Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization The Christians Entry

The Encyclopedia of
Christian Civilization
Volume I
Edited by George Thomas Kurian
Encyclopedia
of Christian
Civilization
EDITED BY
George Thomas Kurian
Four Volumes
Blackwell Publishers
Oxford
2
Preface
A preface is an apologetic device. It is designed to explain, first, the occasion,
second, the concept, rationale and purpose and third, the organization, structure
and methodology.
The Occasion
In 2033, the Christian Church will celebrate its 2000 years and the Encyclopedia
of Christian Civilization (ECC) is timed to anticipate and celebrate the momentous
landmark.
The Rationale and Purpose

ECC is a panoptic and magisterial survey of the cultural complex and civilization
created by the Christian Church over the past 2000 years. Most reference books
on Christianity deal with theology and history, with the beliefs and doctrines. ECC
paints a much broader picture. It tries to explore the impact of Christianity on
human civilization, the word encompassing not only religion, but also music, art,
literature, architecture, law, visual arts, performing arts, society. ECC believes
that Dostoevsky, Bernini, Caravaggio, Bach, Columbus and Michelangelo are as
important as Augustine, Tertullian, Pope Gregory the Great and Billy Graham in
studying the evolution of Christianity. The first purpose of ECC is to study the
Gestalt of Christianity, not merely its doctrines and beliefs.
The second purpose of ECC is to study not merely Christianity but also Christians.
Christianity is a living faith and it is difficult to grasp its roots or its strength
through purely intellectual, philosophical, theological or even historical
discourses. In fact, it is relatively easy to dismiss Christ on intellectual,
philosophical, theological and historical grounds and thousands have done so
from the first to the 21st centuries. But it is more difficult, if not impossible, to
dismiss or deny the lives and testimonies of 18 billion human beings who have
lived as Christians during the past 2000 years or the testimonies of 70 million
martyrs whose blood would fill several rivers. These are the cloud of witnesses
of whom Paul speaks. To deny Christ would be to deny these 18 billion whose
lives were touched by Him and to dismiss all of them as deluded fools. There is an
organic bond between the believer and the believee. In a remarkable statement,
Jesus asks of Paul on the Road to Damascus, Why do you persecute me?
whereas Paul had never even seen Christ in the flesh. The implication is that
those who deride or persecute Christ persecute His followers, and vice versa.
The third purpose of ECC is to present Christianity as a dynamic faith rather than
a static religion. Christianity is a moving target and snapshots give the false
impression that the faith is set in concrete or is entirely passive or dead but
preserved like an Egyptian mummy. Every day and every hour and every moment
the Holy Spirit is active in the world working in the lives of believers. There is a
core Christianity as distinct from its outer shell, the invisible church as distinct
from the visible church. The visible shell is a series of moral codes, prescriptions
for a happy life, a placebo, not a cure. It is diluted and alloyed with ideas of
human origin, with no inherent power in them. Core Christianity, on the other
hand, is a powerful explosive force, a force that, in Biblical language, can move
mountains. Because of the enormity of this force, it has to be masked, stepped
down or scaled down to make it comprehensible to finite intelligence. The divine
has to be physically translated into the human. Paul describes this Christianity in
unforgettable language, Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, neither has it
entered into the heart of man, that which God hath prepared.
The fourth purpose of ECC is to examine the fruits of Christianity, its impact on
human institutions and society. Jesus said, You shall know the tree by its fruits.
Applying the same standard to Christianity, ECC examines how Christianity has
changed human civilization, whether these changes are real and for the good.
When John the Baptist wanted to find out whether Jesus was the long-awaited
Messiah, Jesus answered him by citing the captives who were set free, the blind
men whose sight was restored, lepers who were healed and broken lives that
were mended These are the ultimate fruits of faith.
Structure, Organization and Methodology

Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization is an A-Z encyclopedia. It is both a
diachronic encyclopedia that delves into history and a synchronic encyclopedia
that describes the state of the Christian Church today.
It has five categories of entries:
CORE ARTICLES - Wideranging articles that define a field and include commentary,
historical background and comprehensive reviews of literature.
CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORIES - These are timelines that survey the expansion of
Christianity by centuries and set the chronological context for the topical essays.
GLOBAL, REGIONAL AND TERRITORIAL CHRISTIANITY These entries cover ethnic, national
or regional churches and their peculiarities based on the nature and date of its
introduction and exogenous cultural influences.
DENOMINATIONAL AND CONFESSIONAL CHRISTIANITY These entries cover denominations
and families of denominations as well as confessions and traditions as building
blocks of the church.
BIOGRAPHIES
INTERPRETIVE ESSAYS Key issues, events, places, concepts and ideas.
BREAKOUT ENTRIES Satellite or subaltern entries that explore greater detail some
facet of a topic or concept.
All entries carry a bibliography. There is a comprehensive bibliography at the end.
Each entry also has cross references.
Other features include 18 appendices, sidebar, maps and charts.
As always, I take full responsibility for any deficiencies, shortfalls or errors in
these four volumes.
GEORGE THOMAS KURIAN
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NEW YORK
MARCH 24, 2008
Introduction: Overview of the

Christian World
Christianity is more than a religion in the conventional sense. It is a kingdom of its
own, a spiritual kingdom, it is true, but nevertheless a kingdom with own monarch,
laws, language, institutions, intellectual currencies, culture, and civilization. It is a
kingdom that coexists with the kingdoms of this world with which it has been always
in conflict. A typology of Christian ideas and traditions has never been attempted,
but such a classification is important because the various influences that shaped
Christian history are not apparent to casual observers or even to believers. Making
the task even more difficult is its sheer immensity. The landscape of the Christian
world would be similar to the great Amazon River with its vast network of interlocking
tributaries and branches. It can be mapped as cartographers map countries, but to
gain an intimate knowledge, one needs to walk through the terrain.
The universe of Christian civilization has never been fully explored either
quantitatively or qualitatively. The quantitative universe can never be fully measured
accurately but through statistical extrapolations we may obtain some glimpses of its
extent. The data in this section are obtained from The World Christian Encyclopedia
(edited by David Barrett, George Thomas Kurian and Todd Johnson, Oxford University
Press, 2000).
The Numbers
There are 2,173,183, 400 Christians in the world. That is the number from which
everything else in this book flows. Christianity can only be understood in terms of the
fact that the lives of over 2 billion people are in some form or other shaped by it.
Christians make up 33.2% of the global population. That is down from 34.5% of the
world population in 1900 and 33.4% of the world population in 1980.
However, Christians form over 50% of the worlds literate population. In all countries
of the world, Christians are more literate than non-Christians. More than 50% of
Muslims and 45% of Hindus and Buddhists are illiterate.
More than 18 billion human beings have lived as Christians on earth since the time of
the 12 apostles.
Every day:
The number of Christians is growing by 122,000
Of these, by continent, 24,500 Christians are being added in Africa
19,400 in Asia
2,200 in Europe
21,000 in South America
5,000 in North America
800 in Oceania
Of the total number of Christians, about 54% are non-white and 46% are white.
Christianity became predominantly a non-white religion in the 1990s.
On the one hand, Christianity has experienced massive gains across the Third World
for most of the 20th century. In Africa, Christians have mushroomed from 9.9 million in
1900 to 360 million in 2000. Despite the widespread notion that Christianity was a
colonial religion, much of the growth occurred after the end of colonial regimes. The
present net increase in that continent is 8.4 million new Christians a year (23,000 a
day) of which 1.5 million are net new converts. Sizable net conversions are also
taking place in Asia outside the Middle East (2.4 million a year). Korea has become
the second nation in Asia to have a majority Christian population. A major reason for
this expansion across the Third World is the message of justice of the Christian
Gospel to the poor and the oppressed. It is the same power that brought in the
disenfranchised people of the Roman Empire to the faith in the first century.
But on the other hand, Christianity has experienced massive losses in the Western
World since the end of World War II. In Europe and North America, especially in the
more affluent countries, net defections from Christianity are running at 1.820 million
a year. This loss is much higher if one considers only church members: 2,224,800 a
year or 6,000 a day. If one is speaking of only church attendees, the loss is much
steeper. Over 2,765,100 church attendees in Europe and North America cease
attending church every year at the rate of 7,600 a day. The loss in Western Europe
and North America is offset partially as a result of the fall of Communism in Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet Union countries. But there also the gains may not last
very long given the increasing secularization of society.
Of the 2.173 billion Christians, 2.056 billion are affiliated (31.4% of the world
population). Of the affiliated Christians the confessional distribution is as follows:
Roman Catholics: 1,135,729,000 (17.4%)
Protestants: 382,179,000 (5.8%)
Orthodox: 219,433,000 (3.4%)
Anglicans and Episcopalians: 81,237,000 (1.2%)
Independents: 432,223,000 (6.6%)
Marginal Christians: 34,758,000 (0.5%)
They are divided among 33,800 denominations with
1.5 million ordained clergy of whom 8% are women
2,400 religious institutions, orders and societies
8,000 monasteries
500,000 monks and 1.3 million sisters
419,500 missionaries
150 million Christian pilgrims
15 million weekly prayer groups
6,500 major church and ecumenical councils
4,000 foreign mission boards or societies
5,500 home mission boards or societies
400 foreign medical missions
Beyond the human numbers Christian footprints extend to every sector of society.
80 million pieces of Christian art in museums and private collections.
16 million pieces of Christian music, including hymns
7 million churches and church-related buildings worldwide.
170,000 Christian primary schools
50,000 secondary schools
1,500 Christian universities
4,800 seminaries
35,500 hospitals and medical centers
21,000 Christian publishers and printers
140,000 Christian books published annually in over 120 languages
58 billion copies of the Bible published in 367 languages
53.7 million Bibles distributed annually
120.7 million copies of the New Testament
5 billion tracts and 3 billion copies of other books printed annually
34,500 Christian periodicals published annually
Over 17,000 Christian radio and television stations
Over $187 billion collected by Christian charities annually
23,000 parachurch or service agencies
Some of these numbers, when multiplied by 2000 years, will yield some idea of the
great Christian harvest. For example, the number of Christians who have ever lived
on earth is estimated at 18 billion, the number of Christian martyrs at 70 million and
the number of Christian monks, priests and religious at 500 million and the number of
Christian books produced at 580 million.
Christian civilization can also be measured qualitatively. That is what the
Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization attempts to do. All civilization are driven and
sustained by ideas and have a set of signature values and norms that together
constitute what is known as weltanschauung or world view. Because Christianity has
no temporal power (and the pope has no divisions) it exists based simply on the
strength of its ideas. These ideas offer an alternative to those that propel secular
civilization. In many cases they are diametrically opposed to those of secular
civilization. Thus Nietzsche spoke of Christianitys transvaluation of values. Christian
ideas are the antithesis of those that sustain the world system. In Christianity it is
not the strong and the rich, but the poor that inherit the earth. It ennobles, even
sacralizes, the disenfranchised, the weak, the captive, the lame, the blind, the
outcast, the dispossessed and the disfigured. It elevates and gives dignity to
suffering, pain, and even death until they become badges of honor and pathways to
glory. In the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, Christianity began as and remains a religion
of the downtrodden. It opposes the warproneness of human societies with turn-theother-cheek nonviolence. It opposes the lust for power with an ethic of service and
humility.
Christian ideas are also multidimensional and time-transcending. Unlike secular
civilization, Christian civilization is not a closed space, like a squirrel cage. It views
human existence sub species aeternatitis, as a prelude to an eternal kingdom. It

endows transience with a purpose and infuses the temporal with the sacred.
How Christianity Spread

On the day of the Pentecost, A. D. 33, there were about 3,000 Christians in Jerusalem.
These were the seedstock of the church. Their task, especially that of the Apostles,
was to go into all the world and make disciples. Among them most were Jews but
there were a few gentiles. Not more than a few hundred were the actual followers of
Jesus before His crucifixion. In A. D. 37, the mission to the Gentiles was launched. By
A. D. 40 there were Christians in Rome, Egypt and Greece.
A. D. 100 Two generations after Christ, there world is 0.6% Christian of whom 70%
were nonwhite and 30% white. The scriptures had been translated into six languages.
A.D. 200 Six generations after Christ, the world is 6.4% Christian, 68% of them nonwhite and 32% white. The scriptures had been translated into seven languages.
A.D. 300 Nine generations after Christ, the world is 12% Christian, of whom 66.4%
were non-white and 33.6% white. The scriptures were translated into 10 languages.
A.D. 330 10 generations after Christ, the world is 12% Christian of whom 65.7% is
non-white and 34.3% white. The Scriptures were translated into 10 languages.
A.D. 400 12 generations after Christ, the world is 17.1% Christian, of whom 64% is
non-white and 36% white. The scriptures were translated into 11 languages.
A.D. 500 16 generations after Christ, the world is 22.4% Christian, of whom 61.9% is
non-white and 38.1% white. The scriptures were translated into 13 languages.
non-white and 42% white. The scriptures were translated into14 languages.
A.D. 800 26 generations after Christ, the world is 22.5% Christian of whom 51% is
nonwhite and 49% white. The percentage of non-whites decline hereafter as Islam
throws an iron curtain across the Middle east and forcibly converts or kills Christians.
The scriptures were translated into 15 languages.
A.D. 950 31 generations after Christ, the world is 19% Christian, of whom 58.8% is
white and 41.2% is non-white. This represents the first decline in numbers in the first
millennium. The scriptures are translated into 17 languages. By 1066 the conversion
of Western Europe is completed. After the Middle East and North Africa are lost,
Christianity now spreads to Russia and Eastern Europe.
white and 39% nonwhite. The scriptures were translated into 17 languages.
A.D. 1200 39 generations after Christ, the world is 19.4% Christian, of whom 64.3%
is white and 35.7% nonwhite. The scriptures were translated into 22 languages.
is white and 32.4% non-white. The scriptures were translated into 28 languages.
Christianity first reaches Africa south of the Sahara through Senegal in 1486.
A.D. 1500 49 generations after Christ, the world is 19% Christian, of whom 92.6% is
white and 7.3% nonwhite. Printed scriptures are available in 12 languages. The
decline in Christian population is caused by the extirpation of the church in Asia by
the Mongols and the Ottoman Turks. Hereon the percentage of nonwhites will
continue to shrink until the 17th century.
white and 14% nonwhite. Printed scriptures are available in 36 languages.
is white and 16.9% nonwhite. Printed scriptures are available in 45 languages.
A.D. 1700 56 generations after Christ, the world is 21.7% Christian, of whom 84.1% is
white and 15.9% nonwhite, Printed scriptures are available in 56 languages.
A. D. 1750 57 generations after Christ, the world is 22.2% Christian, of whom 85.2%
A..D. 1850 61 generations after Christ, the world is 27.2% Christian, of whom 85.2%
is white and 23.8% is nonwhite. This is the highest percentage of Christians in history.
Hereafter, there is incremental decline for the rest of the century.
is white and 36.5% nonwhite. Printed scriptures are available in 1,052 languages.
is white and 49.5% is nonwhite. Printed scriptures are available in 1,811 languages.
non-white and 46% is white. Printed scriptures are available in 1,908 languages.
The Believers
The fortunes of Christianity have fluctuated widely over the centuries. In the
beginning most Jews and even many of the Apostles doubted if it could spread
beyond Jerusalem and the surrounding villages. Some Jews even predicted that the
faith would die out in a few years. They had seen too many peasants and rebels who
claimed to be the saviors of the Jews go down in flames or cut by the sword and
forgotten. Jesus, they thought, was one such. Josephus, the historian, barely notices
Him.
Over the first 19 centuries, Christianity advanced and retreated in cycles. There were
nine such cycles or epochs of which five were times of advance and four of retreat.
The first six centuries were one of great advance, although mixed in some areas with
persecution. By A.D. 600 almost 22.5% of the global population were believers. The
rise of Islam in the seventh century marked the first era of retreat. The original
Christian homelands of Christians in North Africa and the Middle East were stolen by
Muslims who unleashed one of the most brutal massacres characteristic of their faith
and race. The Mongols and the Turks followed, like locusts, and wiped out the church
in Asia. But the same period marked the steady expansion of Christianity in Europe
beginning in earnest in the very century that it was losing the Mediterranean lands. It
was a pattern repeated throughout Christian history. When the Turks seized Asia
Minor and broke into Europe, the Church gained in the very same century the two
continents of the New World. Again there were massive gains pari passu with massive
losses. By 1500, Christians made up only 19% of the global population, much less
than the percentage in 500. The ethnic composition of believers also changed.
Whereas in the early centuries, nonwhites had predominated, Christianity became
more or less exclusively white and Caucasian. By 1900, Christianity not only resumed
its earlier growth pattern as a result of the expansion of Western powers into the
hitherto closed continents of Africa, and Australia, but reached a new zenith of onethird of the human race. It was believed as the 20th century dawned that Christianity
would soon spread to all countries of the world and that it was only a matter of time
before the entire world became Christian.
But the 20th century marked a major setback for the faith. Two World Wars, the rising
militancy of Muslims and Hindus, the expansion of Communism in the lands of
Eastern Orthodoxy, all meant that the earlier predictions had to be scaled back. In
fact, by the end of the century, Billy Graham said that Christianity would always
remain a minority religion. True, unexpected growth of the Church in Africa offset
some of the losses and overall, in absolute numbers, Christians were growing and by
the end of the century had passed the 2 billion mark, a number that would have
flabbergasted the Apostles. But by the time the 21st century dawned, secularism was
taking a heavy toll on church membership in every country of the world. There were
victories, nonetheless. Communism was dead. Khrushchev once boasted that the
last Russian Orthodox priest would be shown on Soviet television as a museum relic
in 1981. But it was Khrushchev himself who bit the dust long before that time and
his much vaunted Soviet empire lay in shambles. As John Buchan said, Christianity is
the anvil that outlasts the hammer.
A more significant victory is the decline of scientific agnosticism and anticlericalism
that had been steadily gaining ground in Europe since the Enlightenment. Two world
wars have impressed on the intelligentsia and the clerisy that the alternative to
Christianity is not progress but violence and chaos.. Agnosticism and secularism have
become ideologically debilitated by the realization that the changes that science and
technology have brought about have not made human beings better or happier. This
augurs well for the future growth of Christianity because it removes one of the
underlying assumptions held by Western intellectuals against the faith.
Ironically, the 19th century in which the secular movements of the modern age gained
strength, was also the golden age of Christian evangelism. From the end of the
Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the beginning of World War I, Christians grew by 1.4%
annually. Between 1914 and 2000, the rate had slowed to below 1% although
Christians continued to grow by 21 million annually. Almost 600 millions were added
in the Third World alone. Even as the percentages dropped and the numbers grew,
Christianity had by now become a truly universal religion. There is not a single
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country in the world without a Christian presence of some kind. The church now has
no boundaries and is coextensive with the Oikumene, or the inhabited world.
The cultural impact of Christianity goes beyond mere numbers of its adherents. The
Christian calendar, the Anno Domini, often known as the Gregorian Calendar, is now
used throughout the world. The Christian Sabbath, Sunday, is similarly observed even
in China and India. As has been noted, Christians form over one-half of the worlds
literates. This is because schools and colleges in all countries in the world with a few
exceptions were founded by Christian missionaries or churches. A public school
system simply did not exist before the advent of the first monastic schools in
medieval Europe. Christian contributions to literacy are not limited to the
establishment of schools and colleges. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, Christian
missionaries, such as those associated with the Wycliffe Society, have devised
alphabets for over 2,000 native languages that existed only in their oral form.
Christians are historically also in the forefront of printing and publishing. The Bible
was the first book printed in most of the countries of the world. More than 25,000
Christian book titles and 29,000 periodicals are issued every year. Nearly 41% of the
book titles are published in English.
The Countries
Countries are a major focus of Christian thinking and missionary enterprise. More
than 40 countries are specifically mentioned in the Bible, but more often as the home
of a particular people. In the Great Commission, the focus is more on tribes and
communities. Both figure prominently in the New Testament. By the time of Christ,
each country was the home of more than one group of people. As part of the Roman
Empire, Greeks, Romans, Jews, Egyptians, Assyrians, and others mingled in each city
and town, even though the countryside remained solidly monoethnic. Even as the
Apostles went out to the nations of the Roman Empire to spread the gospel, their
primary target was the community. Thus in whatever country he went, Paul preached
first to his own fellow Jews, then to the Greeks and then to the Romans.
Twenty centuries later, Christians now form the majority in two thirds of the worlds
204 countries, including South Korea, where they became the majority for the first
time in 2003. The spread is very uneven, with Christians forming 90% in over 120
countries, less than 10% in 51 countries, less than 1% in 24 countries, and a
statistical zero in nine countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Somalia,
Yemen Maldives, Comoros and Mauritania. According to the Illustrated Book of World
Rankings, countries with the largest Christian populations are, in numerical order,
United States, Brazil and Russia. Nearly 29% of the worlds Christian population lives
in Europe, 16% in North America, 27% in South America, 16% in Africa and 10% in
Asia. In terms of geographical extent, four of the six continents are historically
Christian, the result of the Christian-led explorations of the 16 th and 17th centuries.
Christians are now found in significant numbers in all continents, even Antarctica.
Any description of Christians has to adopt both a national and an ethnolinguistic
approach. Nations are not homogeneous entities and they are becoming less so as a
result of the mass emigration of the late 20th century. But ethnolinguistic
communities are even less clearly demarcated and overlap in many cases. Because
of the increasing number of mixed marriages, it is becoming harder to classify or
label persons by ethnic origin. Again, aggregate totals in many cases mask
significant internal variations. Because Christians are sometimes concentrated in
certain communities within larger ethnic groups or in even smaller microgroups
within communities, it is difficult to use national or ethnolinguistic terminology to
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describe them. For example, there is a strong Messianic Jewish community within the
Jewish community in every country, but this is never explicitly acknowledged by
religious demographers. There are significant numbers of crypto-Christians who are
unable acknowledge their Christian affiliation in Muslim societies and in China. Their
numbers are ignored or suppressed by most demographers. Even in countries with
stable populations there are constant gains by conversions and losses through
apostasy with the result that the reported numbers are off the mark by several
hundreds, thousands or even millions. These problems must be remembered in
looking at the numbers of Christians by nations.
The Three Constant Themes
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There are three constant themes in Christian history: defense of orthodoxy,

evangelism, and persecution. The defense of the faith has been the principal mission
of the church. First, the church had to define the true faith, and this it did only
gradually over the course of three centuries. The definition of true faith or, orthodoxy,
began with the Epistles of Paul and continued through the first seven Ecumenical
Councils and through the many denominational councils held in every century since
then. Sound doctrine is like oxygen to the believer, and Paul himself warned of
strange doctrines and the seductions of false believers. What is the infallible test of
true doctrine? Whatever points to and glorifies Jesus Christ is true doctrine and
whatever detracts from Him or points away from Him is false doctrine. True doctrine
also must be catholic, that is, it must be applicable to and capable of being believed
by every human being.
The church has been remarkably successful in its efforts to defend orthodoxy. The
majority of the churches in the modern world subscribe to the principal tenets of
orthodoxy as defined in the Nicene Creed, including the divinity of Christ, the Trinity,
virgin birth, the resurrection of Christ, plenary inspiration of the Bible, baptism, Last
Judgment, and Jesus Second Coming. It is remarkable that after 2000 years the basic
bedrock of faith remains the same as it was in the first century. Efforts to add or
subtract from the faith have lasted only briefly before they flickered and died.
The second constant theme is evangelism and the fulfillment of the Great
Commission. Every Christian is called upon in fact commanded to proclaim the
Gospel, convert, teach and baptize. The great millennial question is: Why is it that
after 2000 years Christians make up only one-third of the human race?
To answer this question, it is necessary to look at both the nature of the enemy and
the nature of conversion. Christ did not use the term harvest along with or as part of
the Great Commission, yet the two have become closely associated. However, the
term harvest suggests that there are billions of stalks out there patiently waiting for
the imminent sickle. True, the stalks are out there white unto harvest and
perishing but the ground is the enemys.
Before the harvest can take place, the ground has to be seized from the enemy and
the strong man has to be bound. The Gospel is not moving into a vacuum or virgin
land; it is going into enemy-held and enemy-owned territory. The Great Commission
is as much a declaration of war against the prince of this world as it is a call to duty
to Christians. The Great Commissioners as all Christians should properly be called
are conscripts in a war that has lasted 2000 years.
The nature of conversion also determines the success of evangelism. No human
being is ever born saved. Through Original Sin, every person at the point of birth is
already a chattel of the enemy. His or her mind is not a tabula rasa, but is already
written over with the message of the anti-Christ and the vessel of his or her being is
brimming full with the Spirit of Disobedience. As everyone knows, it is not possible to
pour water into a full cup. The cup has to be emptied first before the refilling can take
place.
Similarly, it is not possible to write on a plate that has been written over. The original
writing has to be erased first and then a new message can be written on it. Indeed,
the degree of erasure is quite important; otherwise, as in many ancient parchments,
the old writings tend to resurface after a few years, an unfortunate phenomenon with
many spiritual parallels. Again, it is relatively easy to fish in the open sea, yet it is
never possible to catch fish that are already in someone elses net. The net has to be
cut first; the captives have to be set free before the Gospel can be preached to them.
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The third constant in Christian history is persecution. Persecution and martyrdom

began at the time of the Incarnation with the Massacre of the Innocents, and it has
continued to the present day. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, there
have been over 70 million martyrs over the course of the past 2000 years. The river
of blood that runs through Christian history has never run dry. In fact, there were
more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in any of the preceding centuries.
Christians have faced considerable opposition in modern times and millions of
Christians have been butchered in Communist and Islamic countries in the 20 th
century. But the gates of hell have never prevailed, and the church has survived its
tormentors. As John Buchan said, the church is an anvil that has worn out many
hammers.
The Six Levels of Christianity

Christianity is a multi-faceted, multilayered faith. It operates on many levels
simultaneously. Any classification of the Christian church must begin by identifying
the principal levels of this living faith.
The first and most primary level is the vertical. Above everything else, Christianity is
a way of salvation, working with one person at a time. The Son of Man came to seek
and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10) encapsulates the Gospel in fourteen
words. Christianity is first of all a vast universal search and rescue mission, a lifeline
thrown to those who are drowning in a stormy sea.
It is important to visualize Christianity not in the abstract but in concrete terms and in
numbers. Over two millennia, more than 18 billion persons have lived on planet earth
as Christians and every one of them had direct access to salvation. Christianity is the
sum total of the spiritual lives of these 18 billion.More than 70 million persons have
died for their faith. More than 500 million dedicated their lives to the Lord as priests,
missionaries, monks and pastors.
The next three levels are lateral or horizontal. Of these the most important is the
local church. The local church may mean either the physical building or other facility
where Christians meet or the bonds that binds believers together as a community. A
vast network of Christian communities have arisen across the globe sharing
communities, congregations, eucharistic communities, basic communities,
charismatic communities, and a host of others. Some are spontaneous and
unstructured and others are highly structured. Christianity is a relational religion
where the Sobornost, or communal bond, and horizontal relationships are critical in
maintaining the integrity of the Christian testimony in a hostile world. The local
assembly is the focal point of all Christian activities, whether it be the Sunday school,
the transmission of Christian values across generational divides, evangelism and
hospitality, or scripturally sanctioned sacraments, such a baptism, marriage and
communion. There are over 2 such million congregations in local churches and
assemblies, where on every Sunday believers gather to celebrate divine service and
reaffirm their faith. These are the most visible manifestations of Christianity in the
world.
The third level is the denomination, a term that is often used imprecisely and
overlaps with tradition or confession. It is sometimes held that Christianity should be
denominationless, but denominations have played a useful role in Christian history in
defining creeds, mobilizing evangelistic efforts, and providing a home for a variety of
doctrinal emphases and ethnic identities. There are over 25,000 denominations in the
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world today, up from2,000 in 1900. Most of the denominations are in the Third World
where five new denominations are added every week. While this gives the impression
that Christians are disunited and disorganized, it has historically helped to enlarge
Christian presence in every country.
Jesus Christ established one church and he prayed that his followers must be united
as one. For a small church in Jerusalem, this might have been easy, although even
the early Jerusalem church itself had factions and groups within groups. Therefore it
is important to examine what Jesus meant when He said that Christians must be
united. The unity that he spoke of was unity in the spirit, unity of faith in Jesus as
redeemer and lord. It did not preclude the formation of denominations. In fact one of
the great strengths of the Christian Church is the fact that there are denominations,
each pushing back the frontiers of unbelief in its own way. In fact countries with more
denominations are more successful in evangelism that mono-denominational
countries. The worlds smallest denominations have done as much or even more than
large denominations to advance the kingdom of God.
In a sense, denominations are comparable to the large land masses, continents and
islands that make up the planet. Since the 15th century the Roman Catholics,
Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Churches have made up the continents of the
Christian world. Within these continents are distinct regions, peninsulas and islands
that ate the splinter groups within these churches. The fact that there are various
braches of Christianity does not make it disunited, just as the fact that there are over
2,000 land masses of various sizes does not make the earth a divided planet. In my
Fathers house, said Jesus, there are many mansions.
World Christianity is made up of seven major blocs, each of which is divided into a
large number of ecclesiastical traditions. The 92 largest of these are shown in the
following table.
Bloc /Tradition
Denominations
Roman Catholic
Latin Rite
Latin Eastern Rite
Syro-Malabarese
Ukrainian
Maronite
Romanian
Melkite
Chaldean
Ruthenian
Hungarian
Oriental
Syro-Malankarese
Slovak
Coptic
Protestant
United
Lutheran
Reformed (Presbyterian)
Baptist
Methodist
Pentecostal Six types
Countries
223
8,196
220
212
15
Disciples
Holiness
Adventist
Salvationist
Interdenominational
Congregationalist
Isolated Radio Church
Single Congregation
Independent Evangelical
Christian Brethren (Open)
Mennonite (Anabaptist)
Dunker (German Baptist)
Moravian
Friends
Exclusive Brethren
Orthodox
Chalcedonian
Slavonic
Romanian
Greek
Serbian
Old Believer
Georgian
Arabic
Polish
Sub-Orthodox (Russian)
True Orthodox
Old Calendarist
Czech
Albanian
Non-Chalcedonian
Ethiopian
Coptic
Armenian
Syrian
Syro-Malankarese
Assyrian
Non-White Indigenous
580
107
10,956
145
Pentecostal
Baptist
Methodist
Reformed Catholic
Independent Evangelical
Conservative Catholic
Marginal
Reformed Presbyterian
Radio-Church
Lutheran
Anglican
Reformed Orthodox
Congregationalist
Exclusive Brethren
16
United
Christian Brethren
Holiness
Salvationist
Spiritualist
Anglican
Low Church
High Church
Evangelical
Anglo-Catholic
Central (Broad) Church
Marginal Protestant
Jehovahs Witnesses
Mormons
Christian Science
Unitarian
Catholic (Non-Roman)
Catholic Apostolic
Reformed Catholic
Old Catholic
Conservative Catholic
240
1,490
165
176
504
59
The fourth level is the universal church, which is the proper body of Christ. The
individual believers, local assemblies, and denominations are all part of His body. The
universal church is a mystical concept in which all human beings who confess Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior are members. Because the universal church is an organic
and living entity, whatever affects an individual member affects the whole body and
whatever affects the whole body affects the individual members. In theological
terms, the universal church on earth is the Church Militant which has carried the
torch for her lord and bridegroom for the past 2,000 years.
The four marks of the Universal Church are stated in the Nicene Creed: One, Holy,
Catholic, and Apostolic. The Universal Church consists of both the visible church and
the invisible church. The invisible church consists of those millions of Christians who
are for not for some reason formal members of a local assembly or denomination. It
also includes millions of silent and underground Christians in countries where open
profession of the Christian faith is proscribed. The parallel coexistence of the visible
church and the invisible church is similar to the parallel streams in African countries
where the above ground rivers run dry most seasons but the ones below ground have
a perennial supply of water from aquifers and are unaffected by the evaporation.
Observers who judge Christianity only on the basis of the visible church are ignoring
the great reservoir of strength that the invisible church represents.
The final two levels of Christianity are ancillary and have nothing to do with its
purpose or goals. The first is as a folk religion and the second is as a civil religion. In
many countries, Christian presence is only as a folk religion, like any other religion. It
is encrusted with myths and popular traditions associated with rites of passage
marking life events, such as births, marriages and funerals and also with the natural
calendar. Human beings are innately religious it has been contended that they are
driven by a God-gene in their system and folk religion is all most of them need to
satisfy their limited spiritual needs. Even here there are wide variations. Some are
17
openly pagan in their beliefs while others retain some measure of Christian identity in
their lives.
Associated with the folk religious aspect of Christianity is cultural Christianity.
Christianity shaped and midwifed Western civilization and despite the efforts of all
the secularists and humanists, Christian influences on modern civilization are still
strong. An example is the Christian calendar that is now the global calendar followed
by all nations of the world. A number of efforts to mask the Christian origin of the
calendar, like using Before the Common Era (BCE) instead of BC, for Before Christ,
are too patently artificial to succeed. Efforts to abolish the Christian calendar
altogether, like that by the Jacobins during the French Revolution, were ludicrous
failures. Modern legal, educational and political systems owe much to biblical and
Christian values and ideas. Cultural Christianity has also helped to change the social
landscape. . For example, monogamy is now the dominant and default norm in
marriage due solely to Christian influences, since virtually every other religion
sanctions, approves or condones polygamy. Christian contributions to literature,
architecture and music are enormous. (See section on How Christianity Changed
Civilization.)
Lastly, Christianity functions as a civil or state religion in many countries. This role,
which dates back to Constantine the Great, is one in which the church is most
uncomfortable because it conflicts with its primary mission as a defender of the
nontemporal and eternal as against the secular and temporal. As a state religion, it
has to make compromises and seek accommodations with state authorities and even
lend its imprimatur to military undertakings that are patently unjust. There are
denominations such as the Mennonites who see this contradiction clearly and oppose
any alliance with the civil authorities. The church was not designed to serve as a
handmaiden to civil authorities and when it is forced to do so, it becomes a caricature
of itself. There is also a social Christianity that is heavily involved in organized social
welfare, education and medical care not as a vehicle of evangelism but out of sense
of philanthropic duty.
The Contradictions in Christianity

The existence of several layers and levels in manifest Christianity is indicative of
several internal contradictions in the way it is received by its followers. These
contradictions have never been resolved, but most Christians continue to believe and
act as if they did not exist. There are contradictions between law and grace, between
works and faith, between predestination and free will, between the Social Gospel and
fundamentalism and between tradition and renewal. These conflicts, many of which
go back to the first century, have led to many of the schisms and divisions within the
church. But the most serious conflict in the church is the dichotomy between
Christianity as a religion that affirms the world system and a faith that defies the
world system. The term world system refers to the entire order of the physical
universe -- the river of life into which human beings are thrown at birth and in which
they have to swim until they sink. The term salvation means that Christianity is in
opposition to the world order; if the world were good, there would be no need for
salvation. The New Testament specifically refers to the world system and its author as
evil and calls for the deliverance of captives from the oppression that the world
system represents.
However, the Christianity that emerged in the later third and fourth centuries as a
formal religion has tended to affirm the world order and to undergird its social and
18
moral postulates. Almost all modern denominations and theologians belong to this
school. There are pastors and denominations whose message is exclusively positive
nothing about sin, death or deliverance -- and who emphasize virtues such as order,
discipline, ambition, success, prosperity and obedience, thus reinforcing the
legitimacy of the world system.
But it was not always so. In the beginning Christianity was a world-defying incendiary
faith, designed not so much to buttress as to overcome the world, ultimately destroy
it and replace it with a heavenly kingdom. I have come not to bring peace but a
sword , said Jesus Even in the first century both Jews and Romans recognized the
subversive nature of the Christian faith; the pagans said that the Christians had
turned the world upside down. Hatred for the world system and contempt for the god
of this world were strong themes running through the writings of the early church
fathers and ascetics. For them, the world system was not merely illegitimate but also
represented everything they hated sex, power, greed, money and inhumanity.
This hatred reached a crescendo in the Revelation of the Beloved Disciple in which
the immediacy of the Second Coming emboldened the Christians to thumb their
noses at the world. Even death did not hold any terrors for these Christians because
they placed a low value on the present life. By the fourth century, hundreds of
thousands of monks, and stylites (pillar saints) in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor and
Egypt represented the triumph of this strain of Christianity. For them, mortification of
the flesh, fasting and asceticism became articles of faith. Even heretics like
Marcionites and Gnostics regarded all matter as a evil and life itself as an
incarceration.
After the fifth century, as the eschatological timetable receded, defiance of the world
became muted in Christian theology. It survived in small pockets like the Bogomils in
the Balkans and the Cathari in France and Italy and finally died out in the early
Middle Ages. Interestingly, opposition to the world system and separation from it
have resurfaced in many modern-day millennial movements, but in a more subdued
form.
While this contradiction has become inactive in modern times, many other
contradictions are ongoing. For example, law and grace, or freewill and
predestination can find valid scriptural justification in selected verses of the Bible.
But even as they generate heated theological discussions leading to schisms, they do
not seriously damage the growth of the Christian Church.
The Twelve Branches of Christianity

Christ chose 12 disciples and the church that He founded developed 12 branches in
three primary modes. They are also called traditions or confessions; St. John the
Divine compares them to Candlesticks before the Throne of God. They are:
1. Petrine Tradition
2. Pauline Tradition
Roman Catholic Church

Eastern Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
Non Chalcedonian Lesser Eastern Churches
Assyrian (Nestorian) Church
Lutheran Church
Methodist Church
Presbyterian Church
19
Baptist
Anglican
Brethren
3. Johannine Tradition
Pentecostal Churches
There are 20,800 organized churches and denominations in these three major
ecclesiastical traditions. Denominations tend to multiply especially within the Pauline
and Johannine traditions because of their inherent freedom to interpret the Bible. But
most of them hew closely to New Testament boundaries and generally have one or
more verses from the Bible to justify their existence. Very few actually die out and if
they do, they usually reappear under some other name. Most often they are the
result of the spiritual leadings of one man. Lest it be forgotten, the great Protestant
traditions like Methodism, Lutheranism and Calvinism were started by single
individuals.
What the Pauline and Johannine traditions cannot claim its antiquity. Pentcostalism at
least in its modern form is only a century old and the great Protestant denominations
are less than half a millennium old. On the other hand, Catholicism and the Orthodox
Churches can claim to be directly descended from the Apostolic Age, if not from the
Apostles themselves. Through the laying on of hands every bishop and priest in the
Petrine tradition can claim a legitimacy that goes back to Christ Himself. Such an
unbroken transmission of authority confers a patina and aura on the Petrine
churches that Pauline and Johannine churches cannot match. It is not surprising that
two-thirds of the Worlds Christians belong to the Petrine churches although the
Johannine churches are growing faster.
Antiquity and orthodoxy are two of the Marks of the Church, and it is on the latter
that the Pauline and Johannine churches base their legitimacy. The ultimate character
of a church is its ability not only to place itself in the epicenter of faith, that is Jesus
Christ, but also to define itself solely in relation to Him. Many of the Pauline and
Johannine churches have discovered or rediscovered treasures of faith that had
been ignored or missed by the older churches and therein lies their strength.
Nibbling at the heels of the established orthodox churches are the marginal or fringe
Protestant sects that have only a dubious claim to the name Christian. They have a
history as old as the Christian church itself. Even in the first century the Apostles,
especially John and Paul, are writing against the spurious doctrine-pushers who name
the name of Christ but deny Him in fact. By the second century, they were labeled as
heretics. Christianity has bred almost as many heresies as orthodox doctrines and
they have proved to be hydra-headedno sooner is one destroyed or disabled than
another five take its place. But the power of the Holy Spirit as the Guardian of the
Church is such that none of them has established a beachhead in the Christian world.
Despite the unchecked license in the modern world to initiate false doctrines and lure
unsuspecting persons to follow them, there are only a handful of marginal churches
that have substantial membership, among them Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormons,
Christian Scientists, and Unitarians. The greater danger to orthodox believers is not
so much from these marginal Christians but from spiritual quislings within the church,
as for example in the U. S. Episcopalian Church, who don the garb of traditional faith
but preach and uphold worse heresies than Unitarians.
The Major Traditions of the Christian

World- The Petrine Tradition
20
Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholicism is the primary Christian tradition claiming the allegiance of one in
every two Christians. It is an apostolic faith taught by the Roman Catholic Church
headed by the pope as the vicar of Christ, the Supreme Pontiff, and the patriarch of
the West. It is also chronologically the oldest Christian confession, and the pope has
primacy even among the five oldest patriarchates of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch,
Jerusalem and Alexandria. It regards itself as the custodian of the deposit of truth
handed down directly from Jesus Christ through the apostles in an unbroken line of
succession. On the doctrinal side, this truth is enshrined in the canons of the
ecumenical councils as well as the Council of Trent and the two Vatican councils of
modern times. It upholds the orthodox and biblical doctrines regarding the Trinity,
the Incarnation, and salvation and it prides itself on having defended the gates of
faith vigilantly for 2000 years. It is an exclusive faith that proclaims that there is no
salvation outside the church. It also espouses extra-biblical doctrines regarding the
structure and rights of the church, the intercession of the saints and Virgin Mary and
the functions of the pope and the councils.
Roman Catholicism is built on an episcopal system of government in which the
supremacy of the pope and his infallibility in matters of doctrine and faith are
fundamental. Pope Paul VI defined the Roman Catholic Church as Christs extension
and continuation... a single complex reality, the compound of a human and divine
element. Hence the church is incapable of sinning or being wrong in belief. The
function of the hierarchy is to mediate the seven sacraments that govern the entire
life of Roman Catholics from birth to death. The major sacraments include baptism,
Eucharist, confirmation, holy orders, penance, extreme unction and matrimony. In
addition, there are other symbolic rites known as Sacramentals and traditional extraliturgical exercises, such as the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, the Rosary
and the Stations of the Cross. Saints play a large role in the liturgical calendar of the
Catholic Church, and numerous canonizations are added to the calendar every year.
Sacraments are the channels through which the grace of God flows to the recipient.
When administered with the right intention, in the right form and using the right
matter, they work ex opere operato, that is without reference to the communicant or
the celebrant. Roman Catholic worship remains warm and devout, although it is
designed with the priest in mind rather than the congregant. A corpus of rubrics
dictates every movement and every word of the celebrant. What is lacking in
liturgical worship is made up for by a variety of popular devotions, expositions of the
blessed sacrament, the rosary, and processions of the stations of the cross. The
earthly liturgy is considered the counterpart of the heavenly and the union of the
secular and the divine.
The focal point of the traditional Roman Catholic worship is the Mass, which is viewed
as the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. Catholics believe in transubstantiation in which
the substance of the bread and wine become in fact the body and blood of Christ.
Priesthood is a sacred ministry in which celibacy is mandatory. Priests are shepherds
who alone have the right to offer sacrifice and forgive sins. Next to the priesthood,
religious orders constitute the bulwark of the church. They constitute the spiritual
militia of the church in contrast to the regular clergy involved in more secular
matters. The monastic community is the great and invisible reservoir from which the
church draws its strength in times of need. Some of the orders like the Jesuits,
Dominicans and Franciscans are celebrated in church history but there are thousands
that are barely known. One sacrament that plays an important role in the life of a
Catholic is penance which is tied to the auricular confession to a priest. Sins may be
mortal or venial, and their expiation requires absolution and the imposition of
penance which may be commuted through indulgences in which the benefits of a
21
heavenly treasury of merit may be set to the sinners account even after death.
Catholics also believe in purgatory as a preliminary purification for heaven.
The most prominent feature of Roman Catholicism is the cult of Virgin Mary . Mary
was not only conceived without sin, but she ascended bodily into heaven where she
sits as a comediatrix and a co-redemptrix. Devotion to Mary is one of the most
popular and universal of Catholic exercises. Catholics also venerate saints, but do not
pray to them; Catholic theology has always made the distinction between dulia,
which is the veneration of saints, hyperdulia, the veneration of Mary and latria, the
worship of God.
Since the Second Vatican Council, a process of renewal called aggiornamento, has
brought incremental reforms into a church set in the rock of tradition. Pope John XXIII
in his opening address to the Second Vatican Council said that while the substance
of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, the way it is presented is
another. There is also a strong ecumenical interest in the emerging New Catholicism
which views non-Catholic Christians as separated brethren rather than as heretics.
The vernacular has been introduced in many countries into liturgical worship and the
Missal and the Breviary have been made more relevant to the needs of modern
believers. Renewal is also evident in the toleration and even encouragement of
Charismatic Catholicism, in which Pentecostal practices are adopted without change
in a Catholic setting. There is a strong emphasis among Catholic Charismatics on
baptism in the Spirit and speaking in tongues and healing without giving up
traditional devotions to Virgin Mary and the saints.
Roman Catholicism is found among all but a dozen of the 229 countries of the world.
Brazil is the largest Catholic country.
Uniate Catholicism
Uniate (or Uniat) churches are eastern Christian churches in communion with Rome
that retain their own liturgies, liturgical languages and ecclesiastical customs,
vestments and rites, such as Communion in both kinds, married clergy and baptism
by immersion. There are four groups of Uniate churches.
1. Antiochene Rite The most important churches in this group are the Maronites,
the Syrians and the Malankarese. The Maronites are the oldest Uniates, who
renounced their original Monothelitism and united with Rome in1182. The
Syrians, formerly Jacobites, united with Rome in 1783 under the leadership of
Mar Michael Garweh, after renouncing their Monophysitism. The Malankarese
separated from the Syrian Orthodox Church (Jacobite) Church of Malabar,
India, under the leadership of Mar Ivanios in 1930.
2. Chaldean Rite. The most important churches in this group are the Armenians,
Chaldeans and Malabar Christians. The Armenians united with Rome (11981291, 1741) under the Patriarch of Cilicia. The Chaldeans or former
Nestorians did so in 1551 and again in 1830 and the Malabar Christians before
1599.
3. Alexandrine Rite The most important churches in this group are the Coptic
Catholics and the Ethiopians. The Coptic Uniates date from 1741 and the
Ethiopian Uniates from 1839.
4. Byzantine Rite The most important churches in this group are the Ruthenians
of East Galicia, now called the Ukrainian Catholic Church dating from the
Union of Brest-Litovsk (1595-1596), and the Rumaics and the Rumanians of
Transylvania (1701). There are also smaller Uniate groups, such as the
22
Hungarians (1595), Serbs (1611), Melchites (1724), Bulgars (1860) and Greeks
(1860).
Orthodox Churches
Orthodoxy is the descriptive note of the churches of the Byzantine Rite under or
associated with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Orthodoxy is based on
the seven ecumenical councils ending with the Council of Nicaea in 787, the local
councils of Constantinople (1341 and 1351) Jassy (1642), and Jerusalem (1672). In
many theological areas, the liturgical texts used in the church, rather than the canons
of the councils, are the guiding documents. Orthodoxy attaches great importance to
conciliar authority and to the episcopacy, while at the same time allowing an active
role to the laity. It acknowledges the sanctity of the seven sacraments or mysteries.
Baptism is performed by immersion. Chrismation, the equivalent of confirmation in
the Western Church, is administered immediately after baptism and children are
taken to Communion from infancy. Transubstantiation, although undefined, is
accepted as part of the mystery of the Eucharist. The veneration of icons is universal
as are prayers to the Virgin Mary and the saints. Byzantium itself was described as
the icon of the heavenly Jerusalem. The Assumption of the Virgin Mary is not a
dogma, yet is approved. Intercession for the departed is common, although purgatory
is denied. Monasteries are as important as churches in the Orthodox tradition.
Orthodox monasticism found its finest flowering in Mount Athos and in the Hesychast
Movement which gave birth to the Jesus Prayer. Bishops are generally drawn from
the ranks of monks or celibate clergy. On the other hand, parish priests may marry
before ordination but may not remarry.
For sheer magnificence, Orthodox worship is unmatched. When Vladimir, the prince
of Kiev, sent out emissaries soon after this baptism to select the Christian tradition
most suited to Russia, they went to Constantinople and reported back to the prince
that watching the service in the Hagia Sophia was like being in heaven. Orthodox
worship is distinguished by congregational participation. Laymen, both readers and
cantors, play a larger role in the conduct of services than their counterparts do in the
West. Services are always in the vernacular of the country, making the worshiper
thoroughly at home in the audible parts of the liturgy, although in countries like
Russia and Greece, the liturgical language varies from the common or demotic
language. On the other hand, the sanctuary and the nave are separated by a solid
screen, known as the iconostasis, with three doors, creating a distance between the
priest and the congregation. The reception of the Holy Communion by the adult laity
is infrequent. The entire worship is sung, but only the choir takes part in the singing.
Singing is unaccompanied and instrumental music is uncommon. Normally
worshipers stand during services, although they sit or kneel occasionally. The Holy
Liturgy is celebrated according to three liturgies: Liturgy of St. James, Liturgy of St.
Basil the Great and Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
The four principal divisions of the liturgy are: Prothesis, or the preparation; Enarxis,
or the introductory office of prayer and praise; Synaxis, the Liturgy of the Word or
the Liturgy of the Catechumens; and the Eucharist proper. The Synaxis comprises
the entrance rite, readings from the Scriptures, and the common prayers of the
church. The Eucharist proper begins after the dismissal of the catechumens and
comprises seven parts: Prayers of the Faithful; Great Entrance with offerings; Kiss of
Peace and the Creed; anaphora, or the Eucharistic prayer; the Breaking of Bread;
Communion and Conclusion. The Great Entrance comprises five acts, the first four of
which are covered by the almost invariable offertory chant, or the Cherubikon, or the
Hymn of the Cherubim; a long secret private preparatory prayer of the priest;
23
censing of the altar; the actual entrance;, censing of the offerings; and a litany
leading to a prayer over the offerings.
The Eucharistic prayer, or Anaphora, is of Antiochene origin, the greater part of
which is said secretly. Its order is introductory dialogue, Peace, Sanctus and
Benedictus, Post-Sanctus, Narrative of the Institution, Anamnesis, Epiclesis, Diptychs,
Doxology, and final amen. Communion is in both kinds, administered together with a
spoon, the bread having been placed in the chalice. The Byzantine liturgy is
unsurpassed for color, clarity and coherence.
Orthodox churches are self-governing or autocephalous. The principal members of
the federation of Orthodox churches are the four ancient patriarchates of
Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch. The younger members are the
Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Greek, Bulgarian, Georgian, Cypriot, Czech, Polish,
Albanian, Moldovan and Sinaian. The heads of the Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and
Romanian churches are called patriarchs and the heads of other churches are called
metropolitans or archbishops. In addition, there are smaller autonomous, but not
autocephalous, churches such as those of Finland, China, Japan, and in some
countries belonging to the former Soviet Union. In West Europe, North America,
South America, Africa and Australia, there are provinces of some of the autonomous
churches.
Orthodox Christians are concentrated in South and East Europe. Orthodoxy is the
dominant faith in nine countries: Russia, Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania,
Moldova, Macedonia and Georgia. It is estimated that one-sixth of all Christians are
Orthodox and two-thirds of all Orthodox are Russians. Unlike the Roman Catholic
Church, the Orthodox are not bound by a common organization or head, but rather
by a common faith, theology and praxis.
The major doctrinal differences between the Orthodox Church and the Roman
Catholic Church are the Filioque Clause and the papal claim of universal supremacy.
There are also minor differences in respect of priestly celibacy with the Orthodox
permitting married clergy different rules of fasting and the use of unleavened bread
in the Eucharist by the Latin Church whereas the Orthodox use leavened bread. The
Orthodox also do not subscribe to the dogma of Immaculate Conception of the Virgin
Mary and the doctrine of purgatory.
The Orthodox Church has not undergone any major reform movements, but has had
to face proselytizing pressures from both the Roman Catholic and Protestant
churches. Orthodoxy is renowned for its magnificent liturgy in which the vernacular
of the country is used.
Two Orthodox churches deserve special mention: the Russian Orthodox Church and
the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church is the national church of Russia. It is an autocephalous
church dating from the conversion of Prince Vladimir of Kiev in 988. Its traditions are
drawn largely from the Greeks. The first Greek missionaries to the Slavs, Cyril and
Methodius, devised the so-called Glagolitic alphabet, the forerunner of the Cyrillic
alphabet used in Russia today. Cyrils translations laid the foundations of the Old
Church Slavonic, used in Russian liturgy. During the early centuries, Russian
borrowed heavily from Greek patristics and theology. The first original Russian
spiritual writer was Ilarion, the Greek metropolitan of Kiev from 1037 to 1054. The
24
fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 (one of the great tragedies in Christian
history) had the beneficial effect of energizing the Russian Church. Moscow took on
the mantle of Byzantium as the Third Rome and Russian rulers took on the title of
Tsar (from Caesar) and appropriated the Byzantine double eagle. The patriarchate of
Moscow was established in 1589. In 1589 Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky (1526-1608)
brought out the Ostrog Bible, the first complete Bible in Slavonic. After the 16 th
century, Protestant influences began to penetrate Russia but received a mixed
response. On the one hand, it stimulated a flowering of theology, but on the other it
offended Russian nationalistic sensibilities. In the 17th century, Peter Mogila wrote
the great Confession of Faith that is considered a landmark in Russian church history.
It was translated and revised by Melitios Syrigos (d. 1667) and was accepted in this
form by the Synod of Jassy in 1643. Mogila also published the Small Catechism and a
liturgical handbook called Euchologion , both containing traces of Protestant
doctrines.
As part of his efforts to promote the Westernization of Russia, Tsar Peter the Great
(1682-1721) directed theologian Feofan Prokopovich to draft a new church
constitution. Called the Ecclesiastical Regulations, the new constitution of 1721
abolished the patriarchate and created the Holy Synod in its stead, thus bringing the
church thoroughly under imperial control. In 1765 the first theological work in Russian
appeared. Called Orthodox Teaching, or a Brief Christian Theology, it was written by
Platon Levshin. But the greatest influences on the Russian Church during this period
were not those of theologians but of monks and ascetics who branded the Russian
religious mind forever with their mysticism, sanctity and spirituality. Two monks stand
out: St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and Paissi Velichovski. The latter gave a new impetus to
the Hesychastic tendencies in the Orthodox Church by publishing the devotional
handbook, the Philocalia, in Slavonic, which popularized the Jesus Prayer.
The 19th century was the golden age of Russian Orthodoxy, exemplified by St.
Seraphim of Sarov, Metropolitan Filaret, and theologian Aleksei Khomyakov.
Khomyakov inspired the Slavophil movement which is still strong in Russia.
Contributing to the Orthodox renaissance were writers like Dostoevsky and
philosophers like Vladimir Solovyov and Nikolai Berdyaev. The Russian Revolution of
1917 virtually wiped out the Orthodox Church. Thousands of churches were
destroyed or desecrated, hundreds of thousands of priests were killed or exiled, and
Christian theological works were suppressed. Yet the church survived 70 years of
barbaric persecution and has been restored to its former place at the center of
Russian national life.
The Serbian Orthodox Church

The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the earliest Christian churches in the Balkans.
It is the result of a Christian mission sponsored by the emperors Heraclius (610-641)
and Basil (867-886). In 1886 th disciples of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, particularly
Clement and Naum, started working among the southern Slavs. From Preslav and
Ohrid, they helped to bring the Slavs into the Orthodox fold. Between 1169 and 1196
the grand zupan Stafan Nemanja united Serbian lands, including Kosovo, and
founded a dynasty which lasted 200 years. His son Vukan and elder brother Miroslav
wrote two of the earliest illuminated lectionaries.
The ancient Serbian institution of sabori (elders) was brought into the church as an
administrative body. Toward the end of his life Nemanja left his throne to his second
son, Stefan, and became a monk at Studenica and his queen Anna took the veil at
the Monastery of the Virgin at Toplica. Nemanja, now Monk Symeon, went to Athos
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with his youngest son Sava and founded the Monastery of Hilander which became an
important center of Orthodox spirituality. Nemanjas mausoleum in the Monastery of
the Virgin at Studenica is one of the holiest shrines in Serbia. In 1219 Sava was
appointed the first autocephalous archbishop of Serbia by Emperor Theodore I
Lascaris. Savas reign as head of the Serbian church was one of its most formative
eras. His Nomocanon (krmcija) served as both the civil and the ecclesiastical canon
for Serbia. Although firmly Orthodox, both Sava and King Stefan maintained cordial
relations with Rome and Roman Catholic churches and monasteries were built in the
kingdom. Stefan himself received his crown from Pope Honorius III. In 1346 the
Serbian archbishopric was raised to a patriarchate as the Patriarchate of Pec, which
was recognized by Constantinople in 1375.
In 1389 the Serbian army led by Prince Lazar was defeated by the Turks at Kosovo
Polje. Soon after the battle, Lazar was canonized and Kosovo itself became a symbol
of Serbian national pride. The Patriarchate of Pec became extinct in 1459, but was
revived in 1557 under an agreement with the Ottomans. Having achieved a degree of
autonomy, the Serbian Church assumed the role of a mediator in both ecclesiastical
and secular matters and helped to preserve the national and confessional identities.
At the same time, the Turks continued to brutalize the population by instituting the
devshirme, by which the healthiest Christian male children were taken by force,
converted to Islam, and trained as janissaries. Scores of churches were converted
into mosques. In 1713 the Serbian Church was reorganized with the creation of a
metropolitanate at Sremski-Karlovci.
Serbias historic churches include Bogorodica Ljeviska at Prizren, St. Nikita, Staro
Nagoricino, Gracanica, Decani, Pec, and Lesnovo. Its great monasteries include
Ravanica, Ljubostinja, Kalenic, Manasija, Studenica, Zica, Milaseva, Sopocani and
Arilje.
Lesser Eastern Churches

Lesser Eastern Churches, more properly known as the Non-Chalcedonian Churches,
include the Coptic, Armenian, Jacobite, Ethiopian and Assyrian Churches. Of these the
Coptic, Armenian, Jacobite and Ethiopian churches are Monophysite in doctrine while
the Assyrian Church is Nestorian. This group represents the third bloc of first
millennium churches, the other two being the Roman Catholic and Orthodox
churches.
The Coptic Church

Church founded, according to tradition, by the Evangelist St. Mark in Alexandria,
Egypt, the birthplace of Christian monasticism. As one of the four major
patriarchates of the Christian world, it played an active role in the defense of
orthodoxy through its great sons, Clement, Origen, Dionysius, Athanasius and Cyril.
It adopted the Monophysite creed in the fifth century, and at the Council of
Chalcedon championed the Monophysite cause through Patriarch Dioscorus. The
Coptic Church has faced a long night of persecution since the Arab conquest of the
seventh century. The Arab conquerors used taxation and open repression to lure
Christians to turn apostate and induce mass conversions. The massacre of Christians
and the destruction of over 3,000 churches and monasteries under the mad Caliph El
Hakim biamr Allah (c. 1000) sparked the Crusades. The persecution continued under
the Turks until the early 20th century, and even now the Coptic Church is a suffering
Church, facing severe persecution from both official authorities and from Islamic
fundamentalists.
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The Coptic Church follows the Alexandrian Rite and use the Liturgy of St. Basil. The
Eucharist is offered in one kind and baptism is combined with confirmation as one
sacrament. Copts practice circumcision and refrain from pork. Masses are lengthy
often lasting for two hours or more. The church observes five important fasts: the PreLenten fast of Nineveh; the Great Fast of Lent (55 days); the Fast of the Nativity
before Christmas (28 days); the Fast of the Apostles before the Ascension; and the
Fast of the Virgin after the Ascension. The Coptic patriarch, called the Pope of
Alexandria, Pentapolis and Ethiopia, is chosen by a religious tribunal, subject to
approval by the government. There are 24 bishoprics, most of them in Lower Egypt.
Outside Egypt, there is a large Coptic diaspora, with dioceses at Jerusalem, Sudan,
South Africa and North America.
Since the 19603 there has been a dramatic revival in monastic life. Membership in
the church is estimated at 11 million. The official liturgical language is the Bohairic
dialect of Coptic, but Arabic is used for the audible parts of the service. Three
eucharistic prayers are in use: The anaphora of St. Cyril used in Lent; the SyroByzantine anaphora of St. Basil; and the anaphora of St. Gregory used at Christmas,
Epiphany and Easter, which has the unusual feature of being addressed only to the
Son. The eucharistic bread is in small leavened loaves stamped with a design
including the Trisagion in Greek, and the wine is made from the fermented juice of
raisins. Baptismal and other sacramental rites resemble the Greek Orthodox.
Baptism begins with an exorcism. Unction, with seven lighted lamps, is administered
at a public healing service on the Friday before Palm Sunday. There are foot-washing
ceremonies on Maundy Thursday, and the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. There are
seven daily offices: midnight, dawn, third, sixth and ninth hours, vespers and
compline. Incense is offered morning and evening. A traditional Coptic church has a
solid sanctuary screen with a central door flanked by windows and side doors and
lighter screens to mark off the choir and the mens and womens sections of the
nave.
In modern times, three events have infused new vigor into the Coptic Church: the
apparition of the Virgin Mary at Zaytun, near Cairo; the return of the relics of St. Mark
fromVenice to Egypt, and the dedication of the gigantic Cathedral of St. Mark in
Cairo. The flourishing Coptic diaspora, mostly in the United States, has also helped
the Coptic Church to be more assertive against the constant threat from Muslim
fundamentalists.
The Armenian Church

The Armenian Church is the first national church in history. Armenia became Christian
about 301 when King Tiridates III or IV (298-330) was converted by St. Gregory the
Illuminator, and therefore the Armenian Church is sometimes called the Gregorian
Church. Gregory established the patriarchal see at Ashtishat in Taron, and for years
the catholicate or primate of Armenia was a member of his family. When Armenia
became divided between the Roman empires in 390, the patriarchal see was moved
to Etchmiadzin, near Mount Ararat. By 428 Armenia ceased to be independent and
was subjected to various oppressive rulers until the latter half of the 20th century.
In 374 after the death of St. Nerses, the church achieved full autonomy after breaking
earlier links with the church of Caesarea in Cappadocia. In the early part of the fifth
century, St. Isaac the Great (catholicos from about 389 to 438) and St. Mesrob
greatly strengthened the church by the invention of the national script and the
translation of the Bible and the liturgy into Armenian. Armenians repudiated the
Council of Chalcedon (to which they were not invited) and are therefore are
considered as Monophysite.
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Persecution during the next seven centuries resulted in the breakup of Armenia into
two kingdoms: Greater Armenian and Little Armenia or Cilicia. The latter accepted
union with Rome at the Council of Sis in 1307, confirmed at the Council of Florence
(1438-1439). Greater Armenia, however, did not accept the uniate status, and
established an independent patriarchate at Etchmiadzin. In the 19 th and 20th
centuries Armenians suffered severe persecutions at the hands of the Ottoman Turks
in which more than 1.5 million Armenians perished. At the same time, what was left
of Armenia was taken over by the Bolsheviks who tried to repress the Armenian
Church for over 70 years.
The Gregorian Church is still divided into the two catholicates of Etchmiadzin and Sis.
The catholicos of Sis is resident in Antelias, a suburb of Beirut. Under them are two
classes of priests: unmarried vartabeds and married parish priests. Armenians follow
the liturgy of St. Basil. The priestly vestment is the shurjar or chasuble shaped like a
cope. In the Eucharist they use unleavened bread and do not mix water with wine.
Communion is in both kinds by intinction. Christmas is not observed as a separate
feast but is celebrated as part of Epiphany from January 5 to 13.
The Syriac (or Syrian) Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church is also known as the Jacobite Church, after Jacob
Baradeus, who championed Monophysitism in opposition to the Council of Chalcedon.
Its liturgical language is Syriac, and its official calendar is Julian, except in India. Its
current head, the 122nd patriarch of Antioch, resides at Damascus, having been
driven out by the Turks from Antioch after World War II. The church has about half a
million members in 20 archdioceses in the Middle East, Europe, North America and
Australia. Since the 16th century almost half of the Syriac Christians of Malabar or
Kerala have belonged to this church. Numbering over one million, they have a
separate catholicos, but their relations with the Antiochene Church have not always
been happy.
The Syriac Church traces its origins to the original patriarchate of Antioch, one of the
four (later five) patriarchates of the early church, established by St. Peter, who is
considered as the first patriarch (33-40). About the year 70 the martyr St. Ignatius,
known as the Enlightened, became the third patriarch succeeding Euodius. In his
honor each succeeding patriarch since 1293 has carried the ecclesiastical name of
Ignatius. The Council of Nicaea confirmed the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the See of
Antioch as covering all territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf
and extending into India. About the middle of the fourth century a Catholicate of the
East was established at Seleucia-Ctesiphon to serve the faithful in Persia and
Mesopotamia, but it later fell to Persian political persecutions and conflicts with the
Assyrian Church of the East. In 628 a new catholicate was established in
Mesopotamia by Patriarch Athanasius I, and its jurisdiction was expanded to include
all of Arabia, Persia and Afghanistan. After the patriarchates of Alexandria and
Antioch rejected the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (451), a season of imperial
persecution followed.
In 512 Severus the Great, the patriarch of Antioch, was deposed by Justinian. By 544
only three bishops remained in the church. At this time, the monk Jacob Baradeus
won over the Empress Theodora to the Monophysite side. With her help and the
support of Theodosius, the patriarch of Alexandria, Baradeus set out to restore the
persecuted churches. He traveled in rags (hence his name which means one clothed
in rags) all over the Middle East, Asia Minor and Ethiopia, rebuilding the church.
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During his travels he ordained over 100,000 priests and deacons and consecrated 27
bishops and one patriarch, Paul II. In gratitude. the Syriac Orthodox Church is often
called the Jacobite Church.
During the following centuries, the seat of the patriarchate was moved to the
Monastery of Mar Barsuma, near Malatya, and thence to Diyarbakir, and the Zafaran
Monastery, outside of Mardin, all in modern-day Turkey. Syrian Christians did not
experience any serious persecution from the Muslim rulers in the early centuries. In
1236 the See of Antioch had 20,000 parishes and hundreds of monasteries and
convents. It administered great educational institutions, such as the famous schools
of Antioch, Nusaybin, and Edessa. Many of the illustrious scholars of the age were
Jacobites, including Gregory Bar Hebraeus, Dionysius bar Salibi, Jacob of Edessa, and
Ephraem the Syrian. But after the 12th century, the history of the church was clouded
with persecutions and massacres on a scale unmatched until then. Mongols, Kurds
and Ottomans decimated the church, killing millions, forcibly converting millions
more, and destroying thousands of churches and monasteries. The holocaust has
lasted well into the 20th century.
The faith of the Syriac Orthodox Church is based directly on the Holy Scripture as
embodied in the Nicene Creed. The Holy Trinity is professed as one God, of one
essence and one Godhead. Jesus Christ is professed to be the only begotten Son of
God, of one nature, being fully God and fully man without mixture or confusion. Ir
condemns Eutychianism which is often confused with Monophysitism and which held
that Christ had only a divine nature, but not a human one. The Virgin Mary is
acknowledged as the Bearer of God. The church observes seven canonical stations
as the liturgy of the hours. The weekday office contains the ferial cycle. The church
observes seven sacraments of which baptism, chrismation, and priesthood can be
received only once. The baptismal font is considered as both a womb and a tomb.
Candidates for priesthood are permitted to marry, but they must marry prior to their
ordination to the diaconate. Bishops are chosen from the monastic clergy.
The eucharistic liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church is among the richest in all
Christendom, with more than 80 anaphoras. The principal liturgy is that of St. James,
but the Liturgies of the Twelve Apostles, St. Peter, Dionysius bar Salibi, and St. John
the Evangelist are also used. The church believes in transubstantiation. The bread for
the eucharist is made from leavened bread mixed with salt and oil. The words, who
was crucified on out account, are added to the Trisagion in the liturgy, and the sign
of the cross is made with one finger.
Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Properly, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Bete Church. It is an ancient church
founded in Abyssinia, now known as Ethiopia, by Frumentius in the fourth century.
According to Refinus, Frumentius was a Syrian from Tyre. At the end of the fifth
century, nine Syrian monks, now known as the Nine Saints, helped to establish the
Syrian and Coptic traditions in Ethiopia. A great revival took place in the 15 th century,
under King Sara Yakub (1434-1468). Like other Lesser Eastern Churches, the
Ethiopian Church has been mislabeled as Monophysite. It describes itself as
Miaphysite after a Christological doctrine known as Miaphysis which holds that Christ
had divine and human natures. As formulated by Dioscorus and Cyril, Miaphysis
maintains that Christ is perfect God and perfect man, at once consubstantial with
the Father and with humankind, the divinity and the humanity continuing in him
without mixture or separation, without confusion or change. In 1959 the Ethiopian
Church became independent of the See of Alexandria under its own abuna or
patriarch.
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Most parishes worship in the ancient classical language of Geez, although the
vernacular Amharic was introduced in in the 1960s. The main sources of worship are
the Apostolic Canons, the Testament of Our Lord, Nomocanon, Ordinances and
Instructions, The Book of Nature and the Stewardship of the Mystery. The Missal has
two parts, one containing 16 to 20 anaphorae and another with the psalmody for the
Eucharist chanted by specially trained choirs. Twenty different anaphorae are known
including those by Basil, Gregory, Cyril, Athanasius, Mark and Chrysostom. Most of
them are of Syrian rather than Egyptian origin. The Liturgy of St. Mark is not widely
used. The father of Ethiopian hymnody and musicology is Yared, one of the Nine
Saints. The Ethiopian Church follows the Julian Calendar. The liturgical year has 97
feasts including nine major feasts of the Lord, six secondary feasts, 32 Marian feasts
and 50 main feasts of the saints. In addition to Wednesdays and Fridays of every
week, there are six major fast cycles, the great Lent fast of 55 days, Advent fast of
40 days, the Fast of the Apostles, the Fast of Mary and the Fast of Nineveh.
Assyrian Church
Properly, the Church of the East. It is so called, because its members are
descendants of the ancient Assyrians. It is Nestorian by faith, although its Christology
is strictly Antiochene, derived from Theodore of Mopsuestia rather than Nestorius.
The church flourished in the time of the Persian Empire when its schools at Edessa
and Nisibis were centers of theological learning. Its greatest theologians were
Barsumas, bishop of Nisibis, and Babai the Great (d.628) author of the Book of the
Union.
By the time of the demise of the Sassanian Empire, Assyrian Christians formed the
most important religious minority under a catholicos-patriarch at Seleucia-Ctesiphon
and 10 metropolitans. The most notable of the catholicos-patriarchs was Mar Aba I
(540-555). Following a monastic revival under Abraham of Kashkar (d.c.580)
numerous monasteries were founded, some of them described by Thomas of Marga
in his Book of the Governors. By the seventh century, Assyrian missionaries had
founded outposts in Malabar, India, and in Central and East Asia.
After the Arab conquest, the fortunes of the church declined, and the patriarchate
moved to Baghdad where Syriac scholars such as Hynayn ibn Ishaq (d. 873) played
an important role in transmitting Greek knowledge to the West. After the conversion
of the Mongols to Islam and the rise of Chengiz Khan, the church was wiped out in
Central Asia and the Assyrian Christians were reduced to a tiny group centered on the
mountains of Kurdistan. They were further divided by the creation of a separate
Uniate body called the Chaldean Christians. During World War I they suffered
reprisals from both Turks and Kurds, and the survivors fled to the protection of the
British mandate in Iraq.
At the end of the mandate in 1933, many members, including the catholicos,
emigrated to other parts of the world, especially in the United States. Only a few
thousand remain in the Middle East. Its patriarch, officially styled Catholicos-Patriarch
of the Assyrian Church of the East, resides in Chicago while a dissident catholicos
remains in Baghdad. The Assyrian Jacobite Apsotolic Church is a group which accepts
the Nicene Creed whose members emigrated to the United States from Turkey in
1907.
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The liturgical language is Syriac, properly East Syriac. There are three main
eucharistic liturgies: Addai and Mari, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Nestorius. In
addition to the various lectionaries, one for the Gospels, he second for the Apostle
Paul, and the qaryana which contains the first two lessons for the liturgical office,
from the Old Testament and the Acts, the Church of the East has the Turgama or
homilies on the lessons in the form of hymns to be chanted with the aid of the
Dawida or Psalter, prayers for the ferial days, marriage or ordination. The offices are
chanted with the aid of the hudra which contains the proper for the office, antiphons,
hymns and prayers, the gazza which contains the offices of the feasts of the Lord and
the saints, and other books for the choirs.
The words of the institution are absent in the Liturgy of Addai and Mari. The Liturgy of
the Presanctified is used on Good Friday. The Liturgy of the Catechumens begins with
the Trisagion and continues with two lections read from the bema, the Turgama sung
as the priest ascends the altar, followed by lections from the Pauline Epistles and the
Gospels. The Liturgy of the Faithful begins with a litany of intercession, as in the
Byzantine Liturgy. The Virgin Mary and the 318 Church Fathers are commemorated as
well as the Byzantine emperors. The priest censes his hands after a lavabo before
proceeding to the fraction. Leavened bread is used and communion is generally in
both kinds by intinction.
Second Millennium Churches: The Pauline

Tradition
The first wave of churches described above constituted the entire Christian universe
at the end of the first millennium. No major churches were founded in the first four
centuries of the second millennium. The Roman Catholic Church remained the
largest because it covered all of Europe. Islam had become an iron curtain that
blocked further expansion to the east. There was very little new missionary activity
that presaged further growth. Then around the 15th century, two cataclysmic events
happened that brought two new continents into the Christian fold and then broke up
the monolithic Roman Church: the Discovery of the New World and the Reformation.
Both events had far-reaching consequences. Christianity was on its way to becoming
a truly global church in the next half millennium.
The fortunes of the Christian Church as it closed the first millennium were closely tied
to those of Europe. Europe was entirely Christian in a sense that was not applicable
to any other religion or any other continent. Almost every European was a Christian
at least in the nominal sense and there were only a few thousand Christians outside
Europe in heathen lands. But the second millennium witnessed the gradual spread of
Christianity among non-European people, first in the New World and later in Africa,
Asia and Australasia. The breakup of the Roman Catholic Church was perhaps the
greatest blessing of all. Instead of one large church, the Reformation spawned
hundreds of churches, each vying with the other in efforts to win believers and
spread the Gospel. Multiplicity of churches did not debilitate the church as many
feared; it simply multiplied the number of messengers and expanded their mission
field. Even the Roman Catholic Church took up the call. Following the Council of Trent,
it launched, first under the Jesuits and later under various missionary orders, one of
the greatest missionary enterprises in its history. Protestant and Anglican
missionaries did the same and so did even the Russian Orthodox Church which
converted a vast mosaic of nationalities from the Volga to the Sea of Japan. As great
as were the early centuries of the Christian era in terms of the expansion of the
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church, they do not compare with the era between the post-medieval and early
modern periods which could be described as the Golden Age of Christian Expansion.
Protestant Churches
There was an interval of almost a millennium between the first wave of churches and
the second wave which began with Martin Luther and lasted until the 20th century.
This era added the third bloc of Christian churches that are now known as Protestant
faute de mieux, for the lack of a better word. Most of these churches are directly
descended from the Reformation, both the first led by Martin Luther and the second
Reformation led by Zwingli, the Anabaptists and others. However, a number of
Protestant churches have nothing to do with the Reformation. The Anglican Church
considers itself Episcopal and its historical origins were different from those of the
Continental churches. The modern-day Pentecostal churches follow a different
tradition that has been described as Johannine or apocalyptic whereas the traditional
or mainline Protestant churches are inspired by the Pauline tradition.
The most important of the Protestant churches are the (1) Lutheran; (2) Methodist,
(3) Presbyterian, (4) Baptist, and (5) Brethren. In between there are thousands of
churches whose doctrinal positions overlap with those of other Protestant churches or
run parallel to them in many respects. The differences among these churches are
sometimes dismissed as trivial because they do not affect the core of faith and are
thus called by theologians as adiaphora or nonessentials. But the churches
themselves take them very seriously, so seriously in fact that they are prepared to
exclude nonmembers from communion. Along with centrifugal tendencies there are
centripetal tendencies working in these churches. The World Council of Churches and
the ecumenical movement are evidences of a strong desire on the part of churches to
heal the breaches and reestablish a comity of faith.
Lutheran Church
Lutheranism is confession and an ecclesiastical tradition based on the theology
formulated by Martin Luther. It is the only major Christian church that is named after
a person, just as Christianity is. As a confession, Lutheranism is based on the
Augsburg Confession (1530), the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531),
Schmalkaldic Articles (1537), Formula of Concord (1577) and the Book of Concord
(1580) as well as on
Luthers Small and Large Catechisms (1539). On the fundamental articles of the
Trinity and vicarious atonement, Lutheranism does not depart from the great creeds
or Church Fathers.
Over the years a form of Lutheran orthodoxy developed in which two beliefs were
predominant: the authority of the Bible as the sole guide to doctrine and justification
by faith. Sola Scriptura and Sola Gratia are two watchwords of Lutheran doctrine.
Good works are the fruits of faith, not its roots. The believer is simul justus et
peccator (justified but still a sinner). Baptism is considered the water of regeneration
by which the new birth becomes effective. The Lords Supper is not merely a
memorial meal but is instituted by the Lord for the remission of sins, strengthening of
faith and as a means of union with Him and with fellow believers.
Lutherans believe in the real presence (although not in transubstantiation) whereby
the blood and body of Christ are present in the wine and the bread. Lutheran
theology is strongly Christocentric and solus Christos is the third watchword of
Lutheranism. Salvation centers in the person and work of Christ. Lutheran
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Christology is based on a theology of the cross. As the Word affords the Christian
certainty of his doctrine and confession, the cross affords the Christian the certainty
of Gods grace and his own personal salvation. Regarding predestination Lutheranism
teaches that God has elected certain human beings for salvation in Christ Jesus
before the foundation of the world, but does not teach an election to damnation.
Lutheran Christology is based on the Council of Chalcedon and is entirely orthodox.
Lutherans confess the one and the same Jesus Christ, the Son and Lord, the OnlyBegotten, in two natures without mixture, change, division or separation. The Church
is one, holy, catholic and universal. There is a church visible and a church invisible.
The two marks of the church are the pure preaching of the Word of God and the
correct administration of the Holy Sacraments. Lutheranism accepts most traditional
liturgical forms but places heavy emphasis on preaching. Rites and ceremonies are
regarded as adiaphora, or indifferent things, not essential to the principal mission of
the church. The Eucharist is celebrated every Sunday. Lutherans do not insist on a
uniform church polity. Some Lutheran churches are congregational, some episcopal,
some presbyterian.
The first systematic presentation of Lutheran dogmatics was Loci Communes (1521)
by Melanchthon. The 17th century witnessed the development of a Lutheran
Scholasticism which was countered by the emergence of Pietism. P. J. Speners Pia
Desideria was a reaction against not only the formalism and objectivity of Lutheran
teachings, but also the confessional strife that marked the early centuries of
Lutheranism. Similarly, Soren Kierkegaards writings revealed how Lutheranism had
ignored the emotional and existential side of Christian spirituality.
Lutheranism spread quickly through much of Germany and all the Scandinavian
countries, but it had less success in England, Scotland, Eastern Europe and Southern
Europe. In Scandinavia Lutheranism is the official religion. Lutheranism came to
North America in the 17th century but remained very much a religion of the German
immigrants. In 1742, H. M. Muhlenberg was sent from Halle to Pennsylvania to
organize the Lutheran Church. He established the first Lutheran Synod, the
Ministerium of Pennsylvania, in 1748. Most of the original American Lutherans tended
to be Pietist. At present, there are two main Lutheran bodies in the United States:
the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, both
representing the merger of many smaller bodies. In Canada, the principal Lutheran
Church is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Worldwide the Lutheran World
Foundation, founded in 1947, serves as the ecumenical voice of Lutheranism.
Lutheran worship retains a great deal of continuity with Western Catholic tradition.
The Roman canon and offertory were cut out and nothing has replaced them. Thus
the Words of the Institution, stripped of their context of prayer, has gained a new
proclamatory function. Dominating the church service are preaching and music.
Music is one key to the liturgical ethos of the Lutheran Church. From the beginning
Lutherans have fostered the use of vernacular hymns, giving impetus to the chorale
tradition and generating a superb body of organ literature based on their melodies.
Luthers reforms resulted in a new order of service beginning with Preface, followed
by Words of Institution, Sanctus, Our Father (omitting the doxology) pax, communion
in both kinds with Agnus Dei, Collect, Benedicamus and Aaronic blessing.
Methodism
Movement in the Church of England begun by John Wesley that became a separate
denomination in the 18th century as an effective method for leading Christians
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toward the scriptural goal of holiness. According to John Wesley a Methodist is one
who lives according to the method laid down in the Bible. Wesleys teachings on
regeneration and justification emphasize the actual change in the believer and not
just a change in standing before God. Righteousness was not merely imputed but
imparted through the work of the Holy Spirit. The end product was holiness perfected
in love which radiated to everyone touched by the regenerated saint. The ultimate
test of Biblical Christianity was whether or not it restored the moral image of God in
the believer. In Wesleys own lifetime it became an aggressive evangelistic
movement.
Most Methodists, with the probable exception of the Calvinistic Methodists of Wales,
are Arminian in their theology. After the death of John Wesley, Methodist theology
was developed by a number of theologians. John William Fletcher (1729-1785),
author of Five Checks to Antinomianism (1771) defined Methodism in relation to
predestination by retaining human liberty and safeguarding divine control. Adam
Clarke (1760-1832) reaffirmed the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. The first
systematic outline of Methodist theology was prepared by Richard Watson (17811833) in his Theological Institutes (1823-24) but it found its classic expression in the
Compendium (1875-76)of William Burt Pope (1822-1903). Other Methodist scholars
include John Scott Lidgett (1854-1953), Robert Newton Flew (1886-1962), and
Geoffrey Wainwright
(1939--).
Methodist churches make up one of the largest groups in Protestantism in the world,
with an estimated 50 million members represented in the World Council of Churches
with which most Methodist churches are affiliated. The first Methodist society as a
Methodist meeting was known in the early days -- was founded in 1739, the first
classes were held in 1743 and the rules of the society were drawn up in 1743. The
first conference met in 1744 and beginning in 1746 the societies were grouped in
circuits and later organized into districts. It was not until 1784 that Methodism
became a legal denomination, although Wesleyan chapels were registered as
dissenting meeting houses under the Toleration Act. In 1795 Methodism parted
company with the established church when it was permitted to administer
sacraments and establish a valid ministerial order.
The fledgling church had its own share of secessions and splinter groups. In 1797 the
New Methodist Connexion broke away, followed by Independent Methodists in 1806,
the Primitive Methodist Connexion in 1811, Bible Christians in 1815, and Tent
Methodists in 1822. The United Methodist Free Churches was organized in 1857. The
missionary thrust of Methodism began in 1769 when the first evangelists were sent
out to North America. Both John Wesley and George Whitefield had served as
missionaries in the American Colonies even before Methodism was born. But after
Methodism became an established denomination, it was introduced into the Colonies
by lay preachers, including Philip Embury and Captain Thomas Webb. In 1768 John
Wesley sent the first two official missionaries, Joseph Pilmoor and Richard Boardman
who were followed by Francis Asbury and Richard Wright in 1771 and Thomas Rankin
and George Shadford in 1773. The first Methodist conference in America was held at
St. Georges Church in Philadelphia in 1773. When the American Revolution broke
out, all British missionaries, with the exception of Asbury, returned to England.
Asbury worked hard to Americanize the denomination. Together with Thomas Coke,
who was named as general superintendent by John Wesley, he founded the
Methodist Episcopal Church as an autonomous denomination without the British
umbilicals with its own 25 Articles of Religion and Book of Discipline.
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By 1844 the church had 4,000 preachers and 1 million members. Asbury, named
bishop against the wishes of John Wesley, developed the system of circuit riders to
meet the needs of the American frontier. The camp meeting was the prime
instrument of revival, and Methodism rode the crest of the Great Awakening to bring
millions more into its fold.
The 19th century also brought a number of rifts as groups split from the main body
over theological and social issues. Of the latter, slavery was the most troubling. In
1816 the first African Episcopal Methodist Church was formed with Richard Allen, the
first Negro to be ordained pastor by Asbury. In 1845 the Wesleyan Methodists broke
away over the abolition issue, and after the Civil War it became a Holiness church
and merged with the Pilgrim Holiness Church to become the Wesleyan Church of
America. In the 1840s the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was formed to
represent the slave-owning states, and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was
formed to represent blacks. As membership grew the church became more lukewarm
in its theology, and the Free Methodist Church was born in 1860 as a protest against
rented pews, outward ornaments and structured worship. In the 20th century,
countervailing ecumenical tendencies grew stronger as a result of which the United
Methodist Church came into being in 1968 through the merger of a number of bodies
that had seceded in the preceding century.
Early Methodist churches tended to center around preaching and hymn singing,
reflecting their formative years in the Western frontier. Most of the historic and
traditional forms of Christian worship were bypassed in favor of the camp meeting
format. However, as Methodism became more conventional, choral meeting came to
be a normal part of church service. Orders of worship first appeared in The Methodist
Hymnal of 1905. In 1944 the Methodist Church published its first Book of Worship.
Black Methodist churches, however, still retain the spontaneity, rhythmic music and
high degree of lay participation characteristic of earlier revivals.
The outline of the service is Prelude, Hymn, Scripture sentences, Salutation, Collect
for Purity, Lords Prayer, Gloria in Excelsis, Invitation, General Confession, Prayer for
Pardon, Comfortable Words, Prayer for the Church, Epistle, Anthem or Hymn, Gospel,
Creed, Sermon, Notices, Hymn, Offertory, Prayer of Dedication, Sursum Corda,
Prayer, Sanctus, Prayer of Consecration, Prayer of Humble Access, Agnus Dei,
Communion of Clergy, Communion of People, Peace, Post-Communion Prayer, Hymn,
Blessing and Postlude.
Presbyterian / Reformed Churches

Presbyterianism is a term that is used not so much for a doctrinal tradition as for a
form of ecclesiastical polity in which the church is governed by presbyters. The
theological basis of Presbyterian churches is Calvinism as formulated by John Calvin,
John Knox and Ulrich Zwingli. Calvin placed great importance on the office of elders,
which he considered one of the four main ministries of the church along with pastors,
teachers and deacons. Historically it belongs to the Reformed tradition that stems
from the Calvinist wave of the Reformation. The only national Presbyterian Church is
that of Scotland. The primary presupposition of Presbyterianism is that the risen
Christ is the only head of the church. He rules His people by His Word and Spirit,
governing all believers. On earth, this power is delegated to those whom He has
called and to whom He has given special gifts. The local congregation is the core of
the church. A number of local congregations form a synod and a number of synods
form a general assembly.
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Presbyterians acknowledge the Bible as the standard of faith and practice. The
doctrinal grid of Presbyterianism is made up of the Westminster Confession with the
two Westminster Catechisms of 1647. In the United States, the Presbyterian Church
USA has adopted its own Book of Confessions (1967) which contains the Nicene and
Apostles Creeds, the Scots Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Second
Helvetic Confession, the Barmen Confession, the Barmen Declaration, and the
Confession of 1967 to which a brief statement of faith was added in 1991.
Confessional standards are rarely enforced and are interpreted with some laxity.
Presbyterian worship is characterized by its plainness and dignity, with an emphasis
on preaching. A wide variety of liturgical practice is tolerated but since the late 20 th
century, there has been a return to acceptance of the Sacraments. The Lords
Supper, formerly administered only every three months is now celebrated once every
month in most churches. Presbyterian churches are found throughout the world with
strong concentrations in the United States, Scotland, Hungary, the Netherlands,
Northern Ireland, Switzerland, France, the Cameroon and Korea. Presbyterians were
among the earliest missionaries in Korea as a result of which the largest congregation
is in Seoul. Presbyterian churches are linked through the World Presbyterian Alliance,
founded in 1875, which in 1970 merged with the International Congregational
Council, founded in 1891, to form the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
Baptist Churches
Christian denomination related to the Anabaptists or Antipaedobaptists whose
signature doctrine was the believers baptism or the immersion of adults in water
upon personal profession of faith. Baptists enlarged their doctrinal base by including
among their tenets the sole authority of the Bible, religious liberty and freedom of
conscience and the primary authority of the local church. The Anabaptists to whom
the Baptists are related were persecuted by the Lutherans and the established
churches. As a result Baptists were associated with radical political and social
movements in the 17th century. In England they became one of the three
denominations of Protestant Dissenters. John Bunyan was one of their outstanding
leaders.
In America, Baptist history begins with the settlement of Roger Williams at
Providence, Rhode Island, and the church he established there in 1639. The Great
Awakening in New England witnessed the rapid growth of Baptists in the United
States. Driven by their missionary zeal, Baptists have become the largest Protestant
denomination. Among African-American members, about two-thirds of the members
are Baptists. They are organized in several conventions of which the Southern
Baptist Convention is the largest and the most conservative. Among their
distinguished members are Billy Graham and Martin Luther King, Jr. They also form
the largest Protestant community in many of the former republics of the Soviet Union.
Historically, Baptists have spawned a number of varieties, such as General Baptists,
Particular Baptists, Separatists, and Sandemanian Baptists. Baptist theology
emphasizes calling, conversion, regeneration and the priesthood of all believers.
Church discipline is consistently practiced.
Baptists have no required orders for public worship and the responsibility lies with the
congregation. Therefore Baptist worship is characterized by great variety. Some
Baptist churches have formal services and have set prayers read from printed order
distributed to the congregation beforehand. Choirs and clergy are robed and there
are lamps, candles and crosses often set upon altars, backed by reredos and decked
out in seasonal liturgical colors. Other Baptist churches, especially black churches,
may have completely informal and spontaneous services. In the West Baptist
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churches have the flavor of revival meetings with lively singing, testimonies
preceding the Word of God, and the call to repentance. In Germany and
Scandinavian countries, Baptist services have a strong Pietistic overtone, with
meditation and introspective hymns making it a solemn affair.
The central place in the worship service is the reading and proclamation of the Word.
Baptist emphasis on the importance of preaching has produced a number of the
greatest preachers of modern times, including Charles Spurgeon and Billy Graham.
The sermon is the climactic point of the service. The Lords Supper is regarded highly
but only observed monthly. Communion is generally closed to non-Baptists. Laymen
may officiate at Communion and baptism services. Communion is essentially a
memorial meal by which the believer renews his or her faith and fellowship in Jesus
Christ. Its value lies in the symbolism of the act rather than in the actual elements.
Both bread and wine are distributed by the deacons to the congregation as they sit in
their seats.
Baptists have no official manuals of worship or books of common prayer. But there
are unofficial ones, such as John E. Skoglunds Manual of Worship. The most
commonly used hymn books are The Baptist Church Hymnal and the Baptist Hymn
Book. Baptism, which is by full immersion, is a purely symbolic rite, a dramatic
affirmation of what had already taken place in the life of the candidate. Baptism
always follows the Trinitarian formula after the candidate confesses faith in the Holy
Trinity, accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and pledges to follow and serve Him.
Baptists have no creeds or sacraments but only ordinances.
Congregationalism
Congregationalism is a term that describes a form of church polity rather than a
doctrine. It favors autonomy for local congregations. It was first formulated by Robert
Browne (1553-1603) separatist leader, who asserted in his treatise, Reformation
Without Tarrying for Anie (1582) that each individual Christian has made a separate
covenant with God and is not subject to bishops or magistrates. Ordination is not
vested in leaders but is in the hands of the whole church. The Pilgrim Fathers who
immigrated to America in 1620 were Congregationalists and Congregationalism
became the established order in Connecticut and Massachusetts for the next two
centuries. The governing body is the church assembly. Historically Congregationalism
has been actively involved in ecumenism and missionary work. The latter was
undertaken notably by the London Missionary Society, founded in 1795, which in
1966 which in 1966 became the Congregational Council for World Mission. Great LMS
missionaries include David Livingstone, John Williams and James Chalmers.
Congregational worship is similar to that of the Presbyterians in that it is both
Biblically based and Spirit-led. Public prayer is not according to any prescribed form.
Although there is no prescribed manual, worship practices are shaped by The
Directory of Public Worship of God. Throughout the Three Kingdoms, published in
1644, which set some objective standards for Congregational service. Nevertheless,
until the 20th century, Congregationalism was marked by the absence of creeds as
doctrinal anchors, the infrequent celebration of the Lords Supper, prolix sermons and
the lack of color and ceremony. Some of these failings have been corrected with the
publication of the Book of Congregational Worship in England and A Book of Worship
for Free Churches in the United States.
Anglicanism
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Anglicanism is the distinctive organization and teachings of the Church of England

and the ecclesiastical bodies within the Anglican Communion. It claims to be separate
from Protestantism, yet catholic, scriptural and reformed with the best elements of
both Protestantism and Catholicism. It is both a fellowship of churches and a doctrinal
system. As a fellowship of churches, it consists of the See of Canterbury or the
Church of England as the only established church and the following churches: the
Church of Ireland, the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Episcopal
Church in the United States, the Anglican churches of Australia, Canada, Papua New
Guinea, and the Southern Cone of America, the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New
Zealand and Polynesia, the provinces of Southern Africa, the West Indies, West Africa,
Central Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Myanmar, Tanzania, the Indian Ocean, Melanesia,
Nigeria, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, Korea, Mexico, South East Asia, the Nippon
Sei Ko Kai, the Church of Sri Lanka, the Episcopal Church of Brazil, the Episcopal
Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East and the Philippines Episcopal Church. The
Lusitanian or Portuguese Episcopal Church and the Spanish Reformed Episcopal
Church also are members. The United Churches of South India, North India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh are members of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Lambeth
Conference. The Philippines Independent Church and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of
Malabar are in communion with most Anglican churches.
As a doctrinal system the formularies of Anglicanism include the Book of Common
Prayer, the Ordinal, the Thirty Nine Articles and the two Books of Homilies. The 17 th
century was the Golden Age of Anglicanism and was reflected in the writings of the
Caroline divines, including Andrewes, Cosin, Ken, Laud, Taylor and Thorndike.
Classical Anglicanism steered away from the confessional system of the Continent,
and rejected any form of external authority. While the historical institution of the
episcopacy was preserved, it was not regarded as divine. Scripture was
acknowledged as sufficient for salvation, but the role of reason was affirmed. The rise
of secular learning in the 18th century led to the emergence of the Cambridge
Platonists with their emphasis on devotional religion. The rise of Evangelicalism did
much for the spiritual life of Anglicanism, but its appeal to the emotions and its
emphasis on the primacy of the Scriptures and the preaching of the Good News did
not sit well with the main body of Anglicans. Evangelicals, however, still form a
sizable group within Anglicanism.
The beginning of the 19th century saw a resurgence of the High Church tradition
through the Oxford Movement in 1833. It began as a scholarly movement led by
Keble, Pusey, and Newman who issued the series known as the Tracts for the Times.
The Catholic movement, as it was called, sought to restore to Anglicanism the
sacramental traditions of the Catholic Church, especially apostolic succession. The
original Tractarians were concerned with reviving personal discipline through
confession and fasting, but they grew increasingly preoccupied with external rituals
of worship and thus came to be known as ritualists. Through their influence, many
traditional Catholic practices, such as votive candles and the wearing of stoles,
spread throughout the Anglican Church. In the latter part of the 19th century, AngloCatholicism split into liberals and conservatives blunting much of their impact. A
parallel movement saw the development of the Broad Church, or liberal theological
movement, which drew its core beliefs from German scholarship. The second half of
the 20th century witnessed further changes within Anglicanism, particularly in the
form of liturgical experimentation, so that diversity rather than unity is the rule.
Almost every province has its own prayer book and those outside the Englishspeaking world have their own cultural and spiritual mores. The ordination of women
and the inclusion or exclusion of homosexuals have produced new controversies that
have strained the homogeneity of the Anglican Communion.
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The Johannine Tradition

Pentecostalism
Worldwide movement based on the belief that Christians in every age may receive
the baptism of the Spirit and the same Charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit as did the
first Christians on the day of the Pentecost in Jerusalem. These gifts include speaking
in tongues, or glossolalia, prophecy, physical healing, and exorcism, the exercise of
all of which are given are given to the believer in an experience known as baptism in
the Holy Spirit, an experience distinct from conversion and baptism. Pentecostalism
distinguishes between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a source of saving faith and
the outpouring of the same Spirit which empowers believers for ministry and witness.
Pentecostalism also has a strong millennial element and teaches the plenary
inspiration of the Bible and instantaneous sanctification. In some ways, it has a
strong affinity with Montanism of the second century and is strongly restorative in its
efforts to revive the spontaneity of worship and fullness of gifts that were marks of
the Apostolic Age.
Pentecostalism as it has spread around the world in the 20 th century is associated
with joyous forms of worship, characterized by physical expressions, such as clapping
of hands, raising of hands, and, in rare cases, dancing. In addition to what has come
to be called classic Pentecostalism, there are neo-Pentecostal or Charismatic
movements within mainline churches of which the Catholic Charismatics are the best
known.
Modern Pentecostalism began in the United States and is the most important
American contribution to Christian traditions. Originally, it was an outgrowth of the
Holiness Movement. In 1901 a Bible school called Bethel College was started in
Topeka, Kansas, by Charles F. Parham, who preached Spirit baptism as indispensable
for holiness. His students carried this message across the South and one of them,
William J. Seymour, an African American, brought the teaching in 1906 to Los
Angeles, where he founded the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission on Azusa Street.
Despite his unimpressive appearance and lack of preaching abilities, the revival that
he started on Azusa Street had reverberations throughout the Christian world. Azusa
Street became the birthplace of modern Pentecostalism. It was carried to many
countries within a few decades. Thomas Ball Barratt carried it to Norway, Alexander
A. Boddy to England, Pandita Rambai to India and Willis C. Hoover to Chile.
As opposition to Pentecostalism from mainline denominations grew, Pentecostals
began to establish their own denominations. Of these the most important were the
Assemblies of God, the Church of God in Christ, the Church of God (Tomlinson), the
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and the United Pentecostal Church
International. Of these, the largest is the Assemblies of God, based in Springfield,
Missouri. It is very active in foreign missions and has extensive facilities for training
ministers. The Church of God in Christ is the largest and most influential black
Pentecostal body. A great number of healing ministries and media ministries belong
to the Pentecostal movement. The post-World War II period witnessed a spate of
independent Pentecostal groups, such as the New Order of the Latter Rain and the
Wings of Healing. Today Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious movement in
the world and is found in almost all countries in the world that are open to the
Gospel.
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Within every major denomination, including the Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Lutheran
and Methodist churches, there are Charismatic groups that share in the explosive
growth of Pentecostalism. Originally, the religion of the poor, it has become
increasingly middle class and diverse in its racial mix. The five largest churches in the
world are Pentecostal. Pentecostals number over 100 million around the word or
about 5% of the worlds Christian population. Lesslie Newbigin has described
Pentecostalism as the third wave of Christianity. Whereas Catholic and Orthodox
traditions emphasize continuity, orthodoxy and the sacraments, and Protestantism
emphasizes the centrality of the Scriptures, the Pentecostals have added the gifts of
the Spirit.
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How Christianity Changed

Civilization
Christianity is part of human history and its role is etched in concrete in a way that
none of its detractors can erase. It has withstood the gates of hell. The ravages of its
enemies have been powerless to alter the fact that it has changed the lives of over
18 billion human beings who have been baptized and who have borne Christian
names during the past 2000 years. One can argue theology but one cannot argue
with experience and testimony based on experience. More than 500 million people
have not only accepted the faith but gave up their families and possessions to serve
as monks, missionaries and evangelists. More than 70 million went further and gave
up their lives for their faith in Jesus Christ. It is as if a giant supernovae explosion
2000 years ago continues to reverberate through the corridors of time drawing
countless people even today in its wake. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ is the primary basis of the Christian faith, but the lives of the billions of
Christians who have yoked their lives to him is a powerful secondary basis. To deny
Christianity one has to deny not only Christ but the lives of billions whose lives are
bound up with Him. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Change is a powerful word in Christian thought. It pervades all of Christian theology.
Christ came to change and to transform one human being at a time. Change engages
the human will in a direction that is contrary to what it would have taken in the
natural course of events. Like raindrops, the change of one person may not seem
significant and may have little or no historical value. But when the change sweeps
across continents and involves millions and billions of human beings over millennia,
then the raindrops become a flood that acquires a life of its own. That is why looking
at Christianity as a purely synchronic phenomenon always misses its essence.
Christianity is a diachronic phenomenon with depth across time and space and it
involves not merely a Jewish radical teacher but a multi-billion army of saints who
have accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Every day Christianity survives it becomes
more difficult for its detractors to dismiss it because every day there are more
witnesses to Christs power to contend with. Christianity has no proofs; it has only
witnesses.
Christ did not merely change civilization; he created one, replacing the one that is
temporal and perishable with one that is eternal and imperishable. This civilization
has its own monarch, laws, language, value systems, governance, culture, literature,
art, music. During the course of human history, it runs parallel to the time-bound
civilization that already has the signet of death on its brow. But the latter will soon be
supplanted and then destroyed and will then exist no more. But the fact that secular
civilization has to live under the shadow of the Christian civilization has itself
41
enfeebled and changed it. This change has come about because of the transforming
power of Christ. This transformation is the result of a chain reaction, the same kind of
chain reaction that takes place in nuclear reactors.
Every civilization is a world system. It has great power to make people conform to its
values and beliefs because its source of power is absolute uniformity or
gleichshaltung. When a world order is turned upside down, it affects the core of its
authority. When a handful of people do that they can be silenced or executed. But
when the defiance spreads to millions and billions, we witness a house divided, and
the beginning of the end of that world system. This is what happed when Christianity
first challenged and then openly set at naught the powers and principalities that
ruled the world until the appearance of Christ and His death and resurrection. In a
slaveowning society, change begins when slaves realize that their master does not
have power over their souls. In human society before Christ human beings were
indentured slaves to the power of evil. When this power was broken, the master
might continue to assert his legal rights; but he had lost all moral rights.
1. Redefinition of Godhead
Religion existed before Christianity and it exists in the world today outside of
Christianity. Christianity did not invent religion, but it replaced it. The god of all
religions is an unnamed and unknowable being whose power comes from the fact
that he is unknowable, capricious and quick to punish. He expects his created beings
to grovel before him and placate him with sacrifices and endless adulation. He
expects tributes of money and material goods as part of the acknowledgment of his
sovereignty. Generally he consorts and cavorts with lesser gods as well as his minions
to enforce his will or convey his pleasure or displeasure. All the world religions use
the occult as instruments of their power.
Christianitys redefinition of the very idea of godhead was the first great revolution in
the human spirits ascent toward heaven. For the first time in history, Christ
redefined God as Abba, or Father. God is no longer a vengeful demiurge terrorizing
human beings with displays of his power, but a loving father whose children believe
and trust in Him. Christ said, God is love, not God has love, thus identifying love with
the very essence of godhead. He takes care of His children not merely in this life but
in the life to come. Not content to issuing commandments, He came down to earth
and lived among us and partook of our sorrows and trials and then sacrificed Himself
on Calvary for the sins of mankind. He came to serve and to be a ransom for many.
To apply the word religion to Christianity is to miss entirely the significance of this
tectonic change in the concept of God. If anything, Christianity is the anti-religion.
2.
Sanctification of Human Life
The redefinition of godhead that Christ introduced into human history had profound
consequences in the status of human beings, both male and female. If God is a
father, it followed that those who accepted him as father are his children, and not
merely children, but heirs and legatees who shared his kingdom and the riches of life
in this world and hereafter. Outside of Christ human beings have no intrinsic worth;
they may acquire wealth, power, prestige and other attributes but never intrinsic
worth. Intrinsic worth can only be endowed by a creator and is extended only to
those who have a relationship with him. The New Testament is a legal document that
establishes rights and privileges of the heirs of Christ; it is what Paul calls the
Inheritance of the Saints, the patrimony that believers share. As a result there is a
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legal change in the status of human beings who are believers. They have passed
from darkness to light.
Before Christ human beings were chattels and indentured slaves to the prevailing
political or social system. They had no rights that could not be taken away by others
more powerful. They had no rights that could not be bought or sold. Even today,
where in democratic countries, people are said to have human rights, these rights are
brittle and subject to the vagaries of the political or economic system. Many of these
human rights are paper rights, and even where they exist on paper they can be easily
subverted. The rights that believers have in Christ are divine, not human, rights. The
divine right of Christians is etched in stone and there is no power on earth that can
take them away. By these rights Christians are kings and priests, not lowly peasants
in the kingdom of God.
Human life was sanctified by Christ by the simple act of incarnation. By taking on the
form of a human, Christ divinized both the form and spirit of human beings.
Salvation was not by divine fiat, although that would have been easy. Christ lived
among us, as one of us, and thus intersected mortality with immortality. The power of
the Incarnation is transmitted by faith to all generations, sometimes through mere
speech, sometimes through the laying on of hands, but whatever the means, the
power thus transmitted adds value to the receiver. He or she becomes worthy of
being saved and preserved for ages, not to be cast way without a trace.
Implicit in the worth that Christ endows his children is the sense of the value of all
life, that of even the smallest infant as well as the disabled, the sick, the maimed and
the blind. In pre-Christian times as well as in modern times, certain classes of people
had no value; these included unwanted babies, the blind, the lame, the lepers, the
sick, the criminal, the prostitute, the idiot, and the outcasts of society. In the Gospel,
these outcasts not only have value, but they have special value. Because value is not
assigned by society, but is received as a gift from God, it cannot be expunged
capriciously. The special value given to the disadvantaged arises from the fact that
Christianity does not place a high value on the present state of a human being but
rather looks upon our brief stay on earth as not affecting our eternal condition. A
leper or a criminal is only a leper or criminal on earth, and since the present life is
transitory, value cannot be assigned simply on the basis of a fleeting existence.
Believers thus have eternal value, not merely human rights on earth.
3. Sanctification of Sexual Mores and Marriage

Before Christianity, all societies were immoral or tainted with immoral traditions.
Promiscuity, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, prostitution
and incest were not only widely tolerated but actually accepted as the norm. Sexual
slavery was practiced in all countries from China to Western Europe. Women were not
only considered chattels but degraded as sex objects especially in times of war and
conquest. Homosexuality and lesbianism were encouraged as normal among adults.
Many cultures were polyandrous or polygamous. Those who did not follow these
practices either became monks or were considered freaks. Even the Jews, although
monotheistic, were not monogamous. Divorce was common and so were adultery and
prostitution.
Christianity introduced monogamy and chastity into the world. Divorce was
condemned along with other sexual sins such as homosexuality, promiscuity and
adultery. The bar was set very high. It became a sin to look at a woman (or a man)
and lust after her (or him). Marriage became a sacrament for life, settled in heaven
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as well as on earth. Sex was confined to marriage. Even the attire of women and
men was to be modest, not provocative. For the first time, the human body itself was
considered sacred,; in Corinthians 6:19, Paul called the body the temple of the Holy
Spirit.
Over the centuries, Christian sexual mores became the norm, first in Western society
and, by the 20th century, in all human societies. Although sexual deviance has now
returned in full strength to these societies, especially in the West, law and legal
traditions still hold many of the more institutionalized forms of immorality in check.
The stigma attached to these forms of behavior, like incest, still remains, even
though they are widely condoned. Monogamous lifelong marriage still remains the
ideal, although attained in fewer cases than before. Polygamy is outlawed in all but
Muslim countries. Outside of law, psychologists and counselors treat sexual deviance
as a serious problem, thus acknowledging the force of Christian ethics in holding back
these destructive forces from wreaking havoc on human lives. Homosexuals are the
ones who are most restive under the interdiction of the New Testament. But they
have failed universally to gain acceptance in mainstream society and still remain on
the fringes in their own ghettoes.
4. Empowerment of Women with Freedom and Dignity

St. Paul in Galatians 3:28 said that There is neither...male nor female for you are all
one in Christ. Gender, one of the most powerful fault lines in the human race, was
thereby erased. To find out the status of non-Christian women, one has only to look at
Islam, the archetypal system of female subjugation that is found with minor changes
in most pagan societies. Under the Sharia, women are chattels, without any legal or
moral rights; even married women can be divorced at the drop of hat and then
deprived of their children and wealth. The Koran declares that Men stand superior
to women...admonish [women] and beat them. In Greece in ancient times as well as
in India and China in modern times, even baby girls were treated as burdens and
either aborted or killed. Roman society had a low regard for women, as did Jews. In
Jewish prayer, the man prays to thank God for not making him a woman. Under
Roman law, the male head of the family has manus or absolute power over his wife
and children.
On the other hand, women play a major role in the New Testament. Christ himself
accords great respect to the women he encountered, including the prostitute, Mary
Magdalene. He received the hospitality of many women, including Mary and Martha.
Jesus appeared to many women after His resurrection. The Apostolic Church
welcomed many women, such as Priscilla, Nympha, Apphia, Phoebe, and Lydia, all of
whom helped Paul on his missionary journeys. The historian W. E. H. Lecky credits
women in the conversion of the Roman Empire, In the ages of persecution, females
occupy the foremost places and ranks of martyrdom. Women were among the great
evangelists of the first century. Rodney Stark estimates that the early Christian
community was 60% female. The high proportion of women in the early church
continues to hold true even in modern societies.
In the early church women were always treated as the equals of men, thus breaking
the legal and religious traditions of both the Jews and the Romans. This equal status
undermined the patria potestas that husbands had over their wives in Roman law. As
these rights were challenged, women were granted the same rights as men over
property and they also received the right of guardianship over their children.
Christianity also helped to unveil women. In almost all ancient cultures women wore
veils just as they do in Muslim countries. Christianity also helped to abolish barbaric
44
customs such as sati or the self-immolation of widows in India, polygamy and

polygyny in all countries, footbinding in China and clitoridectomy in African countries.
5. Beatification of Charity and Compassion

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit
me. (Matt. 25:35) One of the great transformations in human society that
Christianity engendered was the transformation of values in which the usual pecking
order was transposed and reversed. Power was in service; the weak became strong;
the last became first; things that are not seen became important; the beggar became
the guest of honor; the helpless and the sick became the objects of affection. The
care of the sick and the needy was not an option for Christians; it was a commission.
Christians gave cheerfully to those who could not give back. As Paul wrote: Each of
you should look not only to own interests but also to the interests of others.
(Philippians 2:4). Augustine said, Where charity is not, justice cannot be.
Christian concern for orphans, widows, the sick and the outcast stemmed from New
Testament teaching that every human bring was precious in the right of God. It was
defined by James as pure and faultless religion. It was not an episodic compassion
in response to a specific calamity or misfortune; it was a constant state of mind. It
also required fearlessness in the face of danger as in the case of monks and nuns
putting their own lives in danger by visiting lepers and those with AIDS. Whatever
you did not do for one of these least, you did not do for me. (John 15:13).
The injunctions to express their faith through acts of mercy are replete in the New
Testament. Therefore,, as Gods chosen people, St. Paul, enjoined the Christians at
Colossae, holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourself with compassion. (Colossians
3:12). St. James reminded his readers: Religion that God out father accepts as pure
and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in distress. This was what
Nietzsche found so distressing about Christianity, that it elevated the weak and the
helpless over the powerful and the strong.
Christianity has created special groups of people who are Gods wards. These are the
poor, the orphans, widows, the sick, the hungry, the helpless, the homeless, the
infirm, the old, the dying, the grieving, the prisoner, the deformed and handicapped,
Thus acts of compassion were not simply charity that made those engaged in them
feel good; Christians were acting vicariously on behalf of God. The poor, for example,
receive special mention in the New Testament as among those who will inherit the
kingdom of God. Although, all are equal in the sight of God, Gods wards have a lien
on the kindness and compassion of Christians.
Christian compassion has seeped into modern institutions, although their Christian
pedigree is often denied. Social welfare, now accepted as dogma by nations and
philanthropic institutions, was clearly defined in Christian terms and has its origin in
Christian theology. Christianity breeds a sense of outrage at moral as well social evils.
News of exploitation, genocide, injustice, always evokes in a Christian a sense not
only that it is eveil but that Christians should do something about it. In this sense,
modern civilizations softer side bears a Christian image.
Over the centuries Christianity has been responsible for the establishment of a
number of the seminal institutions of charity and compassion.
45
Diaconia, for the care of widows (Acts 6:1-7, about 37 A. D.)

Matricula, church lists of needy persons (1st century)
Common treasuries to aid the needy during famine (1 Corinthians 16:2, ( 1st century)
Collegia or soladitatis or factionis, to aid the unfortunate, ( 2nd and 3rd century A. D.)
Orphanotrophia, buildings for orphans (4th century)
Brephotrophia, buildings for foundlings, (4th century)
Monasteries to shelter people in need
Morotrophia, mental asylums, ( 321 A. D.)
Nosocomia, hospitals for the sick and the infirm, (late 4th century)
Xenodochia, houses of hospitality for weary travelers
Ptochia, institutions for the poor, 4th century
Gerontocomia, institutions for the aged and the senile, 5th century
Typholocomia, institutions for the blind, first established in Jerusalem, 630.
Domus Sancti Spiritus, house of the Holy Spirit in Germany, 14th century
6. Elevation of Healing and Nursing into Ministering Arts

I was sick and you looked after me. (Matthew 25:36) With these words Christ set
the standard for nurturing and caring for the sick. Healing was one of the main planks
of Christs ministry on earth. Matthew states that Jesus went throughout Galilee
...healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23). He healed
the lame, the deaf, the palsied, the lepers and the blind. Healing was built into the
Great Commission. He sent out the disciples to preach the kingdom of God and heal
the sick. Jesus said he came for the sick and not for the well. The healing that he
spoke of was holistic; it strove for a body as well as a soul that was well.
During the early centuries, Christians cared for the sick by taking them into their own
homes and caring for them. After Christianity became the official religion of the
Roman Empire, Christians established buildings known as hospices to care for the
infirm and the sick. The first ecumenical council at Nicaea in 325 directed bishops to
establish hospices in every cathedral city. The first hospital in history, known as a
nosocomium, was built by St. Basil of Caesarea about 369. Another was built in
Edessa in 375. About 390 Fabiola, a wealthy Roman widow and an associate of St.
Jerome, built the first hospital in the West in Rome. Fabiola built a second hospital
together with Pammachius at Ostia, about 50 miles southwest of Rome. St.
Chrysostom built hospitals in Constantinople in the late fourth and early fifth
centuries and St. Augustine built more hospitals in northern Africa and Italy. It must
be noted that these hospitals were not commercial institutions as they are today, but
charitable ones in which the sick stayed as long as they were sick. Before
Christianity the sick, like foundlings and others, were simply abandoned. The very
concept that they could be restored to health or could be cared for while sick was a
revolutionary concept introduced by the Christian church.
In the Middle Ages new religious orders grew known as the hospitallers. The Order of
Hospitallers recruited women for nursing the sick. Thus the Hospitallers of St. Lazarus
founded in the East in the 12th century devoted themselves primarily to nursing. The
celebrated Knights of the Order of Hospitallers of St. John, also known as the Knights
of Malta, not only operated and maintained hospitals for the sick but also mental
asylums. The first Christian insane asylum was founded in 1409 in Valencia, Spain,
under their auspices.
The Spanish conquerors introduced hospitals to the New World. In 1524 Hernando
Cortes founded the Jesus of Nazareth Hospital in Mexico City. In 1541 Zumarraga
46
established a hospital for venereal diseases. Quakers founded the first hospital in the
United States in the 1700s.
The insane receive prominent treatment in Jesus ministry. In the early church,
bishops and monks took charge of lunatics and gathered them in houses specially
assigned for the purpose. This tradition was followed in the Middle Ages. In France
Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) and in the United States Dorothea Dix (1802-1867) were
two Christians who introduced humane practices into mental asylums.
7. Altering the Scope of Knowledge

There were great schools and teachers in the pre-Christian world. The search of
knowledge was a pursuit that was blessed by the pagan religions of India and China.
The transmission of knowledge from teachers to students in a formal school setting
was also fairly common in the world into which Jesus was born. The Jews had great
rabbinical schools in both Judea and in the countries of their erstwhile conquerors,
like Babylon. So what then is the contribution of Christianity to education? It lies in
the sanctification of knowledge, using knowledge itself as a tool of salvation.
Knowledge has a goal, not merely the fulfillment of curiosity, but the yoking of the
human mind to the mind of God in an enterprise that outlasts a human lifetime.
Knowledge is permanent and it is teleological; it is not ephemeral and it is not
circular.
Christian education today is of two kinds. Many missionary orders and groups are
engaged in the running of secular schools and institutions of learning throughout the
world and they often excel at that. There are more than 300,000 Christian schools in
the educational systems of the 200 countries of the world. Their syllabi may include
compulsory or noncompulsory religious instruction. The Jesuits are celebrated for
their schools as well as their pedagogical system. There are millions of Christian
scholars in every conceivable discipline, even the hard sciences which are
traditionally branded as outside the religious ambit.
In almost every country, the secular schools themselves have a Christian origin. This
is particularly true in the Western world where the first schools were cathedral
schools attached to churches. For centuries, the curriculum in these schools started
(and often ended) with religious training and until the Enlightenment had a strong
Biblical component. The teachers in these secular schools were monks or nuns. The
textbooks themselves began literacy training with Biblical examples. The goal was to
provide a bedrock that could withstand the heavy load of secular learning that
followed later in life. The tradition continued in the New World where both the
Spanish and the Western Europeans based their educational systems on the religious
schooling of their mother countries. When the first institutions of higher learning
sprung up in Europe, they were extensions of monastic learning institutions. All
colleges and universities in Europe have strong religious pedigree. Learning and faith
were inseparable until the 18th century. This was also the case in the New World
where great institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth,
Rutgers, were initially designed to train godly men in the pursuit of knowledge and
where the original Divinity schools still survive although in a sadly mutated form.
Christians were also responsible for some of the great transformational landmarks in
education, such as the introduction of girls. Women were excluded from formal
education in ancient societies. Christianity was thus the first to break the gender
barrier in education and defy the cultural bias against women in the acquisition and
47
transmission of knowledge. Women received the same kind of education in Christian

schools as boys and as a result Christian women were universally more educated
than their pagan counterparts. Women who entered nunneries received even more
extensive education under the tutelage of their superiors. Some of these women
became great scholars and writers, such as Hrotsvitha of Gandesheim (932-1002)
who wrote plays, poems, epics and legends, Hildegaard of Bingen (1098-1179),
Catherine of Siena (1347-1389) and Christine de Pizan (14 th century).
The Reformation intensified the role of education as a specifically Christian activity
and as a sphere of Christian influence. For Martin Luther, education was the key to
Christian living. People needed to be taught to read the Bible in their own languages.
The second kind is the one that began at the day of the Pentecost when Luke says
that they never stopped teaching... that Jesus is the Christ (Acts: 5:42). Shortly
before His Ascension, Jesus asked His disciples to make disciples of all nations...
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28: 19-20).
Teachers are among the fivefold ministries mentioned by Paul. One of the
qualifications of a bishop was his ability to teach. (I Timothy 3:2). Newcomers to the
faith were inculcated in the essentials of the faith. Origen established one of the
great catechetical schools in Alexandria and sound instruction of the catechumens
was one of the primary duties of deacons, elders and priests. These catechetical
schools grew into the modern seminaries from which over 100,000 graduate each
year around the world.
Other areas where Christianity has left its footprints are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Theological Ideas The most powerful change wrought by Christianity has

been in the realm of ideas. Even in the first century, Christianity brought
about a revolutionary transformation of ideas. For example: Christianity was
the first to introduce the idea of God as father or abba and it is still the only
religion to hold this tenet. It is the only religion that sublimates suffering, pain
and death.
Social Ideas Christianity gave birth to a host of other breakthrough ideas,
ideas that have become commonplace today but were once radical and even
subversive. According to Michael Novak, four Christian concepts have
profoundly affected modern thinking: dignity of the person, liberty, truth and
conscience. Christian ideas, such as monogamy and philoprogeny, have
influenced the evolution of the family in Western and non-Western societies.
Christian activists helped in the abolition of slave trade and slavery.
Names. Christian nomenclature has christened billions of human beings with
their names.
Christian Calendar. The Christian calendar divides history into Before
Christ (B.C.) and Anno Domini (A.D.). This is the governing calendar of modern
times. Attempts by the French Revolutionaries and others to displace it were
dismal failures.
Law Legal concepts of right and wrong can be traced to Christian and Biblical
ethical notions and codes of conduct. International law owes its origins to two
powerful Christian thinkers: Francisco de Vitoria and Hugo Grotius. Modern
ethical systems also owe their seminal concepts to Christianity.
Literacy The literary culture of almost all of Europe and the Americas and
much of Asia and Africa is inseparable from the culturally transformative
power of the Word. What marks the emergence of Christian influence in
48
literature is the appearance and dissemination of the Gospels as a popular

and vernacular body of texts. Christians first introduced bound books rather
than scrolls or parchments as the physical format of literature. Sts. Cyril and
Methodius developed the Cyrillic alphabet. The work of Christian missionaries
was responsible for the appearance of written texts in most African languages.
The Wycliffe Group has produced Bibles in hundreds of languages which had
no prior alphabet. Monks also helped to create a literary era dominated by
illuminated manuscripts and calligraphy.
7. Literature In developed countries great Christian writers have created a
whole corpus of literature. Among the most celebrated of these writers are
Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, C. S. Lewis, St. Augustine and others.
8. Music. Christian musical forms and idioms form the basis of much of Western
music. Christianity incorporated music into its worship services so that music
became a sacred ritual. Many forms of music are peculiarly Christian like the
cantata, oratorio, psalms, chants, anthems, motets and requiems.
9. Worship. Christianity introduced new forms for worship as early as the first
century. These forms of worship centered on the mass and included
sacraments that bound the believer to the church. These sacraments include
baptism, confession, confirmation, and last unction. In the latter days,
Pentecostals have introduced joyful forms of worship.
10. Spirituality encompasses monasticism, asceticism and concepts of holiness.
Since the end of Christianity is sanctity, the church has developed over the
years a number of approaches to this goal. These include prayers,
monasticism, asceticism, fasting, and abstinence.
11. Human Rights. Christianity was the first to give voice to the downtrodden
and its success in the early centuries was in no small measure due to its
advocacy of the notion that all human beings are made in the image of God.
The dignity of the person was one of the driving and seminal ideas of
Christianity and it remains so even after 2000 years. Christianity promotes
human rights as a value that undergirds all political and social activities.
Implied in the concern for human rights is a reverence for all life, including
those of the unborn, the elderly and the disabled and those on death row.
12. Art Forover 16 centuries, art was a handmaiden of faith, and faith inspired
the greatest works of art in the Western world. Of the thousands of paintings
and sculptures during this period, about 75% dealt with religious subjects. It
is said that the most popular theme in all art is Mother and Child representing
Mary and Jesus.
13. Architecture. Christianity spawned new forms of architecture and it also put
classical forms to new use. Basilicas, campaniles, cathedrals and chapels are
among the many architectural innovations associated with Christianity. The
spire topped by a cross is the most familiar sight in all architecture throughout
the world.
14. Education In 94 of the 229 countries of the world, Christian schools were
the first educational institutions. In Europe, almost all the great universities
are of Christian origin and so are universities in South and North America.
Christian missionaries were among the most skilled teachers and scholars in
these institutions. Many Christian evangelists were also great scholars. For
example, William Carey was also a great Sanskrit scholar and published a
number of dictionaries in Indian languages. Among the uniquely Christian
contributions to education include catechism schools, Sunday schools and the
folk schools of Scandinavia. Many of the modern educational innovations
came from Christians: Kindergarten (Friedrich Froebel), education for the blind
(Louis Braille) and education for the deaf (Thomas Gallaudet).
49
15. Politics Although Christianity acknowledged the right of Caesar to temporal

power, it nevertheless introduced moral boundaries to civil authority. It
emphasized the role of conscience in dictating whether Christians should obey
their rulers. Civil disobedience was derived by Tolstoy from the Bible and it
was later adopted by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
16. Celebrations and Festivals The Christian calendar has introduced many
of the worlds most widely observed festivals, such as Christmas and Easter.
Regional Variations Because Christianity reached different regions and

continents at different times and centuries, Christian civilization exhibits a variety
of developmental traits. But these variations do not affect the fundamental
character of the faith or its impact on human culture.
The Future of Christianity

In most human institutions it is possible for futurists to extrapolate trends and
chart their short-term future. But Christianity is not a human institution. If it
were, it would have disappeared long ago. The rudder of the universal church is
in the hands of the Holy Spirit and its timelines are already set. There are no
surprises in Christian history because it proceeds on a straight line and toward a
set goal. The New Testament assures believers that the Church Militant and the
Suffering Church of the present age will be replaced by the Church Triumphant
that will be reunited with her Lord along with the hosts of believers. When the end
is so clearly delineated the ups and downs of the journey to that goal become less
important.
Numerically, Christianity, now the religion of one-third of humanity, has passed its
cusp and may not be able to make great gains in the new century. Further, it is in
serious decline based on external indicators in almost all countries that constitute
traditional Christendom and this decline is expected to continue. During the past
2000 years it was able to compensate serious losses in any one region by
expanding into others: First the evangelization of Europe, then the new World and
finally the Third World enabled it to become a global religion incrementally. But
the process cannot continue indefinitely after the Gospel has reached the
uttermost parts of the earth. Further, there is resistance to the Gospel not
merely from other religions but also from secular people in Historically Christian
Countries (HCC). Missionary efforts tend to flag as fatigue sets in. The quality of
Christian witness and experience has also tended to deteriorate in many
countries, suffocated and smothered by the thorns and thistles of materialism.
Even though church statistics claims that there are 2 billion Christians (the figure
used in this book), the percentage of committed believers may be as small as
20%.
Christian growth has been always per saltum, or in spurts. There are long periods
of dormancy followed by a quantum jump. This quantum jump is invariably the
result of divine intervention, because the church in and of itself has no directional
compass or reserves of energy outside of the Holy Spirit. With the whole
Oikumene, or the inhabited world now with access to the Gospel, the next stage
of Christian growth will be different from the past. The Christian Church has been
described as a pilgrim church and it is not going to be permanently on earth. The
next eschatological phase in Christian history will accelerate the pilgrimage of the
50
church from its role as the Church Militant to its final destiny as the Church
Triumphant.
[Sample Entry]
Paradoxes, Christian
George Thomas Kurian
I believe said Tertullian, referring to his Christian faith, because it is absurd. In
many senses Christianity runs counter to the wisdom of this world. The Gospel is
illogical according to the philosophers who are the custodians of the worlds wisdom.
There are striking paradoxes in the Christian system that overwhelm conventional
thinking. The complaint of the Romans in the first century was that Christians were
turning the world upside down. Nietzsche complained that Christianity represented
a transvaluation of values. Paul said that the Gospel is foolishness to the Greeks,
and a stumbling block to the Jews, using both Greeks and Jews as a metaphor for the
wisdom of the world.
There are two types of paradoxes in Christian thought. First there are verbal and
logical paradoxes that seem to be contradictions or oxymorons. Consider these
statements: He who finds his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will
gain it. (Matt.10.39.). Service is perfect freedom (Book of Common Prayer). The
believer is simultaneously righteous and a sinner. (Luther). The Resurrection is
certain because it is impossible. (Tertullian) and from the New Testament: The
servant is greater than the master , The poor are rich , The meek shall inherit the
earth, Overcome evil with good, Turn the other cheek. You [Christians] are in
the world, but not of it.
Secondly there are ontological paradoxes or seeming incompatibility in the natural
sense. These are violations of linear thinking. Kant calls this antinomy. Trinity is the
ultimate paradox; three persons who are one in nature but different in function. The
incarnation is another. The divine translated into a child in a universe that
encompasses several worlds and minute specks and atoms at the same time.
Predestination is a paradox, for how can God foreknow and foretell and yet give
human beings a free will to make authentic choices in life. The incomprehensible is
made comprehensible in the Bible yet it still remains a mystery. The inerrant Word is
51
clothed and expressed by finite and fallible human beings serving as scribes, vessels
and channels.
Belief does not means that believers have to resolve the paradoxes or solve the
mysteries before they believe. Paul said that Christians walk by faith not by sight,
equating sight with the natural world and the world of logical thinking. Christianity is
indeed as Kierkegaard said, magical thinking in which believers have to leap across
chasms of doubt and seeming absurdity. He calls it the leap of faith. Neo-orthodox
theologians standing on Kierkegaards shoulders have embraced paradoxes as
paradigms, or the dialectics of mediating contradictions inherent in the human
predicament. Christianity does not explain how nature works; it is less interested in
understanding the world than in overcoming it. Paul calls Christians conquerors or
overcomers. Christianity is best understood not as an explanation of the natural order
of things but -- in a transcendent sense -- in opposition to it. Rationalists have tried to
explain a very messy world (in Christian terms a sinful world) in simple, logical terms
and have failed. Christianity is at its roots irrational, because it is not dealing with
the natural world or the natural order of things but with an invisible supranatural
world whose laws are beyond comprehension, let alone explanation. Christianity does
not provide a diagnosis for the problems of life but a cure. A person who is sick or
suffering may not understand the diagnosis, yet his trust is in the physician.
The world has its own paradoxes and Christian paradoxes may properly be termed
counterparadoxes. The greatest of the worldly paradoxes is death, the very negation
of life, which stands athwart every human life crying stop. All the logic, brilliance
and intellectual agility of the scientists and philosophers are powerless against death.
If death is the ultima thule of life, it makes all life meaningless, pointless, and even
ridiculous. Yet death is Exhibit A in the Christian argument, the terminus a quo of
Christian theology. If there were no death and suffering, there would be no need for
Christianity. The second paradox is the dichotomy between reality and truth. Not
everything that is real is necessarily true or just or good. Things that are are not
necessarily things that ought to be. Christianity bridges the gap between reality and
truth.
Throughout history it has been easier to disbelieve Christ than to believe in Christ.
Because human senses are tethered to the natural creation, any suspension of the
natural order, as in a miracle, is a challenge to the conscious mind. The rationalists
and the skeptics who accuse Christianity as irrational or unreasonable are right in the
short term. There is an internal consistency which rationalism provides with respect
to the world and it is confirmed and authenticated by science. But this consistency
ends when we reach the end of life, space and time. Christianity has no science to
back it up and it is inconsistent, contradictory and even outrageous in many of its
assertions and claims. There are passages in the New Testament where Christ
dissociates Himself from the world and even disowns it. My kingdom he tells the
theologically challenged Pilate, is not of this world. (John `18:36) But the strength
of the Gospel is that its consistency comes from the larger context of eternity rather
than life, time and space. It is only in the context of the invisible world of the spirit
and of eternity of which human life is a minute part that Christianity makes sense.
The medieval theologians spoke of life as sub specie aeternitatis, life as a speck of
eternity. Now, Paul says, speaking of the present time,, we see through a glass
darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I am
known. (I Cor.13:12) In that period of eternity that Paul calls then all paradoxes
will be resolved and the seeming contradictions cancelled out.
R. W. Hepburn Christianity and Paradox 1958
C. F. H. Henry God, Revelation and Authority 1976
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Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization The Christians Entry

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The Encyclopedia of

Edited by George Thomas Kurian

The Rationale and Purpose

Structure, Organization and Methodology

Introduction: Overview of the

human existence sub species aeternatitis, as a prelude to an eternal kingdom. It

How Christianity Spread

The Three Constant Themes

There are three constant themes in Christian history: defense of orthodoxy,

The third constant in Christian history is persecution. Persecution and martyrdom

The Six Levels of Christianity

The Contradictions in Christianity

The Twelve Branches of Christianity

Roman Catholic Church

The Major Traditions of the Christian

The Russian Orthodox Church

The Serbian Orthodox Church

Lesser Eastern Churches

The Coptic Church

The Armenian Church

The Syriac (or Syrian) Orthodox Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Second Millennium Churches: The Pauline

Presbyterian / Reformed Churches

Anglicanism is the distinctive organization and teachings of the Church of England

The Johannine Tradition

How Christianity Changed

Sanctification of Human Life

3. Sanctification of Sexual Mores and Marriage

4. Empowerment of Women with Freedom and Dignity

customs such as sati or the self-immolation of widows in India, polygamy and

5. Beatification of Charity and Compassion

Diaconia, for the care of widows (Acts 6:1-7, about 37 A. D.)

6. Elevation of Healing and Nursing into Ministering Arts

7. Altering the Scope of Knowledge

transmission of knowledge. Women received the same kind of education in Christian

Theological Ideas The most powerful change wrought by Christianity has

literature is the appearance and dissemination of the Gospels as a popular

15. Politics Although Christianity acknowledged the right of Caesar to temporal

Regional Variations Because Christianity reached different regions and

The Future of Christianity

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