The most crucial points in Christian teaching are Jesus' crucifixion? and death, and his miraculous resurrection?. These events are believed by Christians to be the basis of God's grace and pardon for sins. Each individual's belief and personal trust in these events is considered to be the essential condition for being reconciled with God and receiving eternal life; "eternal" both in the sense of quantity (life after death) and quality (life in the presence of God). In some more liberal sects Jesus is viewed simply as someone who had new insights and something to teach; however, the vast majority of Christians deny that such a view counts as a kind of Christianity.
Christians believe the Bible is the word of God to some degree or another. Even though Christians disagree about how accurate the Bible is and how literally it should be taken, the Bible is still the most widely regarded source of information about Jesus. It maintains that Jesus is the messiah which the Jews have long awaited; thus Christianity could be considered (at least by Christians) to be the continuation or fulfillment of the Jewish faith. Christians and Jews both consider the Old Testament (what Jews call the Tanakh) to be the word of God. Christians disagree, however, on what books make up the Old Testament (see biblical canon). The New Testament is the second part of the Christian Bible, containing accounts of the life of Jesus, and giving insight in Christian faith issues and the history of the early christian church.
Christianity is divided into eastern and western branches. The Western branch developed in the Western Roman Empire, while the Eastern branch developed in the Eastern Roman Empire. The Western branch is divided principally into Catholicism and Protestantism, while the two main divisions of the Eastern branch are Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy. See the Great Schism for the history and circumstances of this division.
Catholicism and Protestantism are the two major divisions of Christianity in the Western world (Western Europe and the Americas). For example, the Baptist, Methodist, and Lutheran churches are generally considered to be Protestant faiths, although strictly speaking, of these three the Lutheran denomination is the only one of these founded as a "protest" against Catholicism. The Anglican (Church of England) is generally classified as Protestant, but it is properly understood as its own tradition—a via media ("middle way") between the Protestant and Catholic traditions. In the Eastern world (Eastern Europe, Asia) the primary representative of Christianity is Eastern Orthodoxy.
One central tenet of Catholicism is its literal adherence to apostolic succession. "Apostle" means "one who is sent out." Jesus commissioned the first twelve apostles (see [Biblical Figures]? for the list of the Twelve), and they, in turn laid hands on subsequent church leaders to ordain (commission) them for ministry. In this manner, Catholics can trace their ordained ministers all the way back to the original Twelve. Roman Catholics are distinct in their belief that the Pope has authority which can be traced directly to the apostle Peter. Other Catholic groupings include the Old Catholic Church which rejected the definition of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council, and Anglo-Catholics?, Anglicans who believe that Anglicanism is a continuation of historical Catholicism and who incorporate many Catholic beliefs and practices.
Protestant faiths trace their roots to the work of Martin Luther and John Calvin, who believed that the Catholic church had deviated too far from the practices and beliefs of the original churches described in the New Testament. They attempted to reform the Catholic Church but failed. The [protestant reformation]? resulted instead. Protestantism as a whole has never been led by a pope or other institution having such an over-all authority. Each protestant movement has developed freely, and many have split over theological issues. That is how over the centuries it could developed into a great number of independent denominations. A number of movements that grew out of spiritual revivals, like Methodism and Pentecostalism, also consider themselves Protestant. The measure of mutual acceptance between the denomonations and movements varies, but is growing. Protestant theology for each denomination? is usually guarded by church councils.
The Eastern Orthodox Church also believes it is the continuation of the original Christian church established by Christ. Originally there were five main centers of Christianity in the ancient world: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch?, and Jerusalem. According to the Eastern Churches' understanding of Papal primacy, the bishop of Rome was first in honor among the bishops, but possessed no direct authority over dioceses? other than his own. In the Great Schism, conventionally dated to 1054, the Eastern Churches severed communion with Rome over a number of issues centered around the differing understanding of Papal primacy. The four other Churches remained in communion with each other and still exist today along with less prestigious, but often more populous, self-governing or "autocephalous" Churches organized more or less along national lines. The largest of these, and the largest Orthodox Church overall, is the [Church of Russia]?. Many of these groups are represented as independent ecclesastical bodies in America. There exist significant theological differences between the Orthodox Church and Western Christianity.
The Eastern Orthodox Churches accepted the Chalcedonian dogma? on the nature of Christ, which was also accepted by the Western branch of the church; while the [Oriental Orthodox]? rejected it. The [Oriental Orthodox]? comprise chiefly the Monophysites? (e.g. the [Coptic church]? or the Syrian Jacobites?) and the Nestorians? (e.g. the Assyrian? Church).
Several other faiths, which also believe in Jesus Christ, claim not to be descended from any of these groups directly. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for instance, while often grouped with Protestant religions disagrees with this classification.
Many people belonging to the above-listed groups have strong feelings about the legitimacy of the other Christian faiths, sometimes even claiming that the other faiths do not actually count as Christian. These claims usually rely on more specialized definitions of "Christianity" than an outsider might assume, entailing points of doctrine which are critical to the objecting faith's view, such as belief in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (an agreement on the nature of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the [Holy Spirit]? reached in A.D. 325) or the doctrine called "Biblical inerrancy" (a specific set of beliefs regarding the nature of the Bible). Catholics and Protestants in particular may consider these beliefs critical to "real" Christianity, and may thus exclude churches such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Jehovah's Witnesses, who differ on these views (but feature Jesus Christ as a central part of their belief system, and consider themselves Christian). Others, such as Unitarian-Universalists, consider themselves as borderline Christians, since Jesus Christ is not pivotal to their belief system.
Diagram showing historical development of traditional Christian groups:
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/--------------Protestantism
Reformation ----------------> /
/Western Church----------------Roman Catholicism (Western Rites)
/ /---Roman Catholicism (Eastern Rites)
Early / Great Schism /
Christianity ....................=======/================
/
\ Eastern Orthodoxy
\ /
\Eastern Church
Chalcedonian -----> Controversies \--Nestorians ) Oriental
\---Monophysites ) Orthodox
Not all people who identify as Christians accept all, or even most, of the theological positions that their particular church mandates. Like the Jewish people, Christians in the West were greatly affected by The Enlightenment in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Perhaps the most significant change for them was total or effective separation of Church and State, thus ending the state-sponsored Christianity that existed in so many European countries. Now one could be a free member of society and disagree with one's church on various issues, and one could even be free to leave the church altogether. Millions did take these paths, leading to millions identifying with freethought (humanism, atheism, agnosticism, deism); others created liberal wings of Protestant Christian theology, and the long-suppressed Unitarian trend in Chrisitianity became an acceptable choice for many. The Enlightenment had a much less profound impact on the Eastern Churches of Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy.
This gain in personal freedom came with a social price, the dissolution of the Chrisitan community as an entity with civic legal authority. Many Europeans Christians began to abandon some traditional church practices, and began to assimilate. In the US and Europe, many secularized Christians have long since stopped participating in religious duties. Many of then recall having religious grand-parents, but grew up in homes where Christian theology was no longer a priority. They have developed ambivalent feelings towards their religious duties. On the one hand they tend to cling to their traditions for identity reasons, on the other hand the influence of western mentality, daily life and peer-pressure tears them away from traditional Christianity.
There have been many responses to this phenomenon within the Christian community, including the development of literally hundreds of Christian Protestant denominations, and traditionalist splinter-groups of the Catholic Church that do not recognize the legitimacy of many reforms the church has undertaken.
Main branches of Christianity today: Catholicism -- Protestantism -- Eastern Orthodoxy -- Oriental Orthodoxy -- (see below for exceptions)
Eastern Orthodox Churches: [Russian Orthodox Church]? -- [Greek Orthodox Church]? -- [Serbian Orthdodox Church]? -- [Romanian Orthodox Church]? -- [Antiochian Orthodox Church]? -- [Orthodox Church in America]?
[Oriental Orthodox]? Churches: [Coptic Church]? (monophysite?) -- [Armenian Orthodox Church]?
Protestant denominations: Presbyterian Church -- Anglican (Episcopal) Church -- Lutheran Church -- Baptist Church -- Methodist Church -- Pentecostal -- Brethren? -- Seventh-day Adventist Church
Protestant theologies: Calvinism -- Arminianism -- Arianism
Non-Protestant Christianity: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Jehovah's Witnesses -- Unification Church -- Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) -- Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Scientists) -- Sons Aumen Israel -- [Unity Church]?
Unitarian Universalism is not a creedal religion, and espouses no official spiritual beliefs. Unitarian Universalists see themselves as a liberal religious community where people of differing beliefs share with each other and learn from each other. Before the 20th Century the church was much more Christian, but it has become increasingly diverse.
Ancient (largely extinct) Christian groups: Gnosticism -- Arianism -- Docetism
See also: Christian eschatology, Eschatology, Missions?, Missionary?, [History of Christian Missions]?, Predestination, The Rise of Christianity (book by Rodney Stark), Great Schism
Links to integrate with the above (taken from religion): Anglicanism (Episcopal) -- Lutheranism -- Presbyterianism -- Calvinism -- Baptist Church -- Evangelical? -- [Church of Christ]? -- Methodist Church -- Pentecostals? -- Charismatics? and many more.
A summary of Christian views on homosexuality should be started on the new page discussing Religion and homosexuality.