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Church Historian redirects here. For the official church historian in the LDS Church, see Church Historian And Recorder . The history of Christianity concerns the history of the Christian Religion and the Church , from Jesus and his Twelve Apostles and Seventy Disciples to contemporary times. Christianity is the Monotheistic religion which considers itself based on the revelation of Jesus Christ. In many Christian Denominations "The Church" is understood theologically as the institution founded by Jesus for the Salvation of humankind. This understanding is sometimes called High Church . In contrast, Low Church denominations generally emphasize the personal relationship between a believer and Jesus Christ. Christianity Began in 1st Century AD Jerusalem as a Jewish sect but quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond such as Ethiopia , Armenia , Georgia , Assyria , Iran , India , and China . Although it was originally persecuted, it would ultimately become the State Religion of the Roman Empire (380). During the Age Of Exploration , Christianity expanded throughout the world. It is the World's Largest Religion .Adherents.com, ''Religions by Adherents'' Throughout its history, the religion has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct Churches. The two largest Churches are the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church , but the various other Eastern Churches (e.g., Oriental Orthodoxy ), Protestant Churches (e.g., Lutheranism ) and others represent a large portion of the Christian community as well. LIFE OF JESUS (8–2 BC TO AD 29–36) See Also: Jesus See Also: Ministry of Jesus Chronology of Jesus Jesus as myth ]] Though the life of Jesus is a matter of academic debate, scholars See, e.g., Van Voorst, Robert E (2000). Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence (Studying the Historical Jesus). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 16. ISBN 978-0802843685. generally agree on the following basic points: Jesus was born circa 4 BC and grew up in , physically,R. H. Gundry, ''Soma in Biblical Theology'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976); Johannes Weiss, ''Der erste Korintherbrief'' 9th ed. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1910) p. 345; W. D. Davies, ''Paul and Rabbinic Judaism'' 2d ed (London: 1965) pp. 305–308; Ulrich Wilckens, ''Auferstehung'' (Stuttgart and Berlin: Kreuz Verlag, 1970) pp. 128–31; J. L. Smith, "Resurrection Faith Today," in ''TS'' 30 (1969) p. 406; J. Coppens, "La glorification céleste du Christ dans la théologie neotestamentaire et l'attente de Jésus," in ''Resurrexit'' ed. Édouard Dhanis (Rome: Editrice Libreria Vaticana, 1974) pp. 37–40; G. O'Collins, ''The Easter Jesus'' (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1973) p. 94; Clavier, "Breves remarques sur la notion de σωμα πνευματικον" in ''The background of the New Testament and Its Eschatology'' ed. W. D. Davies and D. Daube (Cambridge University Press, 1956) p. 361; J. E. Alsup, ''The Post-Resurrection Appearance Stories of the Gospel-Tradition'' (Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag, 1975) a claim which formed the basis and impetus of the Christian faith. L. T. Johnson, ''The Real Jesus'' (San Francisco, Harper San Francisco, 1996) p. 136; Gerd Ludemann, ''What Really Happened to Jesus?'' trans. J. Bowden (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) p. 8; N. T. Wright, "The New Unimproved Jesus," in ''Christianity Today'' (13 September 1993) p. 26; Gerd Lüdemann, ''What Really Happened to Jesus?'', trans. John Bowden (Louisville, Kent.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), p. 80; James Orr, ''The Resurrection of Jesus'' (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1909) p. 39; Jindrich Mánek, "The Apostle Paul and the Empty Tomb," in ''NT'' 2 (1957) pp. 277–278; C. F. D. Moule, ed., "The Significance of the Message of the Resurrection for Faith in Jesus Christ," in ''SBT'' 8 (London: SCM, 1968); Jacob Kremer, "Zur Diskussion über "das leere Grab," in ''Resurrexit'', ed. Edouard Dhanis (Rome: Libreria Editrice Vatica, 1974) pp. 143–144 The main sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the Four Canonical Gospels and to a much lesser extent the Writings Of Paul . EARLY CHRISTIANITY (~33–325) See Also: Early Christianity Early Christianity refers to the period when the religion spread in the Greco-Roman world and beyond, from its beginnings as a (overseers) via Apostolic Succession . Galilea was the founder of christanity in 56 AD Apostolic Church See Also: Apostolic Age The Apostolic Church, or Primitive Church, was the community led by Jesus' For example, see Catholic Encyclopedia: Acts of the Apostles: OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE AUTHENTICITY : "Nevertheless this well-proved truth has been contradicted. Baur, Schwanbeck, De Wette, Davidson, Mayerhoff, Schleiermacher, Bleek, Krenkel, and others have opposed the authenticity of the Acts. An objection is drawn from the discrepancy between Acts ix, 19-28 and Gal., i, 17, 19. In the Epistle to the Galatians, i, 17, 18, Paul declares that, immediately after his conversion, he went away into Arabia, and again returned to Damascus. "Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas." In Acts no mention is made of Paul's journey into Arabia; and the journey to Jerusalem is placed immediately after the notice of Paul's preaching in the synagogues. Hilgenfeld, Wendt, Weizäcker, Weiss, and others allege here a contradiction between the writer of the Acts and Paul." Note that the Catholic Encyclopedia considers the authenticity of Acts to be a "well-proved truth" but nonetheless notes that other scholars disagree.. The first Christians were essentially all ethnically for the modern debate. The doctrines of the apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities, and this eventually led to the martyrdom of SS. Stephen and James The Great and expulsion from the Synagogues , see also Council Of Jamnia . Thus, Christianity acquired an identity distinct from Rabbinic Judaism , see also Judaism And Christianity . The name " Christian " ( Greek ) was first applied to the Disciples in Antioch , as recorded in .E. Peterson, "Christianus" pp. 353–72 Worship of Jesus The sources for the beliefs of the apostolic community include the Gospels and New Testament Epistles. The very earliest accounts are contained in these texts, such as early Christian creeds and hymns, as well as accounts of the Passion , the empty tomb, and Resurrection appearances; often these are dated to within a decade or so of the crucifixion of Jesus, originating within the Jerusalem Church.On the Creeds, see Oscar Cullmann, ''The Earliest Christian Confessions'', trans. J. K. S. Reid (London: Lutterworth, 1949); on the Passion, see Rudolf Pesch, ''Das Markusevangelium'', 2 vols., Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament 2 (Freiburg: Herder, 1976–77), 2: 519–20 The earliest Christian creeds and hymns express belief in the risen Jesus, e.g., that preserved in quoted by Paul: "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." Neufeld, ''The Earliest Christian Confessions'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964) p. 47; '' ]]'' (New York: Scriner's, 1965) pp. 214, 216, 227, 239; Joachim Jeremias, ''The Eucharistic Words of Jesus'' translated Norman Perrin (London: SCM Press, 1966) p. 102; Neufeld, ''The Earliest Christian Confessions'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964) pp. 7, 9, 128 Jewish continuity See Also: anti-Judaism Jewish Christian Old Testament#Christian view of the Law Early Christianity retained many of the doctrines and practices of Judaism. They held the worship, including the use of incense, an altar, a set of scriptural readings adapted from Synagogue practice, use of Sacred Music in hymns and prayer, and a Religious Calendar , as well as other distinctive features such as an exclusively male Priest hood, and Ascetic practices ( Fasting etc.). The early Christians in first century believed Jehovah to be the Only true God, the God Of Israel , and considered Jesus to be the Messiah ( Christ ) prophesied in the Old Testament. Post-Apostolic Church See Also: Apostolic Fathers before Emperor Valerianus (martyred 258) by Fra Angelico]] The post-apostolic period concerns the time roughly after the death of the apostles (for they died at different times, of course) when bishops emerged as overseers of urban Christian populations, and continues during the time of persecutions until the legalization of Christian worship with the advent of Constantine the Great. The earliest recorded use of the terms '' Christianity '' (Greek ) and '' Catholic '' (Greek ), dates to this period, attributed to Ignatius Of Antioch ''c.'' 107.Walter Bauer, ''Greek-English Lexicon''; Ignatius Of Antioch Letter to the Magnesians 10, Letter to the Romans ( Roberts-Donaldson tr. , Lightfoot tr. , Greek text ). However, an edition presented on some websites, one that otherwise corresponds exactly with the Roberts-Donaldson translation, renders this passage to the interpolated inauthentic longer recension of Ignatius's letters, which does not contain the word "Christianity." Persecutions See Also: Persecution of early Christians by the Jews See Also: Persecution of early Christians by the Romans From the beginning, Christians were subject to various Persecutions . This involved even death for Christians such as Stephen () and James, Son Of Zebedee (). Larger-scale persecutions followed at the hands of the authorities of the Roman Empire , beginning with the year 64, when, as reported by the Roman historian Tacitus , the Emperor Nero blamed them for that year's Great Fire Of Rome . According to Church tradition, it was under Nero's persecution that SS. Peter and Paul were each martyred in Rome . Similarly, several of the New Testament writings mention persecutions and stress endurance through them. For 250 years Christians suffered from sporadic Persecutions for their refusal to Worship The Roman Emperor , considered Treason ous and punishable by execution. In spite of these at-times intense persecutions, the Christian religion continued its spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin . Ecclesiastical structure By the late first and early second century, a hierarchical and episcopal structure becomes clearly visible; early bishops of importance are SS . Clement Of Rome , Ignatius Of Antioch , Polycarp Of Smyrna , and Irenaeus Of Lyons . This structure was based on the doctrine of Apostolic Succession where, by the ritual of the Laying On Of Hands , a bishop becomes the spiritual successor of the previous bishop in a line tracing back to the apostles themselves. Each Christian community also had presbyters, as was the case with Jewish communities, who were also ordained and assisted the bishop; as Christianity spread, especially in rural areas, the presbyters exercised more responsibilities and took distinctive shape as priests. Lastly, deacons also performed certain duties, such as tending to the poor and sick. Early Christian writings See Also: Ante-Nicene Fathers As Christianity spread, it acquired certain members from well-educated circles of the Hellenistic world; they sometimes became bishops but not always. They produced two sorts of works: theological and "apologetic," the latter being works aimed at defending the faith by using reason to refute arguments against the veracity of Christianity. These authors are known as the Church Fathers, and study of them is called Patristics. Notable early Fathers include Ignatius Of Antioch , Polycarp , Justin Martyr , Irenaeus , Tertullian , Clement Of Alexandria , Origen , etc. Early iconography , Rome, 4th century.]] See Also: Christian art Christian art only emerged relatively late, and the first known Christian images emerge from about 200 AD."The earliest Christian images appeared somewhere about the year 200." Andre Grabar, p.7 This early rejection of images, although never proclaimed by theologians, leaves us with little archaeological records regarding early Christianity and its evolution.Andre Grabar, p7 The oldest Christian painting are from the Roman Catacombs , dated to about 200, and the oldest Christian sculptures are from Sarcophagi , dating to the beginning of the 3rd Century .Andre Grabar, p7 Early heresies See Also: Christian heresy#Early Christian heresies The New Testament itself speaks of the importance of maintaining orthodox doctrine and refuting heresies, showing the antiquity of the concern.e.g., ; ; ; , and the Epistle of James in general. Because of the Biblical proscription against False Prophets (notably the Gospels of Matthew and Mark ) Christianity has always been preoccupied with the "correct," or '' Orthodox '', interpretation of the faith. Indeed one of the main roles of the Bishop s in the early Church was to determine the correct interpretations and refute contrarian opinions (referred to as '' Heresy ''). As there were differing opinions among the bishops, defining orthodoxy would consume the Church for some time (and perhaps still does). In his book Orthodoxy , Christian Apologist and writer G. K. Chesterton asserts that there have been substantial disagreements about faith from the time of the New Testament and Jesus . He pointed out that the Apostles all argued against changing the teachings of Christ as did the earliest church fathers including Ignatius Of Antioch , Irenaeus , Justin Martyr and Polycarp (see False Prophet , the Antichrist , the Gnostic Nicolaitanes from the Book of Revelations and Man Of Sin ). Jesus also refers to false prophets () and the " Darnel " (, ) of the flock and how their distortion of the Christian faith is to be rejected. The earliest controversies were generally Christological in nature; that is, they were related to Jesus' (eternal) divinity or humanity. Docetism held that Jesus' humanity was merely an illusion, thus denying the incarnation. Arianism held that Jesus, while not merely mortal, was not eternally divine and was, therefore, separate from God, the Father. Trinitarianism held that the God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit were all strictly one being with three aspects. Many groups held dualistic beliefs, maintaining that reality was composed into two radically opposing parts: matter, usually seen as evil, and spirit, seen as good. Others held that both the material and spiritual worlds were created by God and were therefore both good, and that this was represented in the unified divine and human natures of Christ.R. Gerberding and J. H. Moran Cruz, ''Medieval Worlds'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) p. 58 The development of doctrine, the position of orthodoxy, and the relationship between the various opinions is a matter of continuing academic debate. Since most Christians today subscribe to the doctrines established by the Nicene Creed , modern Christian theologians tend to regard the early debates as a unified orthodox position against a minority of heretics. Other scholars, drawing upon, among other things, distinctions between Jewish Christians , Pauline Christians , and other groups such as Gnostics and Marcionites , argue that Early Christianity was fragmented, with contemporaneous competing orthodoxies.e.g., 1; 2; 3 Biblical canon See Also: Biblical canon (Christian) See Also: Deuterocanonical books Apocrypha Antilegomena , early 3rd c. New Testament manuscript useful in discerning the early Christian canon.]] The Biblical canon is the set of books Christians regard as divinely inspired and thus constituting the Christian Bible. Though the Early Church used the Old Testament according to the canon of the Septuagint (LXX), the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new Scriptures ; instead the New Testament developed over time. The writings attributed to the apostles circulated amongst the earliest Christian communities. The Pauline Epistles were circulating in collected form by the end of the first century AD. Justin Martyr, in the early second century, mentions the "memoirs of the apostles," which Christians called "gospels" and which were regarded as on par with the Old Testament. Everett Ferguson, "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in ''The Canon Debate''. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) pp. 302–303; cf. Justin Martyr, '' First Apology '' 67.3 A four gospel canon (the ''Tetramorph'') was in place by the time of Irenaeus, ''c''. 160, who refers to it directly.Everett Ferguson, "Factors leading to the Selection and Closure of the New Testament Canon," in ''The Canon Debate''. eds. L. M. McDonald & J. A. Sanders (Hendrickson, 2002) pp. 301; cf. Irenaeus, '' Adversus Haereses '' 3.11.8 By the early 200's, Origen may have been using the same 27 books as in the modern New Testament, though there were still disputes over the canonicity of Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, and RevelationBoth points taken from Mark A. Noll's ''Turning Points'', (Baker Academic, 1997) pp 36–37, see also Antilegomena . Likewise by 200 the Muratorian Fragment shows that there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the New Testament, which included the four gospels and argued against objections to them.H. J. De Jonge, "The New Testament Canon," in ''The Biblical Canons''. eds. de Jonge & J. M. Auwers (Leuven University Press, 2003) p. 315 Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings were accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the second century.''The Cambridge History of the Bible'' (volume 1) eds. P. R. Ackroyd and C. F. Evans (Cambridge University Press, 1970) p. 308 In his Easter letter of 367, of 1563 for the Church Of England , the Westminster Confession Of Faith of 1647 for Calvinism , and the Synod Of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox . CHURCH OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (313–476) |
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