Founding Date: 33 ADE
Founder: Jesus Christ
Location: Middle East/Israel
Sacred Text: Bible
Religious Leaders: Priest, Bishop, Cardinal, Pastor, Pope

Key Dates in Christianity

30-33 AD: Crucifixion of Christ	35 AD: Paul converts	313 AD: Edict of Milan: Christianity is tolerated	324 AD: Christianity is official religion of Rome	1054: Great Schism
1095: Council of Clermont, 1st Crusade	1431: Joan of Arc is martyred	1517: Martin Luther posts 95 thesis	1534: Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy	1611: King James Version of Bible is produced

 

Christianity History

          The history of Christianity does not start with the birth of Jesus.  Christianity starts after the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Christianity holds beliefs and history with Judaism.  This is because they both share the same holy book to a point.  What Christianity calls the Old Testament, the Jewish call the Torah.  It is the same book.  What differs is what Christianity calls the New Testament.  The New Testament is the material of the birth of Jesus, his death, resurrection, and the events of the early Christian church.

          Historically there are some reasons why Jesus was executed.  The difference of faith and fact are difficult for some people to separate.  In the time that Jesus lived, the area was ruled by the Roman Empire .  Augustus Caesar was in control and then Claudius.  Regardless it did not matter to the people of the area.  Many people Jewish and other denominations hated being under the heel of Rome .  It was not uncommon for groups of religious zealots to try to overthrow the powers that be.  As if mighty Rome would tremble.  Most of the time when a group of zealots would try to fight, their leader would call people to him because he would call himself the savior, it is also referred to as the messiah.

          Rome had no desire to play with these types of people and killing them was a simple why of dealing with a situation.  The Jewish people were still waiting for the savior.  The people believed that they would get a person from God with the ability to rebel like Moses and the aptitude to  King David and Solomon.  According to Christians, Jesus was none of these things.  He was expendable on both sides.  The priests did not believe him and Rome could care less who the people said he was.

          After his death, the apostles would spread the word of Jesus.  The religion found a foothold in the Europe around the capital of Rome itself.  In the early years Christians were persecuted for their open defiance.  Rome had one simple rule for religious tolerance, worship who you like, but still offer prayer to the state god, Saturn.  Christianity openly opposes this rule because the commandments state that a Christian can not worship any other god beside God himself.  It also didn't’t help that in the early years of Christianity Nero and Caligula ruled.

          After awhile it wasn't’t entertaining to kill Christians so they stayed at a small number of people until 324 AD.  In 324, four generals were fighting for the title of Caesar.  One of the generals, Constantine was losing the last decisive battle.  The night before the last day of battle Constantine had a vision and a voice from God that if he fought under the sign of Jesus Christ, he would win.  The next morning he instructed all of his soldiers to paint the sign of Christ on their shields.  The sign is the letter P with an X through it.  Because he won the battle, his mother told Constantine to build churches and make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire .  Besides making it the official religion, he had his whole army convert to Christianity.  Constantine himself waiting until his death bed to convert, probably hoping that by doing so, he could not commit any sins and therefore go directly to heaven.

          The Christian church was solid until 1054 AD.  The Great Schism occurred in this year.  This really means the Great Split.  The eastern part of the Roman Empire was gone for nearly 600 years, while many of its people still took their religious instruction from Rome .  Eventually the people of the east realized that the west was not going to help the spiritual needs of the east.  The Russian and Greek orthodox churches came from this split.

First Crusade

First Crusade Bonus Worksheet

          The western church, which is the church that still followed Rome , was fine until a German monk named Martin Luther threw a curve into their plans.  Martin Luther was a theologian monk at the university.  Martin Luther along with others was not liking the direction the church was taking.  In 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis on the door of the cathedral.  His intentions were to debate the problems he saw with the church.  It went a lot farther than that.  The invention of the printing press made it possible to mass produce his 95 thesis’.  Many people agreed with what he was saying.  The church told him to take back what he said.  He refused and the church excommunicated him.

Second Crusade

Second Crusade Bonus Worksheet

The key point of the thesis was the selling of indulgences.  Christian doctrine states that a priest must a person must be sorry for sinning.  Indulgences released a person from feeling sorrow as long as they had enough money to cover their sins.  Indulgences could also be purchased to make sure a loved one that was dead would go directly to heaven instead of having to stay in purgatory. 

          Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation.  During the 1500’s the church would have to sustain another crack.  This crack came in the form of Henry VIII.  Henry VIII was a staunch supporter of the church.  In fact, Henry believed when the church was dealing with Martin Luther, that the Pope should let him send an army in to straighten the Germans out.

          Henry VIII had a problem with his marriage.  His first wife could not produce a son to take over the throne.  However, his mistress could.  Henry wrote the church asking them to absolve him from his first marriage.  Rome

refused.  Henry was so upset he broke away from the church and started the Anglican Church.  He placed the Archbishop of Canterbury as the head and he the Archbishop grant him his divorce.  Needless to say his 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th wives could not produce him a son.  His last wife did give him the son he wanted.

          Many divisions of the church occurred during the Protestant Reformation.  During the Renaissance and the Age of Reasoning, worldly views of the Christian God emerged.  Regardless, all of the religions can trace it’s origins to these basic beginnings.

Christianity Daily Life

 

          During the week, the holiest day is Sunday.  It is the day of rest and the day of worship.  Christians are expected to go to church on this day.  While at church, a priest, pastor, or minister is in charge of the service.  This person regardless of the name is to explain the scripture and explain the correct moral way to live according to the church.  The church is a place of worship, study, and community.

          The role of women in the service of the church varies.  Some denominations of the Christianity let women become leaders of the church by becoming pastors or ministers.  Other denominations take the view that since Jesus had no women apostles, then women can not hold the same positions of authority as men.  The issue of marriage varies from denomination to denomination.

          Christians do not require a dress code or have food restrictions like Judaism and Islam.  Some Christians will wear either a cross or a saint charm.  Again, this is not required.  The closest to a food restriction is that some faiths of Christianity encourage not eating meat on Fridays.  This custom has almost totally left the faith.  Nowadays, the only food restriction is not eating meat during the season of advent.  Christians are encouraged to eat fish.  As for alcohol there is no restriction, but drinking in large quantities is not encouraged.

Christianity Beliefs  

          Christianity believes that the man Jesus Christ was the son of God, died, and resurrected himself to save mankind.  Judaism and Islam acknowledge that Jesus was a great man or prophet, but they will not see him in this light.  To Christians, the death of Christ is more significant than the birth, partly because simple birth does not separate him from any other human.  The rising after his death makes him truly special to Christianity.

          Christians believe in the Holy Trinity.  This means the God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are intertwined and the same.  This is not polytheism because just like water all three forms are the same essence.  Many people outside of Christianity do not see this.

          Christianity also believes the Jesus will come again.  This will signify the end of the world and Judgment Day will start.  There are many minor differences between the many types of Christianity.  To go into each specific case would be fruitless. 

          Lastly, many Christians follow the motto “Creed before Deed.”  In many types of Christianity, a good deed or repentance from a sinful act must be given merit through a priest.  An example would be if a person would sin against another person, the sinner could do good things for the sinner upon, but a priest must acknowledge that this act of repentance was able to atone for the sin committed.

Christianity Holidays

          There are two major holidays in Christianity, Christmas and Easter.  The more important out of the two is Easter because this is the essence of the religion, the resurrection of Christ.  Christmas is the more popular holiday because of the gift giving and the decorating.  As for traditions and requirements of the church during these two holidays, the only mandatory tradition required by the church is attending church.  All of the other things that go with the two holidays are there to make people enjoy themselves. 

          Some minor holidays that are recognized by the church are the following:

                   Holy Week:  This starts with Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday.  All three lead up to Easter.  Palm Sunday is the day Jesus entered the city which in turn sealed his doom.  Holy Thursday is the day of the Christian Last Supper.  This is where the sacrament of communion originated.  Later that night the apostle Judas would betray Jesus to execution.  Good Friday is the day that Jesus was killed by the Romans.  Churches remember this by performing the stations of the cross which they acknowledge every situation Jesus was placed in before his death.

                     Ash Wednesday and Lent:  The 40 day period preparing Christians for the holiday of Easter.

                     Advent:  The 4 weeks prior to Christmas.  Just like Lent it is a time of preparation for the birth of Jesus.

                     New Year’s Day:  This is typically the day that the three kings visited baby Jesus with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and muir.

                     The feast of the Assent ion:  This is the day that Christians believe that Jesus’ mother Mary is lifted into heaven.  According to Christianity, Mary never died a human’s death.

                     Pentecost:  This is the day the Jesus was lifted into heaven after his 50 days on earth after his resurrection. 

Christianity, Creation and Misc.

          The Christian calendar measures time before and after the point of Jesus’ birth.  Unlike the Jewish calendar that takes the point of the creation of Adam and Eve and keeps going in the same direction.  The reason why the birth of Jesus was used as the point of reference is when scholars decided to put every one on the same page they had to pick a event that was the most important to the world.  They chose the birth of Jesus.  It isn't’t that hard to believe since these scholars were all college educated monks.  They were only people able to receive a high education like that. 

          Christianity follows a solar calendar.  Our calendar is 365 ¼ days long.  Every four years we have a leap day to keep the calendar normal.  We follow this calendar today.  It is called the Gregorian calendar.  It received this name because the Pope at the time was called Gregory VI.  For 1500 years the Julian calendar was used.  This calendar was developed during the rule of Julius Caesar in Rome .  Over the years the calendar was really screwed up.  Not to mention the discovery of the earth being round and the earth revolving around the sun opened some eyes.  To make a long story short, Pope Gregory acknowledges a calendar that would have the earth orbiting the sun.  Earlier in the history of the Christian church ideas like that would have people burned at the stake.

          Christians believe that Adam and Eve were directly placed on the earth. Christians do not believe in evolution.  Christians for the most part believe that the sin of Adam and Eve follow all people as a reminder of man’s imperfections.  Muslims believe that Adam and Eve were not told any instructions about the forbidden tree and it’s fruit.  Christians believe that Adam and Eve were directly told not to eat from this tree.  All three religions agree that God was able to see that they sinner because they hid their naked body from him.