Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

As a basic description, Christianity is the religious faith grounded on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Beyond this point, the scholarly understanding of that concept has been the object of much discussion in modern times, particularly in the realm of the social sciences. In an attempt to put some order into the social, religious, historical, and ideological reality that corresponds to the term “Christianity,” a synthetic account may be offered, covering its history and the main dimensions. Christianity was, at its inception, a religious movement of messianic-apocalyptic character, born from the preaching and destiny of Jesus, deemed by his disciples to be “the Christ” (Messiah or Redeemer), in the context of the anxieties and expectations of the Jewish religious milieu of the first century. The experiences of his followers after the death of their master and, particularly, their purported encounter with him as a resurrected person triggered the first expansion of this movement, which was perceived at the time as just another apocalyptic sect within Judaism. Gradually, the Christian teaching reached ever more people outside the Jewish boundaries. It finally appeared as a new religious faith oriented to a broader public inside the Roman Empire, and achieved stability as a more institutional and salvific religion. The new faith expanded despite the persecutions suffered ... log in or subscribe to read full text