The cross is the well-known

symbol of Christianity.
However, the cross as a symbol
predates Christianity.
ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY

Jesus of Nazareth

The name Jesus means “Adonai is

salvation.” Its current form came from Latin
lesus that is a transliteration from lésous, which
is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name
Yehoshua or Joshua. The full name of Jesus of
Nazareth would have been “Jesus, son of
Joseph.”
The Jews in the time of Jesus were united by the
three great institutions: The land of Israel [a.k.a
Canaan/Palestine]; the law of Moses; and the
Temple in Jerusalem. Yet they were hopelessly
divided, as can be seen in the variety of ways to
practice Jewishness.
MAJOR DIVISIONS

IN

CHRISTIANIT
Y
 ROMAN
CATHOLICISM
• The English word catholic has its roots from the Greek adjective katholikós meaning “universal.”

• According to Canon 205 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, Roman Catholic Christians are “those
baptized [who are fully in the communion of the Catholic Church on this earth [and] who are joined
with Christ in its visible structure by the bonds of the profession of faith, the [seven] sacraments
and ecclesiastical governance.” The preceding canon describes the “Catholic Church [as] governed
by the successor of Peter (Bishop of Rome, a.k.a the Pope] and the bishops in communion with
him.”
• The earliest recorded evidence of the use of the
term “Catholic Church” is in a letter written around
107 C.E. to the Christians in Smyrna by the Bishop
Ignatius of Antioch: “Wherever the bishop shall
appear, there left the multitude [of the people] also
be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the
Catholic Church.”

• In the early Church, local Christian communities

were often led by bishops, who were often called
papa [Latin “father”]. However, in the year 1073,
Gregory VII prohibited the use papa or pope for
any bishop except the Bishop of Rome

Pope Francis
• Christian community claimed a significant connection
to two apostles, Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus-who,
according to tradition, were both executed there as
Chrsitian witnesses or martyrs by Emperor Nero in the
year 64.
 EASTERN ORTHODOXY

• While its official name is the Orthodox Catholic Church, to avoid confusion,
it is simply referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church. Wile affirming the
catholicity or universality of the Church, it developed an equally firm
understanding of the pure and unchanging nature of Christian doctrine, thus
calling itself Orthodox. The term orthodox originates from the Greek words
meaning “right belief,” i.e., conforming to the Christian tradition of belief
and practice as presented in the creeds of the primitive Church
• Eastern Orthodox Christianity descends directly from Greek-speaking Christian communities in what was
formerly the eastern half of the Roman empire. The bishops of Constantine’s new imperial capital in the
east, Constantinople, later claimed greater authority in the church, competing with the Bishops of Rome
in the West, as well as with other principal leaders of the early Christian Church-the patriarchs of
Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Constantinople, the “New Rome” with its “Ecumenical” [Greek
“worldwide”] Patriarch, remained the undisputed center of Eastern Orthodox until its conquest by the
Muslim Turks in 1453.

• Like Roman Catholic Christians, Orthodox Christians believe the following: the divine and human
natures of Jesus; the sinless life of the Virgin Mary, and the respect due to her as the mother of Jesus; the
ministry of deacons, presbyters, and, bishops, whose authority originates from the apostles; the
acceptance of seven sacraments, including confession and the Eucharist- as the sacrifice that makes
present the body and blood of Jesus.
• Even today, the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople is recognized especially
by the Orthodox communities in Turkey, the Greek islands, northern Greece, and the
rest of the world. Easternn Orthodoxy survives in Greece as the Greek Orthodox
Church. The Orthodox Churches in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Georgia
have also reemerged after the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in the late 20 th
century.
 PROTESTANTISM

• In the 16TH century, political struggles and corruption in the Church in the West led to upheaval
known as the Protestant Reformation, which initiated the founding of several new streams of
Christian tradition.

• The word “Protestant” is often popularly understood as one protesting against the errors of the
Roman Catholic Church. Nonetheless, the Latin word from which it originates primarily means
to declare something formally in public, to testify, to make a solemn declaration.

• Since Protestant Christianity is a very varied phenomenon, each of its communions or

denominations usually has its own statement of belief, whether Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist,
Presbyterian, or Baptist.

• What unites the Protestant statements of faith is the claim to represent the original and
undiluted teachings of the Bible and the insistence that well-being depends on God’s grace and
is obtained by faith without reference to any human merit. These were stated briefly in specific
solae.
• Solae represents key beliefs upheld by protestant reformers against certain Roman Catholic
doctrines: sola Scriptura [“only by Scripture”]; sola fide [“only by faith”]; and sola gratia [“only by
grace”]

• Sola Scriptura means that the Bible, as God’s divinely inspired Word, is the means by which one is
saved through faith in Jesus. Consequently, all Christian teaching, beliefs, and practices must not
contradict and be in accordance with what is explicitly written in the Bible. Sola fide means that
good works on the part of individuals are not necessary to be declared by God as righteous; holiness
is a gift of God, and not the result of one’s action. Similarly, sola gratia insists that God grants grace
independently, even without any human cooperation whatsoever.
 SACRED TEXTS
• The early Christian community recognized the Hebrew Scriptures as sacred and containing the Word
of God, referring to these sacred texts as the Old Testament [or sometimes First Testament].

• To make its message understood by most of the people in the known world, the documents of the
New Testament were all written in koinē [“common”] Greek. Koinē Greek is the language formed
from the old dialects of Greece [i.e., Attic, Aeolic, Doric and Ionic] that became the lingua franca in
the Greco-Roman world since the time of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.E.).
CREED

ONE GOD, THREE DIVINE

PERSONS
• Adherents of Christianity, like
members of other Abrahamic faiths
such as Judaism and Islam, believe
that there is only one God. However,
they also believe that this one God
exists as a Trinity of Co-equal divine
Persons [Greek hypostases] the
father , the son, and the Holy Spirit.
BASIC
DOCTRINES
In addition to the fundamental Christian belief that God is a loving communion
of co-equal Persons, another essential and distinctive Christian belief
concerning the nature of God is the Incarnation.
MAJOR DIVISIONS

IN

I S LAM
Sunni
• The greatest majority of Muslims comprise the Sunni tradition
[Arabic ahlas-sunnahwa I-jamā’ah “of the tradition (of
Muhammad) and the community (of Islam)”], which is
currently the largest religious denomination in the world. The
term Sunni is derived from Sunnah, the “custom/tradition” of
the prophet Muhammad as recorded in the collections of
ahādīth.
Shi’a

The Muslims who supported Alī ibn AbiŢalib as the rightful khalfīāh called themselves the
Shīatu ‘Alī [Arabic “partisans of Alī ibn AbiŢalib”], founded by the four companions who
advocated the election of Ali. After the Ummaya caliphate rejected and expelled Ali, he was
granted the equivalent title Imām [Arabic “leader, pattern”]. In Shi’a Islam, the Imāms were
highly respected scholars chosen because of their descent from Ali and were regarded as
politico-religious community leaders.