Portal:Christianity/Intro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. It has an estimated 2.1 billion adherents, or about one-third of the total world population.
It shares with Judaism the Hebrew Scriptures (called the Old Testament by Christians), and is sometimes called an Abrahamic religion, along with Judaism and Islam.
In the Bible, the names "Christian" and hence "Christianity" are first attested in Acts 11:26: "For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch Jesus' disciples were first called Christians" (Gr. χριστιανοί, from Christ Gr. Χριστός, which means "the anointed").
Within Christianity, numerous distinct groups have developed, with diverse beliefs that vary widely by culture and location. Since the East-West Schism and Protestant Reformation, Christianity is generally considered as being divided into three main branches; namely Catholicism (including a worldwide Latin Rite congregation exceeding 1 billion, as well as several Eastern Catholic Churches that have re-entered full communion with the Pope), the Orthodox churches with an estimated 350 million members, and various Protestant denominations. There are also various distinct churches separating themselves from such classification, including African indigenous churches, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also called Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses, Quakers and other groups. Collectively, the various denominations and groups form the largest religion on Earth.
