All about Christianity - Research Paper Example

All about Christianity Christianity, which developed out of Judaism in the 1st century C.E., is foundedon the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Although Christianity has many different branches with accompanying sets of beliefs and practices, its three major categories are Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Regarded as the largest religion in the world, its primary beliefs bank on two essential tenets: first, that there is one and true God who exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and second, that Jesus Christ is the divine and human Messiah who was sent to save the world. Christianity’s sacred literature is called the Bible, which is comprised of the Old Testament and the New Testament. As stated in an online article entitled Overview of Christianity, central to Christian practice is the gathering at church for worship, fellowship, study, and engagement with the world through evangelism and social action (Davis-Stofka). In this paper, we take a close look at Christianity by highlighting on its origin, its history, and its belief system. Indeed, through this holistic research approach, we intend to understand Christianity in a much deeper level by being able understand the various concepts that have shaped its unique views on an Ultimate Creator, on human nature, and on external reality. The origin of Christianity is attributed to the life of Jesus Christ who was born in 4 B.C.E. in a Jewish province called Nazareth. Believed to be the Son of God the Father, Jesus Christ spent his entire human life by doing acts of goodness and by spreading knowledge about God’s plan toward humanity. Aside from Jesus Christ, Christianity is also known to have been deeply influenced by Jewish, Greek, and Roman cultures. Since the first Christians were Jews, their ways of worship included attending the holy temple, reading Jewish scriptures, and adhering to Jewish laws and customs. As Jewish Christians spread to Mediterranean provinces in Rome, they were able to proselytize the Greek-speaking Gentiles. Through this, Greek intellectual culture was infused into the core of Christianity. The belief on the supremacy of logic helped in the development of philosophical explanations of the Christian faith. Likewise, it is the model of Roman political organization that formed the hierarchical system in Christianity—wherein the pope is deemed to be the religious leader, followed by the archbishops, bishops, and priests. Lastly, Christian scriptures, as contained in the bible, play a vital role in the foundation of Christianity. The bible, which comes from the Latin ‘biblia’ that means ‘books’, is composed of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Jewish scriptures make up the Old Testament while the twenty seven manuscripts from the apostles complete the New Testament. As further noted in Overview of Christianity, the bible has been published into 2,000 languages and is regarded as the largest selling book of all time (Davis-Stofka). The history of Christianity can be viewed in two parts. Firstly, the early developments of Christianity from 2nd to 4th century C.E. were marked by intense persecution and identity creation. The persecution of Christians was primarily driven by their refusal to honor the roman emperors as god-like figures, since they considered it as an act of idolatry. As punishment to their disloyalty, majority of the early Christians were tortured and killed during the reign of Emperors Domitian in 81-96 C.E., Marcus Aurelius in 161-180 C.E., and Decius in 249-251 C.E. The persecutions, however, did not stop the spread of Christianity. In fact, more people got converted through the hospitality and philanthropy of the early Christians, as evidenced by their establishment of social networks that cared for the poor, the widows, and the orphans. Indeed, it is Christianity’s emphasis on communal life and social generosity that attracted religious conversions. As the Christian faith strengthened, its leaders recognized the need to reinforce Christianity’s core teachings. In this light, early Church apologists who were known to be defenders of faith wrote intensively to address the validity of Christianity by arguing the superiority of Christian revelation and its mandates for human society. One example is Tertullian (160 C.E.) who clarified essential Christian doctrines by explaining the significance of prayer and worship in Christian life. As discussed in another study entitled Christianity, the other known contributors to the growth of Christianity were Emperor Diocletian who issued the Edict of Milan which legalized Christian worship for the first time; Emperor Constantine I who formed the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea which resulted in the creation of the Nicene Creed—the core of Christian belief on the Holy Trinity; and Emperor Theodosius I who made Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire (Keating). Secondly, the development of schisms and sects also defines the history of Christianity. Specifically, Christianity was split twice—first between the Western Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Byzantine Church, and second between the two Churches and the Protestant Reformation. The first split happened due to the geographical distance and socio-cultural differences of the Christians, which led to the rise of two competing seats of power—the pope in Rome and the patriarch in Constantinople. As centuries passed, both the Eastern and the Western Churches developed different positions on a variety of religious and social issues. For one, the Western Church discouraged the marriage of priests and bishops, while the Eastern Church allowed it. Also, the Western Church insisted that the pope was the supreme religious leader while the Eastern Church allowed more autonomy for local churches and its leaders. In hindsight, it can be stated that the formal schism in 1054 was driven by stark geographical, linguistic, political, and theological distances between the two Churches. The second split, on the other hand, was instigated by Martin Luther who came up with ninety-five propositions that addressed the practices of Christianity and the nature of faith in 1517. His primary contention was that truths about human salvation and the nature of God should be passionately sought only in scriptures. It is believed that his theses prompted the creation of Protestant Reformation. The core of Christian beliefs can be understood in four pars. The first part delves into the idea of ultimate reality and the character of divine beings. With this, Christians believe that there is one God with three personas—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Through God’s act of love, He created the universe, the heaven, the earth, and all beings therein. As expressed in an online article by BBC entitled Religions: Christianity, since it is love that led to the creation of all beings, everything that is found in the realm of space and time is inherently good, and follows an order that ultimately links back to God’s divide plan (BBC). Furthermore, Christianity underscores God’s parental love toward human beings as He created them to be His children. In this regard, Christianity teaches its believers to share the same loving relationship with each one. As regards Jesus Christ, Christians believe that his nature is dual—human and divine. As a human being, Jesus Christ was perfectly obedient to God the Father, and his human life that was marked by pure goodness should be emulated by all Christians. As a divine being, Jesus Christ stands as a visible incarnation of God. The names commonly attributed to him, such as ‘Son of God’, ‘Word of God’, and ‘Image of God’, describe not only his divine origin and nature, but also his relationship with God the Father. Through the miracles that Jesus Christ performed, he was able to reveal, in a more concrete manner, God’s love toward humanity. Indeed, Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection fulfilled God’s plan of redeeming human beings from their sins. The second part explains human nature and the purpose of human existence. With this, Christianity posits that human beings are created after the image and likeness of God. Thus, the purpose of human life is to love and serve God in order to maintain harmony and justice among all created beings. In addition to this, God provided human beings with reason in order to reflect on their own nature and conscience, and from that derive the knowledge of God’s will for creation. However, since understanding God’s divine plan cannot be fully discovered by reason alone, God gave human beings faith through His acts of grace. But the human reason is free, and as a direct consequence of this freedom, man can choose to follow good or evil. In this light, it is believed that the imperfection of human freedom can lead to humans’ own destruction, as observed in the story of Adam and Eve who disobeyed God by eating the fruit of knowledge. As a result of their act, God banished Adam and Eve from His garden, and condemned them and their descendants to a life of hard work, pain, disease and eventual death. The third part describes human suffering and the problem of evil. Christians, who believe in an all-loving God, seek to find justifications for all forms of human suffering. With this, there are three known Christian teachings that aimed at explaining the significance of suffering in attaining moral and spiritual development of human beings. Firstly, Bishop Ireneaus claimed that God situated the human beings in a morally and spiritually imperfect state so that they can strive in response to all sufferings, for them to grow into full fellowship with God. Secondly, St. Augustine stated that there is evil in the world because human beings choose to do evil acts. Freedom, in this context, means being able to choose from good and evil, and suffering becomes a direct consequence of choosing evil. Lastly, philosopher Leibniz believed that whatever state the world is in at the moment, it is allowed by God in order to prevent an even more terrible event from occurring. God, in this light, creates and sustains the best possible world for human beings. The fourth part focuses on the concepts of human salvation and eternal life. Since all human beings are bound to attain perfection by being eternally with God, they must continually seek to do good acts in their lives. As further stated in an online entry entitled Basic Christian Beliefs, although committing sin is a natural facet of human’s imperfect nature, human beings must strive to morally and spiritually perfect themselves by placing God at the center of their lives (Fairchild). In conclusion, it can be said that the developments in Christianity have been caused by various ideological, social, and political factors. However, amidst all these changes, the primary tenets Christianity have remained intact. Indeed, it is the belief in an all-loving God and his eternal plan for the entire humanity that provides a much richer meaning to the term ‘Christian’. Works Cited BBC. Religions: Christianity. BBC.co, 2011. Web. 3 April 2012. Davis-Stofka, Beth. Overview of Christianity. Patheos.com, 2011. Web. 3 April 2012. Fairchild, Mary. Basic Christian Beliefs. About.com, 2011. Web, 2 April 2012. Keating, Joseph. Christianity. Newadvent.org, 2011. Web, 3 April 2012. Read More