Christianity

Christianity is the religion of about a billion people whose belief system centers on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. To Christians, Jesus of Nazareth was and is the Messiah or Christ promised by God in the prophecies of the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible); by His life, death, and Resurrection He freed those who believe in Him from their sinful state and made them recipients of God's saving Grace. Many also await the Second Coming of Christ, which they believe will complete God's plan of salvation.

The Christian Bible, or Holy Scripture, includes the Old Testament and also the New Testament, a collection of early Christian writings proclaiming Jesus as lord and savior. Arising in the Jewish milieu of 1st century Palestine, Christianity quickly spread through the Mediterranean world and in the 4th century became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Christians have tended to separate into rival groups

But the main body of the Christian Church was united under the Roman emperors. During the Middle Ages, when all of Europe became Christianized, this main church was divided into a Latin (Western European) and a Greek (Byzantine or Orthodox) branch. The Western church was in turn divided by the Reformation of the 16th century into the Roman Catholic church and a large number of smaller Protestant churches: Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist), Anglican, and sectarian. These divisions have continued and multiplied, but in the 20th century many Christians joined in the Ecumenical Movement to work for church unity. This resulted in the formation of the World Council of Churches. Christianity, a strongly proselytizing religion, exists in all parts of the world.