User:A.J.A./Tohu&Bohu/History
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[edit] History and Development
- See also: Timeline of Christianity and Early Christianity
[edit] Overview by period
[edit] Ancient
Christianity began in the mid-First Century as a movement within Judaism. Under the leadership of the Apostles Peter and Paul it welcomed Gentiles and separated from Pharisaic Judaism.[1] Some Jewish Christians rejected this approach and developed into various sects of their own, while others were joined with Gentile Christians in the development of the church. The early period was formative for Christian thought, as theologians such as Justin Martyr defended Christianity and defined nascent orthodoxy against movements like Gnosticism, Marcionism, and Ebionitism. Christianity interacted with Hellenistic culture; Greek philosophy, especially Neoplatonism, became a significant influence on Christian thought through theologians such as Origen.
Christianity spread across the Mediterranean Basin, enduring persecution by the Roman Emperors. In the 4th century, after the persecution by Emperor Diocletian, Christianity finally attained legal recognition. His successor Galerius, who had been the instigator of the persecution, issued an edict of toleration on his death-bed in 311, that however had only a temporary effect. In 312, Emperor Constantine, himself newly converted to Christianity, affirmed the religions legal status and went on to give the church a privileged place in society, which it retained apart from a brief pagan interlude 361-363 under Julian the Apostate.
Shortly after the Edict of Milan, the Arian controversy erupted. Arius and his teaching were condemned by the First Council of Nicaea, but changes in Imperial sympathies reignited the controversy and led to the multiple exiles of Athanasius of Alexandria and a series of councils which wrote some 14 creeds before the First Council of Constantinople decisively repudiated Arianism with a revision of the creed adopted at Nicea, which is still in use today (see "The Creeds", above). In 391 Theodosius I established Nicene Christianity as the official and, except for Judaism, only legal religion of the Roman Empire. Imperial authorities suppressed the old pagan cults and groups deemed heretical by the Church.
Within the Roman Empire, the Church tightened its administration along Roman lines, creating larger units presided over by Metropolits and Patriarchs. The Council of Nicea recognizes as special the Pope of Rome, the Patriarch of Alexandria and of Antioch, to which later were added the Patriarch of Constantinople (in 381) and the Patriarch of Jerusalem (in 451). This system of five sees was later dubbed the Pentarchy. The Roman Empire was linguistically divided into the Latin-speaking west, centered in Rome, and the Greek-speaking east, centered in Constantinople. (There were also significant communities in Egypt and Syria.) Outside the Empire, Christianity was adopted in Armenia, Caucasian Iberia (now Georgia), Ethiopia (Aksum), Persia, India, and among the Celtic tribes. Other earlier Christian states included the Ghassanids (from 3rd century) and Osroene.
[edit] Medieval
Theodosius I was the last ruler of a united Empire. Before his reign the Empire had already been administratively divided between Eastern and Western Emperors several times; after his death this became permantent. The Western Empire was heavily dependant on Germanic foederati tribes, and when Imperial authority weakened in the Fifth Century, they seized control of the regions were they had settled, turning the Western Empire into a patchwork of Gerrmanic kingdoms. The tribes had largely been converted to Arianism by Ulfilas, but later Trinitarianism prevailed, beginning with the Franks. From the 7th century, Christianity was challenged by Islam, which quickly conquered the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain.
The Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe generally adopted Orthodox Christianity, as in the Baptism of Kievan Rus' (988) in Rus' (present-day Russia and Ukraine). Cultural differences and disciplinary disputes finally resulted in the Great Schism (conventionally dated to 1054), which formally divided Christendom into the Catholic west and the Orthodox east.
From about 1100, medieval Western philosophy was characterized by Scholasticism, which was not a philosophy or theology in itself, but a tool and method for learning which applied dialectical reasoning to answering questions or resolving apparent contradictions between authoritative texts.
Between 1309 and 1377, seven Popes lived in Avignon rather than Rome. After the return to Rome, riots forced the election of an Italian; the majority of Cardinals then removed themselves from Rome and elected a rival pope, creating the Western Schism.
Numerous military struggles with Muslims, including the Crusades, the Spanish Reconquista and the eventual conquest of the Byzantine Empire and southeastern Europe by the Turks.
[edit] Reformation and Modern
Martin Luther published his 95 theses in 1517. This was one of the key events of the Protestant Reformation which led to the emergence of Christian denominations. During the following centuries, competition between Catholicism and Protestantism became deeply entangled with political struggles among European states, while many Orthodox Christians found themselves living under Muslim rulers.
The Roman Catholic Church managed to renew itself at the Council of Trent (1545–1563)
As the European Enlightenment took hold, Christianity was confronted with the discoveries of science (including the heliocentric model and the theory of evolution), and with the development of biblical criticism (linked to the development of Christian Fundamentalism) and modern political ideologies such as Liberalism, Nationalism and Socialism. In the 19th and 20th centuries, important developments have included the rise of Ecumenism and the Charismatic Movement.
Partly from missionary zeal, but also under the impetus of colonial expansion by the European powers, Christianity spread to the Americas, Oceania, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Christianity is the predominant religion in the Americas, Europe, Oceania, and large parts of Africa. It is also growing rapidly in Asia, particularly in China and South Korea, northern Africa and the Middle East.[2] There are conflicting reports as to the growth of Christianity today. According to the(U.S. Center for World Mission), Christianity is growing at about 2.3% annually, remaining steady with the increase in the world population. This makes Christianity the second fastest growing religion in the world. Despite this, there are other sources which suggest the contrary. [1],[2]
[edit] Branches
Divisions within Christianity have developed into denominations and church bodies, as well as a variety of related groups on the margins of the religion.
[edit] Past
A number of groups claiming the heritage of the early Jesus movement competed with the predecessors of today's Christians. Some of the earliest divisions had to do with how the Church should relate with the Old Testament, with the Ebionites holding that the laws of Moses still applied (and also denying the divinity of Christ). Marcionism, on the other hand, rejected the Old Testament altogether. Gnosticism was a family of gruops which also rejected the Old Testament for much the same reasons as Marcionism, and which in places may have outnumbered the early orthodox.
[edit] Current
The Roman Catholic Church, the largest single body, which includes several Eastern Catholic communities and totals more than 1 billion baptized members.[3] (Not part of the Catholic Church but closely related are certain smaller communities, e.g., the Old-Catholics.)
Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches (including Western Orthodox churches which preserve Latin practices while accepting Orthodox theology), with a combined membership of more than 300 million baptized members.[3]
Numerous denominations and groups such as Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed/Presbyterians, Evangelical, Charismatic, Baptists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Anabaptists, and Pentecostals. The oldest of these separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century Protestant Reformation, followed in many cases by further divisions. Some Protestants identify themselves simply as Christian, or born-again Christian. Others, particularly among Anglicans and in Neo-Lutheranism, identify themselves as being "both Catholic and Protestant". Worldwide total ranges from 592 to 650 million.[3]
Other Christian denominations and churches which distance themselves from the above classifications and some of their major beliefs claim around 275 million members. These include African indigenous churches with up to 110 million members (estimates vary widely), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also called Mormons) with more than 12 million members[4], Jehovah's Witnesses with approximately 6.6 million members[5], and the Unity Church, with approximately 2 million members.[6]. In addition to the broader denominations, break-away sects, orthodox movements within denominations and sects, and heretical movements, there is also a wide variety of extra-church groups associated with Christianity.
[edit] Art and Culture
(For the contributions of Christianity to the humanities and culture, see Christian philosophy, Christian art, Christian literature, Christian music, Christian architecture.)
[edit] Monasticism
The organization of the first Christian monastic communities is attributed to the hermit St Anthony of Egypt around 300. The monastic life spread to many parts of the Christian empire during the 4th and 5th centuries, as many felt[citation needed] that the Christian moral and spiritual life was compromised by the change from a persecuted minority group to an established majority religion, and sought to regain the purity of early faith by fleeing society.
[edit] Persecution
- Main articles: Persecution of Christians, Historical persecution by Christians
Christians have frequently suffered from persecution. During the first three centuries of its existence, Christianity was regarded with suspicion and frequently persecuted in the Roman Empire. Adherence to Christianity was declared illegal, and, especially in the 3rd century, the government demanded that their subjects (the Jews only excepted) sacrifice to the Emperor as a divinity — a practice that Christianity (along with Judaism) rejected. Persecution in the Roman Empire ended with the Edict of Milan, but it persisted or even intensified in other places, such as Sassanid Persia, and under Islam.
Christians have also been perpetrators of persecution, which has been directed against members of other religions and also against other Christians. Christian mobs, sometimes with government support, have destroyed pagan temples and oppressed adherents of paganism. Jewish communities have periodically suffered violence at Christian hands. Christian governments have suppressed or persecuted dissenting Christian denominations, and denominational strife has sometimes escalated into religious wars and inquisitions.
There was some persecution of Christians after the French Revolution during the attempted Dechristianisation of France.
State restrictions on Christian practices today are generally associated with those authoritarian governments which either support a majority religion other than Christianity (as in Muslim states), or tolerate only churches under government supervision, sometimes while officially promoting state atheism (as in North Korea). For example, the People's Republic of China allows only government-regulated churches and has regularly suppressed house churches or underground Catholics. The public practice of Christianity is outlawed in Saudi Arabia. On a smaller scale, Greek and Russian governmental restrictions on non-Orthodox religious activity occur today.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedsect1 - ^ Growth of Christianity in China: WorthyNews.com, AmityNewsService.org; Growth in South Korea: LutherProductions.com, Xhist.com; Growth in northern Africa: FaithFreedom.org ; Niall Ferguson (2005). Colossus:The Rise and Fall of the American Empire. Penguin Books, p. 22. ISBN 0-14-101700-7.
- ^ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedAdherents - ^ Christianity (2005) Adherents.com.
- ^ Witness Membership 2005.
- ^ http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_653.html
