Christianity

I

Introduction

Christianity, major world religion, having substantial representation in all the populated continents of the globe. Its total membership may exceed 1.7 billion people.

Like any system of belief and values—be it Platonism, Marxism, Freudianism, or democracy—Christianity is in many ways comprehensible only “from the inside”, to those who share the beliefs and strive to live by the values; and a description that would ignore these “inside” aspects of it would not be historically faithful. To a degree that those on the inside often fail to recognize, however, such a system of beliefs and values can also be described in a way that makes sense to an interested observer who does not, or even cannot, share their outlook.

II

Doctrine and Practice

A community, a way of life, a system of belief, a liturgical observance, a tradition—Christianity is all of these, and more. Each of these aspects of Christianity has affinities with other faiths, but each also bears unmistakable marks of its Christian origins. Thus, it is helpful, in fact unavoidable, to examine Christian ideas and institutions comparatively, by relating them to those of other religions, but equally important to look for those features that are uniquely Christian.

A

Central Teachings

Any phenomenon as complex and as vital as Christianity is easier to describe historically than to define logically, but such a description does yield some insights into its continuing elements and essential characteristics. One such element is the centrality of the person of Jesus Christ. That centrality is, in one way or another, a feature of all the historical varieties of Christian belief and practice. Christians disagree in their understanding and definition of what makes Christ distinctive or unique, but they would all affirm that his life and example should be followed and that his teachings about love and fellowship should be the basis of human relations. Large parts of Jesus’ teachings have their counterparts in the sayings of the rabbis, and in the wisdom of Socrates and Confucius. In Christian teaching, Jesus cannot be less than the supreme preacher and exemplar of the moral life, but for most Christians that, by itself, does not do full justice to the significance of his life and work.

Very little is known of Jesus historically, but information can be gleaned from the Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible, and the writings of the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus. Other portions of the New Testament summarize the beliefs of the early Christian Church. Paul, for example, believed that Jesus was the revealer not only of human life in its perfection but of divine reality itself.

The ultimate principle of the universe, called by many different names in various religions, was called “Father” in the sayings of Jesus, and Christians therefore call Jesus himself “Son of God”. At the very least, there was in his language and life an intimacy with God and an immediacy of access to God, as well as the promise that, through all that Christ was and did, his followers might share in the life of the Father in heaven and might themselves become children of God. Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection, to which early Christians referred when they spoke about him as the one who had reconciled humanity to God, made the cross the chief focus of Christian faith and devotion and the principal symbol of the saving love of God the Father.

This love is, in the New Testament and in subsequent Christian doctrine, the most decisive among the attributes of God. Christians teach that God is almighty in dominion over all that is in Heaven and on Earth, righteous in judgement over good and evil, beyond time and space and change; but above all they teach that “God is love” (John 4:16). The creation of the world out of nothing and the creation of the human race were expressions of that love, and so was the coming of Christ (John 3:16). The classic statement of this trust in the love of God came in the words of Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26). Early Christianity found in such words evidence both of the special standing men and women have as children of such a heavenly Father and of the even more special position occupied by Christ. That special position led the first generations of believers to rank him together with the Father—and eventually “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father [sent] in [Christ’s] name”—in the formula used for the administration of baptism and in the several creeds of the first centuries. After controversy and reflection, that confession took the form of the doctrine of God as Trinity.

Baptism “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), or sometimes perhaps more simply “in the name of Christ”, has been from the beginning the means of initiation into Christianity. At first it seems to have been administered chiefly to adults after they had professed their faith and promised to amend their lives, but this turned into a more inclusive practice with the baptism of infants. The other universally accepted ritual among Christians is the Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper, in which Christians share in bread and wine and, through them, express and acknowledge the reality of the presence of Christ as they commemorate him in the communion of believers. In the form it acquired as it developed, the Eucharist became an elaborate ceremony of consecration and adoration, the texts of which have been set to music by numerous composers. The Eucharist has also become one of the chief points of conflict among the various Christian Churches, which disagree about the “presence” of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine and about the effect of that presence upon those who receive.

Another fundamental component of Christian faith and practice is the Christian community itself—the Church. Some scholars question the assumption that Jesus intended to found a Church (the word ekklesia—Greek for “Church”—appears only twice in the Gospels), but his followers were always convinced that his promise to be with them “always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20) found its fulfilment in his “mystical body on Earth”, the holy catholic (universal) Church. The relation of this holy catholic Church to the various ecclesiastical organizations of worldwide Christendom is the source of major divisions among these organizations. Roman Catholicism has tended to equate its own institutional structure with the catholic Church, as the common usage of the latter term suggests, and some extreme Protestant groups have been ready to claim that they, and they alone, represent the true visible Church. Increasingly, however, Christians of all segments have begun to acknowledge that no one group has an exclusive right to call itself “the” Church, and they have begun to work towards the reunion of all Christians.

B

Worship

Whatever its institutional form, the community of faith in the Church is the primary setting for Christian worship. Christians of all traditions have placed a strong emphasis on private devotion and individual prayer, as Jesus taught. However, he also prescribed a form of praying, universally known as the Lord’s Prayer, the opening words of which stress the communal nature of worship: “Our Father, who art in Heaven” (see Matthew 6:9-15; Luke 11:2-4). Since New Testament times, the stated day for the communal worship of Christians has been the “first day of the week”, Sunday, in commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ. Like the Jewish sabbath, Sunday is traditionally a day of rest. It is also the time when believers gather to hear the reading and preaching of the word of God in the Bible, to participate in the sacraments, and to pray, praise, and give thanks. The needs of corporate worship have been responsible for the composition of thousands of hymns, chorales, and chants, as well as instrumental music, especially for the organ. Since the 4th century, Christian communities have also been constructing special buildings for their worship, thereby helping to shape the history of architecture.