PAGE 1 - INTROUCTION http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity.

html
Christianity developed out of Judaism in the 1st century C.E. It is founded on the life, teachings, death,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and those who follow him are called "Christians."
Christianity has many different branches and forms with accompanying variety in beliefs and practices.
The three major branches of Christianity are Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism,
with numerous subcategories within each of these branches.
Until the latter part of the 20th century, most adherents of Christianity were in the West, though it has
spread to every continent and is now the largest religion in the world.
Traditional Christian beliefs include the belief in the one and only true God, who is one being and exists
as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the belief that Jesus is the divine and human Messiah sent to the
save the world.
Christianity is also noted for its emphasis on faith in Christ as the primary component of religion. The
sacred text of Christianity is the Bible, including both the Hebrew scriptures (also known as the Old
Testament) and the New Testament.
Central to Christian practice is the gathering at churches for worship, fellowship, and study, and
engagement with the world through evangelism and social action.

PAGE 2 4 CONTENT

Christianity originated in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who was born circa 4 B.C.E. in
Roman-occupied Palestine, a Jewish province of the Roman Empire.

Christianity originated in Jewish Palestine, a province of the Roman Empire. The first Christians were
Jews who attended temple, read the Jewish scriptures, kept the Sabbath, and adhered to Jewish dietary
and religious practices. In the decades following the death of Jesus, Jewish Christians quickly spread to
other Mediterranean provinces of Rome and began converting Gentiles.

Two or three centuries passed before a religion completely separate from Judaism took shape, a religion
that we now recognize as Christianity. The Jewish, Greek, and Roman cultures of the first two centuries
of the Common Era had deep and lasting influence on the new faith during this formative time.

Jesus, his disciples, and the first Christians were all Jews who kept Jewish laws and customs and studied
the Jewish scriptures. Christianity preserves the Jewish scriptures in the Old Testament, incorporating
the essential Jewish view of God as the God of history.

According to the Gospels, Jesus launched a public ministry sometime in his late twenties. He was one of
many Jewish preachers of the time who viewed themselves as reformers and prophets. John the Baptist,
another preacher, baptized him. He called twelve men to be his disciples, and together they travelled
around Palestine, preaching and teaching about the coming Kingdom of God. The Gospels report that
after about three years Jesus was arrested while in Jerusalem at Passover. Convicted as a threat to
public and religious order, Jesus was whipped and nailed to a cross. This form of execution, called
crucifixion, was a common practice of the Roman authorities.


PAGE 5 - TEACHINGS Like Judaism, Christianity teaches that creation is the act of a single God, and
throughout history this God has intervened, showing divine power through mighty deeds. God's role in
history will culminate in the future in "the day of the Lord," when evil will be conquered and a new
world will arise. In that new world, God will reign as a king of peace and righteousness. The first
Christians believed that Jesus was the Messiah (in Greek, Christos, or Christ) whose death and
resurrection was a sign that God's promised "day of the Lord" was coming soon.

Early Christian missionaries carried this belief into the major population centers around the
Mediterranean. The message found a receptive audience in the non-Jewish communities of the Roman
Empire, including Greek-speaking Gentiles who were trained in classical philosophy. This brought Greek
intellectual culture into the heart of Christianity

PAGE 6 8 SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY:
The first community of Christians was Jews. As converts to Christianity increased, the religion spread.
The most influential early missionary was Paul. Paul journeyed tirelessly. He preached that the Old Law,
or the Laws of Moses, should be replaced by faith in Christ.

Around 64 CE, both Paul and the chief apostle, Peter, were martyred at the hands of the Roman
emperor, Nero.

Christianity spread like a wildfire after the downfall of Bar Kochba in about 135 CE. Almost one third of
the Roman Empire became Christian in little more than 100 years. It was not until the early 4th century
that Christianity was legalized by Constantine the Great.

By 300 CE, Christianity became the accepted religion of Rome, spreading throughout the empire.

With the founding of the New World, Christianity began to spread beyond Europe and Asia. Among the
early missionaries were Catholics who journeyed to Central and South America, seeking to convert
native peoples.

The earliest Christians did not have church buildings. They typically met in homes. (The first actual
church building so far found is at Dura Europos on the Euphrates, dating about 231.) They did not have
public ceremonies that would introduce them to the public, and they had no access to the mass media
of their day.

The Church too, as it began to become an institution of considerable power in the later 3rd century,
used tactics as brutal as anti-Christian Emperors. There was one God, one set of rules and generally
speaking, one way to practice the faith. By the time Christianity took firm hold on a large part of the
population, people who followed Christ knew these rules and customs without the interference of other
gods and their unique traditions.

The Apostles preached everywhere and all the time taking every opportunity for preaching the Holy
Gospel. They preached in synagogues, in every house, schools, courts and places of governors, in jail,
markets and public places, on rivers banks, and on Roman campus. They preached at every opportunity
as St Paul taught his disciple St. Timothy. The main factor in the success of the Apostles preaching was
the empowerment of the Holy Spirit who led them in every step.

By 1900, Christianity had spread onto every continent. It was a major world religion.
PAGE 9 -10 BELIEFS http://www.gotquestions.org/Christianity.html
The core beliefs of Christianity are: Jesus died for our sins, was buried, was resurrected, and thereby
offers salvation to all who will receive Him in faith. Unique among all other faiths, Christianity is more
about a relationship than religious practices.

Christians believe that the Bible is the inspired, God-breathed Word of God and that its teaching is the
final authority in all matters of faith and practice. Christians believe in one God that exists in three
personsthe Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.

Most Christians believe that human beings will receive judgement from God and are given either eternal
life or eternal damnation. This includes the "Last Judgment" as well as the belief of a judgement particular to
the soul after death. Christians believe that at the second coming of Christ at the end of time, all who have died
will be raised up from the dead for the Last Judgment, when Jesus will establish the Kingdom of God. There is also
the belief of Universal Reconciliation. That is the belief that all people will someday be saved, and that hell is not
forever.

So, while many religious systems require that a person do or not do certain things, Christianity is about
believing that Christ died on the cross as payment for our own sins and rose again. Our sin debt is paid
and we can have fellowship with God. We can have victory over our sin nature and walk in fellowship
and obedience with God. That is true biblical Christianity.




PAGE 11 CONCLUSION
Christianity remains numerically probably the largest world religion, with Islam close behind. About a
third of the population of the world was Christian in the 1990s, and the majority of the non-Christian
population knew of Christianity or had some opportunity of contact with it. The largest number of
Christians resided in Latin America, with Europe second and Africa third, then North America, then
South Asia. The fastest-growing Christian community is in Africa, where the intellectual history of the
patristic and medieval West is often unfamiliar. Conservative fundamentalism is making the ordination
of homosexuals as priests and bishops in the West a church-dividing matter in parts of Africa. The
altered balance of the Christian populations worldwide has begun to throw into question the
continuance of an intellectual tradition now culturally remote from many Christians while it continues to
privilege the Bible as the foundation text and ultimate authority.

''The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as
supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful, he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to
faith or morals .... The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when,
together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme 'Magisterium,' above all in an Ecumenical
Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine 'for belief as being
divinely revealed' and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions 'must be adhered to with the obedience
of faith."

PAGE 12 BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

1. http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity.html

CONTENT

1. http://www.patheos.com/Library/Christianity/Origins/Beginnings.html

SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY:

1. http://www.waupun.k12.wi.us/Policy/other/dickhut/religions/SpreadofChristianity.html

2. http://www.jesus.org/early-church-history/early-churches/how-did-christianity-spread.html

3. http://www.suscopts.org/pdf/copticchurch/apostolicagechristianity.pdf

BELIEFS
1. http://www.gotquestions.org/Christianity.html


CONCLUSION
1. http://science.jrank.org/pages/8615/Christianity-Overview-Conclusion.html
2. http://www.strathmore.edu/chaplaincy/summary-christian-beliefs