History of Christianity

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History of Christianity
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• Christian history begins with Jesus of Nazareth,
  a Jew who was born in a small corner of the Roman
  Empire.
• Little is known of his early life, but around the
  age of 30, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist
  and had a vision in which he received the
  blessing of God.

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• After this event, he began a ministry of
  teaching, healing, and miracle-working. He spoke
  of the "kingdom of God," condemned religious
  hypocrites and interpreted the Mosaic law in new
  ways.

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• He spoke before crowds of people, but also chose
  12 disciples whom he taught privately. They
  eagerly followed him, believing him to be the
  long-awaited Messiah who would usher in the
  kingdom of God on earth.

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• After just a few years, however, opposition
  mounted against Jesus, and he was ultimately
  executed by crucifixion by the Romans.

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• Most of Jesus' followers scattered, dismayed at
  such an unexpected outcome.
• But three days later, women who went to anoint
  his body reported that the tomb was empty and an
  angel told them Jesus had risen from the dead.
• The disciples were initially sceptical, but later
  came to believe. They reported that Jesus
  appeared to them on several occasions and then
  ascended into heaven before their eyes.

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• The remainder of the first century AD saw the
  number of Jesus' followers, who were soon called
  "Christians," grow rapidly.
• Instrumental in the spread of Christianity was a
  man named Paul, a zealous Jew who had persecuted
  Christians, then converted to the faith after
  experiencing a vision of the risen Jesus.

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• Taking advantage of the extensive system of
  Roman roads and the time of peace, Paul went on
  numerous missionary journeys throughout the Roman
  Empire. He started churches, then wrote letters
  back to them to offer further counsel and
  encouragement. Many of these letters would become
  part of the Christian scriptures, the New
  Testament."

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• In the second and third centuries AD, Christians
  struggled with persecution from outside the
  church and doctrinal debates from within the
  church.

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• Christian leaders, who are now called the
  "church fathers," wrote defences of the false
  claims made against Christians (apologetics) as
  well as arguments against false teachings
  spreading within the church (polemics).
• Doctrines were explored, developed, and
  solidified, the canon of the New Testament was
  formed, and the notion of "apostolic succession"
  established a system of authority to guard
  against wrong interpretations of Christian
  teachings.

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• A major turning point in Christian history came
  in the early 4th century AD, when the Roman
  Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity.

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The Christian religion became legal, persecution
ceased, and thousands of pagans now found it
convenient to convert to the emperor's faith.

• Allied with the Roman Empire, Christianity
  gradually rose in power and hierarchy until it
  became the "Christendom" that would encompass the
  entire western world in the Middle Ages and
  Renaissance.

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• Emperor Constantine hoped Christianity would be
  the uniting force of his empire.
• However, there were still disputes over the
  nature of Jesus. God or less than God but more
  than Man.

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• In 325 AD, Constantine called the Council of
  Nicea so that the bishops could work out their
  differences. They declared the Son (Christ) to be
  of "one substance" with the Father.

The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen
and unseen.  We believe in one Lord, Jesus
Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten
of the Father, God from God, light from light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, of
one Being with the Father through him all
things were made. For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the
Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly
human.  
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius
Pilate he suffered death and was buried. On
the third day he rose again in accordance with
the Scriptures he ascended into heaven and is
seated at the right hand of the Father. He will
come again in glory to judge the living and the
dead, and his kingdom will have no end.  We
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver
of life, who proceeds from the Father and the
Son, who with the Father and the Son is
worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through
the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic
and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come. Amen.
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• In the meantime, the considerable religious,
  cultural, and political differences between the
  Eastern and Western churches were becoming
  increasingly apparent.
• Religiously, the two parts of Christendom had
  different views on topics such as the use of
  icons, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and the
  date on which Easter should be celebrated.

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• Culturally, the Greek East has always tended to
  be more philosophical and abstract in its
  thinking, while the Latin West tended toward a
  more pragmatic and legal-minded approach.
• The political aspects of the split began with the
  Emperor Constantine, who moved the capital of the
  Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople (in
  modern Turkey). Upon his death, the empire was
  divided between his two sons, one of whom ruled
  the western half of the empire from Rome while
  the other ruled the eastern region from
  Constantinople.

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• These various factors finally came to a head in
  1054 AD, when Pope Leo IX excommunicated the
  patriarch of Constantinople, the leader of the
  Eastern church. The Patriarch condemned the Pope
  in return, and the Christian church has been
  officially divided into West (Roman Catholic")
  and East (Greek Orthodox") ever since.

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• In the 1400s, some western Christians began to
  publicly challenge aspects of the church.
• They spoke against the abuse of authority and
  corruption in Christian leadership. They called
  for a return to the gospel and a stripping off of
  traditions and customs like purgatory, the cult
  of the saints and relics, and the withholding of
  the communion wine from non-clergy.
• They began to translate the Bible - then
  available only in Latin - into the common
  languages of the people.

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• However, these early reformers did not have
  widespread success, and most were executed for
  their teachings. Legend has it that when Jan Hus,
  a Czech reformer whose surname means "goose," was
  burned at the stake in 1415, he called out
  "Today you roast a goose, but in 100 years, a
  swan will sing!"

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• In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther (who
  bore little resemblance to a swan) posted 97
  complaints against the practice of selling
  indulgences on a church door.
• He had experienced a personal conversion to the
  doctrine of justification by faith alone, and
  also shared many of the ideas of those early
  reformers.

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• Growing German nationalism and the invention of
  the printing press ensured that Luther would have
  greater protection than his predecessors and his
  teachings would be spread quickly.
• He was excommunicated and barely escaped with
  his life on more than one occasion, but Luther
  lived out his life spreading the Reformation, and
  died a natural death.

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• His ideas had already spread throughout Germany,
  and similar reforming movements sprung up in
  England and Switzerland. Soon much of Europe was
  embroiled in a civil war, with Protestant
  nationalists fighting Catholic imperialists for
  religious and political freedom.

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• In the 17th century, Christians of many
  ideologies embarked on the hazardous journey
  across the Atlantic, to the promise of religious
  freedom and economic prosperity in the New World.
  
• Quakers came to Pennsylvania, Catholics to
  Maryland, and Dutch Reformed to New York. Later
  came Swedish Lutherans and French Huguenots,
  English Baptists and Scottish Presbyterians.
• With the exception of some Puritan communities,
  there was no attempt to impose religious
  uniformity in America.

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• Today, Christianity is the largest world
  religion, with about 2 billion adherents. It is
  the majority religion of Europe and the Americas,
  and there are churches in almost every nation in
  the world.
• There are perhaps thousands of Christian
  denominations, all of whom believe in the basic
  doctrines established at the Council of Nicea but
  differ in other matters of doctrine and practice.
  In recent years, there has been a growing
  movement among these denominations to work
  together in unity for the good of the world. In
  1948, the World Council of Churches was founded
  to that end.

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