Christianity

Christianity is a monothestic religion centered on Jesus, and on his life and teachings as presented in the New Testament Christians believe Jesus to be the Messiah and thus refer to him as Jesus Christ. With an estimated 2.1 billion adherents in 2001, Christianity is the world's largest religion. It is the predominant religion in the Americas, Europe, Philippine, Islands, Oceania, and large parts of Africa. It is also growing rapidly in Asia, particularly in China and South korea. It has also increased in popularity in Northern Africa.
Christianity began in the 1st century as a Jewish sect, and shares many religious texts with Judaism, specifically the Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as Old Testament (see Judeo-Christian). Like Judaism and Islam, Christianity is classified as an Abrahamic religion because of the centrality of Abraham in their shared tradition

What are Major Christian Beliefs?

Christianity is at least three things:
A set of beliefs
A way of life
A community of people
Different Christian groups place different weights on these three aspects, but they always involve all three. All three aspects are based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who is also known as the Christ. ("Christ" was originally a title. It is the Greek form of the Hebrew "Messiah", meaning "anointed".)
This page is an introduction to the beliefs. To get a reasonable picture of Christian beliefs, you should read at least this page and the next one, on the Gospe. In case you are interested in more details, there are also several pages dealing with specific beliefs: the Incarnation, the Trinity, and a set of issues involving free will and God's overall responsibility. The latter page is called predestination.
For the role of the Christian community, see the page on the church. For the way of life, see the pages on the Christian life, worship, the law, and expressing love.
Christianity shares a number of beliefs and practices with other religions, particularly Judaism and Islam. With Judaism and Islam, Christians believe in one God, who created the universe and all that is in it. All believe that this God is active in history, guiding and teaching his people. All three religions, including Christianity, have been called "ethical monotheism". This term emphasizes the belief in one God, and the fact that following this God commits us to a number of specific ethical rules or principles.
Christianity originally developed as a part of Judaism. Jesus was a Jew. He lived from about 3 BC to 30 AD. He lived and taught in Palestine, primarily (although not exclusively) among fellow Jews. Christianity separated from the main body of Judaism for two major reasons:
Christianity came to regard Jesus as in some sense God's presence in human form. This was unacceptable to most Jews.
Judaism is defined by a covenant made between God and the Jewish people. Part of this covenant is the Law, a set of religious and ethical rules and principles. Most Christians came to regard both this covenant and Law as in some sense superseded by Jesus' teaching and the community that he established. On the night he died, Jesus talked about establishing a "new covenant" based on his death and resurrection.
These two issues continue to be among the most distinctive and controversial aspects of Christianity. They are controversial even among Christians. All Christians assign Jesus a role that would seem inappropriate to Jews. However his exact relationship with God was the source of major disagreements among Christians as late as the 5th Century. While most modern Christians accept the standards developed in the 4th and 5th Centuries, there are small groups that do not. This aspect of Christianity is also often attacked or reinterpreted by "liberal" elements within Christianity.
The role of the Law also continues to cause controversy within Christianity. In a narrow sense this is reflected in small groups of Christians that worship on Saturday rather than Sunday, in obedience to one of the provisions of the Law. In a broader sense, the current conflict about the role of women and homosexuals in the Church involves the Christian approach to ethical and cultic standards.

The Role of Christian Beliefs

Before talking about specific beliefs, it's probably worth saying something about the role of beliefs in Christianity. Christianity tends to put more importance on proper belief than many other religions. The term "orthodox" (from roots meaning "right belief") is used to describe beliefs that are in agreement with the standards set up by the Christian community.
When you say that someone is a Christian, you normally mean that he accepts the major Christian beliefs. That's not the whole story, since Christianity is also a way of life and a community. But most Christians do not think it is appropriate to apply the term Christian based simply on the fact that someone has Christian parents and grew up as a Christian, or even based on the fact that they admire many of Jesus' teachings. To be classified as a Christian, one is normally expected to accept the major Christian beliefs, to be following the way of life that Jesus taught, and to be a part of the Christian community.
Most Christian groups have standards of belief. Members are expected to accept the standards of their community. This is not to say that Christians have no questions or doubts. Most groups (even fairly rigid ones) permit members to express uncertainty and to question beliefs. However most groups expect leaders and teachers to advocate orthodox positions. Groups differ both in the way their standards are codified, and in the degree of conformity that they expect. Some have detailed formal standards of belief. Others use only the Bible, and allow a good deal of variation in interpretation.
This document will tend to emphasize beliefs. It's worth noting that this emphasis may be misleading, both about what Jesus originally taught and about what it is like to be a Christian. The most controversial aspects of Christianity -- and those that are emphasized in presentations of Christianity -- tend to be beliefs, particularly beliefs about Jesus. However Jesus' teachings were primarily about how his followers should live. It is these teachings that form the heart of Christian life for most Christians. Unfortunately they are hard to summarize. They are also less commonly talked about in Christian discussion groups, largely because they are less controversial. That's why I have advised people who are interested in Christianity to read at least one of the Gospels in addition to (indeed before) this document. The Gospels are made up primarily of Jesus' teachings, as well as narratives about his life.

Christ

And in Jesus Christ, His only son
The Creed has an overall form based on the Trinity. Thus it deals first with the Father, then the Son, and finally the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to deal with the Trinity and Incarnation in detail here because there are separate pages for each. However some minimal explanation is necessary.
While the Gospels show Jesus as having a role beyond a normal teacher, most of Jesus' actions and teachings were appropriate for a First Century Jewish teacher. One of the major developments in scholarship about Jesus during the last few decades has been a reassessment of his relationship to Judaism. It is now clear that Jesus was an observant Jew, as such was defined at the time. His teachings generally fit into First Century Judaism. The main exception is his own personal role. That went beyond anything that Judaism as a whole was willing to accept. Some scholars maintain that this role was not intended by Jesus himself, but developed after his death and was read back into the accounts of his life. I personally believe this is false, as I will indicate below. That is, I believe that Jesus did actually intend something like the role that Christians attribute to him.
Christians see Jesus as in some sense embodying God. This is based on his teachings and actions, as well as on further discussions within the Christian community. Every account we have of Jesus sees him as playing a role beyond that of a normal teacher. Different sources express it differently. In some of the Gospels it is implicit in the way Jesus acts: he forgives people's sins, something that only God can do. In the Gospel According to John, he says "I and the Father are one" and "he who has seen me has seen the Father". However he clearly is a normal human being, who sees God as distinct from himself.
Based on this sort of evidence, Christians developed two separate but related concepts: the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Incarnation looks at Jesus' relationship to God. There is a separate page about the incarnation. At this point, I'm simply going to quote two texts from the New Testament. These represent two ways that Jesus was understood within several decades of his death:
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. (Heb 1:1-3a)
...his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.... For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, (Col 1:14-16, 19)
There are two things to note in these passages. The first is that Jesus is seen as a human vehicle for God to be present. Note that in these passages there is both a distinction between Jesus and God, and an identification of Jesus with God. Jesus is a human being. But he is God's way of being present as a human being. He embodies God completely.
The other thing to note is that Christ is seen as "pre-existent". That is, creation was done through him. While he was born sometime around 3 BC, there was also a sense in which that human being embodies something that was around before the world was created. The best-known treatment of this is the beginning of John's Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3a, 14)
Thus Christ is seen in two ways. In pre-existent form he is God's creative power, who was always with God and in fact part of him. As such, he is one of the Trinity. However he was born as a human being in history.

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection

To continue with the Creed:
... our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended to hell. On the third day he rose again from the dead, ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
In this section the Creed talks about Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection. Christianity is based on historical events. The Creed is only a summary, so it doesn't give the entire history of God's dealings with Israel. But that is part of the basis for Christian belief.
One clarification is probably needed: non-Christians sometimes think that Jesus is like some of the pagan demigods, the result of a god having a child with a human mother. The Creed could be read that way. But that's not what it means. God is spiritual. He does not have sexual organs, and thus could not have a child in the physical sense. The Bible says that the birth was miraculous. Jesus' mother was still a virgin. Thus God was responsible for the birth. But not physically.
Jesus was executed by the Roman government, in a particularly gruesome way. However more than just the Romans were involved: he was betrayed by one of his own followers, and handed over by the Jewish authorities to the Romans.
Jesus had warned his disciples that he was going to be killed. He seems to have seen himself as carrying out a role described by the prophet Isaiah in a set of passages often calling the "Suffering Servant" passages. These passages described a person who would suffer on behalf of all of us, bearing the punishments that we deserved because of our sins. As a result, we would be reconciled to God. Jesus quoted Isaiah in discussions with his disciples. He was particularly explicit in the evening right before he was arrested, referring to his blood being shed to establish a new covenant, for the forgiveness of sins.
For a more complete discussion of this issue, please see the next page: the Gospel. It describes the reasons Christians see everyone as needing to be reconciled with God, and the way Jesus is seen has having done that. For the moment I will simply note that Jesus' death and resurrection are the key.
Jesus died, almost certainly on a Friday afternoon (although there are some oddities about the chronology as recorded in the Gospels). He was buried hastily, because the Sabbath (a holy day for the Jews) was about to start. On Sunday morning, a group of women came to the tomb, expecting to finish preparing his body. They found that it was no longer in the tomb. Jesus then began appearing to various of his followers, helping them understand the significance of his death and resurrection.
The term "resurrection" means coming to life again. Note that after the resurrection, Jesus seems to have had a somewhat transformed existence. It does not appear that his body simply came back to life. He was now able to pass through walls. However it was more than a ghost, or a vision. He ate a fish, and let someone touch him.

What is the Church?

The term "Church" is used by Christians in two different, but closely related, ways. It can refer to all of Jesus' followers, viewed as a community. It can also refer to specific institutions, either the local congregation or a national or international body. It can even be used to refer to the building in which they meet.
The Church is important, because God does not save people in isolation. An important part of what needs to be restored is our relationship with other people. That can only be done by the community as a whole.
God most often reaches us through other people. Mother Theresa's statements about seeing God in the poor are just one example of a more general Christian principle. Because a large part of our problem is self-centeredness, a large part of the remedy is to learn to depend upon other people, to represent Christ to them and allow Christ to speak to us through them.
The Church is also the group with which we worship. As such it has the responsibility to preach the Word of God, and to administrator the sacraments. (See the section on worship for a discussion of the sacraments.) These are critical elements in maintaining our fellowship with God and each other.
The Church also has a responsibility to encourage its members to make spiritual progress, and to show their faith by their behavior, both through their ethics and their good works. This responsibility includes administering brotherly correction when someone errs. Traditionally the Church has felt a responsibility to discipline, and if necessary exclude, members whose public lives are not in keeping with the message of Christianity. Not all churches are equally careful about carrying this out. It is in fact one of the more difficult responsibilities to get right. It is very, very easy for Church discipline to lead to self-righteousness and intolerance.
Jesus referred to the Christian community with several metaphors. In one he said that he was the vine, and all of his followers are the branches. In another, he referred to the church as his body. All of these images emphasized that his followers are spiritually united with him and with each other. One of the major problems today is that this union is not completely reflected in the way Christians act.

What is Christian Worship?

Worship: At the Heart of Our Relationship with God

The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins as follows:
1. What is the chief end [i.e. goal] of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
This reflects a common Christian perspective that all of Christian life is focused on God and on our fellowship with him and other people. Our care for others is in this context. That doesn't mean that others are only side-issues: loving others means that we genuinely care about them. However Christian experience is that our relationships with other people must be put into the context of a relationship with God, or those relationships will start to become unbalanced.
For many Christians, worship is at the heart of our relationship with God, both as individuals and a community. In worship we focus on God: on hearing a message based on the Bible, on prayer, and on the sacraments. Of course individual Christians can do many of these things in private. However in worship we ground our life as a community in a corporate experience of God.

The Content of Christian Worship

It is not possible to give a complete description of Christian worship. Congregations worship in quite different ways. Worship services vary from formal services with wonderful classical music and well-planned liturgical actions, to a small group gathering around a table and using an impromptu service with rock music.
Worship tends to have two major centers: the Word and the Sacraments. The Protestant tradition tends to emphasize the proclamation of the Word. This includes readings from the Bible, and a sermon, which will normally help the congregation understand the reading and apply it to them. Historically, the sermon was a major means of conducting adult Christian education, and of spurring both individuals and congregations to make necessary changes. Protestant worshippers had a surprising appetite for sermons: three-hour sermons were not uncommon. (This appetite does not seem to have survived into the 20th Century.)
Of course Catholic worship also includes readings from the Bible and some exposition. This is normally referred to as a "homily", rather than a sermon. However the center of worship in the Catholic church, as well as other "liturgical" churches, is the sacrament of Communion, which will be discussed below. For them it is normally celebrated at every regular service. The elaboration and formality tends to be greater than it is in Protestant churches. Protestants normally celebrate communion either 4 times a year or once a month.
In addition to the Word and sacraments, services of all groups include prayers and singing. One analysis of the prayers classifies them according to the acronym ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Another variant is ACTIS, with the I standing for Intercession.
Services often begin with a combination of prayer, responsive readings and music which simply celebrate being in God's presence. This is adoration.
Fairly early in the service there is normally a prayer of confession. In confession we express both our individual faults and those of the community. We ask God to help us to amend them, and receive assurance (normally in words taken from the Bible) of God's willingness to do so.
Thanksgiving acknowledges God's goodness to us. Thanksgiving is important in the Christian life. As we thank God for things, we put those things into the context of our relationship with God.
In Supplication we ask God for what we need. In worship, this supplication normally includes the needs of the congregation, nation, and world. Intercession is a specific kind of request, directed towards the needs of others. Intercession is particularly important to Christian life, because it is one of the key elements in the pattern of "exchange" that I referred to in a previous article. Through intercession we bear each other's burderns, and join the other members of the community in putting their requests before God.