Jesus - Christianity Christmas, the Day Celebrated

Jesus - Christianity

Christmas, the day celebrated as the birth of Jesus Christ, is the basis of one of Christianity's holiest observances and its story proclaims the advent of a Savior, the miracle of God's invasion of human history (Sheler pp). Although only Matthew and Luke mention the birth of Christ, the birth is nonetheless believed to have fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies that "a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel," and that out of Bethlehem 'one will go forth ... To be ruler in Israel'" (Sheler pp).

There are numerous religious traditions within Christianity that vary by culture, as well as thousands of diverse beliefs and sects (Christianity pp). In fact, during the past two millennia, it has been grouped into three main branches, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism (Christianity pp). Christianity is the world's largest single religion with over 2.2 billion followers (Christianity pp).

Christianity originated in the first century, when according to the New Testament, Jesus' followers were first called Christians by non-Christians in the city of Antioch, where they had fled after the early persecutions in Judea (Christianity pp). During the first three centuries, Christianity spread rapidly through Egypt into North Africa, Sudan and Ethiopia, from Mesopotamia to Persia, Inner Asia and India, and from Greece and Rome to Europe (Christianity pp).

There were two main communities of Christians, the Jewish Christians who were those Jews and Gentile converts, and the Hellenistic Christians who were those who were more influenced by the Greek-speaking world and believed the central message of Christianity could be represented in ways more appropriate for Gentiles (Christianity pp). Tertullian, one of the first great writers of Christianity, while addressing a Roman governor said that as "for the Christians of Cathage that just yesterday were few in number, now they 'have filled every place among you -- cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palaces, senate, forum -- we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods'" (Christianity pp).

During the first few centuries following the death of Jesus, the Christian church was often forced to deal with severe persecutions under Roman emperors such as Nero, Valerian, Diocletian and Galerius, and those who would rather die than renounce his faith became martyrs, the highest virtue (Christianity pp). Also during this time, the canonical books of the New Testament began to appear and a church hierarchy emerged, the Bishops of Alexandria, Antioch and Rome assumed the title Patriarch (Christianity pp).

In 312, Roman Emperor Constantine was converted and with his Edict of Milan in 313, he made Christianity a state religion, however, during the reign of Julian the Apostate, 361-363, persecution was briefly revived when he tried to restore paganism to the empire, then in 382, Christianity was made the official favored religion by Emperor Theodotius (Christianity pp). Similar events took place in Georgia and Armenia, however, in Persia, the Christians struggled under the oppressive Sassanids who tried to revive Zoroastrian (Christianity pp).

Christianity had spread to most of the Western world, the Middle East, parts of Africa, and into the Far East by the second millennium (Christianity pp).

During the European Reformation of the 1500's, Protestants and several other churches renounced allegiance to Rome over abuses of the growing Papal authority, thus, sparking a vigorous struggle for many Europeans (Christianity pp). The disputes between the Roman Catholics and Protestants led to persecutions and both civil and foreign wars (Christianity pp).

In spite of the belief that violence is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, Christian adherents have persecuted, tortured, and killed other for refusing to believe in their type of Christianity (Christianity pp). During the Crusades, Christian atrocities against Jews in Germany and Hungary, and later in France and England, and in the massacres of non-combatants in Palestine and Syria, initiated a tradition of Christian anti-Semitism that was further bolstered by the "blood libel cult and continued into the 1500's by the Spanish Inquisition" (Christianity pp). The European colonization movement was endorsed by the European Christian churches supposedly legitimized the exploitation of the colonized lands by the European powers and led to the destruction of many cultural artifacts, especially in South America related to the Inca and Aztecs (Christianity pp).

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns, generally sanctioned by the Papacy, which took place during the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries (Crusades pp). In the beginning they were Roman Catholic endeavors to re-capture the Holy Land from the Muslims, however, some were directed against other Europeans, such as the Fourth Crusade against Constantinople, the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars of southern France and the Northern Crusades (Crusades pp). The origins lie in Western developments during the Middle Ages, as well as the deteriorating situation of the Byzantine Empire (Crusades pp). When Emperor Alexius I appealed to Pope Urban II for mercenaries to help him fight against Muslim advances into the Byzantine Empire, began the First Crusade (Crusades pp). The Pope called for a large invasion to defend Christendom, not only to defend the Byzantine Empire, but to reclaim Jerusalem (Crusades pp). Although the papacy of Pope Gregory VII struggled with doctrinal validity of a holy war and killing for the Lord, it resolved the question in favor of justified violence (Crusades pp). Actions against Arians and other heretics gave historical precedents in a society where violence against non-believers and even against other Christians was acceptable and common (Crusades pp). Thus the first crusades resulted in unprecedented wave of pious fury that was expressed in the massacres of Jews that accompanied the movement of mobs through Europe, and the violent treatment of Orthodox Christians of the east, finally ending in 1204 (Crusades pp). The ninth and last crusade, led by Edward I of England ended in 1291 (Crusades pp).