Back इसाई धर्म केरऽ इतिहास ANP تاريخ المسيحية Arabic Historia del cristianismu AST История на християнството Bulgarian খ্রিস্টধর্মের ইতিহাস Bengali/Bangla Història del cristianisme Catalan Dějiny křesťanství Czech Ιστορία του Χριστιανισμού Greek Historio de kristanismo Esperanto Historia del cristianismo Spanish
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| Christianity |
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| History of religions |
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The history of Christianity begins with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teacher and healer, who was crucified and died c. AD 30–33 in Jerusalem in the Roman province of Judea. Afterwards, his followers, a set of apocalyptic Jews, proclaimed him risen from the dead. Christianity began as a Jewish sect and remained so for centuries in some locations, diverging gradually from Judaism over doctrinal, social and historical differences. In spite of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, the faith spread as a grassroots movement that, by the third century, was established both in and outside the empire. New Testament texts were written and church government was loosely organized in its first centuries, though the biblical canon did not become official until 382.
Constantine the Great was the first Roman Emperor to declare himself a Christian. In 313, he issued the Edict of Milan expressing tolerance for all religions. He did not make Christianity the state religion, but he did provide it with crucial support. Constantine called the first of seven ecumenical councils. In the fourth century, Eastern and Western Christianity began to diverge. After 476, monks in the West preserved western culture, spread Christianity across western Europe, and established the Christendom of the High Middle Ages that influenced every aspect of medieval life. Between 600 and 750, constant war turned the Eastern Roman Empire into the Byzantine Empire.
Between the ninth and twelfth centuries, politicization and Christianization went hand-in-hand in developing the states of East-Central Europe. Byzantine missionaries formed Cyrillic script contributing to literacy, literature, and culture in the Slavic countries and Russia. During the High Middle Ages, Eastern and Western Christianity had grown far enough apart that differences led to the East–West Schism of 1054, but this did not prevent the appeal for help that led to the Crusades. Temporary reunion was achieved in 1452. Byzantium had been losing territory for seven centuries until Constantinople fell in 1453 and it became part of the empire of the Ottoman Turks. The Middle Ages saw the retreat of Christianity in the East and North Africa.
During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, various crises in Europe, coupled with growing criticism of the Catholic Church led to the sixteenth century Reformation. The Catholic Church responded in the Counter-Reformation. Royal houses already embroiled in dynastic disagreements began taking sides precipitating the European wars of religion. This period prefigured the development of modern political concepts of tolerance and the Age of Enlightenment. Christianity influenced the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution, and Abolitionism on three continents. Protestant missionaries shaped multiple nations, cultures, and societies through literacy and indigenization.
After World War II, Christianity faced many challenges. Traditional Christianity declined in the West, while new forms developed. The centre of growth shifted from West to East and from the North to the Global South. In the twenty first century, it is the world's largest religion with more than two billion Christians worldwide.