Christianity

Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament. It is the world’s largest religion with about 2.4 billion followers.

 

Christianity remains culturally diverse in its Western and Eastern branches, as well as in its doctrines concerning justification and the nature of salvation, ecclesiology, ordination, and Christology. Their creeds generally hold in common Jesus as the Son of God—the logos incarnated—who ministered, suffered, and died on a cross, but rose from the dead for the salvation of mankind; as referred to as the gospel, meaning the “good news“, in the Bible (scripture). Describing Jesus’ life and teachings are the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John with the Jewish Old Testament as the gospel’s respected background.

Main articles

History of Christianity

Christian theology

Wisdom in Christianity

Faith in Christianity

Sin and Salvation

Death and afterlife

Eschatology

God in Christianity

Symbols

Trinity

God as Trinity

God the Father

God the Son

God the Holy Spirit

Son of God

History of Trinity

Trinity in Scripture

Trinity related issues

Non-Christian Views of the Trinity

Jesus

From birth to the Passion

The Passion

Resurrection and Ascension

Coming of Jesus (End Time)

Perspectives

Depictions of Jesus

Associated relics

FAQ about Jesus

Practices

Christian practices

Prayer

Worship Eucharist Celebration Of The Eucharist

Celebration Of The Eucharist

Celebrated days

Worship

Christianity’s Religious Texts

Holy Bible Bible Catholic Christian Religion Faith

The Holy Bible

The Bible

Old Testament articles

New Testament

Old Testament

Doctrines and laws

Branches of Christianity

Catholic denominational families

Catholicism

Nature of God

Catholic belief

Saints and devotions

Virgin Mary

Sacraments

Liturgy

Catholic denominations

Prayers

History

Arms of Vatican City State

Arms of Vatican City State

Organisation

Catholic Spirituality

More on Catholicism

Eastern denominational families

Eastern Christianity

Spirituality in Eastern Christianity

Role of Christians in the Islamic culture

See also: Christian influences in Islam

Protestant denominational families

What is Protestantism?

History of Protestantism?

Protestant denominations

Nontrinitarian denominational families

Main articles

Traditional Christian groups

Modern Christian groups

Mormonism

Christianity and other beliefs

Influence on western culture

Criticism, persecution, and apologetics

Christianity and society

Trinity Symbol For God Union Father Son And Spirit

Outline Of Christian Theology

Outline Of Christian Theology The following outline of Christian Theology is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Christianity: Christian theology is the study of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and the New Testament as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rational analysis, and argument. Theology might...

A Bible open to the Book of Isaiah

New Covenant Theology

New Covenant Theology New Covenant theology (or NCT) is a Christian theological position teaching that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the central focus of the Bible. One distinctive assertion of this school of thought is that Old Testament Laws have been abrogated or canceled with Jesus’ crucifixion, and replaced with the Law of Christ of the New Covenant. It...

Trinity Monastery in Chernihiv, Ukraine, was founded in the 11th century.

Ascetical Theology

Ascetical Theology Ascetical theology is the organized study or presentation of spiritual teachings found in Christian Scripture and the Church Fathers that help the faithful to more perfectly follow Christ and attain Christian perfection. Christian asceticism is commonly thought to imply self-denial for a spiritual purpose. The term ascetical theology is used primarily in Roman Catholic theology; Eastern Orthodox theology carries its own distinct...

Monk Coat Black Wind Solitude Plain

Prayer, Meditation And Contemplation In Christianity

Prayer, Meditation, And Contemplation In Christianity This article covers prayer, meditation, and contemplation in Christianity. Prayer has been an essential part of Christianity since its earliest days. Prayer is an integral element of the Christian faith and permeates all forms of Christian worship. Prayer in Christianity is the tradition of communicating with God, either in...

Constantinopolis

Church Architecture

Church Architecture Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of churches, convents, seminaries etc. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by borrowing other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions. From the birth of Christianity to the present, the most significant objects...

Fourth-century Christian burial depicted in relief at the Shrine of San Vittore in ciel d'oro, Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, Milan.

Christian Burial

Christian Burial A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with specifically Christian rites; typically, in consecrated ground. Until recent times Christians generally objected to cremation because it interfered with the concept of the resurrection of a corpse, and practiced inhumation almost exclusively. Today this opposition has all but vanished among Protestants and Catholics alike, and this is rapidly becoming...

Jesus Christ God Holy Spirit Bible Gospel

Christianity Explained

Christianity Explained In the following article an account is given of Christianity as a religion, describing its origin, its relation to other religions, its essential nature and chief characteristics, but not dealing with its doctrines in detail nor its history as a visible organization. These and other aspects of this...

Religion, Jesus, Baptism, Faith, Fish, Wave, CrossReligion Jesus Baptism Faith Fish Wave Cross

Outline Of Protestantism

Outline Of Protestantism The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Protestantism. Protestantism – a form of Christian faith and practice which arose out of the Protestant Reformation, a movement against what the Protestants considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the...

Fresco by Fra Angelico, San Marco, Florence, 1437–1446

Great Apostasy

Great Apostasy The Great Apostasy is a concept within Christianity, identifiable at least from the time of the Reformation, to describe a perception that the early apostolic Church has fallen away from the original faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through his twelve Apostles. Protestants used the term to describe the perceived fallen state of traditional...

Solus Christus

Solus Christus

Solus Christus Solus Christus or In Christo solo (Latin in + ablative, sōlō Christō, meaning “in Christ alone”) is one of the five solae that summarize the Protestant Reformers‘ basic belief that salvation is by faith in Christ alone. Doctrine Through the atoning work of Jesus Christ alone, apart from individual works, Christ is the only mediator between God and man. It holds that...

Soli Deo Gloria

Soli Deo Gloria

Soli Deo Gloria Soli Deo gloria is a Latin term for Glory to God alone. It has been used by artists like Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Christoph Graupner to signify that the work was produced for the sake of praising God. The phrase has become one of the five solae propounded to summarise the Reformers’ basic beliefs...

Sola Gratia

Sola Gratia

Sola Gratia Sola gratia, meaning by grace alone, is one of the five solae and consists of the belief that salvation comes by divine grace or “unmerited favor” only, not as something earned or deserved by the sinner. It is a Christian theological doctrine held by some Protestant Christian denominations, in particular, the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism propounded to summarise the Protestant Reformers’...

Opheusden Restored Reformed Congregation

Reformed Fundamentalism

Reformed Fundamentalism Reformed fundamentalism (fundamentalist Calvinism) arose in some conservative Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Reformed Anglican, Reformed Baptist, and other Reformed churches, which agreed with the motives and aims of broader evangelical Protestant fundamentalism. The reactionary movement was and is defined by a rejection of liberal and modernist theology, the publication (1905-1915) and legacy of The Fundamentals, and the intent to progress...

Regal organ made in 1988 based on an instrument made c. 1600. From the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

Pietism

Pietism Pietism (also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a vigorous Christian life. It is also related to its non-Lutheran (but largely Lutheran-descended) Radical Pietism offshoot that either diversified or spread into various denominations or traditions, and has also had a...

A Plymouth Brethren chapel in Broadbridge Heath, West Sussex, England.

Plymouth Brethren

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes sola scriptura, the belief that the Bible is the supreme authority for church doctrine and practice, over and above any other...

World Religions Symbols Places Of Worship

Seventh-day Adventist Interfaith Relations

Seventh-day Adventist Interfaith Relations This article describes the relationship between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and other Christian denominations and movements, and other religions. Adventists resist the movement which advocates their full ecumenical integration into other churches, because they believe that such a transition would force them to renounce their foundational beliefs and endanger the...

Christian Church Seventh-Day Adventist Faith Jesus

Seventh-day Adventist Theology

Seventh-day Adventist Theology The theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church resembles that of Protestant Christianity, combining elements from Lutheran, Wesleyan-Arminian, and Anabaptist branches of Protestantism. Adventists believe in the infallibility of Scripture and teach that salvation comes from grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The 28 fundamental beliefs constitute the church’s official doctrinal position. There are...

Christ Church Cathedral Gothic Building

Anglo-Catholicism

Anglo-Catholicism Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglicanism already existed. Particularly influential in the history of Anglo-Catholicism were the Caroline Divines of the 17th century, the...

The Protestants from the Tyrolean Zillertal valley who had to leave their home in 1837

Anti-Protestantism

Anti-Protestantism Anti-Protestantism is bias, hatred, or distrust against some or all branches of Protestantism and/or its followers. Anti-Protestantism dates back to before the Protestant Reformation itself, as various pre-Protestant groups such as Arnoldists, Waldensians, Hussites, and Lollards were persecuted in Roman Catholic Europe. Protestants were not tolerated throughout most of Europe until the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 approved Lutheranism as an alternative for Roman Catholicism as a state religion of various states within the Holy Roman Empire...

Religion Jesus Baptism Faith Fish Waves Cross

Baptist Beliefs

Baptist Beliefs Baptist beliefs are not completely consistent from one church to another, as Baptists do not have a central governing authority. However, Baptists do hold some common beliefs among almost all Baptist churches. Since the early days of the Baptist movement, various denominations have adopted common confessions of faith as the basis for cooperative work...