Christianity

Doctrines

Because of the great diversity which one can observe in the beliefs and practical Christian in the wire of the centuries and around the world, it is difficult to give a synthetic vision of the Christian faith and its doctrines. However certain elements of homogeneity exist.

God itself which incarnates and releases humanity.

The Christian liturgy concentrates on preaching and the Holy-Cène Eucharistie or . For the catholics, Jesus-Christ is really present in Eucharistie. These doctrines lead towards the eucharistic Adoration. -->

Jesus-Christ

Jesus-Christ as a central figure of the beliefs is one of these elements of homogeneity. Indeed, without forgetting that very large divergences can exist in their interpretations of its lesson and those to draw from its existence, the Christians have all as a common point to take the life of Jesus and his sacrifice in example. The base of the Christian religion is the faith in the Résurrection of Jesus-Christ, and this same if all the Christians do not agree on the same significance of the resurrection term. ,

As one of the oldest texts of New Testament proclaims it, the Kerygme of the letter of Paul saint to the Corinthians: If Christ is not ressuscity, our preaching is empty and empty also your faith (1 Co 15; 14). The Christians specified this faith little by little by joining together some the principal elements in the Credo of Nicée-Constantinople, also called " Symbol of the Apostles " :

It has there only a single God (Monothéisme) and Creator;
Jesus-Christ is her Only son, he suffered, died and ressuscity, he is assembled to the skies to judge the alive ones and deaths.

The expression of " Unique" wire; , expressed in the light of knowledge of the time, does not speak about a biological filiation but must be heard in the continuity of the biblical tradition (cf affirming Jesus: " I did not come to abolish the Law but to achieve it pleinement"). The Christians proclaim that God appears in a single way as a Jesus-Christ;

the the Holy Spirit intercedes for the men;
Jesus-Christ instituted a Church on ground;

From there the dogma rises from the Trinité: single God appears in three people, Père, Fils and the Holy Spirit. Triple invocation of the baptism (" in the name of the Father, of the Son and Saint-Esprit" , cf end of the Gospel of Matthieu, whose exégètes stress that it is about a baptismal formula from of use as of the 2nd century) will be conceptualized in the form of the dogma of the Trinité at the time of large the Concile S of the 4th century.

With this profession of faith, the first Christians proclaim very early that Jesus was the Messie announced by the prophets (cf speech of Pierre in ac 2), from which rises the term Jesus-Christ (the Messiah , or christos in Greek, which is that received holy oil; from there the denomination comes from Christian ).

Jesus is regarded as true God and true man by the majority of the Christians. This belief does not characterize all the Christians and, for those which adhere to it, the methods of it are different according to whether they assert Églises of the two councils, 3 councils, 7 councils. These doctrines spent time to be essential, from where the subsistence of Christians anti trinitaires called unitarian divided within various churches which refute the Trinity.

The problem of historicity

It is difficult to make a historical reading of the new will, and this for several reasons: it is above all the testimonys written by believers who retranscribe their experiment, and not a relation of historical facts (what does not prevent from regarding them as first hand historical testimonys). In addition, it would be necessary to be able to compare these texts with other accounts reporting the same facts; however, there are very few precise sources written, apart from the Gospels, on the life of Jesus. Nonbiblical texts mention of the presence of Jesus and the controversies which it caused within the Jewish people, but nothing enough complete to allow a real confrontation with the contents of the Gospels.

One regards as minor the possible modifications, volunteers or involuntary, due to the translations. The First Will gives an good example of this respect of the crowned texts. One can quote the case of the manuscript of Isaïe found in Qumran close to the Dead Sea, contemporary of Jesus, and who shows that the later retranscription was of a great fidelity. One however finds additions and Glose S, whose study constitutes a discipline of the biblical Exégèse: the textual Critical .

The historian has in all the cases little material to put forth a judgment in a direction or the other on the contents of much of biblical accounts. Very few historical traces, and nothing archaeological, of the existence of Jesus is known. This absence of traces, in particular in the authors of the turning of 19th and 20th century, very prolix in addition, is, for certain, a proof of the inexistence of Christ

The Old one and New Testament

With the Writings resulting from the Judaïsme, which correspond so that the Christians name the Old Testament , the tradition of the first centuries of Christianity associated the New Testament . One often employs name “First” Will instead of Old, to mean that New Testament does not come to replace the “Old one” but to achieve it. The Old one and New Testament is joined together in the Christian Bible.

New Testament is composed of four Gospel S (according to Matthieu, Marc, Luc and Jean), of the Acts of the Apôtre S, the Epistles and the Apocalypse. It is considered that the drafting of these texts extends from second half of the 1st century until the beginning of the second. The oldest manuscripts go back to the 4th century of our era.

One calls “synoptic Gospels” the Gospels of Matthieu, Marc and Luc, which are built on the same plan; the Gospel of Jean remains separately.

The epistles of Paul de Tarse seem to be oldest (one dates the first of them, the epistle in Thessaloniciens, of the Fifty approximately); this anteriority gives to Paul a particular place in Christianity, some regarding it as the true founder of the religion and putting forward its competition with Pierre.

Is the Gospel of Marc generally regarded as that which was written in first (about year 65?), and one of the sources would constitute having been used to write two the other synoptic ones. Then the other Gospels (Matthieu would come, about year 70; Luc perhaps in the Eighties; Jean after 90). The Gospels were written on the basis of of traditions and older documents, undoubtedly circulating in oral form. Their drafting is contemporary disappearance of the direct witnesses of the life of Jesus, and proclamation the will to preserve the essence of their preaching.

The Acts of the Apôtre S are the second part of the Gospel of Luc. The Apocalypse and the Letter with the Hebrews seem to be the most recent texts (any end of). D´après its style, one supposes that l´apôtre Paul would be l autor of l´épitre to the Hebrews.

The gun thus made up (together of the officially recognized texts) draws aside the texts known as apocryphal book S. the existence of the apocryphal book S reveals that New Testament, such as we know it today, is the fruit of a choice among a multiplicity of documents testifying to the life and the preaching of Jesus, as well as life of the primitive Church. This choice was carried out during the history, according to what then appeared probable, according to the seniority of the tradition to which these texts were attached, but also according to the convictions of the Christian communities. New Testament, like whole of the Bible, is thus a testimony of the faith of these communities before being a historical account.

The Church and baptism

The resurrection of Jesus already took place; it is the beginning of a new time of the history, the achievement of times, at the end which all the human ones will know them also resurrection. Since Jesus, God wants to create a Église, not limited to the only Jews. Whereas Jesus is the Son of God, the other men are it by adoption. (note: of another passages mention Jesus like " Wire of Homme" , that is to say the reality which the man is judicious to incarnate during his life. Jesus is indeed Sons of God and Sons of man, in the sense that it makes the will of God, and that to be that is the result of work, the fruit, the life of a man.)

It is the Foi as a Jesus-Christ and the acceptance of the work of redemption that it achieved which defines this family, and not the practice of the mosaic Loi or the religious doctrines: " only one Lord, only one faith, only one baptism, only one Dieu'" proclaim the letter in Éphésiens (Ep 4,5). One becomes Christian by the Sacrement baptism, which one receives only once even if Church is changed but this point of view is not shared by all: baptism representing, then, the public confession of conversion.

History of Christianity

A religion resulting from the Judaism

For the Gospels, Jesus “did not come to abolish, but achieve” the Writings. The prospect jésuanienne is thus that of an achievement of the Jewish faith, in an interpretation particular to Jesus himself, and not the creation of a new religion: Jesus, the apostles, the Blessed Virgin, all the primitive group was Jewish. This prospect is found in many sentences of Jesus reported by the Gospels; thus, instructions given to the disciples to address " with the lost ewes of Israël" , and not with the pagan ones.

Christianity began again, in a more or less important way according to its currents, several elements present in the Judaism of the period following the destruction of the second Temple, such as:

the adaptation of the form of the Worship synagogal to the churches of parishes, (the worship synagogal was already present in Galileo);
the use of the whole of the biblical texts, the first of which the Jewish Psalms, resulting from the book of the Praises; these texts can be read on variable cycles, being able to reach up to three years for the Catholic church;
a religious calendar, partially mobile, in which certain notable events or certain points of Faith give place to annual celebrations;
the use of Song S and Anthem S in the Prayer;
in the Community celebrations and meetings, the use of certain words coming from biblical Hebrew (for example: Amen, Hosanna, Alleluia).

It is allowed today that the dividing line between the Christians and the Jews passes by the recognition or not of the Messiah in the person of Jesus-Christ. This difference in opinion finds its origin in interpretations different from various passages of the Old Testament or Tanakh.

primitive Christianity

Christianity developed as from the 1st century in the context of the Jewish communities of the the Middle East and in particular the hellenized Jewish communities. The name “Christianity” comes from the word Christos , which translates the Hebrew Messie (“that which received oiling”). This word, originally applied to various characters of the Bible (prophets and kings), designates in the late Judaism a character who will come at the end them time to restore the royalty of God in Israel. It, since, quasi-exclusivement is quasi-exclusivement reserved for Jesus.

Jesus is the base of Christianity, but he is not necessarily the founder with the historical direction: the debate is still open on the founder of Christianity " Paul or Jésus" , from a theological point of view; but especially, from a historical point of view, Christianity is not born from alive from Jesus. Two schools divide each one a consensus: Christianity is born with the introduction from Birkat-ha-Minim into the Amidah (blessing 12). For others, Christianity starts with dogmatization Des.

See also: old Christianity

L´expansion of primitive Christianity

The Christians, initially small minority disciple of Jesus, spread themselves especially in the Roman west of l´Empire in occident, while resting on the preexistent Jewish colonies of the Empire. With, the Christians in Occident are far from numerous. They enlarge the community of already important Alexandria, and settle in North Africa, as far as Spain and a Gaulle.

In the Roman Empire, the authorities do not make a very clear difference between Jews and Christians, who are perceived only like one sect Jewish, so much so that one could revise the atrocities allotted to Néron

the conversion of Constantin and the christianization of the Empire romain. With conversion with the Christianity of the emperor Constantin, persecutions against the Christians s´arrêtèrent. Towards the end of the 4th century, Catholicism becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire, thus replacing the ancient Roman worship and turning over persecution. This date marks symbolically the beginning of the Chrétienté : period of the history of Europe where Christianity is the only allowed religion insofar as he persecutes the others (since Justinien), and initially its own dissidents then the Judaïsme.

This victory over the " paganisme" antique was accompanied by a reinterpretation of philosophy, in particular that of Plato, in the direction of the new religion, and the use of many mythical reasons for the old world for the inculturation of Christianity in the respect of the apostolic tradition.

Expansion of Christianity in the world

Starting from the discovery of America by Europeans in 1492, the expansion of Christianity was parallel to the colonial expansion. The activity of mission was often regarded by the colonial powers as an instrument making it possible to introduce the Western interests, to even legitimate political or military interventions. But this cohabitation did not go without clashes, the Church running up against face directly the colonial interests when she affirms that the dignity of the man must be defended (as in famous the Controverse of Valladolid). In Martinique, the pious hearts had to fight to obtain that the helps of the religion are brought to the slaves.

The Indian or African rites were not officially any more tolerated, but the Candomblé and many voodoo cults testify to a syncretism and perduration to the African or Indian worships. Specifically, the Indian christologies testify that these worships never disappeared. Today the Christian religion is the most widespread religion in the world.

Christian Churches

There exist three kinds of Christian churches: catholics, the orthodoxe ones and Protestants the word " chrétien" is not the word used usually by New Testament to designate the disciples of Jesus. Those are called, or are called, " Voie" , " Église" , " Églises" or " the Nazaréens " (of the name of Nazareth, the town of origin of Jesus). The book of the Acts of the Apostles teaches us that it is in Antioche, therefore in a town of Greek language, that one gave for the first time to the disciples the name of " chrétiens". Undoubtedly this name it was used for the origin only to indicate those of the disciples of Jesus who were of Greek language (" chrétien" mean " disciple of the christos " , Greek term are equivalent to Messie ).

In the first century of Christianity, the preaching of Jesus was received in an appreciably different way according to the cultures and the communities. An echo of these differences is perceived in the texts of the New Testament and the diversity of their presentations of this preaching. The divergences are more important still when one takes into account the abundant literature known as apocryphal book, in which reflect the convictions of Churches which one lost the memory today.

These differences in comprehension of preaching and the person of Jesus were at the origin of internal conflicts to the Christianity and the creation of many Hérésie S, each local Church regarding as heretics the traditions and the dogmas retained by the others but that it rejected. The need for getting along on a common language on God and Jesus thus appeared very early, from where the practice of the " letters of communion" , letters delivered by a Church to ensure that one of its members on a journey is well in the communion of all the Church.

The dialog between Christians and Jews

The first Christian Schisme is in a direction the separation of with the Judaïsme, with the Concile of Jerusalem, about year 50.

From the catholic point of view since the Vatican II, which is based on the néo-testamentary literature (thus the Letter with the Romans), the first Alliance remains valid.

This attitude is that of the majority of the Churches resulting from the Reform. Some Protestant denominations, among more fundamentalist, still consider the need for converting the Jews.

Pre-chalcédoniennes Churches

With peace constantinienne and the access to the Christian worship among the recognized worships of the Empire, the political power took the initiative to bring together assemblies of bishop S (Concile S) to settle the disagreements. When the majority of the bishop S agreed on a point, the minority bishop S inevitably did not choose to adopt the formulation selected. Thus were born, after the Council of Chalcédoine (451) (see the article Christologie), Churches known as pre-chalcédoniennes or monophysites; among them: the Chaldéen S, the Syro-Hefty fellow S of India, the Nestoriens.

The separation of the East and the Occident

The fall of the Roman Empire of Occident, then the progressive conquest of the oriental party of the Empire by the Moslems, had as a result to divide the two parts of the Mediterranean basin. One often appoints the date of 1054 like that of the separation of the Churches; reality was more moderate, the Excommunication reciprocal impetus then by the Pape of Rome and the patriarch of Constantinople falling under a long succession of conflicts. The rupture in fact was consumed at the 13th century when the Crusaders " latins" plundered Constantinople and deposited the patriarch. An attempt at union to the Council of Florence at the 15th century did not have a result. The occupation of Constantinople by the Turks worsened the cultural ditch which had settled between the Churches, Catholique S on a side, orthodoxe S of the other.

The difference between catholics and orthodoxe relates to especially the organization of the Church, the orthodoxe ones not recognizing the authority of the pope on the whole of the Church.

Churches resulting from the Reform

The current Protesting has its origin in the Réforme founded by Martin Luther at the beginning of the 16th century, a former monk revolted by the abuses the Church and proposing a reinterpretation of the Christian faith. This current gave rise to many Église S: to see the diagram of the Branches of Christianity proposed in complement of this chapter.

Other Churches

The other Christian Churches were born at the 19th century in the United States (see Branches of Christianity). Several of them do not take part in the World Council of Churches. These Churches are indexed at the end of the article (see Summary tables).

The oecumenical dialog

The unionistic version of oecumenism is the will to build a single Church. It was a time the thought of the archbishop of Upssala Nathan Söderblom But It was initially the need for a better co-operation between the biblical companies Protesting are which brought, at the end of the 19th century, the first attempts at interdenominational dialog. In 1948, these dialogs gave rise to the World Council of Churches (COE).

Summary tables

See also: Branches of Christianity

the old Christianity (before the schism of 1054).

the Roman Catholicism, (after the schism of 1054):

the Orthodoxy or orthodoxe Christianity:

orthodoxe Church;
Churches of the seven councils, (after the schism of 1054).

Eastern Christianity:

the Protestantism born from the Reform of the 16th century:

Churches and movements born in the United States at the 19th century which is not regarded as Christians by the World Council of Churches:

the Church of Jesus-Christ of the Saints of the Last Days, organized by Joseph Smith in 1830.
the Christian Science.
the apostolic movement of which the apostolic Catholic church, néo-apostolic Church, the Union of the apostolic communities.
Pilot of Jéhovah under the impulse of Charles Taze Russell at the end of the 19th century.

See too

Christianity|Christianity

General information:

Religion,
History of Christianity
Branches of the Christianity

World Council of Churches
Origins of Christianity
Searches of the historical Jesus
Thesis mythist (nonhistorical Jesus)
Prophecies on the Messiah
Jesus de Nazareth
twelve Apostle S
Gate Christians of the East
Nontrinitarisme
Antichristianisme
Christian Vision of homosexuality
list of converts to Christianity
late Antiquity

External bonds

catholic Gate
Protestants.org
Orthodoxie.com
international Christian Gate 3500 catholic, orthodoxe and Protestant bonds
the complete text of the French Bible
Christian Documentations containing of the biblical studies, the reflections, oecumenical etc Site.
the black page of Christianity criticizes Christian religion in the form of a chronology which rescense in a nonexhaustive way its crimes and misdeeds, by atheistic Enrico Riboni convinced and rationalist militant.

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