Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life, crucifixtion, resurection and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. It is the world's largest religion, with an estimated 2.1 billion adherents, or about one-third of the total world population. It shares with Judaism the Hebrew Bible (historically called by Christians the Old Testament), and for this reason is sometimes called an Abrahamic religion along with Judaism and Islam.

Christianity today

According to Adherents.com http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html, Christianity is the world's most widely-practiced religion, with 2.1 billion adherents, including 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, 510 million Protestants in a number of traditions, 216 million Orthodox, 158 million Independents (unaffiliated with the major streams of Christianity), as well as 31.7 million belonging to other groups with less clear status (including Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons).

Related Topics:
Religion - Billion - Roman Catholics - Protestants - Orthodox - Jehovah's Witnesses - Mormon

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Post-Enlightenment

Not all people identified or self-identified as Christians accept all, or even most, of the theological positions held by their particular churches. Like the Jews, Christians in the West were greatly affected by The Age of Enlightenment in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Perhaps the most significant change for them was total or effective separation of church and state, thus ending the state-sponsored Christianity that had existed in European countries. Now one could be a free member of society and disagree with one's church on various issues, including the right to freely to leave one's church altogether. (Nonetheless, even the 21st century, despite many global changes, state-sponsored or established Christian churches do exist in a number of world regions, especially Europe and parts of Latin America.)

Related Topics:
West - The Age of Enlightenment - 17th - 18th - Separation of church and state - State-sponsored - 21st century

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Many did resist or abandon Christianity, developing belief systems such as Deism, Unitarianism, and Universalism, or becoming atheists, agnostics, or humanists.

Related Topics:
Deism - Unitarianism - Universalism - Atheists - Agnostics - Humanists

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Others, instead, created the liberal wings of the Protestant Christian tradition. Modernist Christianity in the late 19th century encouraged new forms of thought and expression that did not follow traditional lines.

Related Topics:
Modernist Christianity - 19th century

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Reaction to the Enlightenment and Modernism triggered the development of literally thousands of Christian Protestant denominations, Roman traditionalist splinter groups of the Roman Catholic Church that do not recognize the legitimacy of many reforms the Roman Catholic Church has undertaken, and the growth of hundreds of fundamentalist groups that interpret the entire Bible in a more literal fashion, exclusive text-centered fashion.

Related Topics:
Traditionalist - Fundamentalist

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20th Century

In Europe, and to a lesser extent the United States, the growth of philosophical and ideological liberalism since the 19th century has also led to increased secularism. Some Christians have long since stopped participating in traditional religious duties, attending churches only on a few particular holy days per year or not at all. Many of them recall having highly religious grandparents, but grew up in homes where the practice of Christianity as such was no longer a priority. They have developed ambivalent feelings towards their religious background. On the one hand they cling to their traditions for identity reasons; on the other hand, the influence of the secular Western mentality, the demands of daily life, and peer pressure tear them away from traditional Christianity. Marriage between Christians of different denominations, or between Christians and a non-Christians, while once taboo, has become commonplace; some correlate such trends with decline in religious identity among many societies and social segments. The populations of many countries and regions traditionally strong in a particular tradition, such as Roman Catholicism (e.g. Latin America, France, Italy) or Lutheranism (e.g. Scandinavia) have largely become agnostic or secular.

Related Topics:
Europe - United States - Secularism - Identity - Marriage

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Liberal Christianity grew rapidly during the early 20th century in Europe and North America, by the 1960s gaining the leadership of many of the larger U.S. and Canadian mainline denominations. However, this trend has reversed. At the turn of the 21st century, though secular society tends to consider the more accommodating liberals as the representatives and spokesmen of Christianity, the mainline churches are shrinking. http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0,1703,A%253D151165%2526M%253D50011,00.html This is partly due to a loss of evangelistic zeal, partly due to drift of their membership to Christian churches which are associated with a more conservative Christianity, and partly due to the failure of one generation to pass on Christianity to the next. Among the larger Protestant denominations in the United States, only the conservative Southern Baptist is growing. In addition, many other conservative denominational churches are growing along with many conservative non-denominational churches.

Related Topics:
Liberal Christianity - 20th century - 1960s - Mainline - 21st century - Evangelistic - Conservative Christianity - Southern Baptist - Non-denominational

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Evangelical parachurch organizations have grown rapidly in the last half of the 20th century. The liberal Christian Century magazine has shrunk, while being replaced by its challenger, the rapidly growing evangelical Christianity Today.

Related Topics:
Evangelical parachurch organizations - Christian Century - Christianity Today

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The Enlightenment had much less impact on the Eastern Churches of Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy. Having to face a much more hostile secular society, especially during the rise of Communism, the church clung to ancient beliefs, even as its membership eroded.

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Today in Eastern Europe and Russia, a renewing trend is taking place. After decades of communist-instated atheism, there is widespread interest in Christianity, as well as religion in general. Many Orthodox churches and monasteries are being rebuilt and restored; Protestants of many denominations are pouring in to evangelize and build churches; and the Roman Catholic Church is revealing once secret dioceses and undertaking other steps to support Roman Catholic churches more openly.

Related Topics:
Eastern Europe - Russia

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In South America and Africa, Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity form rapidly growing movements that are increasingly sending missionaries to Europe and North America. http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/BibleStudyAndTheology/Perspectives/colson020722.asp This is also true of Asia where many of the underground "house churches" intend to send hundreds of thousands of missionaries out over the next decade. This is especially true of China. http://www.christiantoday.com/news/asia-pacific/see.the.future.christianity.growth.in.china/96.htm

Related Topics:
South America - Africa - Evangelical - Pentecostal - Missionaries - Asia

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During the second half of the 20th century the Megachurch became a significant phenomenon. These churches are generally characterised by service forms designed to appeal to the non-Christian, using contemporary music and multi-media presentation styles and often a focus on practical helps for living. They are most common in the United States, and frequently target specific demographics. Criticised by more traditional churches as 'watering down' the Christian message and for their use of techniques akin to advertising, they are typically not affiliated with a particular denomination.

Related Topics:
20th century - Megachurch

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Since the development of Postmodernism with its rejection of universally accepted belief structures in favour of more personalized and experiential truth, organized Christianity has increasingly found itself at odds with the desire many people have to express faith and spirituality in a way that is authentic to them. What has thus far been known as the Emerging Church is a by-product of this trend, as many people who broadly accept Christianity seek to practice that faith while avoiding established Church institutions.

Related Topics:
Postmodernism - Emerging Church

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Another reaction of some Christians to Postmodernism is the advent of what might be called Postmodern Christianity.

Related Topics:
Postmodernism - Postmodern Christianity

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Contemporary Evangelical movement

A large and growing movement within Christian populations, especially in the West and most visible in the United States, is the Evangelical movement. Being a cross-cultural, cross-denominational movement, there is no single agreed definition of the term, and as a result certain elements which claim, or are labelled by this term are not seen as being properly 'Evangelical' by other elements within Evangelicalism. Some significant characteristics of the Evangelical movement include : the centrality of the cross (the substitutionary atonement of Christ's death on the cross as the most important Christian doctrine, which should therefore be central in Christian practice and preaching), 'sola scriptura' (the God-breathed authority of scripture as the final rule of faith), the need for personal repentance and belief for Salvation, placing a high priority on world-wide evangelisation (including, but not limited to, cross-cultural mission), belief in the eventual literal return of Christ and a belief in the miraculous. Most mainstream Protestant denominations have a significantly active Evangelical minority and, in some cases, a dominant majority (see Confessing Movement). Evangelicals are both ontologically and methodologically "trans-denominational" and therefore are generally more willing to have formal and informal relationships with Evangelicals from outside their denomination than to have the same sort of relationship with non-Evangelicals within their denomination. Two areas regarding which evangelicals display significant internal variation are Election (A doctrine popularly associated with the 16th Century reformer John Calvin, the idea that before individuals are born God has effectually chosen those who will respond to him in faith) and the place and work of the Holy Spirit, especially with regard to the more spectacular charismatic gifts (e.g. glossolalia, words of knowledge.) Other movements within Christianity which fall to a greater or lesser extent within the broad category 'Evangelical' include Dispensationists, Pentecostals, Charismatics and Fundamentalists.

Related Topics:
Salvation - Return of Christ - Protestant - Evangelical - Confessing Movement - Dispensationists - Pentecostals - Charismatics - Fundamentalists

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Some Evangelicals have been schismatic within various church organisations, leaving to form their own denominations. More often they are forced out. It was only by dint of sheer determination that John Wesley, founder of Methodism, was able to remain an Anglican priest against intense opposition. His followers separated in America and in England after his death. Some Evangelicals claim that their beliefs are no less than true Christianity itself and that those within the church who differ from them may not be true believers. This attitude has led to much disunity amongst churches, especially those with a large modernist (and hence 'Liberal') influence.

Related Topics:
Schismatic - John Wesley - Methodism

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