Test Your Knowledge of Christianity

Christianity: Beliefs, History, and Practices

• Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

• It is the world's largest and most widespread religion, with roughly 2.4 billion followers representing one-third of the global population.

• Its adherents, known as Christians, are estimated to make up a majority of the population in 157 countries and territories.

• Christianity began in the 1st century as a Judaic sect with Hellenistic influence, in the Roman province of Judea. The disciples of Jesus spread their faith around the Eastern Mediterranean area, despite significant persecution.

• The six major branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, Protestantism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, the Church of the East, and Restorationism.

• The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah (Christ).

• Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as the savior of humanity and hold that Jesus' coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

• The New Testament mentions several post-resurrection appearances of Jesus on different occasions to his twelve apostles and disciples, including "more than five hundred brethren at once", before Jesus' ascension to heaven.

• Christians consider the resurrection of Jesus to be the cornerstone of their faith and the most important event in history.

• The Trinity is an essential doctrine of mainstream Christianity, referring to the teaching that the one God comprises three distinct, eternally co-existing persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate in Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.

• Christians differ in their views on the extent to which individuals' salvation is pre-ordained by God.

• Christianity played a prominent role in the development of Western civilization, particularly in Europe from late antiquity and the Middle Ages.Overview of Christianity

• Christianity includes Trinitarian and Nontrinitarian denominations.

• Trinitarians believe in the concept of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one God.

• Nontrinitarians reject the doctrine of the Trinity, and include groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Unitarian Universalists.

• Christian eschatology is the study of the destiny of humans as revealed in the Bible, including the end of life, the end of the age, and the end of the world.

• Most Christians believe in divine judgment, with the reward of eternal life or eternal damnation.

• Sacraments are rites that confer grace, with the two most widely accepted being Baptism and the Eucharist.

• Christian worship follows a liturgy, with services including scripture readings, sermons, prayers, and music.

• Christian symbols include the cross, the fish (Ichthys), the chi-rho monogram, the dove and olive branch, the sacrificial lamb, and the vine.

• Baptism is the ritual act of admitting a person to membership of the Church, with beliefs on baptism varying among denominations.

• Prayer is an important aspect of Christian practice, including the Lord's Prayer, fixed prayer times, and intercessory prayer.Christianity: Scriptures, Interpretations, and History

• Christianity regards the biblical canon, the Old Testament and the New Testament, as the inspired word of God, consisting of 27 books in the New Testament which are agreed upon by all major churches.

• The ancient church developed a tradition of asking for the intercession of (deceased) saints, but Protestant Reformation rejected prayer to the saints, largely on the basis of the sole mediatorship of Christ.

• Catholic theology distinguishes two senses of scripture: the literal and the spiritual.

• Protestants believe in the doctrine of sola scriptura—that the Bible is a self-sufficient revelation, the final authority on all Christian doctrine, and revealed all truth necessary for salvation.

• Christianity developed during the 1st century AD as a Jewish Christian sect with Hellenistic influence of Second Temple Judaism, and Christian teachers began to produce theological and apologetic works aimed at defending the faith from the year 150.

• Persecution of Christians occurred intermittently and on a small scale by both Jewish and Roman authorities until Roman persecution ended in 313 AD with the Edict of Milan.

• Constantine I was exposed to Christianity in his youth, and throughout his life his support for the religion grew, culminating in baptism on his deathbed, and he was instrumental in convoking the First Council of Nicaea in 325.

• The Middle Ages brought about major changes within the church, including Pope Gregory the Great's dramatic reformation of the ecclesiastical structure and administration, and Pope Innocent III's reformation of the legal system.

• In the early 8th century, iconoclasm became a divisive issue when it was sponsored by the Byzantine emperors, and the Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (787) finally pronounced in favor of icons.

• In the West, from the 11th century onward, some older cathedral schools became universities, expanding the curriculum to include academic programs for clerics, lawyers, civil servants, and physicians.

• The Renaissance period saw a renewed interest in classical Greek philosophy, as well as an increase in literary output in vernacular Greek, and the cultural impact of Byzantine art on the West during this period was enormous and of long-lasting significance.

• The Protestant Reformation in the 16th century challenged many Catholic teachings and practices, leading to the establishment of Protestant denominations such as Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anglicanism, and the Counter-Reformation was the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation.A Brief History and Demographics of Christianity

• The rise of the "new towns" in Europe led to the founding of mendicant orders, including the Franciscans and Dominicans, who made significant contributions to the development of great universities.

• Christianity experienced internal conflict between the 7th and 13th centuries, resulting in a schism between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

• The Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation divided Western Christendom into several branches, with Protestantism repudiating the primacy of the pope and other Catholic doctrines and practices.

• Christianity spread rapidly to the Americas, Oceania, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa through missionary activity and colonial expansion by European powers.

• The Christian population is around 2.4 billion adherents and split into three main branches of Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox, making it the world's largest religion.

• Christianity is declining in the developed world, mainly in Western Europe and North America, while it is growing rapidly in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America, primarily due to conversion.

• The Catholic Church and Orthodoxy are declining in some parts of the world, while Protestants and other Christians are on the rise in the developing world.

• Since the 1960s, there has been a significant increase in the number of conversions from Islam to Christianity, mostly to the Evangelical and Pentecostal forms.

• In most countries in the developed world, church attendance among Christians has been falling over the last few decades.

• Christianity is the predominant religion in Europe, the Americas, Oceania, and sub-Saharan Africa, while it is the dominant religion in Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, East Timor, and the Philippines.

• Christianity is declining in some areas, including the northern and western United States, some areas in Oceania, northern Europe, France, Germany, and some parts of Asia.

• According to a 2015 Pew Research Center study, within the next four decades, Christianity will remain the largest religion, and by 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion.

• Christianity remains the largest religion in Western Europe, where 71% of Western Europeans identified themselves as Christian in 2018.