death , when his followers were gathered, God suddenly appeared to them. The experience became so powerful that those present became convinced that Jesus was alive and had returned to Earth. It is from this event – which took place fifty days after Easter – that the Pentecostal celebration of Christianity originates (“Pentecost” means the fiftieth).
Jesus’ resurrection was crucial to the preservation and development of the Christian faith . “Unless Christ is risen, our message and faith are meaningless,” explained Paul, who eventually became one of the new apostles (missionaries, sent by God) and author of the new religion (he wrote, among other things, 13 letters included in the New Testament ).
Persecution of Christians
From the beginning, Christians were allowed to spread their teachings freely in the Roman Empire . But as more and more people converted to Christianity , Roman government began to see the new doctrine as a threat to their authority. The Roman Empire was difficult enough to hold together as it was, without the emperor having to compete with a popular Messianic figure who constantly won new followers. A new law was therefore introduced, requiring all citizens of the Roman Empire to profess that the Roman emperor was their master and “god “.
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For the Christians it was impossible to confess that the emperor was their kyrios (Greek word for lord / God). They firmly claimed that there was only one kyrios and that was Jesus.
This is how the first persecutions of Christians began in the Roman Empire. Thus, the Christians could no longer openly confess their faith but were now forced to meet in secret. The safest thing was to stay hidden. Many Christians in Rome therefore fled down into the city’s catacombs (Rome’s underground passages with cemeteries) where they could keep their meetings hidden from the outside world.
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To show their belonging – who was a friend and who was an enemy – a symbolic language was developed. An early sign of belonging to Christ was the fish. Where this sign was encountered, there were other Christians.
Christianity becomes the Roman state religion
Christianity was spread by missionaries such as Paul and Peter over large parts of the Roman Empire. In the Christian church, everyone was welcome, which meant that many women, poor men and slaves were addressed by the Christian doctrine that promised a better life after death. In the early 300’s, about 15% of the Roman Empire’s population was Christian.
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In 313, Emperor Constantine decided that Christianity should be allowed in the Roman Empire and that Christians should no longer be persecuted. He also helped the Christians and built, among other things, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
At the end of the 4th century, another emperor decided that Christianity would henceforth become the Roman state religion and thus the only religion permitted in the Roman Empire. The city of Rome now became the capital of all Christianity.
In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into the Western Roman and the Eastern Roman Empire . The eastern part eventually formed a special church called the Orthodox , the other part became the Catholic Church (the general church). One reason for the split was that Christians in the East did not want to recognize the bishop of Rome as pope and leader of all Christians.
By the time the Western Roman Empire collapsed at the end of the fourth century, Christian doctrine had become widespread in large parts of Europe. The Christian faith therefore remained, even after the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. Christianity then came to make a strong mark on the Middle Ages that followed the downfall of the Roman Empire.
The church during the Middle Ages
In 529, the church closed Plato’s academy in Athens . The church now put the lid on the philosophical heritage of ancient Greece . In Italy, founded the same year the Benedictine who was the first of the great monastic orders that arose in the Middle Ages.
The church had enormous ideological power during the Middle Ages and largely controlled people’s lives and ways of thinking. The Church taught that life on earth, here and now, had little meaning. Instead, it was life after this that was most important. All that was done in mortality was preparation for the coming eternal life after death.
Man was described as full of sin, but he could be saved by God’s grace. To receive God’s grace, one had to obey the church and correct oneself in the fold. All schooling took place under Christian auspices.
Basic Beliefs of Christianity Religion
The Christian doctrine
The Christian churches differ in many ways in terms of organization, form of worship, ritual details, decorations, rules and so on. On the other hand, the very teachings and beliefs of Jesus are largely the same in all Christian denominations.
Common in the Christian faith is, among other things, the creed which is a summary of what the Bible says. The creed is read every Sunday by priests in thousands of churches around the world.
Christians believe in a triune God . By that is meant that it only exists one God, but who appears in three different figures or beings: the Father, the Son and as the Holy Spirit.
God the Father : The first part of the creed says that we believe in God who created the world. Even if no one knows what God looks like, the power of God is everywhere. God has a special meaning for human beings and cares for every human being. Humans are the most important in God’s creation. She is the image of God.
Jesus the Son the Savior : The second part of the Creed is about the man of God Jesus Christ who in the Bible is called the Son of God. Jesus died on a cross so that people would be forgiven of their sins. Through his death on the cross, Jesus took on all the sins of men and saved (saved / cleansed) us all from sin and eternal punishment. According to Christianity, life after death exists. One day he will return, and then all the dead will rise. Life then continues in the kingdom of God where everyone receives eternal life.
Holy Spirit : The third part of the Creed tells about the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, God is present everywhere and helps us humans. The Holy Spirit can be likened to the air – it is not visible but exists.
The Bible is the holy scripture of Christianity
All Christians agree that the Bible is the most important Christian book. The Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Old Testament texts already existed in Jesus’ day. It is really the Bible of Judaism . When Jesus spoke of the scriptures, he meant the Jewish Bible that he learned to read and love. The Old Testament describes, among other things, the covenants (agreements) that the Jews made with God in ancient times . The Old Testament 39 books are about creation, Jewish history and religion. Therefore, these books are the sacred writings of Judaism.
The 27 books of the New Testament contain writings about the life of Jesus, stories about how the church began, and letters from Paul and others. The New Testament is the most important scripture in Christianity. What is written in the New Testament is about how God has saved all people and given them the opportunity for eternal life. God has done this by sending Jesus to earth where he, with his life, his death and his resurrection, has defeated death. In the New Testament, Jesus is described as the Messiah (“the elect”) that the Old Testament speaks of.
In Christian tradition, the Bible is generally considered to be the word of God. Some believe that everything in the Bible is true, such as that the world was created in six days and that God rested on the seventh. People who believe in this way are usually called literalists or fundamentalists. Most Christians do not believe that every event is necessarily completely true. Instead, they try to interpret the message of the text.
The forgiveness and salvation of sins
Baptism: The practice of baptism dates back to the time of Jesus and the first Christians . Baptism is a symbol of death (from the old life) and resurrection (to the life with Christ). It is often said that the one who is baptized is admitted into the Christian congregation. According to the Christian faith, man is cleansed from sin through baptism. Before baptism, the child is in the power of evil. Through baptism the child is liberated and comes under the protection of God.
Communion: Most congregations celebrate the Holy Communion. At communion, the believer receives bread and wine from the priest. In some communities you only get bread. The Lord’s Supper can be interpreted in different ways. Some Christians believe that the bread and wine are transformed during the Mass and become the body and blood of Christ. Others do not see it that way, but instead believe that the Lord’s Supper helps the believer to remember the story of Jesus’ shared bread and wine with his disciples at the Passover meal.
Salvation: The word salvation means salvation. A Christian believes that Jesus is the Savior God sent to the world. According to the Christian faith, there is no other way to salvation than through Jesus. In the Bible, Jesus says of himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Christianity is growing and spreading
Initially , Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire. But Christianity’s message of a better life after death attracted many poor and oppressed people to join the new religion.
By the early 300’s, about 15 percent of the inhabitants of the Roman Empire had become Christians. But the great spread did not take place until the 390s when Christianity was made the state religion throughout the Roman Empire. Now the Christians no longer needed to gather in secret and one could start building churches.
In time, the bishop of Rome became the leader of the Church. He was later called a pope.
The church is divided
In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into the Western Roman and the Eastern Roman Empire . The eastern part eventually formed a special church called the Orthodox, the other part became the Catholic Church (the general church). One reason for the split was that Christians in the East did not want to recognize the bishop of Rome as pope and leader ofall kristna.
Later in the 16th century – during the so-called Reformation – the next major break in Christianity occurred when the Protestant Church broke away , or was shut out, from the Catholic Church.
The three main Churches of Christianity
As we have seen, originally only existed one church, the Catholic Church, but since then two more major denominations have emerged in Christianity – the Orthodox Churches and the Protestant Churches.
The Catholic Church:
There are about 1.2 billion Catholics around the world. This means that Catholicism is the world’s largest church.
More than half of all Catholics live in Latin America. Less than a third are in Europe. In Sweden, there are about 200,000 Catholics.
The word Catholic means all-encompassing or general. This means that the church is open toallpeople. In other churches, the Roman Catholic Church is most often said to be governed by the Vatican City State in Rome.
The pope is the bishop of Rome and at the same time the head of the church. According to the Catholic view, the office of pope goes back to the apostle Peter, whom Jesus appointed the leader of the early Christians .
In Catholicism, the pope is considered Jesus’ deputy on earth.
The Orthodox Churches:
The Orthodox Church has no common leader or organization. Therefore, each orthodox country has its own church. Together, the Orthodox Churches have between 150 and 200 million followers.
The largest Orthodox churches are in Eastern Europe, such as Greece . The largest church is the Russian Orthodox Church.
Each church is independent, but the patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul) is the foremost of the leaders of the various churches.
In Sweden, there are about 100,000 members in the Orthodox Church.
The Protestant churches:
In the early 16th century, the German monk Martin Luther protested against everything he thought was wrong within the Catholic Church. Luther believed that one should obey the Bible instead of obeying everything the pope said. The pope became furious with Luther and tried to exclude him from the church ( ban him). But it did not succeed. Many instead stopped obeying the pope and in that way a new church was formed, the Evangelical Lutheran. Luther’s followers were also called Protestants . Luther’s Church is now found in Germany and the Nordic countries , among other places .
In Switzerland , the strict Frenchman Calvin protested in a similar way as Luther had done in Germany. This led to the formation of Calvinist or Reformed churches. They are found in Switzerland, Scotland, the Netherlands and the USA , among others .
In England , the Anglican Church arose, which is a mixture of Protestant and Catholic.
Questions to the text:
- How many Christians are there in the world?
- What did the Jews want the Messiah to do?
- Why were the Jews disappointed in Jesus?
- What did the early Christians think of Jesus?
- How did the name Jesus Christ come about?
- When did Christianity become a major religion?
- Mention some facts about the Pope in Rome.
- In which two parts was the Christian church split from the beginning? State a reason for this split.
- Where are the Orthodox Churches?
- Mention some facts about the Catholic Church.
- What did Luther think of the Catholic Church?
- About where in the world are the Protestant churches?