essay about christianity religion

"The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity"

Author:  King, Martin Luther, Jr. (Crozer Theological Seminary)

Date:  November 29, 1949 to February 15, 1950 ?

Location: Chester, Pa. ?

Genre:  Essay

Topic:  Martin Luther King, Jr. - Education

King wrote this paper for the course Development of Christian Ideas, taught by Davis. The essay examines how Christianity developed as a distinct religion with a set of central tenets and how it was influenced by those pagan religions it assimilated. King repeats material from an earlier paper, “A Study of Mithraism,” but he extends the discussion here to the influence of other mystery religions. 1  Davis gave the essay an A, stating: “This is very good and I am glad to have your conclusion. It is not so much that Christianity was influenced by the Mystery Cults, or borrowed from them, but that in the long process of history this religion developed. It, Christianity, is the expression of the longing of people for light, truth, salvation, security.

“That is, with this study you have made, we see the philosophy both of Religion and History. Underneath all expression, whether words, creeds, cults, ceremonies is the spiritual order—the ever living search of men for higher life—a fuller life, more abundant, satisfying life.

“That is essential. Never stop with the external, which may seem like borrowing, but recognize there is the perennial struggle for truth, fuller life itself. So through experience, knowledge, as through other forms, the outer manifestations of religion change. The inner spiritual, continues ever.”

The Greco-Roman world in which the early church developed was one of diverse religions. The conditions of that era made it possible for these religions to sweep like a tidal wave over the ancient world. The people of that age were eager and zealous in their search for religious experience. The existence of this atmosphere was vitally important in the development and eventual triumph of Christianity.

These many religions, known as Mystery-Religions, were not alike in every respect: to draw this conclusion would lead to a gratuitous and erroneous supposition. They covered an enormous range, and manifested a great diversity in character and outlook, “from Orphism to Gnosticism, from the orgies of the Cabira to the fervours of the Hermetic contemplative.”\[Footnote:] Angus, The Mystery Religions and Christianity, p. vii.\ 2  However it is to be noticed that these Mysteries possessed many fundamental likenesses; (1) All held that the initiate shared in symbolic (sacramental) fashion the experiences of the god. (2) All had secret rites for the initiated. (3) All offered mystical cleansing from sin. (4) All promised a happy future life for the faithful.\[Footnote:] Enslin, Christian Beginnings, pp. 187, 188.\

It is not at all surprising in view of the wide and growing influence of these religions that when the disciples in Antioch and elsewhere preached a crucified and risen Jesus they should be regarded as the heralds of another mystery religion, and that Jesus himself should be taken for the divine Lord of the cult through whose death and resurrection salvation was to be had. 3  That there were striking similarities between the developing church and these religions cannot be denied. Even Christian apologist had to admit that fact.

Christianity triumphed over these mystery religions after long conflict. This triumph may be attributed in part to the fact that Christianity took from its opponents their own weapons, and used them: the better elements of the mystery religions were transferred to the new religion. “As the religious history of the empire is studied more closely,” writes Cumont, “the triumph of the church will, in our opinion, appear more and more as the culmination of a long evolution of beliefs. We can understand the Christianity of the fifth century with its greatness and weakness, its spiritual exaltation and its puerile superstitions, if we know the moral antecedents of the world in which it developed.”\[Footnote:] Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. xxiv.\ 4  The victory of Christianity in the Roman empire is another example of that universal historical law, viz., that that culture which conquers is in turn conquered. This universal law is expecially true of religion. It is inevitable when a new religion comes to exist side by side with a group of religions, from which it is continually detaching members, introducing them into its own midst with the practices of their original religions impressed upon their minds, that this new religion should tend to assimilate with the assimilation of their members, some of the elements of these existing religions. “The more crusading a religion is, the more it absorbs.” Certainly Christianity has been a crusading religion from the beginning. It is because of this crusading spirit and its superb power of adaptability that Christianity  ahs  {has} been able to survive.

It is at this point that we are able to see why knowledge of the Mystery religions is important for any serious study of the history of Christianity. It is well-nigh impossible to grasp Christianity through and through without knowledge of these cults. 5  It must be remembered, as implied above, that Christianity was not a sudden and miraculous transformation, springing, forth full grown as Athene sprang from the head of Zeus, but it is a composite of slow and laborious growth. Therefore it is necessary to study the historical and social factors that contributed to the growth of Christianity. In speaking of the indispensability of knowledge of these cults as requisite for any serious study of Christianity, Dr. Angus says: “As an important background to early Christianity and as the chief medium of sacramentarianism to the West they cannot be neglected; for to fail to recognize the moral and spiritual values of Hellenistic-Oriental paganism is to misunderstand the early Christian centuries and to do injustice to the victory of Christianity. Moreover, much from the Mysteries has persisted in various modern phases of thought and practice.”\[Footnote:] Angus, The Mystery Religions and Christianity, p. viii.\

This is not to say that the early Christians sat down and copied these views verbatim. But after being in contact with these surrounding religions and hearing certain doctrines expressed, it was only natural for some of these views to become a part of their subconscious minds. When they sat down to write they were expressing consciously that which had dwelled in their subconscious minds. It is also significant to know that Roman tolerance had favoured this great syncretism of religious ideas. Borrowing was not only natural but inevitable. 6

The present study represents an attempt to provide a survey of the influence of the mystery religions on Christianity. In order to give a comprehensive picture of this subject, I will discuss  Four  {Five} of the most popular of these religions separately, rather than to view them en masse as a single great religious system. The latter method is apt to neglect the distinctive contribution of each cult to the religious life of the age and, at the same time, to attribute to a given cult phases of some other system. However, in the conclusion I will attempt to give those fundamental aspects, characteristic of all the cults, that greatly influenced Christianity.

The Influence Of The Cult Of Cybele and Attis

The first Oriental religion to invade the west was the cult of the Great Mother of the Gods. The divine personage in whom this cult centered was the Magna Mater Deum who was conceived as the source of all life as well as the personification of all the powers of nature.\[Footnote:] Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration, p. 114.\ 7  She was the “Great Mother” not only “of all the gods,” but of all men” as well. 8  “The winds, the sea, the earth, and the snowy seat of Olympus are hers, and when from her mountains she ascends into the great heavens, the son of Cronus himself gives way before her, and in like manner do also the other immortal blest honor the dread goddess.”\[Footnote:] Quoted in Willoughby’s, Pagan Regeneration, p. 115. 9 \

At an early date there was associated with Cybele, the Great Mother, a hero-divinity called Attic who personified the life of the vegetable world particularly. Around these two divinities there grew up a “confused tangle of myths” in explanation of their cult rites. Various writers gave different Versions of the Cybele-Attis myth. However these specific differences need not concern us, for the most significant aspects are common in all the various versions. 10  We are concerned at this point with showing how this religion influenced the thought of early Christians.

Attis was the Good Shepard, the son of Cybele, the Great Mother, who gave birth to him without union with mortal man, as in the story of the virgin Mary. 11  According to the myth, Attis died, either slain by another or by his own hand. At the death of Attis, Cybele mourned vehemently until he arose to life again in the springtime. The central theme of the myth was the triumph of Attis over death, and the participant in the rites of the cult undoubtedly believed that his attachment to the victorious deity would insure a similar triumph in his life.

It is evident that in Rome there was a festival celebrating the death and resurrection of Attis. This celebration was held annually from March 22nd to 25th.\[Footnote:] Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. 166.\ The influence of this religion on Christianity is shown by the fact that in Phrygia, Gaul, Italy, and other countries where Attis-worship was powerful, the Christians adapted the actual date, March 25th, as the anniversary of our Lord’s passion.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 199\ 12

Again we may notice that at this same Attis festival on March 22nd, an effigy of the god was fastened to the trunk of a pine tree, Attis thus being “slain and hanged on a tree.” This effigy was later buried in a tomb. On March 24th, known as the Day of Blood, the High Priest, impersonating Attic, drew blood from him arm and offered it up in place of the blood of a human sacrifice, thus, as it were, sacrificing himself. It is this fact that immediately brings to mind the words in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “But Christ being come an High Priest … neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood … obtained eternal redemption for us.”\[Footnote:] Heb. 9:11, 12.\ Now to get back to the festival. That night the priests went back to the tomb and found it empty, the god having risen on the third day from the dead; and on the 25th the resurrection was celebrated with great rejoicing. During this great celebration a sacramental meal of some kind was taken, and initiates were baptised with blood, whereby their sins were washed away and they were said to be “born again.”\[Footnote:] Weigall, The Paganism In Our Christianity, pp. 116, 117.\ 13

There can hardly be any doubt of the fact that these ceremonies and beliefs strongly coloured the interpretation placed by the first Christians upon the life and death of the historic Jesus. 14  Moreover, “the merging of the worship of Attis into that of Jesus was effected without interruption, for these pagan ceremonies were enacted in a sanctuary on the Vatican Hill, which was afterwards taken over by the Christians, and the mother church of St. Peter now stands upon the very spot.”\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 117.\

The Influence of Adonis

Another popular religion which influenced the thought of early Christians was the worship of Adonis. As is commonly known Antioch was one of the earliest seats of Christianity. It was in this city that there was celebrated each year the death and resurrection of the god Adonis. This faith had always exerted its influence on Jewish thought, so much so that the prophet Ezekiel\[Footnote:] Ezekiel 8:14.\ found it necessary to scold the women of Jerusalem for weeping for the dead Tammuz (Adonis) at the very gate of the temple. When we come to Christian thought the influence seems even greater, for even the place at Bethleham selected by the early Christians as the scene of the birth of Jesus was none other than an early shrine of this pagan god—a fact that led many to confuse Adonis with Jesus Christ.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. cit., p. 110\ 15

It was believed that this god suffered a cruel death, after which he descended into hell, rose again, and then ascended into Heaven. Each following {year} there was a great festival in commemoration of his resurrection, and the very words, “The Lord is risen,” were probable used. The festival ended with the celebration of his ascention in the sight of his worshippers. 16  Needless to say that this story of the death and resurrection of Adonis is quite similar to the Christian story of the death and resurrection of Christ. This coincidence had led many critics to suppose that the story of the burial and resurrection of Jesus is simply a myth borrowed from this pagan religion. 17  Whether these critics are right in their interpretation or not still remains a moot question.

However when we come to the idea of Jesus’ decent into hell it seems that we have a direct borrow from the Adonis religion, and in fact from other religions also. Both the Apostles Creed and the Athanasian {Creed} say that between the Friday night and Sunday morning Jesus was in Hades. Now this idea has no scriptural foundation except in those difficult passages in the First Epistle of Peter\[Footnote:] I Peter 3:19–4:6.\ which many scholars have designated as the most ambiguous passages of the New Testament. In fact the idea did not appear in the church as a tenet of Christianity until late in the Fourth Century.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. cit., p. 113.\ 18  Such facts led almost inevitably to the view that this idea had a pagan origin, since it appears not only in the legend of Adonis, but also in those of Herakles, Dionyses, Orpheus, Osiris, Hermes, Balder, and other deities.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 114.\

The Influence of Osiris and Isis

The Egyptian mysteries of Isis and Osiris exerted considerable influence upon early Christianity. These two great Egyptian deities, whose worship passed into Europe, were revered not only in Rome but in many other centers where Christian communities were growing up. Osiris and Isis, so the legend runs, were at one and the same time, brother and sister, husband and wife; but Osiris was murdered, his coffined body being thrown into the Nile, and shortly afterwards the widowed and exiled Isis gave birth to a son, Horus. Meanwhile the coffin was washed up on the Syrian coast, and became miraculously lodged in the trunk of a tree. This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it. After recovering Osiris’ dismembered body, Isis restored him to life and installed him as King in the nether world; meanwhile Horus, having grown to manhood, reigned on earth, later becoming the third person of this great Egyptian trinity.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. cit., p. 119.\ 19

In the records of both Herodotus and Plutarch we find that there was a festival held each year in Egypt celebrating the resurrection of Osiris. While Herodotus fails to give a date for this festival, Plutarch says that it lasted four days, giving the date as the seventeenth day of the Egyptian month Hathor, which, according to the Alexandrian claendar used by him, corresponded to November 13th.\[Footnote:] Frazer, op. cit., p. 257.\ Other Egyptian records speak of another feast in honour of all the dead, when such lamps were lit, which was held about November 8th.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 258.\ 20

It is interesting to note that the Christian feast of all Souls, in honor of the dead, likewise falls at the beginning of November; and in many countries lamps and candles are burned all night on that occassion. There seems little doubt that this custom was identical with the Egyptian festival. The festival of all Saints, which is held one day before that of all Souls is also probably identical with it in origin.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. cit., p. 121.\ This still stands as a festival in the Christian calendar; and thus Christians unconsciously perpetuate the worship of Osiris in modern times. 21

However this is not the only point at which the Religion of Osiris and Isis exerted influence on Christianity. There can hardly be any doubt that the myths of Isis had a direct bearing on the elevation of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to the lofty position that she holds in Roman Catholic theology. As is commonly known Isis had two capacities which her worshippers warmly commended her for. Firstly, she was pictured as the lady of sorrows, weeping for the dead Osiris, and secondly she was commended as the divine mother, nursing her infant son, Horus. In the former capacity she was identified with the great mother-goddess, Demeter, whose mourning for Persephone was the main feature in the Eleusinian mysteries. In the latter capacity Isis was represented in tens of thousands of statuettes and paintings, holding the divine child in her arms. Now when Christianity triumphed we find that these same paintings and figures became those of the Madonna and child with little or no difference.\[Footnote:] Ibid, p. 123\ In fact archaeologists are often left in confusion in attempting to distinguish the one from the other. 22

It is also interesting to note that in the second century a story began to spread stating that Mary had been miraculously carried to Heaven by Jesus and His angels.\[Footnote:] The spreading of this story has been attributed to Melito, Bishop of Sardis.\ In the sixth century a festival came to be celebrated around this event known as the festival of Assumption, and it is now one of the greatest feasts of Roman Catholicism. It is celebrated annually on August 13th. But it was this very date that the festival of Dianna or Artemis was celebrated, with whom Isis was identified. Here we see how Mary gradually came to take the place of the goddess.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. cit., p. 125.\ 23

The Influence Of The Greater Mysteries At Eleusis

In the first century of the Christian era the Eleusinian mystery cult was more favorable known than any of the cults of Greece. 24  Its fame and popularity was largely due to the connexion of Eleusis with Athens. The origin of this cult is obscure and uncertain. Some writers traced its origin to Egypt while others upheld Eleusis in Greece as the place of its birth.

In order to understand the type of religious experience represented by this important cult, we must turn to the myth of the rape of Demeter’s daughter by Pluto. It is stated with sufficient elaboration in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. In this myth, Persephone is depicted playing in the meadows of Mysia in Asia with the daughters of Oceanus and Tithys. While playing she was stolen by Pluto and carried off to the underworld to be his bride. The mother, frenzied with grief, rushed about the earth for nine days in search for her lost daughter, 25  As a result of her wandering, she came to Eleusis where she was seen, although not recognized, by the four daughters of Kekeas sitting near a public well called the Fountain of Maidenhood. After telling a fictitious tale of her escape from pirates, she won the sympathy of the girls who took her home and at her own request was given a job to nurse their infant brother, Demophon. After making herself known, she commanded the people of Eleusis to build her a temple. In connection with the temple, she established certain ceremonies and rites for her worship.

During her short stay at the temple of Eleusis, the whole earth grew barren. Men began to die for the lack of food while the sacrifices to the gods decreased in number because the animals were dying out. The other gods pleaded with her to relent but she refused to do so until Persephone was restored to her. Pluto, (also called Hades) therefore, at the request of Zeus released her but not before he had caused her to eat a pomegranate seed which magically required her return after a period of time. Demeter, in her joy at the restoration of her lost daughter, allowed the crops to grow once more and institute in honor of the event the Eleusinian mysteries which gave to mortals the assurance of a happy future life. 26

The significance of this story is immediately clear. It was a nature myth portraying a vivid and realistic picture of the action of life in the vegetable world in regards to the changing seasons. Every year nature passes through a cycle of apparent death and resurrection. In winter, all plants die, this represents the period of Demeter’s grief over her daughter. Spring, the time when all plants come back to life, indicates the return of plenty when the goddess maintains all life until autumn when her daughter returns to Hades and the earth becomes once more desolated.\[Footnote:] Willoughby, op. cit., p. 42.\ 27

The myth is also an example of poignant human experience, reflecting the joys, sorrows, and hopes of mankind in the face of death. The mysteries of human life and death are vividly enacted by Demeter, Persephone, and Hades. Hades, the god of death, stole the beloved daughter, Persephone, from Demeter, the life giver, who refused to admit defeat until she secured her daughter’s resurrection. In this legend, human beings, who are always loved and lost, are depicted as never or seldom loosing hope for reunion with their God. These fundamental human experiences and the life of nature are the main substances of the Eleusinian Mysteries. 28  To the searchers of salvation, the Eleusinian cult offered not only the promise of a happy future, but also a definite assurance of it.\[Footnote:] Nilsson, Greek Popular Religion, p. 54.\

Now when we observe the modern Greek Easter festival it seems certain that it preserves the spirit if not the form of the old Eleusinian worship. In the spring, those who had shared Demeter’s grief for the loss of her daugher welcomed the return of Persephone with all the joy that the returning life of vegetation might kindle. And today similar experiences are represented by Greek Christians. After mourning over the dead Christ, represented most conspicuously by a wax image carried through the streets, there comes an announcement by the priest, on the midnight before Easter Sunday, that Christ is risen. At this moment the light from the candle of the priest is passed on to light the candles of his companions; guns and firecrackers are discharged as they prepare to break the Lenten fast.\[Footnote:] Fairbanks, Greek Religion, p. 288.\ 29  As in the Eleusinian mysteries the modern Greek Christian finds this a moment of supreme joy. So we might say that Eleusinianism was not blotted out by Christianity. On the contrary many of its forms and some of its old content has been perpetuated in Christianity. 30

The Influence of Mithraism

Mithraism is perhaps the greatest example of paganism’s last effort to reconcile itself to the great spiritual movement which was gaining such sturdy influence with its purer conception of God.\[Footnote:] Dill, Roman Society From Nero to Marcus Aurelius, p. 585.\ Ernest Renan, the French philosopher and Orientalist, expressed the opinion that Mithraism would have been the religion of the modern world if anything had occured to halt or destroy the growth of Christianity in the early centuries of its existence. All this goes to show how important Mithraism was in ancient times. It was suppressed by the Christians sometime in the latter part of the fourth century a.d.; but its collapse seems to have been due to the fact that by that time many of its doctrines and practices had been adopted by the church, so that it was practically absorbed by its rival. 31

Originally Mithra was one of the lesser gods of the ancient Persian pantheon, but at the time of Christ he had come to be co-equal with Ahura Mazda, the Supreme Being. 32  He possessed many attributes, the most important being his office of defender of truth and all good things. In the Avesta,\[Footnote:] This is the sacred book of the religion of Iran.\ Mithra is represented as the genius of celestial light. He emerges from the rocky summits of eastern mountains at dawn, and goes through heaven with a team of four white horses; when the night falls he still illumines the surface of the earth, “ever walking, ever watchful.” He is not sun or moon or any star, but a spirit of light, ever wakeful, watching with a hundred eyes. He hears all and sees all: none can deceive him.\[Footnote:] Cumont, Mysteries of Mithra, pp. 2, 3.\ 33  Tarsus, the home of Saint Paul, was one of the great centres of his worship; and there is a decided tinge of Mithraism in the Epistles and Gospels. Such designations of our Lord as the Dayspring from on High, The Light, the Sun of Righteousness, and similar expressions seem to come directly from Mithraic influence.\[Footnote:] Weigall, op. cit., p. 129.\ 34

Again tradition has it that Mithra was born from a rock, “the god out of the rock.” It must also be noticed that his worship was always conducted in a cave. Now it seems that the general belief of the early church that Jesus was born in a cave grows directly out of Mithraic ideas. The words of St. Paul, “They drank of that spiritual rock … and that rock was Christ” also seem to be {a} direct borrow from the Mithraic scriptures. 35

The Hebrew Sabbath having been abolished by Christians, the Church made a sacred day of Sunday, partly because it was the day of resurrection. But when we observe a little further we find that as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; it is also interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed as Lord, Sunday must have been “the Lord’s Day” long before Christian use.\[Footnote:] Ibid., p. 137.\ It is also to be noticed that our Christmas, December 25th, was the birthday of Mithra, and was only taken over in the Fourth Century as the date, actually unknown, of the birth of Jesus. 36

To make the picture a little more clear, we may list a few of the similarities between these two religions: (1) Both regard Sunday as a holy day. (2) December 25 came to be considered as the anniversary of the birth of Mithra and Christ also. (3) Baptism and a communion meal were important parts of the ritual of both groups. (4) The rebirth of converts was a fundamental idea in the two cults. (5) The struggle with evil and the eventual triumph of good were essential ideas in both religions. 37  (6) In summary we may say that the belief in immortality, a mediator between god and man, the observance of certain sacramental rites, the rebirth of converts, and (in most cases) the support of high ethical ideas were common to Mithraism as well as Christianity. In fact, the comparison became so evident that many believed the Christian movement itself became a mystery cult. “Jesus was the divine Lord. He too had found the road to heaven by his suffering and resurrection. He too had God for his father. He had left behind the secret whereby men could achieve the goal with him.”\[Footnote:] Enslin, op. cit., p. 190.\

Although the above paragraph makes it obvious that there are many similarities between these two religions, we must guard against the fallacy of seeing all similarity as direct borrowing. For an instance, the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist have been mentioned as rites, which were  preactice  {practiced} by both Christians and pagans. It is improbable, however, that either of these were introduced into Christian practices by association with the mystery cults. The baptismal ceremony in both cases (Christian and Pagan) was supposed to have the effect of identifying the initiate with his savior. But although baptism did not originate with the Christians, still it was not copied from the pagans. It seems instead to have been carried over from Jewish background and modified by the new ideas and beliefs of the Christians. The eucharist, likewise through similar in some respects to the communion meal of Mithraism, was not a rite borrowed from it. There are several explanations regarding the beginning of the observance of the Lord’s Supper. Some held that the sacrament was instituted by Jesus himself. Others saw it as an out-growth from Jewish precedents. Still others felt that, after the death of Jesus, the disciples saw in their common meal an opportunity to hold a kind of memorial service for him.

On the whole, early Christians were not greatly concerned about the likenesses between the Mithraic cult and their own. They felt at first that these competitors were not worthy of consideration, and few references to them are found in Christian literature. When Mithraism became widespread and powerful, it attracted so much attention that certain Christian apologists felt the need to present an explanation for the similarities in their respective characteristics. The only one they could offer was quite naive, but it was in keeping with the trends of thought in that age. They maintained that it was the work of the devil who helped to confuse men by creating a pagan imitation of the true religion. 38

There can hardly be any gainsaying of the fact that Christianity was greatly influenced by the Mystery religions, both from a ritual and a doctrinal angle. This does not mean that there was a deliberate copying on the part of Christianity. On the contrary it was generally a natural and unconscious process rather than a deliberate plan of action. Christianity was subject to the same influences from the environment as were the other cults, and it sometimes produced the same reaction. The people were conditioned by the contact with the older religions and the background and general trend of the time. 39  Dr. Shirley Jackson Case has written some words that are quite apt at this point. He says: “Following the lead of the apostle Paul, the Christian missionaries on gentile soil finally made of Christianity a more appealing religion than any of the other mystery cults. This was accomplished, not by any slavish process of imitation, but by {a} serious attempt to meet better the specific religious needs that the mysteries had awakened and nourished, and by phrasing religious assurances more convincingly in similar terminology.”\[Footnote:] Case, “The Mystery Religions,” The Encyclopedia of Religion, Edited by Vergilius Ferm, pp. 511–513\

The greatest influence of the mystery religions on Christianity lies in a different direction from that of doctrine and ritual. It lies in the fact that the mystery religions paved the way for the presentation of Christianity to the world of that time. They prepared the people mentally and emotionally to understand the type of religion which Christianity represented. They were themselves, in verying degrees, imperfect examples of the Galilean cult which was to replace them. They encouraged the movement away from the state religions and the philosophical systems and toward the desire for personal salvation and promise of immortality. Christianity was truly indebted to the mystery religions for this contribution, for they had done this part of the groundwork and thus opened the way for Christian missionary work. Many views, while passing out of paganism into Christianity were given a more profound and spiritual meaning by Christians, yet we must be indebted to the source. To discuss Christianity without mentioning other religions would be like discussing the greatness of the Atlantic Ocean without the slightest mention of the many tributaries that keep it flowing. 40

Christianity, however, [ strikeout illegible ] survived because it appeared to be the result of a trend in the social order or in the historical cycle of the human race. Forces have been known to delay trends but very few have stopped them. The staggering question that now arises is, what will be the next stage of man’s religious progress? Is Christianity the crowning achievement in the development of religious thought or will there be another religion more advanced?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Angus, S., The Mystery Religions and Christianity, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York: 1925),
• Cumont, Franz, The Mysteries of Mithra, (The Open Court Publishing Co., Chicago: 1910).
• Cumont, Franz, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, (The Open House Publishing Co., Chicago: 1911).
• Dill, Samuel, Roman Society From Nero To Marcus Aurelius, (Macmillan and Co., New York: 1905), pp. 585–626.
• Enslin Morton S., Christian Beginnings, (Harper and Brothers Publishers, New York: 1938), pp. 186–200.
• Frazer, J. E., Adonis, Attis, Osiris, (London, 1922), Vol. I.
• Fairbanks, Arthur, Greek Religion, (American Book Co, New York: 1910).
• Halliday, W. R., The Pagan Background of Early Christianity, (The University Press of Liverpool, London: N.D.), pp. 281–311.
• Hyde, Walter, W, Paganism To Christianity in the Roman Empire, (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia: 1946).
• Moore, George F., History of Religions, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York: 1913), Vol. I, pp. 375–405.
• Nilsson, Martin P., Greek Popular Religion, (Columbia University Press, New York: 1940), pp. 42–64.
• Weigall Arthur, The Paganism in Our Christianity, (Hutchinson and Co. London: N.D.).
• Willoughby, Harold R., Pagan Regeneration, (University of Chicago Press, Chicago: 1929).

1.  See “A Study of Mithraism,” 13 September–23 November 1949, pp. 211–225 in this volume.

2.  S. Angus,  The Mystery-Religions and Christianity  (London: John Murray, 1925), p. vii: “These Mysteries covered an enormous range, and manifested a great diversity in character and outlook, from Orphism to Gnosticism, from the orgies of the Cabiri to the fervours of the Hermetic contemplative.”

3.  The preceding three paragraphs are similar to a passage in King’s earlier paper, “A Study of Mithraism,” p. 211 in this volume.

4.  Grant Showerman, introduction to Franz Cumont,  Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism  (Chicago: Open House Publishing Company, 1911), pp. xi–xii: “Christianity triumphed after long conflict … It took from its opponents their own weapons, and used them; the better elements of paganism were transferred to the new religion. ‘As the religious history of the empire is studied more closely,’ writes M. Cumont, ‘the triumph of the church will, in our opinion, appear more and more as the culmination of a long evolution of beliefs. We can understand the Christianity of the fifth century with its greatness and weaknesses, its spiritual exaltation and its puerile superstitions, if we know the moral antecedents of the world in which it developed.’”

5.  The preceding two sentences are similar to a passage in “A Study of Mithraism,” p. 211 in this volume.

6.  The preceding paragraph is similar to passages in two of King’s earlier papers: “Light on the Old Testament from the Ancient Near East,” 14 September–24 November 1948, p. 163 in this volume; “A Study of Mithraism,” p. 212 in this volume.

7.  Harold R. Willoughby,  Pagan Regeneration  (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929), p. 114: “Of these Oriental mystery religions the first to invade the west was the cult of the Great Mother of the Gods,… The divine personage in whom this cult centered was the  Magna Mater Deum  who was conceived as the source of all life as well as the personification of all the powers of nature.”

8.  Willoughby,  Pagan Regeneration , p. 114: “She was the ‘Great Mother’ not only ‘of all the gods,’ but ‘of all men’ as well.”

9.  Willoughby quoted from Apollonius  Argonautica  1.1098 ff. ( Pagan Regeneration , p. 115).

10.  Willoughby,  Pagan Regeneration , pp. 116–117: “With [the Great Mother] was associated a hero-divinity called Attis who personified the life of the vegetable world particularly.… Around these two divinities, the Great Mother and the god of vegetation, there grew up a confused tangle of myths in explanation of their cult rites. Various writers, pagan and Christian, gave different versions of the Cybele-Attis myth.… The specific variations in all these diverse statements do not concern us, for certain significant elements were common to all the various versions.”

11.  Arthur E. Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity  (n.p.: Putnam, 1928), p. 121: “Attis was the Good Shepherd, the son of Cybele, the Great Mother, or, alternatively, of the Virgin Nana, who conceived him without union with mortal man, as in the story of the Virgin Mary.”

12.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 121–122: “In Rome the festival of his death and resurrection was annually held from March 22nd to 25th; and the connection of this religion with Christianity is shown by the fact that in Phrygia, Gaul, Italy, and other countries where Attis-worship was powerful, the Christians adopted the actual date, March 25th, as the anniversary of our Lord’s passion.”

13.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 122–123: “At this Attis festival a pine-tree was felled on March 22nd, and to its trunk an effigy of the god was fastened, Attis thus being ‘slain and hanged on a tree,’ in the Biblical phrase. This effigy was later buried in a tomb. March 24th was the Day of Blood, whereon the High Priest, who himself impersonated Attis, drew blood from his arm and offered it up in place of the blood of a human sacrifice, thus, as it were, sacrificing himself, a fact which recalls to mind the words in the Epistle to the Hebrews: ‘Christ being come an High Priest … neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood … obtained eternal redemption for us.’ That night the priests went to the tomb and found it illuminated from within, and it was then discovered to be empty, the god having risen on the third day from the dead; and on the 25th the resurrection was celebrated with great rejoicings, a sacramental meal of some kind being taken, and initiates being baptised with blood, whereby their sins were washed away and they were said to be ‘born again.’”

14.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , p. 123: “There can be no doubt that these ceremonies and beliefs deeply coloured the interpretation placed by the first Christians upon the historic facts of the Crucifixion, burial, and coming again to life of Jesus.”

15.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 115–116: “Now one of the earliest seats of Christianity was Antioch; but in that city there was celebrated each year the death and resurrection of the god Tammuz or Adonis,… This faith had always exerted its influence on Jewish thought, and, indeed, the prophet Ezekiel had found it necessary to scold the women of Jerusalem for weeping for the dead Tammuz at the very gate of the Temple; while, in the end, the place at Bethlehem selected by the early Christians as the scene of the birth of Jesus (for want to [ sic ] any knowledge as to where the event had really occurred) was none other than an early shrine of this pagan god, as St. Jerome was horrified to discover—a fact which shows that Tammuz or Adonis ultimately became confused in men’s minds with Jesus Christ.”

16.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , p. 116: “This god was believed to have suffered a cruel death, to have descended into Hell or Hades, to have risen again, and to have ascended into Heaven; and at his festival, as held in various lands, his death was bewailed, an effigy of his dead body was prepared for burial by being washed with water and anointed, and, on the next day, his resurrection was commemorated with great rejoicing, the very words ‘The Lord is risen’ probably being used. The celebration of his ascension in the sight of his worshippers was the final act of the festival.”

17.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , p. 117: “This coincidence has, of course, led many critics to suppose that the story of the burial and resurrection of Jesus is simply a myth borrowed from this pagan religion.”

18.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 118–119: “But there is one feature of the Gospel story which seems really to have been borrowed from the Adonis religion, and, in fact, from other pagan religions also, namely, the descent into Hell. The Apostles Creed and Athanasian Creed say that between the Friday night and the Sunday morning Jesus was in Hell or Hades;… It has no scriptural foundation except in the ambiguous words of the First Epistle of Peter; it did not appear in the Church as a tenet of Christianity until late in the Fourth Century.”

19.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 124–125: “The popular and widespread religion of Osiris and Isis exercised considerable influence upon early Christianity, for these two great Egyptian deities, whose worship had passed into Europe, were revered in Rome and in several other centres where Christian communities were growing up. Osiris and Isis, so runs the legend, were brother and sister and also husband and wife; but Osiris was murdered, his coffined body being thrown into the Nile, and shortly afterwards the widowed and exiled Isis gave birth to a son, Horus. The coffin, meanwhile, was washed up on the Syrian coast, and became miraculously lodged in the trunk of a tree,… This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it.… Afterwards, however, he returned to the other world to reign for ever as King of the Dead; and meanwhile Horus, having grown to manhood, reigned on Earth, later becoming the third person of this great Egyptian trinity.”

20.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 125–126: “Herodotus states that the festival of the death and resurrection of Osiris was held in Egypt each year, though he does not give the date;… Plutarch also records the annual Osirian festival, and says that it lasted four days, giving the date as the seventeenth day of the Egyptian month Hathor, which, according to the Alexandrian calendar used by him, corresponded to November 13th. Now we know from old Egyptian records that a feast in honour of all the dead, when such lamps were lit, was held … about November 8th.”

21.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 126–127: “But the Christian feast of All Souls, in honour of the dead, likewise falls at the beginning of November; and in many countries lamps and candles are burnt all night on that occasion.… there seems little doubt that this custom was identical with the Egyptian festival.… the festival of All Saints, which is held one day before that of All Souls and which was first recognised by the Church in a.d. 835, is undoubtedly identical with it in origin. This still stands as a festival in the ecclesiastical calendar; and thus Christians unconsciously perpetuate the worship of Osiris and the commemoration of all his subjects in the Kingdom of the Dead.”

22.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 129–130: “There were two aspects of Isis which commended themselves particularly to her worshippers: firstly, that of the lady of sorrows, weeping for the dead Osiris, and, secondly, that of the divine mother, nursing her infant son, Horus. In the former capacity she was identified with the great mother-goddess, Demeter, whose mourning for Persephone was the main feature in the Eleusinian mysteries;… In her aspect as the mother of Horus, Isis was represented in tens of thousands of statuettes and paintings, holding the divine child in her arms; and when Christianity triumphed these paintings and figures became those of the Madonna and Child without any break in continuity: no archaeologist, in fact, can now tell whether some of these objects represent the one or the other.”

23.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 131–132: “At about this time a story, attributed to Melito, Bishop of Sardis in the Second Century, but probably of much later origin, began to spread that Mary had been miraculously carried to Heaven by Jesus and His angels; and in the Sixth Century the festival of the Assumption, which celebrates this event, was acknowledged by the Church, and is now one of the great feasts of Roman Catholicism,… It is celebrated on August 13th; but that was the date of the great festival of Diana or Artemis, with whom Isis was identified, and one can see, thus, how Mary had gradually taken the place of the goddess.”

24.  Willoughby,  Pagan Regeneration , p. 36: “Among the cults of Greece none was more favorably known in the first century of the Christian era than the Eleusinian mysteries.”

25.  Willoughby,  Pagan Regeneration , p. 41: “In order to understand the type of religious experience represented by this important cult, it is necessary clearly to keep in mind the main points of the Eleusinian myth which was developed to explain and justify the cult rites. These are stated with sufficient elaboration in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter,… According to the story, Persephone,… was stolen by Pluto and carried off to the underworld to be his bride.… The mother, frenzied with grief, rushed about the earth for nine days.”

26.  Willoughby,  Pagan Regeneration , p. 42: “Demeter, in her joy at the restoration of her lost daughter, allowed the crops to grow once more and instituted in honor of the event the Eleusinian mysteries which gave to mortals the assurance of a happy future life.”

27.  Willoughby,  Pagan Regeneration , p. 42: “The experiential basis for this story is quite clear. It was a nature myth, a vivid depiction of the action of life in the vegetable world with the changing of the seasons. Each year nature passed through the cycle of apparent death and resurrection. In winter vegetable life was dead while Demeter, the giver of life, grieved for the loss of her daughter. But with the coming of spring the life of nature revived again, for the sorrowing mother had received her daughter back with rejoicing. Through the summer the mother abundantly maintained the life of nature until autumn, when again her daughter returned to the underworld and earth became desolate once more.”

28.  Willoughby,  Pagan Regeneration , pp. 42–43: “It was also a reflection of poignant human experiences, mirroring the joys, sorrows, and hopes of mankind in face of inevitable death. The three actors of the Eleusinian tragedy,… enacted the mystery of human life and death. The god of death himself stole the beloved daughter away from the life-giver; but the divine mother would not give up her loved one, and in the end she accomplished her daughter’s resurrection. Here was human experience made heroic and divine; for man has ever loved and lost, but rarely has he ceased to hope for reunion with the loved one. The Eleusinian myth told of these fundamental human experiences as well as of the life of nature.”

29.  Arthur Fairbanks,  A Handbook of Greek Religion  (New York: American Book Company, 1910), p. 288: “Certainly the Greek Easter festival seems to preserve the spirit if not the forms of the old Eleusinian worship. In the spring, those who had shared Demeter’s grief for the loss of her daughter welcomed the return of Persephone with all the joy that the returning life of vegetation might kindle. And today the Greeks mourn over the dead Christ, represented most realistically by a wax image borne through the streets on a bier; then at midnight before Easter Sunday the Metropolitan at Athens, the priest in smaller towns, comes out of the church announcing that Christ is risen; the light from his candle is passed to the candles of his companions and on to candles throughout the crowd, guns and firecrackers are discharged, and as they prepare to break their Lenten fast the multitude drop all restraint in the expression of wild joy.”

30.  Fairbanks,  Greek Religion , p. 293: “This religion was not blotted out by Christianity. On the contrary, whatever real life it had was perpetuated in Christianity, since the conquering religion had adopted many of its forms and some of the old content in these forms.”

31.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , p. 135: “It was suppressed by the Christians in a.d. 376 and 377; but its collapse seems to have been due rather to the fact that by that time many of its doctrines and ceremonies had been adopted by the Church, so that it was practically absorbed by its rival.”

32.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 135–136: “Originally Mithra was one of the lesser gods of the ancient Persian pantheon, but … already in the time of Christ he had risen to be co-equal with, though created by, Ormuzd (Ahura-Mazda), the Supreme Being.”

33.  The previous five sentences are similar to a passage in King’s earlier paper, “A Study of Mithraism,” pp. 213–214 in this volume. Franz Cumont,  The Mysteries of Mithra  (Chicago: Open Court, 1910), pp. 2–3: “In the Avesta, Mithra is the genius of the celestial light. He appears before sunrise on the rocky summits of the mountains; during the day he traverses the wide firmament in his chariot drawn by four white horses, and when night falls he still illumines with flickering glow the surface of the earth, ‘ever waking, ever watchful.’ He is neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, but with ‘his hundred ears and his hundred eyes’ watches constantly the world. Mithra hears all, sees all, knows all: none can deceive him.”

34.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , pp. 136–137: “Tarsus, the home of St. Paul, was one of the great centres of his worship, being the chief city of the Cilicians; and, as will presently appear, there is a decided tinge of Mithraism in the Epistles and Gospels. Thus the designations of our Lord as the Dayspring from on High, the Light, the Sun of Righteousness, and similar expressions, are borrowed from or related to Mithraic phraseology.”

35.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , p. 137: “Mithra was born from a rock, as shown in Mithraic sculptures, being sometimes termed ‘the god out of the rock,’ and his worship was always conducted in a cave; and the general belief in the early Church that Jesus was born in a cave is a direct instance of the taking over of Mithraic ideas. The words of St. Paul, ‘They drank of that spiritual rock … and that rock was Christ’ are borrowed from the Mithraic scriptures.”

36.  Weigall,  Paganism in Our Christianity , p. 145: “The Hebrew Sabbath having been abolished by Christians, the Church made a sacred day of Sunday, partly because it was the day of the resurrection, but largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance. But, as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; and it is interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed as  Dominus , ‘Lord,’ Sunday must have been ‘the Lord’s Day’ long before Christian times.… December 25th was the birthday of the sun-god, and particularly of Mithra, and was only taken over in the Fourth Century as the date, actually unknown, of the birth of Jesus.”

37.  The preceding five sentences are similar to a passage in “A Study of Mithraism,” pp. 222–223 in this volume.

38.  The preceding two paragraphs are similar to a passage in “A Study of Mithraism,” pp. 223–224 in this volume.

39.  The preceding four sentences are similar to a passage in “A Study of Mithraism,” p. 224 in this volume.

40.  The preceding two sentences are similar to a passage in “A Study of Mithraism,” p. 224 in this volume.

Source:  MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass.

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Christianity

By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 18, 2024 | Original: October 13, 2017

Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world, with more than 2 billion followers. The Christian faith centers on beliefs regarding the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While it started with a small group of adherents, many historians regard the spread and adoption of Christianity throughout the world as one of the most successful spiritual missions in human history.

Christianity Beliefs

Some basic Christian concepts include:

• Christians are monotheistic, i.e., they believe there’s only one God, and he created the heavens and the earth. This divine Godhead consists of three parts: the father (God himself), the son ( Jesus Christ ) and the Holy Spirit.
• The essence of Christianity revolves around the life, death and Christian beliefs on the resurrection of Jesus. Christians believe God sent his son Jesus, the messiah, to save the world. They believe Jesus was crucified on a cross to offer the forgiveness of sins and was resurrected three days after his death before ascending to heaven.
• Christians contend that Jesus will return to earth again in what’s known as the Second Coming.
• The Holy Bible includes important scriptures that outline Jesus’s teachings, the lives and teachings of major prophets and disciples, and offer instructions for how Christians should live.
• Both Christians and Jews follow the Old Testament of the Bible, but Christians also embrace the New Testament.
• The cross is a symbol of Christianity.
• The most important Christian holidays are Christmas (which celebrates the birth of Jesus) and Easter (which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus).

Who Was Jesus?

Most historians believe that Jesus was a real person who was born between 2 B.C. and 7 B.C. Much of what scholars know about Jesus comes from the New Testament of the Christian Bible.

According to the text, Jesus was born to a young Jewish virgin named Mary in the town of Bethlehem in the West Bank, south of Jerusalem . Christians believe the conception was a supernatural event, with God impregnating Mary via the Holy Spirit.

Very little is known about Jesus’s childhood. Scriptures reveal that he grew up in Nazareth, he and his family fled persecution from King Herod and moved to Egypt, and his “earthly” father, Joseph, was a carpenter.

Jesus was raised Jewish, and according to most scholars, he aimed to reform Judaism —not create a new religion.

When he was around 30 years old, Jesus started his public ministry after being baptized in the Jordan River by the prophet known as John the Baptist.

For about three years, Jesus traveled with 12 appointed disciples (also known as the 12 apostles), teaching large groups of people and performing what witnesses described as miracles. Some of the most well-known miraculous events included raising a dead man named Lazarus from the grave, walking on water and curing the blind.

Jesus's Teachings

Jesus used parables—short stories with hidden messages—in his teachings.

Some of the main themes that Jesus taught, which Christians later embraced, include:

• Love your neighbor as yourself.
• Forgive others who have wronged you.
• Love your enemies.
• Ask God for forgiveness of your sins.
• Jesus is the Messiah and was given the authority to forgive others.
• Repentance of sins is essential.
• Don’t be hypocritical.
• Don’t judge others.
• The Kingdom of God is near. It’s not the rich and powerful—but the weak and poor—who will inherit this kingdom.

In one of Jesus’s most famous speeches, which became known as the Sermon on the Mount , he summarized many of his moral instructions for his followers.

Jesus's Death and Resurrection

Many scholars believe Jesus died between A.D. 30 and 33, although the exact date is debated among theologians.

According to the Bible, Jesus was arrested, tried and condemned to death. Roman governor Pontius Pilate issued the order to kill Jesus after being pressured by Jewish leaders who alleged that Jesus was guilty of a variety of crimes, including blasphemy.

Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers in Jerusalem, and his body was laid in a tomb. According to scripture, three days after his crucifixion, Jesus’s body was missing.

In the days after Jesus’s death, some people reported sightings and encounters with him. Authors in the Bible say the resurrected Jesus ascended into Heaven.

The Christian Bible

The Christian Bible is a collection of 66 books written by various authors. It’s divided into two parts: The Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament, which is also recognized by followers of Judaism , describes the history of the Jewish people, outlines specific laws to follow, details the lives of many prophets, and predicts the coming of the Messiah.

The New Testament was written after Jesus’s death. The first four books— Matthew , Mark , Luke and John —are known as the “Gospels,” which means “good news.” These texts, composed sometime between A.D. 70 and 100, provide accounts of the life and death of Jesus.

Letters written by early Christian leaders, which are known as “epistles,” make up a large part of the New Testament. These letters offer instructions for how the church should operate.

The Acts of the Apostles is a book in the New Testament that gives an account of the apostles’ ministry after Jesus’s death. The author of Acts is the same author as one of the Gospels—it is effectively “part two” to the Gospels, what happened after Jesus’s death and resurrection.

The final book in the New Testament, Revelation , describes a vision and prophecies that will occur at the end of the world, as well as metaphors to describe the state of the world.

According to the Bible, the first church organized itself 50 days after Jesus’s death on the Day of Pentecost—when the Holy Spirit was said to descend onto Jesus’s followers.

Most of the first Christians were Jewish converts, and the church was centered in Jerusalem. Shortly after the creation of the church, many Gentiles (non-Jews) embraced Christianity.

Early Christians considered it their calling to spread and teach the gospel. One of the most important missionaries was the apostle Paul, a former persecutor of Christians.

Paul’s conversion to Christianity after he had a supernatural encounter with Jesus is described in Acts of the Apostles . Paul preached the gospel and established churches throughout the Roman Empire , Europe and Africa.

Many historians believe Christianity wouldn’t be as widespread without the work of Paul. In addition to preaching, Paul is thought to have written 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament.

Persecution of Christians

Early Christians were persecuted for their faith by both Jewish and Roman leaders.

In A.D. 64, Emperor Nero blamed Christians for a fire that broke out in Rome. Many were brutally tortured and killed during this time.

Under Emperor Domitian, Christianity was illegal. If a person confessed to being a Christian, he or she was executed.

Starting in A.D. 303, Christians faced the most severe persecutions to date under the co-emperors Diocletian and Galerius. This became known as the Great Persecution.

Constantine Embraces Christianity

When Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, religious tolerance shifted in the Roman Empire.

During this time, there were several groups of Christians with different ideas about how to interpret scripture and the role of the church.

In A.D. 313, Constantine lifted the ban on Christianity with the Edict of Milan. He later tried to unify Christianity and resolve issues that divided the church by establishing the Nicene Creed.

Many scholars believe Constantine’s conversion was a turning point in Christian history.

The Catholic Church

In A.D. 380, Emperor Theodosius I declared Catholicism the state religion of the Roman Empire. The Pope, or Bishop of Rome, operated as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Catholics expressed a deep devotion for the Virgin Mary, recognized the seven sacraments, and honored relics and sacred sites.

When the Roman Empire collapsed in A.D. 476, differences emerged among Eastern and Western Christians.

In A.D. 1054, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox church split into two groups.

The Crusades

Between about A.D. 1095 and A.D. 1230, the Crusades, a series of holy wars, took place. In these battles, Christians fought against Islamic rulers and their Muslim soldiers to reclaim holy land in the city of Jerusalem.

The Christians were successful in occupying Jerusalem during some of the Crusades, but they were ultimately defeated.

After the Crusades, the Catholic Church’s power and wealth increased.

The Reformation

In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther published 95 Theses— a text that criticized certain acts of the Pope and protested some of the practices and priorities of the Roman Catholic church.

Later, Luther publicly said that the Bible didn’t give the Pope the sole right to read and interpret scripture.

Luther’s ideas triggered the Reformation —a movement that aimed to reform the Catholic church. As a result, Protestantism was created, and different denominations of Christianity eventually began to form.

Types of Christianity

Christianity is broadly split into three branches: Catholic, Protestant and (Eastern) Orthodox.

The Catholic branch is governed by the Pope and Catholic bishops around the world. The Orthodox (or Eastern Orthodox) is split into independent units each governed by a Holy Synod; there is no central governing structure akin to the Pope.

There are numerous denominations within Protestant Christianity, many of which differ in their interpretation of the Bible and understanding of the church.

Some of the many denominations that fall under the category of Protestant Christianity include:

• Episcopalian
• Presbyterian
• Pentecostal/Charismatic
• Evangelical
• Assemblies of God
• Christian Reform/Dutch Reform
• Church of the Nazarene
• Disciples of Christ
• United Church of Christ
• Christian Science
• Seventh-Day Adventist

Although the many sects of Christianity have differing views, uphold separate traditions and worship in distinct ways, the core of their faith is centered around the life and teachings of Jesus.

Christianity Fast Facts. CNN . The Basics of Christian History. BBC . Christianity. BBC . Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Harvard Divinity School . Life and Teachings of Jesus. Harvard Divinity School . Legitimization Under Constantine. PBS .

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(page 112) p. 112 Conclusion

• Published: September 2014
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Christianity has endured longer than the greatest empires and had more influence than the grandest cultural achievements. Its texts still shape lives and many of its institutions still function. The Conclusion shows that a major reason for this success is the religion’s variety and potential for adaptation. The confluences and divergences between Church, Biblical, and Mystical Christianity are one aspect of Christian history, their interrelations with varied social contexts the other. In our contemporary world, Christianity is as vibrant—and as deeply divided—as at any point in its history. Attempts to forge unity between its various parts have largely been abandoned. How will liberalism and popular participation develop Christianity in its third millennium?

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Get to Know the Basic Beliefs of Christianity

Core Christian beliefs are summarized in the gospel of Jesus Christ

• Christianity Origins
• The New Testament
• The Old Testament
• Practical Tools for Christians
• Christian Life For Teens
• Christian Prayers
• Inspirational Bible Devotions
• Denominations of Christianity
• Christian Holidays
• Christian Entertainment
• Key Terms in Christianity
• Catholicism
• Latter Day Saints

• General Biblical Studies, Interdenominational Christian Training Center

What do Christians believe? Answering this question is no simple matter. Christianity in general encompasses a wide range of denominations and faith groups. Thus, within the broad umbrella of Christianity as a religion, Christian beliefs vary widely as each denomination subscribes to its own set of doctrines and practices.

Definition of Doctrine

Doctrine is something that is taught; a principle or creed of principles presented for acceptance or belief; a system of beliefs. In Scripture, doctrine takes on a broader meaning. In the Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology this explanation of doctrine is given:

"Christianity is a religion founded on a message of good news rooted in the significance of the life of Jesus Christ. In Scripture, then, doctrine refers to the entire body of essential theological truths that define and describe that message ... The message includes historical facts, such as those regarding the events of the life of Jesus Christ ... But it is deeper than biographical facts alone... Doctrine, then, is scriptural teaching on theological truths."

Christian Creeds

The three major Christian creeds, the Apostles' Creed , the Nicene Creed , and the Athanasian Creed , together constitute a fairly comprehensive summary of traditional Christian doctrine, expressing the fundamental beliefs of a wide range of Christian churches. However, many churches reject the practice of professing creeds, even though they may agree with the content of the creeds. They refuse to accept or acknowledge the creeds in a desire to follow no text except that which is written in the Bible.

Major Christian Beliefs

While many theological differences exist among Christians, most hold a set of beliefs in common. C.S. Lewis explores this common core of Christian beliefs in his book Mere Christianity . These positions deal with how God reveals himself and relates to humans; the character of God ; God's plan of salvation; God's design for the church ; and end times events.

The following beliefs are central to almost all Christian faith groups. They are presented here as the core beliefs of Christianity. A small number of faith groups that consider themselves to be within the framework of Christianity do not accept some of these beliefs. It should also be understood that slight variances, exceptions, and additions to these doctrines exist within certain faith groups that fall under the broad umbrella of Christianity.

God the Father

• There is only one God ( Isaiah 43:10; 44:6, 8; John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 8:5-6; Galatians 4:8-9).
• God is omniscient, meaning he "knows all things" (Acts 15:18; 1 John 3:20).
• God is omnipotent, meaning he is "all-powerful" (Psalm 115:3; Revelation 19:6).
• God is omnipresent, meaning he is "present everywhere" (Jeremiah 23:23, 24; Psalm 139).
• God is sovereign (Zechariah 9:14; 1 Timothy 6:15-16).
• God is holy (1 Peter 1:15).
• God is just or " righteous " (Psalm 19:9, 116:5, 145:17; Jeremiah 12:1).
• God is love ( 1 John 4:8 ).
• God is true (Romans 3:4; John 14:6).
• God is the creator of everything that exists (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 44:24).
• God is infinite and eternal. He has always been and will ever be God (Psalm 90:2; Genesis 21:33; Acts 17:24).
• God is immutable. He does not change (James 1:17; Malachi 3:6; Isaiah 46:9-10).

The Trinity

• God is three in one or a Trinity ; God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; John 14:16-17; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Acts 2:32-33, John 10:30,17:11, 21; 1 Peter 1:2).

Jesus Christ the Son

• Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1, 14, 10:30-33, 20:28; Colossians 2:9; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 1:8).
• Jesus was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:26–35).
• Jesus Christ became a man (Philippians 2:1-11).
• Jesus is fully God and fully man (Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
• Jesus Christ is perfect and sinless (1 Peter 2:22; Hebrews 4:15).
• Jesus is the only way to God the Father (John 14:6; Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22).

The Holy Spirit

• God is Spirit (John 4:24).
• The Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 2:11-12; 2 Corinthians 13:14).

The Bible: The Word of God

• The Bible is the "inspired" or " God-breathed ," Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
• The Bible in its original manuscripts is without error (John 10:35; John 17:17; Hebrews 4:12).

God's Plan of Salvation

• Humans were created by God and in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).
• All people have sinned (Romans 3:23, 5:12).
• Death came into the world through Adam's sin (Romans 5:12-15).
• Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2).
• Jesus Christ died for the sins of each and every person in the world (1 John 2:2; 2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 Peter 2:24).
• The death of Jesus Christ was a substitutionary sacrifice. He died and paid the price for our sins so that we might live forever with him. (1 Peter 2:24; Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).
• Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead in physical form (John 2:19-21).
• Salvation is a free gift of God (Romans 4:5, 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 John 1:8-10).
• Believers are saved by grace; Salvation cannot be earned by human efforts or good works (Ephesians 2:8–9).
• Those who reject Jesus Christ will go to hell forever after they die (Revelation 20:11-15, 21:8).
• Those who accept Jesus Christ will live for eternity with him after they die (John 11:25, 26; 2 Corinthians 5:6).

Hell Is Real

• Hell is a real place of punishment (Matthew 25:41, 46; Revelation 19:20).
• Hell is eternal (Matthew 25:46).
• There will be a rapture of the church (Matthew 24:30-36, 40-41; John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12).
• Jesus Christ will return to the earth (Acts 1:11).
• Christians will be raised from the dead when the Lord returns (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).
• There will be a final judgment (Hebrews 9:27; 2 Peter 3:7).
• Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
• God will create a new heaven and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1). 
• Elwell, W. A., & Elwell, W. A. (1996). Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
• The Trinity Doctrine in Christianity
• Biblical Names of God
• Is Reincarnation in the Bible?
• The 7 Main Christian Denominations: What Are the Differences?
• Every Animal in the Bible
• Moses in the Bible, Giver of the Law
• Learn the Meaning of Numbers in the Bible
• Are Crystals in the Bible?
• 35 Bible Verses About Life
• Timeline of Jesus' Death
• 33 Bible Verses About Nature
• 25 Bible Verses for Funerals and Sympathy Cards
• Christian Symbols Illustrated Glossary
• Get to Know Jesus Christ, the Central Figure in Christianity
• The Role of Anointing Oil in the Bible
• Bible Verses on God's Comfort

Berkley Center

Globalization and the growing church.

By: José Casanova

April 9, 2013

External Link

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Religion and Globalization: Gender and Theory

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Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology

Overview Essay

Christianity and Ecology

Heather Eaton, St. Paul University

See also Ernst Conradie's article on Christianity and ecology in the Routledge Handbook of Religion and Ecology

Christians have been grappling with the ecological crisis for several decades, in many ways and in distinct contexts and traditions. Ecological issues have seeped into all aspects of Christian theologies, church leadership and practices, noting that Christianity must always be understood as diverse, with multiple historical and existing cultural traditions and challenges. The overall aims are to orient Christianity towards ecological sustainability, and to transform the traditions and practices. An ecological influence on Christian traditions is now worldwide and growing and is considered here under the rubric of ecotheology. There are countless people developing ecotheology across traditions and theological disciplines. A few will be mentioned throughout, noting there are many more.

Ecotheology is prominent in theological studies, seminaries, workshops, conferences and parishes. This work represents a significant range of perspectives, traditions and topics, as well as differing emphases on interpretation, ethics, leadership, ritual and social practices. Ecotheology, while confessional, provides critiques of Christianity as well as comprehensive reforms, generating constructive and creative transformations. These include assessments of biblical and other texts and teachings, and revisions of meaning on such themes as creation, revelation, redemption and soteriology. There are three prevalent methods: retrieval, such as the Earth Bible Project, (Norman Habel, Elaine Wainright, Vicky Balabanski); reinterpretation, such as expanding the precept of a ‘preferential option for the poor’ to include the Earth (Ivone Gebara, Leonardo Boff), and; reconstruction, such as with Process theology (John Cobb, Catherine Keller), ecological sin (Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople) and the renewal of creation theologies (Sallie MdFague, Jürgen Moltmann, John Haught, Elizabeth Johnson, Celia Deane-Drummond). There are deliberations on ecological hermeneutics (Ernst Conradie, Kim Yong Bok), ethics (James Nash, Larry Rasmussen, Sigurd Bergmann) ecojustice (Dieter Hessel, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Mary Grey, John Hart) and ecofeminism (Rosemary Radford Ruether, Gebara, Heather Eaton).  Rituals, symbols, and spiritual practices are being revised (Paul Santmire, Denis Edwards, Nancy Wright). There are reflections on cosmology, science and worldviews (Thomas Berry, Ian Barbour, Charles Birch, Anne Primavesi, Ilia Delio), as well as religiously motivated activism against local ecological deterioration. Ecotheology crosses into systematics, ethics, history, biblical studies, rituals and liturgies, and spirituality, and spans the diversity of Christianities. Ecotheology is a fertile field of study in theology and Process thought, feminist analyses, Black, Mujerista and Ecowomanist theologies, postcolonial and animal studies, and other topics and approaches.  Ecotheology is vast in scope and includes revitalizations of all these aspects, and often has an emphasis on justice, and social, political and ecological ethics.

Ecotheologies may accentuate either the ecological or theological aspects, and unites around goals of connecting Christianity with nature, promoting constructive human-Earth relations, and resisting ecological decline.  As a whole ecotheology represents significant developments in, and renewal of, Christian thought, worldviews, and practices. The consequences are both comprehensive reforms of Christianity, as well as new expressions, noting that experiences and interpretations of adherents vary widely as does the variance between beliefs and actions, and principles and practices. Distinct approaches have been developed in Catholic, Anglican, Reformed, United, Evangelical, Eastern and Greek Orthodox, Methodist, Lutheran and more, and these are further differentiated in countries and contexts.  In fact, within the spectrum of Christianity all the major ecclesial traditions are involved. In addition, there is a range of traditionalist, reformist, progressive and radical.  Regardless of the diversity, from the 1970’s to the present, the force and flourishing of ecotheology is astounding. 

Challenges and contributions

Several challenges and contributions occur at the intersection of Christianity and ecology. These can be internal to theology, on how theology engages with other religions and disciplines, or how to relate to global diversity, or respond to the complexity of ecological issues.  Examples of each are given, noting that work in ecotheology is extensive, and is making contributions to all of these topics.

Early publications stressed an urgency to respond to ecological issues  as well as to address prevalent, albeit simplistic, claims against Christianity, such as the in infamous essay by Lynn White suggesting that Christianity’s devaluation of nature is a cause of the ecological crisis. [i]    Of course, there is no direct cause and effect between Christianity and ecological disregard.  Also, many other factors, such as economics and capitalism, and the lack of ecological literacy, have created the cultural conditions for ecological crises to develop.  Nonetheless, ecotheologians reexamined the worldview and basic values ingrained in Eurowestern consciousness and Christian theological presuppositions. They engaged in extensive ideological excavation of the ideals and theories embedded in the worldview(s) that have led to pervasive and unfettered ecological decline in Christian-influenced cultures. For example, they had to address the historical, and contemporary, Christian anthropocentrism, an emphasis on humanity’s transcendence over the natural world, and the claims nature was void of divine presence. Throughout much of Christian history is the idea that the natural world is fallen, corrupt, imperfect or irrelevant. The result is death. Humans must then be saved, redeemed or restored from nature, with a promise of eternal life.  Although each religious worldview has some perception that life does not end with death, the Christian tradition has potent otherworldly imagery that has both depreciated Earth life and supported notions that salvation means from this world . This led ecotheologians to criticize otherworldly interpretations of redemption, salvation, and resurrection. Dualist imagery, which was operative across all Christian traditions -  heaven/earth, spirit/matter, culture/nature, mind/body, men/women, divine/demonic – was excavated and exposed, and assessed as neither accurate nor informative. Christian worldviews were rethought at a foundational level.

Other challenges concerning beliefs around Christologies, a closed canon, biblical inerrancy, and Christian imperialism and colonialism also had to be addressed. It became clear that Christianity, as with all religious views, must remain fluid, attentive to presuppositions, values, orientation and impact. Religions should be supple, receptive to new insights, and able to abandon out-dated or unworkable beliefs, interpretations and dogmas in order to be relevant to the exigences of the era.

All this work is part of the critique and internal reformation of aspects of the Christian traditions.  It sparked intense re-evaluations of Christian thought, with different emphases according to the tradition, context and operative beliefs. These intro- and retrospections have resulted in the retrieval of texts and teachings that connect the natural world to divine presence, and in multiple ways. Revising elements of Christianity, and encouraging Christians to participate, should be seen as a rapid yet deep and ongoing transformation, in response to increasing and complex ecological issues. 

Developments in Christian ethics also represents both challenges and contributions. The challenges are how to include ecological concerns in customary approaches to ethics, and/or to expand approaches to ethics to be responsive. For example, feminist ethics became influenced by ecofeminism, and social justice discourses were transformed by global efforts in ecojustice, environmental racism, climate justice and ecological activism. Issues and analyses of inequality, discriminations, economic exploitation, structural violence and systemic domination were expanded to include ecological aspects, and in turn influenced a range of Christian ethics and appeals for ecological and social justice.  

It is important to note that Christian ecotheology is developing as other disciplines are being pressured to be ecologically relevant. New knowledge from sciences, reports about climate instability, the state of ocean life, deforestations, extinctions, water quality, plastics, and myriad ecological deteriorations is emerging constantly, and requiring responses. Christianity, among other disciplines and religions, had to undergo an ecological conversion.

Other challenges and contributions come from collaborations with the emerging field of religion and ecology, which is occurring in tandem with Christian ecotheology. Today, the alliance of religion and ecology is a multifaceted global agenda, and countless programs. The Forum on Religion and Ecology has been a leader and supporter of many initiatives. Most religions have engaged in similar reconstructions as has Christianity. The collaborative efforts across religious traditions evokes questions about the nature of religion, religious epistemologies, sensibilities, orientation and sources, and the importance of theories of lived and critical religions. Challenges exist, at times, when ecotheologians enter the field of religion and ecology, as theology tends to overlook other religions, including the histories, diversities and complexities. In general, theology operates with deficient theories of religion and epistemology.  Thus, at times there is an uneasy placement of ecotheology within academic spheres of religion and ecology.  However, while some streams of eco-Christianity remain in traditional boundaries, others venture into the field of religion and ecology and embrace new questions and insights. The dialogues between ecotheology and the field of religion and ecology are important, albeit distinct depending on competence, experience and interest in these more comprehensive frameworks.

For example, every religion and culture present a creation or origin story which provides meaning and orientation to human life and fulfills the need to grapple with the perennial questions of time, space, origins and destiny. Such stories are usually longstanding and may have lost their relevance or effectiveness in the face of new knowledge, global exchanges, or the plurality of viewpoints. Christianity has examined the biblical origin story and reflected on various meanings of the role of humanity as ecological steward, gardener, or Earth-keeper rather than as having dominion. Religious traditions have been challenged by discoveries from sciences about Earth origins, biospheric development, and the evolution of life, as well as the processes of the universe out of which emerged the solar system and planet Earth.  Some Christian traditions have integrated evolutionary biology and cosmology into a new understanding of ‘origins’.  

There are several other noteworthy challenges that pertain to religions engaging on ecological issues.  One is the radical diversity and plurality of cultures, views, values and beliefs.  How do we assess these? For example, the social construction of nature is contested.  Is a forest a sacred grove, an ecosystem, animal habitat, lumber, real estate, or an eco-tourism destination? Is the natural world a set of resources with instrumental value or a living community with intrinsic value?  A great deal depends on the answer, and yet an ecological sustainable vision is imperative. However, which vision? In whose interests?  How can a community decide which vision to embrace?  What vision will inspire? There are diverse and competing visions, and the processes of change from one to another are not straightforward.  It is crucial to embrace radical diversity and plurality and unity: an ecological vision with agreed values, ethical principles and cooperative actions.

A connected challenge is that some problems cannot be grappled with contextually, as they are global in scope and/or the administrators are trans or multinational.  Some pertinent concerns are climate change, international land grabs, corporate rights on fresh water sources or icebergs, energy (transnational pipelines), mining privileges, food insecurities, corporate ownership of food, environmental refugees (who surpass political refugees), environmental illnesses, and more. These issues require several disciplines to understand and cross many contexts.  They are global, local and contextual realities. The term ‘global issues’ is too vague, and contextual is inaccurate, resulting in additional challenges for a robust ecotheology to address. 

The last challenge to be mentioned is that a correlation between Christian-influenced cultures and ecological exploitation, extractive economies, extreme consumption, and climate emissions is evident. In tandem, Christian bodies have done little to restrain deforestation, species extinction, water contamination, and so on. There are tensions between ecotheology from the global South, where poverty, ecological decline, and often political instability are intense, and that of the affluent post-industrialized, high consumer and waste production regions. Questions arise as to the key priorities, and the fundamental global inequities around ecological resources, access, ownership and decline. These cultural, denominational and theological divergences can be a call to greater equality and justice and cooperation, and/or a distraction to an overall agreement that Christians need to address ecological issues locally, nationally and internationally.  Planetary solidarity is becoming a prophetic call.

Countless contributions around Christianity and ecology are effective and active in their communities. At the local levels there are innumerable contributions of conferences, workshops, retreat centres, and church groups addressing everything from the range of ecotheology topics to public policy on waste, water, transportation, and climate activism.  At the national level, many denominations and theological organizations have incorporated forms of Earth ministries, Earth-keeping, stewardship, climate justice and more into their national policies.

Internationally, The World Council of Churches and their initiative of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC), has provided leadership and sustained programs in many Christian traditions, countless contexts and on multiple issues for decades. The importance of connecting Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation has been recognized worldwide, and has opened possibilities of working locally, with Indigenous peoples for example, of opening national offices, and devising international campaigns on climate justice, nonviolence, and poverty. Another important contribution is the document, Laudato Si: On Care of Our Common Home, from the Catholic Institutional church, released in 2015, as part of the Catholic social teaching encyclicals.  It is a comprehensive overview of the need to connect integral ecology to peace, justice, education and governance, as well as to understand the mechanisms that create poverty, ecological ruin and social injustices.  This document has resonance around the world, within multiple Christian traditions and with other religions. These speak to the need for programs and visions that are sufficiently clear yet open-ended to encourage creativity, participation and action. There are multiple robust efforts addressing religion and ecology from diverse organizations, such as The Earth Charter, Alliance of Religion and Conservation, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, The Parliament of Religions of the World, United Nations Environment Program, World Wildlife Fund, Earth Democracy, Global Peace Initiative of Women, and more, and each encourages collaboration.

There is no doubt that the field of Christianity and ecology, representing efforts of all kinds, is a much-needed response to the ecological challenges of this era and for the future.  The internal challenges to Christianity have been somewhat replaced with an engagement with ecological issues. This means that Christianity - adherents, churches, theological schools, retreat centres, national offices – has many options, and places of transformation. While some issues are local, others relate to ecosystems and bioregions, or are planetary, such as climate instability. This supports the need to collaborate across regions, religions and disciplines. Christianity is a religion: a worldview offering meaning and orientation, as well as a political, economic and ethical force. Christian themes of revelation, liberation and solidarity are compelling for ecological concerns.  Human experiences of wonder, humility, grace and gratitude are of utmost importance, as are the ethics of equality, resistance and sacrifice.  The commitments of justice, flourishing, equality, preferential option for the Earth, and the goodness of creation can be integrated deeply, and be a transformative power. It can take the form of ritual, education, persuasion, policymaking, activism and resistance. Prophetic voices are needed. The conviction of the centrality of love, hope, faith, and an ever-renewing spirit provide energy and inspiration, and at times consolation.

Some consider this era to be a new religious moment.  Not only is the ecological crisis provoking concern, new thinking, social engagement and cross-sector collaboration.  It is evident that there is a need for global commitments to ecologically sustainable communities, and ones that will preserve the elegance and beauty of the whole Earth community. Thomas Berry, a Catholic priest and historian of religions, addressed the question of vision.  Much of his work was an inquiry into what could be an adequate, ecological, and spiritual vision.  For Berry, it must comprise a sufficiently broad horizon commensurate with scientific knowledge of the emergent universe, of time, space and Earth dynamics, incorporate a suitable grasp of the histories and complexities of religions, be ecologically literate, and deeply inspiring.  Such a vision must give humanity a way to live within the rhythms and limits of the natural world, and as a member of this Earth community.  The insights about the origins and developments of the universe, the emergence and dynamics of evolution, and Earth’s integrated and entangled processes reveal how embedded humans are in what Christians can refer to as the deep incarnation.  For some this knowledge, perspective and vision offers the most power and promise for an overall orientation for a viable future.

Lynn White,(1967), The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis,” Science (155: 1203-1207.

Christianity Impact in Society Essay

Introduction.

Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the teachings, life, and the gospel that was revealed by Jesus. The beliefs in Christianity are of different types where everyone has his or her own faith placed on some teachings in the bible and other Christian-based materials. Although Christianity has a significant diversity of beliefs on controversial issues, most of the Christians share a common set of doctrines that they hold as essential to their faith and the Christian heritage of beliefs has been given titles including the good news of Jesus Christ, the way and mere Christianity. Christians believe that the Messiah, Jesus was the anointed ruler and savior of humanity and his coming was to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament.

The core belief is that through the death and the resurrection of Jesus, sinful humans can be reconciled to God and they are therefore offered salvation and the promise of eternal life. Having theological disputes over the nature of Jesus, Christians generally believe that Jesus is God incarnate and the true God and man. Jesus having become fully human in all respects suffered the pain and the temptations of a mortal man and yet he did not sin and as God, he defeated death and rose to life again and his birth was very much different from a normal human birth as he was born through a virgin birth. ( Albright, 1957)

Christians believe that God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day and he appeared to his apostles giving them the commission to go preach the gospel and also baptize. The purpose of his death and resurrection is described in various doctrines of atonement and his suffering on the cross was to endure the shame and to show the love he had for the human race. The Christians believe that salvation is a gift by means of the unmerited grace, a gift from a loving heavenly father who sent his Son to be the savior.

They also believe that with faith you can be saved from sin and eternal death and Jesus’ crucifixion was an atoning sacrifice. The operation and the effects of grace are a necessity of the free will to cooperate with God and individuals are completely incapable of self-redemption and also God overcomes the unwilling heart as he has power over the human race and everything he created.

Religious symbols are been swept away from public schools and public places and the administrators are watching these to ensure that they are not taken in unknowingly but the government and the society encourage other minor religions which are not been seen as important in the society. Christianity seems to be receiving more discrimination than any other religion and they are forced to hold prayer stations and still have to explain to the government that they are not offending anyone.

But going through all these problems the Christians have tried to keep their faith from been swept away by other religions such as Islamic and Hinduism.

The negative impacts based on the Christianity includes: it is seen as a tool of exploitation in which every one has to follow all that is written in the bible and other Christian sources in order to be called a Christian; it is also seen as an illusion, a crutch, a source of guilt and pathologies meaning that saying you are a Christian is just but a burden and an obstacle to most of the people in the society who do not believe in such religion and therefore clashes occur between these two opposing groups; it is also seen as the principal enemy of the moral progress in the world- to some extend people hide their immoral acts as they claim to be Christians while when you compare what they do is completely a mess and can not be accepted in the traditional society were culture is taken as the guiding principal to all; man has taken the advantage of exploiting the nature with the claim that they are Christians and end up bring a lot of mess to the people who are innocent and have no reason to suffer that fate; people have gone to an extend of even wanting to be worshipped as the god something that could not be seen in the old times therefore they lack the respect of who they claim to worship and this brings a lot of contradictions in the society where the ancestors had much respect and lastly the paganism and other religions give man power to exploit the nature which is also accepted in the Christian bases having the claim that they are making it better but they are putting it in problems. (Johnson,1979)

The church has no positive influence on social change due to: Platonism- the spiritual sphere is the real world and matter is evil therefore the body is the prison of the soul and therefore religion at times is not concerned about social reform and humanism- which views the physical and the social needs of man as the only important and the institutional church has failed in the regeneration and therefore the social reformation is no longer in existence.

Christianity has both a social and historical impact on society. The greatest religious change in the history of mankind takes place with the philosophers and the historians who disregard the belief in Christianity and try to convince men to admit to having the most powerful moral behavior to be applied in all their lives and also people are abandoning the non-Christian base which is the source of the social development.

When the church is assimilated by culture then it has to share some of its practices to the culture and still, the culture takes some of the Christian values therefore it means that culture is not completely taken away from the society and it still acts as a guide to the people in their actions. Christianity positive impacts include the rise of modern science- it led to the invention of new techniques as the missionaries entered the country they invented things like the use of metals which was not in use in the traditional times as there was no technology on what to do with these metals to be useful but as the missionaries brought in Christianity they saw the need to do away with these traditional practices were mainly wood was used.

The rise in modern technology has been of great help as it has led to change in peoples’ lives where there is the use of money instead of barter exchange which was used in traditional society; there are industries for different manufacturing of items needful in the human life; the people have left most of the traditions like the circumcision in females and belief on the ancestors; and many other things that were practiced traditionally have been left out due to this Christianity.

The concepts conducive to scientific inquiry expressing based on the Christians include the positive attitudes toward the world where people can see the society in which they live as being of help in the activities they undertake and live peacefully with others; they are also aware of the order that is the cause and effects in the environment and it becomes helpful to them and also to the society as a whole; man is also viewed as a superintendent of nature whereby he or she can do what is expected without the supervision from anyone provided one is given the right precautions and it has led to the need to have a positive attitude towards progress, therefore, people can make their environment better as time goes on through making inventions of the things that exist around them and end up making things which did not exist before. ( Albright, 1957)

Christianity has led to the development of education- this has been of great help as when we compare the past time when people were not going to schools then it is much better now than that time as civilization has led to many people being able to communicate that is the children meet from different areas in the schools and through the training they get they are able to make communication easier, unlike a child who never went to school. Also, people are able to get knowledge in schools that when practiced in the society in which they live becomes more advanced in everything including the invention of new techniques, exploitation of the available resources, and development of the existing inventions.

In case of the education, people are able to go up to university level and gain a higher knowledge from what they had achieved in the base. Christianity has led to a much influence in arts meaning that people can use the knowledge in Christianity and improve their artworks as in the lives of many of the people in the bible did t work and even not so the missionaries invented the techniques for dealing with art and this has encouraged people very much in their daily activities as they practice them to achieve what they need. Christianity has brought about social change in that people are now able to live with others, not from the same tribe, clan, and nation without problems of conflicting in resources, and even they end up learning each other’s language.

This has also led to the intermarriages between different groups of people which were a problem before in the traditional era when culture ruled all groups of people. There is also a revolution in which people have left their practices and adopted new ones that can be helpful to them as the civilization is far beyond the old mode of living. This revolution leads to change in the living style of many people who had lived their cultural ways of life before. Christianity has led to many changes in society as a whole as people are able to get what they require in the shortest time possible keeping in mind that the infrastructure has been developed and people can move from one place to another. (Alexander, 2002)

Technology has also helped the people in making their society a better place than it was before through learning new ideas from the education they get or learning from others’ ideas who are better developed than them. It has led to a new sense of human life as they see their lives been equal in all ways as God created a man on His own image so the divisions that arise in the society can be solved if people are ready to keep peace and accept no one can live without making mistakes as we are human and our deeds are almost similar.

Christianity history is inseparable from the history of culture and society, the Christian beliefs, principles, and ideas have collared the thoughts and the feelings of man. The traditions and practices have left an incredible impress not only on the developments of the pure religion interest but virtually the total endeavor of man and the indirect and the unconscious influence in Christianity has exercised secular matters including the social, intellectual and the institutional affords that strike the proof of dynamic forces generated by faith. Christianity has brought changes to the customs of different people in society. (Borgmann, 2003)

In the traditional setting, the women were treated differently from men but with the emergence of Christianity they are now treated with love and care and also adorned in much the same manner as men in that they are able to occupy a place of honor within the family and in the socio-political life unlike in the old times were women were not given any honor but were seen just as people without great importance rather than undertaking the daily activities in the family but with Christianity then equality can be viewed in a way as women can be allowed to do things they were not allowed before.

But with all these positive impacts the Christian religion has suffered periods of persecution and critical divisions within its own ranks which has been due to the war and the strife and has assumed forms of astonishing variety and also confronted by revolutionary changes in human and social outlooks.

The idea of missionaries and others bringing religion to new areas was to allow people to read the bible and other important texts as before they entered these places people never knew the languages and therefore nothing could be communicated in any of those areas. In the dark ages, people faced a lot of problems even though they never knew this is because those times everybody relied on his or her own culture and to convince someone it was a hard task to them but the missionaries tried all that they could do as without proper communication then it meant nothing could succeed so the first had to learn the native language of the people they came across and then be able to pass their information as some people never allowed strangers in their areas.

Depending on the approach the missionaries were accepted in some societies but in others, it took time due to the depth they were in their traditions, so to mix the tradition with Christianity was a matter of strain to many of the missionaries. If the society had negative attitudes towards these missionaries then all the claims were placed on them like slavery which to some extends paved the way when the missionaries entered the country. As some came with good news then others took the advantage of mistreating the indigenous people to the extend of taking what they had and used them for their own gains leaving them to suffer. This led some of the tribes to defend the entry of the missionaries into their society as no one could convince them they had good news.

It was also seen as been intolerance in that what was preached to the people was against the beliefs and the traditions of the people therefore those who never accepted their teachings saw it has been teaching to do away with what they believed from the beginning and also leading to the change in the way of their living which was not easy to accept. It was seen to cause crusades where by as in the country there were many religions and all need their faith to be respected but there was the view that Christianity is blamed of holding crusades against other religions like the Muslims. This has led to the problem of fights in some areas where people have no belief in Christianity. (Borgmann, 2003)

Christianity has led to many divisions in society as in a family if a person is not a Christian then the feeling of been rejected appears and not even so but some people show it to what they call unbelievers. To reduce this problem the Christians have to take everyone has been important so that as they preach it to them it will be easier to be believed.

Christianity should not be viewed only in the negative part but also in the positive as some people think of it. Christianity as can be seen has played an important part in the lives of many people where the traditions have stopped to be more dominating in many societies with the same impact of allowing people to have the freedom to undertake some activities like intermarriage which was not accepted in the traditional settings. It has also opened many people to know their rights through going to schools and attaining knowledge which acts as a mirror to many of the tradition-bound people.

The negative effects of Christianity that have led people to feel that it not necessary are how the people who claim to be Christians behave, it is a bad attitude that when the leaders are accused of having committed bad acts like adultery, and when they go to preach they are against it. This becomes an obstacle to many people and they see their traditions been far well than Christianity and therefore it is better not to claim you are a Christian if your actions are against that claim. A Christian should show the right way to be followed by all in order to be useful in society and help others.

Albright (1957): From the stone age to Christianity: monotheism and historical process, 2 nd edition.

Alexander, T. Desmond; Brian S. Rosner, D.A. Carson, Graeme Goldsworty, (2002): New dictionary of biblical theology. Intervarsity Press.

Borgmann, Albert. (2003). Power failure: Christianity in the culture of technology, from long-standing commentators of the technological scene.

Johnson, P. (1979). A history of Christianity; New York.

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Bibliography

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The Origin of Christianity

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