History of Christianity and Related Topics

An Eastern Christian icon depicting Emperor Constantine and the Fathers of the First Council of Nicaea (325) as holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381.

Christianity

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Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Crucifixion, representing the death of Jesus on the Cross, painting by Diego Velázquez, c. 1632.

The Law and the Gospel by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1529); Moses and Elijah point the sinner to Jesus for salvation.

The Trinity is the belief that God is one God in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.

Midnight Mass at a Catholic parish church in Woodside, New York City, U.S.

Show on the life of Jesus at Igreja da Cidade in São José dos Campos, affiliated to the Brazilian Baptist Convention.

An early circular ichthys symbol, created by combining the Greek letters ΙΧΘΥΣ into a wheel, Ephesus, Asia Minor.

The Bible is the sacred book in Christianity.

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, the largest church in the world and a symbol of the Catholic Church.

The 7th-century Khor Virap monastery in the shadow of Mount Ararat; Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as the state religion, in AD 301.

The Monastery of St. Matthew, located atop Mount Alfaf in northern Iraq, is recognized as one of the oldest Christian monasteries in existence.

Kadisha Valley, Lebanon, home to some of the earliest Christian monasteries in the world.

Christendom by A.D. 600 after its spread to Africa and Europe from the Middle East.

An example of Byzantine pictorial art, the Deësis mosaic at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, where he preached the First Crusade. Illustration by Jean Colombe from a copy of the Passages d'outremer, c. 1490.

Martin Luther initiated the Reformation with his Ninety-five Theses in 1517.

Michelangelo's 1498–99 Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica; the Catholic Church was among the patronages of the Renaissance.

A depiction of Madonna and Child in a 19th-century Kakure Kirishitan Japanese woodcut.

A Christian procession in Brazil, the country with the largest Catholic population in the world.

Trinity Sunday in Russia; the Russian Orthodox Church has experienced a great revival since the fall of communism.

The global distribution of Christians: Countries colored a darker shade have a higher proportion of Christians.

Pope Francis, the current leader of the Catholic Church.

St. George's Cathedral in Istanbul: It has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople whose leader is regarded as the primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, the seat of the Ethiopian Orthodox.

A 6th-century Nestorian church, St. John the Arab, in the Assyrian village of Geramon in Hakkari, southeastern Turkey.

Saint Mary Church; an ancient Assyrian church located in the city of Urmia, Iran.

A 19th-century drawing of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receiving the Aaronic priesthood from John the Baptist. Latter Day Saints believe that the Priesthood ceased to exist after the death of the apostles and therefore needed to be restored.

Unitarian Church of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca.

A copy of the Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, a famous Christian apologetic work.

Christians fleeing their homes in the Ottoman Empire, circa 1922. Many Christians were persecuted and/or killed during the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide.

Countries with 50% or more Christians are colored purple; countries with 10% to 50% Christians are colored pink

Nations with Christianity as their state religion are in blue

Links between interdenominational movements and other developments within Protestantism

Historical chart of the main Protestant branches

The Cenacle on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost.

A folio from Papyrus 46, an early-3rd-century collection of Pauline epistles

Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the 1st century Hellenistic Judaism in the Roman province of Judea.

Jesus

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Jesus (c.

Counter-clockwise from top-right: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and English transcriptions of the name Jesus

A 3rd-century Greek papyrus of the Gospel of Luke

Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst, 1622

The Circumcision by Giovanni Bellini, ~1500. The work depicts the circumcision of Jesus.

The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple, by William Holman Hunt, 1860

The Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, by José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior, 1895

Sermon on the Mount, by Carl Bloch, 1877, depicts Jesus' important discourse

The Exhortation to the Apostles, by James Tissot, portrays Jesus talking to his 12 disciples

Jesus and the rich young man by Heinrich Hofmann, 1889

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Pompeo Batoni depicts the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Jesus told many parables during his ministry.

Jesus cleansing a leper, medieval mosaic from the Monreale Cathedral, late 12th to mid-13th centuries

The Transfiguration of Jesus, depicted by Carl Bloch, 19th century

A painting of Jesus' final entry into Jerusalem, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1897

The Last Supper, depicted by Juan de Juanes, c. 1562

A depiction of the kiss of Judas and arrest of Jesus, by Caravaggio, c. 1602

Ecce homo! Antonio Ciseri's 1871 depiction of Pontius Pilate presenting Jesus to the public

Pietro Perugino's depiction of the Crucifixion as Stabat Mater, 1482

Appearance of Jesus Christ to Maria Magdalena by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, 1835

A 3rd century depiction of Jesus as the Good Shepherd

Judea, Galilee and neighboring areas at the time of Jesus

A 1640 edition of the works of Josephus, a 1st-century Roman-Jewish historian who referred to Jesus.

Baptism in the Jordan River, the river where Jesus was baptized

The Resurrection of Christ from a 16th-century manuscript of La Passion de Nostre Seigneur

The ethnicity of Jesus in art has been influenced by cultural settings.

The Trinity is the belief in Christianity that God is one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is depicted with the Alpha and Omega letters in the catacombs of Rome from the 4th century.

The name Jesus son of Mary written in Islamic calligraphy followed by Peace be upon him

The Druze maqam of Al-masih (Jesus) in As-Suwayda Governorate.

Enthroned Jesus image on a Manichaean temple banner from c. 10th-century Qocho

Jesus healing a paralytic in one of the first known images of Jesus from Dura Europos in the 3rd century

The Shroud of Turin, Italy, is the best-known claimed relic of Jesus and one of the most studied artifacts in human history.

Jesus depicted as the liberator of Black slaves, on the masthead of the Abolitionist paper "The Liberator".

After his death, his followers believed he rose from the dead, and the community they formed eventually became the early Christian Church.

Jesus Washing Peter's Feet, painting by Ford Madox Brown (1852–1856), Tate Britain, London

Christianity in the 1st century

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The Crucifixion, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, c. 1745–1750, Saint Louis Art Museum

The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost. Bargil Pixner claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.

James the Just, whose judgment was adopted in the apostolic decree of

Mediterranean Basin geography relevant to Paul's life, stretching from Jerusalem in the lower right to Rome in the upper left.

An artistic representation of St. Clement I, an Apostolic Father.

A coin issued by Nerva reads
fisci Judaici calumnia sublata,
"abolition of malicious prosecution in connection with the Jewish tax"

Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus ( 27–29 AD) to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles ( 100) and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age.

Door of the Schlosskirche (castle church) in Wittenberg to which Luther is said to have nailed his 95 Theses on 31st October 1517, sparking the Reformation

Christian denomination

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Distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worship style and sometimes a founder.

A 6th-century Nestorian church, St. John the Arab, in the Assyrian village of Geramon

There were some movements considered heresies by the early Church which do not exist today and are not generally referred to as denominations.

Trinity

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The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (Trinitas, from trinus 'threefold') defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three distinct persons sharing one homoousion (essence).

Russian icon of the Old Testament Trinity by Andrei Rublev, between 1408 and 1425

God in the person of the Son confronts Adam and Eve, by Master Bertram (d. c. 1415)

Detail of the earliest known artwork of the Trinity, the Dogmatic or Trinity Sarcophagus, c. undefined 350 (Vatican Museums): Three similar figures, representing the Trinity, are involved in the creation of Eve, whose much smaller figure is cut off at lower right; to her right, Adam lies on the ground

The Adoration of the Trinity by Albrecht Dürer (1511): from top to bottom: Holy Spirit (dove), God the Father and the crucified Christ

The "Heavenly Trinity" joined to the "Earthly Trinity" through the Incarnation of the Son – The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities by Murillo (c. 1677).

The Glory of Saint Nicholas, by António Manuel da Fonseca. Nicholas of Myra, a participant in the First Council of Nicaea, achieves the beatific vision in the shape of the Holy Trinity.

The Baptism of Christ, by Piero della Francesca, 15th century

A depiction of the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, at which the Deity of Christ was declared orthodox and Arianism condemned

A Greek fresco of Athanasius of Alexandria, the chief architect of the Nicene Creed, formulated at Nicaea.

Depiction of Trinity from Saint Denis Basilica in Paris (12th century)

Father, The Holy Spirit, and Christ Crucified, depicted in a Welsh manuscript. {{circa|1390–1400}}

The Holy Trinity in an angelic glory over a landscape, by Lucas Cranach the Elder (d. 1553)

God the Father (top), and the Holy Spirit (represented by a dove) depicted above Jesus. Painting by Francesco Albani (d. 1660)

God the Father (top), the Holy Spirit (a dove), and child Jesus, painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (d. 1682)

Pope Clement I prays to the Trinity, in a typical post-Renaissance depiction by Gianbattista Tiepolo (d. 1770)

Atypical depiction. The Son is identified by a lamb, the Father an Eye of Providence, and the Spirit a dove, painting by Fridolin Leiber (d. 1912)

13th-century depiction of the Trinity from a Roman de la Rose manuscript

The doctrine of the Trinity was first formulated among the early Christians and fathers of the Church as they attempted to understand the relationship between Jesus and God in their scriptural documents and prior traditions.

Evangelist Mathäus und der Engel, by Rembrandt, 1661

New Testament

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Second division of the Christian biblical canon.

Saint Paul Writing His Epistles by Valentin de Boulogne (c. 1618–1620). Most scholars think Paul actually dictated his letters to a secretary.

Papyrus Bodmer VIII, at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, showing 1 and 2 Peter.

The Codex Regius (L or 019), an 8th-century Greek manuscript of the New Testament with strong affinities to Codex Vaticanus.

The Rossano Gospels, 6th century, a representative of Byzantine text

BL Add. MS 59874 with Ethiopic Gospel of Matthew.

A Byzantine lectionary, Codex Harleianus (l150), 995 AD, text of John 1:18.

Gaudenzio Ferrari's Stories of the Life and Passion of Christ, fresco, 1513, Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Varallo Sesia, Italy. Depicting the life of Jesus

Other early Christian gospels, such as the so-called "Jewish-Christian Gospels" or the Gospel of Thomas, also offer both a window into the context of early Christianity and may provide some assistance in the reconstruction of the historical Jesus.

A 'Jesus Saves' neon cross sign outside of a Protestant church in New York City

Salvation in Christianity

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The "saving [of] human beings from sin and its consequences, which include death and separation from God" by Christ's death and resurrection, and the justification following this salvation.

Early Christians regarded themselves as partaking in a new covenant with God, open to both Jews and Gentiles, through the sacrificial death and subsequent exaltation of Jesus Christ.

Valentin de Boulogne's depiction of Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, c. 1618-1620 (Blaffer Foundation Collection, Houston, Texas)

Jewish Christian

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Jewish Christians (יהודים נוצרים) were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD).

Jewish Christianity is the foundation of Early Christianity, which later developed into Christianity.

Origen

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Origen of Alexandria (c.

Dutch illustration by Jan Luyken (1700), showing Origen teaching his students

While in Jericho, Origen bought an ancient manuscript of the Hebrew Bible which had been discovered "in a jar", a discovery which prefigures the later discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the twentieth century. Shown here: a section of the Isaiah scroll from Qumran.

Julia Avita Mamaea, the mother of the Roman emperor Severus Alexander, summoned Origen to Antioch to teach her philosophy.

Diagram showing the inter-relationship between various significant ancient versions and recensions of the Old Testament (some identified by their siglum). LXX here denotes the original septuagint.

Two sides of the Papyrus Bodmer VIII, an early New Testament fragment from the third or fourth century AD containing the Epistle of Jude, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter. Origen accepted the two former as authentic without question, but noted that the latter was suspected to be a forgery.

Books containing Latin translations of some of Origen's extant writings

Greek text of Origen's apologetic treatise Contra Celsum, which is considered to be the most important work of early Christian apologetics

The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (c. undefined 1617) by Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Origen based his teaching of the preexistence of souls on an allegorical interpretation of the creation story in the Book of Genesis.

The Birth of Esau and Jacob (c. undefined 1360–1370) by Master of Jean de Mandeville. Origen used the Biblical story of Esau and Jacob to support his theory that a soul's free will actions committed before incarnation determine the conditions of the person's birth.

Origen significantly contributed to the development of the concept of the Trinity and was among the first to name the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead, but he was also a subordinationist, who taught that the Father was superior to the Son and the Son was superior to the Holy Spirit.

Athanasius of Alexandria, shown standing in this 1876 oil painting by Vasily Surikov, was deeply influenced by Origen's teachings.

St. Jerome in His Study (1480), by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Although initially a student of Origen's teachings, Jerome turned against him during the First Origenist Crisis. He nonetheless remained influenced by Origen's teachings for his entire life.

Emperor Justinian I, shown here in a contemporary mosaic portrait from Ravenna, denounced Origen as a heretic and ordered all of his writings to be burned.

undefined 185 – c. undefined 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria.

Door of the Theses in Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Protestantism

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Form of Christianity that follows the tenets of the Protestant Reformation: a major movement within Western Christianity that began in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to be errors, abuses, innovations, discrepancies, and theological novums within the medieval Catholic Church.

A Lutheran depiction of the Last Supper by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1547

Spread of Lollardy in medieval England and medieval Scotland

Distribution of Protestantism and Catholicism in Central Europe on the eve of the Thirty Years' War (1618)

1839 Methodist camp meeting during the Second Great Awakening in the U.S.

Dissatisfaction with the outcome of a disputation in 1525 prompted Swiss Brethren to part ways with Huldrych Zwingli

Glass window in the town church of Wiesloch (Stadtkirche Wiesloch) with Martin Luther and John Calvin commemorating the 1821 union of Lutheran and Reformed churches in the Grand Duchy of Baden

Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church megachurch

Hillsong Church Konstanz, Germany, an evangelical charismatic church

Jacobus Arminius was a Dutch Reformed theologian, whose views influenced parts of Protestantism. A small Remonstrant community remains in the Netherlands.

Karl Barth, often regarded as the greatest Protestant theologian of the twentieth century

Columbia University, established by the Church of England

Enlightenment philosopher John Locke argued for individual conscience, free from state control

St. Peter's Church (1612), the oldest surviving Protestant church in the "New World" (the Americas and certain Atlantic Ocean islands), the first of nine Parish churches established in Bermuda by the Church of England. Bermuda also has the oldest Presbyterian church outside the British Isles, the Church of Scotland's Christ Church (1719).

James Springer White and his wife, Ellen G. White founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

An Adventist pastor baptizes a young man in Mozambique.

Loma Linda University Seventh-day Adventist Church in Loma Linda, California, United States.

Dirk Willems saves his pursuer. This act of mercy led to his recapture, after which he was burned at the stake.

An Amish family in a horse-drawn square buggy.

Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church in rural Goessel, Kansas, United States.

Thomas Cranmer, one of the most influential figures in shaping Anglican theology and self-identity.

The various editions of the Book of Common Prayer contain the words of structured services of worship in the Anglican Church.

British coronations are held in Westminster Abbey, a royal peculiar under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch.

Roger Williams was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state.

Baptists subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers.

The First Baptist Church in America. Baptists are roughly one-third of U.S. Protestants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/appendix-b-classification-of-protestant-denominations/|title=Appendix B: Classification of Protestant Denominations|date=12 May 2015}}</ref>

John Calvin's theological thought influenced a variety of Congregational, Continental Reformed, United, Presbyterian, and other Reformed churches.

The Ordination of Elders in a Scottish Kirk, by John Henry Lorimer, 1891.

A Congregational church in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States.

Luther's rose seal, a symbol of Lutheranism

Luther composed hymns still used today, including "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"

Moses and Elijah direct the sinner looking for salvation to the cross in this painting illustrating Luther's Theology of the Cross (as opposed to a Theology of Glory).

John Wesley, the primary founder of the Methodism.

A United Methodist elder celebrating the Eucharist.

Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, London.

Charles Fox Parham, who associated glossolalia with the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Contemporary Christian worship in Rock Harbor Church, Costa Mesa, United States.

A Pentecostal church in Ravensburg, Germany.

George Fox was an English dissenter and a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends.

Friedensthal Moravian Church Christiansted, St Croix, USVI founded in 1755.

A night shelter of The Salvation Army in Geneva, Switzerland.

William Wilberforce, a British evangelical abolitionist.

Billy Graham, a prominent evangelical revivalist, preaching in Duisburg, Germany in 1954.

Worship service at Église Nouvelle vie, an evangelical Pentecostal church in Longueuil, Canada.

An Evangelical Protestant church in Hämeenlinna, Finland.

Philipp Jakob Spener, German pioneer and founder of Pietism.

Pietism has been a strong cultural influence in Scandinavia.

The Broad and the Narrow Way, a popular German Pietist painting, 1866.

John Cotton, who sparked the Antinomian Controversy with his free grace theology.

Pilgrim Fathers landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

Built in 1681, the Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts is the oldest church in America in continuous ecclesiastical use.<ref>{{Cite news|last = Butterfield|first = Fox|title = The Perfect New England Town|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/14/travel/the-perfect-new-england-village.html?sec=&spon=|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 14 May 1989|access-date = 30 May 2010}}</ref>

Luther Monument in Worms, which features some of the Reformation's crucial figures.

The International Monument to the Reformation in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Adoration of the Trinity by Albrecht Dürer.

The Crucifixion of Christ by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

The Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Younger.

A Huguenot, on St. Bartholomew's Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge by John Everett Millais.

The Return of the Prodigal Son, detail, c. 1669 by Rembrandt.

The Church at Auvers, 1890. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. By Vincent van Gogh.

Protestantism as state religion:
Lutheranism
Anglicanism
Calvinism
Methodism

A Moravian diener serves bread to fellow members of her congregation during the celebration of a lovefest (2015).

A hymnal of the Free Methodist Church, a Methodist denomination aligned with the holiness movement.

Because of their commitment to biblical authority, spiritual gifts, and the miraculous, Pentecostals tend to see their movement as reflecting the same kind of spiritual power and teachings that were found in the Apostolic Age of the early church.

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