Christianity is a monotheistic faith centered around the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Beliefs[]
Most major Christian groups hold onto these five core principles:
- The Son, The Father, and The Holy Spirit are all one united as one God but three separate persons.
- Jesus was born of a virgin and was the Jewish messiah promised in the Old Testament.
- Jesus was violently flogged and executed during the first century to die for the sins of mankind.
- Jesus raised from the dead three days after his execution, further proving His divinity.
- God will come at an unspecified point in time, make the world new again, and finally dispose of evil.
There are groups that identify as Christian and do not hold onto all these principles: mostly the first principle as it is the most difficult principle for non-Christians to wrap their minds around.
Origins[]
Christianity originated in the first century, sometime around 30 or 33 AD when Jesus was crucified and allegedly raised from the dead after 3 days. Prior to this however, Jesus preached for anywhere between 4 to 7 years (beginning in 26 AD). The reason for Jesus' crucifixion was Jesus claims of being the 'Son of God' which the Jews viewed as blasphemous.
St. Paul had a vision of Jesus while he was persecuting the Christian religion in the immediate aftermath of Jesus' death. This caused a conversion, and St. Paul then spread Christianity around the empire for decades until he was eventually executed under the emperor Nero. By then, Christianity had a solid number of believers.
Early Church[]
Jesus established the early Church with St. Peter prior to his crucifixion. Peter was the first pope.
Early Christians were violently persecuted for the first 3 centuries of its existence. This was until the Edict of Milan in 313 AD that was signed by Rome's first Christian emperor, Constantine. Then in 325 AD, the First Council of Nicaea occurred and officially established what the beliefs of Christianity are in an attempt to defeat the Arian heresy spreading around the Empire. Arians taught that Jesus was not eternal and was not both fully God and fully human.
The church remained united for several centuries until the Great Schism.
Great Schism[]
The Great Schism occurred in 1054 AD. This was when Christian Europe had a split between East and West. The West side of Europe was the Catholic Church while the East side was the Orthodox church.
Church during the Middle ages[]
Protestant Reformation[]