What is the History of Christianity? | GotQuestions.org

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Hi there, many others like you have asked, what is the history of Christianity? Let's find out, shall we?

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You can discover this answer and even more on GotQuestions .org. The history of Christianity is really the history of Western civilization.

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Christianity has had an all -pervasive influence on society at large. Art, language, politics, law, family life, calendar dates, music, and the very way we think have all been colored by the

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Christian influence for nearly two millennia. This story, therefore, is an important one to know.

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The church began 50 days after Jesus' resurrection. Jesus had promised that He would build

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His church and with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Ecclesia officially began.

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3 ,000 people responded to Peter's sermon and that day chose to follow Christ. The initial converts to Christianity were

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Jews or proselytes to Judaism and the church was centered in Jerusalem. Because of this,

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Christianity was first seen as a Jewish sect. However, the apostles preached that Jesus was the

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Jewish Messiah. This message infuriated many Jewish leaders and some, like Saul of Tarsus, acted to squelch

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Christianity. It is quite proper to say that Christianity has its roots in Judaism.

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The Old Testament laid the groundwork for the New, explains the necessity of a Messiah and predicts

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His arrival, thus making it impossible to fully understand Christianity without knowledge of both

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Testaments. In His life, Jesus fulfilled over 300 specific prophecies, proving that He was the

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Messiah the Old Testament had anticipated. Not long after Pentecost, the doors of the church were opened to non -Jews.

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The Evangelist Philip preached to the Samaritans. The Apostle Peter preached to the

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Gentiles. The Apostle Paul spread the Gospel all over the Greco -Roman world, reaching as far as Rome itself and possibly all the way to Spain.

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By AD 70, the year Jerusalem was destroyed, most of the books of the

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New Testament were complete and circulating among the churches. For the next 240 years,

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Christians were persecuted by Rome. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the church leadership became more and more hierarchical.

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Several heresies were exposed and refuted during this time, and the New Testament canon was agreed upon.

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Persecution continued to intensify. In AD 312, the

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Roman Emperor Constantine claimed to have had a conversion experience, and about 70 years later,

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Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Bishops were honored in government, and by AD 400, the terms

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Roman and Christian were virtually synonymous, and persecution ended.

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In time, pagans came under persecution, unless they converted to Christianity.

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Such forced conversions led to unchanged hearts and pagan idol influx. The church changed.

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Icons, elaborate architecture, pilgrimages, and the veneration of saints were added to the simplicity of early church worship.

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About this same time, some Christians chose to live in isolation as monks, and infant baptism was introduced.

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Through the next centuries, various church councils were held in an attempt to determine the church's official doctrine, to censure clerical abuses, and to make peace between warring factions.

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As the Roman Empire grew weaker, the church became more powerful, and many disagreements broke out between churches.

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Theological, political, procedural, and linguistic divides all contributed to the

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Great Schism in 1054, in which the Roman Catholic Church and the

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Eastern Orthodox Church broke all ties. During the Middle Ages in Europe, the

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Roman Catholic Church continued to hold power, with the popes claiming authority over all levels of life and living as kings.

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Corruption and greed in the church leadership was commonplace. From 1095 to 1204, the popes endorsed bloody and expensive crusades in an effort to repel

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Muslim advances and liberate Jerusalem. Through the years, several individuals had tried to call attention to the theological, political, and human rights abuses of the

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Roman Church. All had been silenced in one way or another. But in 1517, a

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German monk named Martin Luther took a stand against the church, bringing in the

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Protestant Reformation. The Reformers, including Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, differed in many finer points of theology, but they were consistent in their emphasis on the

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Bible's supreme authority over church tradition and the fact that sinners are saved by grace through faith alone, apart from works.

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Although Catholicism made a comeback and a series of wars ensued, the Protestant Reformation had successfully dismantled the power of the

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Roman Catholic Church and helped open the door to the modern age. From 1790 to 1900, the church showed an unprecedented interest in missionary work.

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Colonization had opened eyes to the need for missions and industrialization had provided people with the financial ability to fund the missionaries.

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Missionaries went around the world, preaching the gospel and planting churches. Today, the

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Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have taken steps to amend their broken relationship, as have

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Catholics and Lutherans. The Evangelical Church is strongly independent and rooted firmly in Reformed theology.

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The church has also seen the rise of Pentecostalism, the Charismatic movement,

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Ecumenicalism, and various cults. In conclusion, if we learn nothing else from church history, we should individually be responsible to know what the scripture says and to live by it.

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There are many churches today, but only one gospel. It is the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

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May we be careful to preserve that faith and pass it on without alteration, trusting that the

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Lord will continue to fulfill His promise to build His church. Alright, that answers your question, what is the history of Christianity?