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Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, professing that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and is the Son of God, [7] [8] [9] [note 2] whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament in Christianity) and chronicled in the New Testament.
In 313, he issued the Edict of Milan expressing tolerance for all religions. He did not make Christianity the state religion, but he did provide crucial support. Constantine called the first of seven ecumenical councils. In the fourth-century, Eastern and Western Christianity had already begun to diverge. Between 600 and 750, the constant need ...
Christians have composed about 33 percent of the world's population for around 100 years. The largest Christian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church, with 1.3 billion adherents, representing half of all Christians. [57] Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western World, where 70% are Christians. [4]
Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant , across the Roman Empire , and beyond.
A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is a 2009 book written by the English ecclesiastical historian Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford. It is a survey of the historical development of the Christian religion since its inception in the 1st century to the contemporary era. [1]
Christianity has been intricately intertwined with the history and formation of Western society.Throughout its long history, the Church has been a major source of social services like schooling and medical care; an inspiration for art, culture and philosophy; and an influential player in politics and religion.
Coming from a Jewish background, early Christians believed in angels (derived from the Greek word for "messengers"). [146] Specifically, early Christians wrote in the New Testament books that angels "heralded Jesus' birth, Resurrection, and Ascension; ministered to Him while He was on Earth; and sing the praises of God through all eternity."
Bart D. Ehrman attributes the rapid spread of Christianity to five factors: (1) the promise of salvation and eternal life for everyone was an attractive alternative to Roman religions; (2) stories of miracles and healings purportedly showed that the one Christian God was more powerful than the many Roman gods; (3) Christianity began as a ...