Christianity is one of the most significant religions in human history and is one of the most common religions today along with others, including: Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism.\u00a0 Christianity is by far the largest religion in the world, holding the most members out of all the others with 2.4 billion believers. This means that nearly one third of the world\u2019s total population is Christian.\u00a0 Despite this fact, Christianity is also divided into several different denominations.\u00a0 The variation in belief is due to the long and turbulent history of Christianity.\u00a0 For example, different events such as the Protest Reformation caused the Church to divide at times.\u00a0 This has led to several different denominations of faith with each having a slightly different interpretation of the Holy Bible. Of the 2.4 billion total Christians in the world, approximately 1.1 billion of them are Catholic, with another 800 million identifying as Protestant.\u00a0 There is another 300 million or so that are other forms of Christianity such as Orthodox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to better understand the denominations of Christianity its first important to have knowledge of the basic history of the religion.\u00a0 Christianity first emerged from Judaism in the Middle East in the mid-1st century.\u00a0 It began in the century after the death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom the religion is based around.\u00a0 Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire and by the 4th century was the official religion of the empire.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Roman Catholic Church (Catholicism) developed out of early Christianity and established itself as the main religion in Europe and sections of the Middle East throughout the Middle Ages.\u00a0 At the time, Catholicism was the only denomination of the religion and was generally known simply as Christianity.\u00a0 As a result, most Christians of the time period believed in several similar aspects of faith.\u00a0 Christian faith and belief centers on a few main factors, known as creeds.\u00a0 A creed is best defined as a formal statement of belief.\u00a0 The most widely held creed in Christianity is the Apostle\u2019s Creed (as well as the Nicene Creed) which dates from the 4th century.\u00a0 The Apostle\u2019s Creed (and Christian faith) contains several different points but there are three main one\u2019s that are generally universally held by Christians.\u00a0 First, the Apostle\u2019s Creed stated belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit (Trinity).\u00a0 Second, it stated belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Third, it stated belief in the second coming of Jesus Christ and Judgement Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Renaissance in Europe began in the 14th century and it had a profound impact on Christianity at the time.\u00a0 A major feature of the Renaissance was the introduction of Renaissance Humanism.\u00a0 In general, Renaissance Humanism was the study of ancient Greek and Roman texts with the goal of promoting new norms and values in society.\u00a0 These norms and views varied from those at the time because they focused less heavily on a religious worldview.\u00a0 Instead, Renaissance humanists such as Petrarch used ancient texts to promote a worldview based on logic and reason.\u00a0 This was a major challenge to the Catholic Church and ultimately led to the Protestant Reformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Protest Reformation began at the start of the 16th century.\u00a0 Historians consider it have started with the publication of Martin Luther\u2019s \u2018Ninety-five Theses\u2019 in 1517.\u00a0 Martin Luther (who lived from 1483 to 1546) was a German professor and monk.\u00a0 In his work \u2018Ninety-five Theses\u2019, Luther challenged several different teachings and practices of the Catholic Church.\u00a0 For instance, he argued against the notion that salvation was gained through good deeds and instead suggested that it could be attained simply through belief in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 As well, he argued that the scriptures themselves were the only true form of teachings and any other directives from the Catholic Church were not necessarily in line with Christianity.\u00a0 Furthermore, he translated the Bible into his native language of German which allowed many more people to access it and understand it for themselves.\u00a0 These ideas resonated with many Europeans as their worldview had been altered due to the development of humanism and the overall Renaissance.\u00a0 Ultimately, his ideas clashed with those of the Catholic Church and then Pope Leo X.\u00a0 In fact, he was excommunicated from the Church and was forced into hiding.\u00a0 Regardless, his actions inspired others to further the cause of reforming the Church, including: John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli.\u00a0 As a result, the Protest Reformation took hold and a major divide occurred in Christianity.\u00a0 Those that remained focused on the teachings of the Catholic Church and the Pope in Rome were Catholics while those that practiced Christianity in a different church that did not follow the authority of the Pope were Protestants.\u00a0 It became known as the Protest Reformation due to the former’s\u00a0\u2018protesting\u2019 for change within the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result of this tumultuous history, Christian faith has been divided into many different denominations.\u00a0 For instance, some people report that there are as many as 30,000 different denominations of Christianity today.\u00a0 Regardless, most Christians today identify as one of just a few denominations, including: Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Catholic Church (also known as the Roman Catholic Church) is considered to be one of the oldest religious institutions in the world and has approximately 1.1 billion followers today.\u00a0 At its head is the Bishop of Rome (more commonly known as the Pope) and its central administration is headed in Vatican City in Rome, Italy.\u00a0 The central faith of the Catholic Church\u00a0is based on the\u00a0Nicene Creed which originates from the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.\u00a0 The Council was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine I and led to the first agreed upon Christian doctrine. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the\u00a0one\u00a0church founded by\u00a0Jesus Christ,\u00a0that its\u00a0bishops\u00a0are the\u00a0successors\u00a0of Christ’s\u00a0apostles, and that the\u00a0Pope is the head of the organization.\u00a0It maintains that it practices the\u00a0original Christian faith since it developed out of the earliest history of Christianity.\u00a0 The Catholic faith is based on seven sacraments which was started by Jesus Christ and continued by the Church.\u00a0 These seven sacraments include: \u00a0the\u00a0sacraments of initiation, including: Baptism, the\u00a0Eucharist, and\u00a0Confirmation; the sacraments of healing, consisting of\u00a0Reconciliation\u00a0and\u00a0Anointing of the Sick; and the sacraments of service:\u00a0Holy Orders\u00a0and\u00a0Matrimony.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next largest denomination in Christianity is Protestantism.\u00a0 Today there is approximately 800 million Protestants in the world, making it the largest denomination behind Catholicism.\u00a0 In reality, Protestantism is not one single group and actually consists of several different denominations within itself, such as: Anglican, Baptists, Evangelical, Lutherans, Methodists, and more.\u00a0 This makes Protestantism a diverse ideology with each denomination sharing similar beliefs and practices but also differing on some.\u00a0 As stated previously Protestantism first emerged from the publication of Martin Luther\u2019s \u2018Ninety-five Theses\u2019 in 1517.\u00a0 As a result, Protestantism is considered to have developed from the Catholic Church.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0Eastern Orthodox Church (which is also known as the\u00a0Orthodox Catholic Church)\u00a0is primarily based out of Eastern Europe.\u00a0 Today it contains 250 million members. The Eastern Orthodox Church is one of the oldest religious institutions in the world and shares many similarities with the Roman Catholic Church.\u00a0 For example, while it has no central figure similar to the Pope, the Eastern Orthodox Church operates similarly in that its churches are linked by Bishops which are referred to as a Holy Synod.\u00a0 Also similar to the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church is based on the\u00a0Nicene Creed, and the Church teaches that it is the\u00a0one\u00a0church founded by\u00a0Jesus Christ,\u00a0that its\u00a0bishops\u00a0are the successors\u00a0of Christ’s\u00a0apostles.\u00a0 Also similar to the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church has seven sacraments with the Eucharist being the most significant.\u00a0 To better understand the Eastern Orthodox Church its also important to understand its history.\u00a0 Essentially, the Eastern Orthodox Church developed and existed alongside the Roman Catholic Church.\u00a0 Their principal difference was their location within the Roman Empire and basic structure of organization.\u00a0 For example, the two churches shared\u00a0communion\u00a0 until the\u00a0East\u2013West Schism\u00a0in 1054 CE.\u00a0 This schism divided the two churches between Rome and Constantinople.\u00a0 The churches in the west came under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, while those in the east came under the authority of the Eastern Byzantine Church (which is today known as the Eastern Orthodox Church).\u00a0 This schism or divide between the two churches emerged from disagreements over doctrine and the authority of the Pope.\u00a0 While the Eastern Orthodox Church is based out of Eastern Europe it has churches worldwide today due to migration of believers and missionaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are many different Christianity denominations that have formed over the long history of Christianity as a religion. This article details the history and significance of the different Christianity denominations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":5,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[131,15,86],"class_list":["post-4308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","tag-christianity","tag-history","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4308"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4311,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308\/revisions\/4311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}