Christianity the Christian Religion Sprouted

Christianity

The Christian religion sprouted from the Jewish tradition and its origins begin with the first year of the common Gregorian calendar. While Jesus Christ cannot be accurately called the founder of the religion, his teachings and the writings of his apostles form the backbone of Christian theology and ideology. Jesus of Nazareth and his followers claimed he was the Jewish Messiah, a claim which led to the political upheaval eventually causing his crucifixion by the Romans. The crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection became fundamentals symbol of Christianity.

Over the course of the next several centuries following the death of Jesus Christ, Christian theology and discourse became canonized in the Gospels of the New Testament. Thus, the main sacred texts of the Christian religion were penned not by Jesus but by his apostles. Paul of Tarsus had perhaps the greatest influence on forming Christian theology. Christianity underwent many doctrinal changes as the religion shifted from an underground cult to a state religion in Rome and other parts of Europe and Eurasia. The politicization of Christianity caused it to become the dominant world religion in Europe. Theological and political disagreements led to the schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches in 1054 and later to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.

Like Judaism, Christianity is a monotheistic religion, believing firmly in the existence of one Supreme Deity. However, the divine nature of Jesus Christ poses a metaphysical conundrum. While some Christians cannot support the division of God into three, many Christians believe in the divine trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity does not preclude Christianity from being a fundamentally monotheistic religion, however, as the Absolute God manifests in the three different forms.

All Christian peoples, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Orthodox, base their traditions and teachings on the Gospels of the New Testament as well as the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament. These are the basic scriptures of the religion. Catholics rely heavily on the divine authority of the Church in Rome and view the priesthood as intermediaries between the individual and the divine. Papal authority is challenged by Protestants, who generally support a more personal relationship between the individual and the divine.

However, all Christians share several fundamental philosophical beliefs in common, including monotheism; dualism; sin and salvation. These beliefs are expressed through the Christian worldview, concepts of afterlife, and commentary on the major metaphysical problem of human existence: sin.

First, monotheism precludes anyone sympathetic to polytheistic worship from completely embracing Christianity, although Catholic veneration of saints can approximate such an approach to the divine. Second, dualism pervades Christianity and has powerfully influenced the worldview of most persons in Western society. The notions of absolute good and absolute evil are central concepts in Christianity, influencing moral philosophy as well as concepts of afterlife. For instance, the Christian afterlife is divided into Heaven and Hell, both of which are considered to be eternal states of being. Dualism provides a simple means of dividing human acts and even human beings into absolute categories. Dualism also offers a convenient way to classify an act as a sin. Such a dualistic worldview prevents philosophical and moral flexibility, and thus might prevent someone from fully embracing the religion.