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Christianity
Article Free Pass- Introduction
- The church and its history
- The essence and identity of Christianity
- The history of Christianity
- The primitive church
- The internal development of the early Christian Church
- Relations between Christianity and the Roman government and the Hellenistic culture
- The early liturgy, the calendar, and the arts
- The alliance between church and empire
- Theological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries
- Liturgy and the arts after Constantine
- Political relations between East and West
- Literature and art of the “Dark Ages”
- Missions and monasticism
- The Photian schism and the great East–West schism
- From the schism to the Reformation
- Christianity from the 16th to the 20th century
- Contemporary Christianity
- Christian doctrine
- The nature and functions of doctrine
- Scripture and tradition: the apostolic witness
- Evangelism: the first teaching about the God of Jesus Christ
- Catechesis: instructing candidates for baptism
- Liturgy: the school and feast of faith
- Ethics: obeying the truth
- Aversion of heresy: the establishment of orthodoxy
- Apologetics: defending the faith
- Restatement: respecting language and knowledge
- Inculturation: respecting places and peoples
- Dogma: the most authoritative teaching
- Consensus: patterns of agreement
- Theology: loving God with the mind
- Symbolics: creeds and confessions
- Development: the maturation of understanding
- Schism: division over substantial matters
- Controversy: fighting over the faith
- Ecumenism: speaking the truth in love
- God the Father
- God the Son
- God the Holy Spirit
- The Holy Trinity
- Anthropology
- What it is to be human
- The human as a creature
- The human as the image of God
- Human redemption
- The problem of suffering
- The resurrection of the body
- Progressive human perfection
- The “new man”: The human being in the light of Christ
- The “reborn human”
- Human liberation
- Joy in human existence
- The charismatic believer
- Christian perfection
- Fellow humans as the present Christ
- The church
- Church tradition
- Eschatology
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in early Christianity
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the medieval and Reformation periods
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the post-Reformation period
- The role of imminent expectation in missions and emigrations
- Eschatological expectations and secularization
- Concepts of life after death
- Aspects of the Christian religion
- Christian philosophy
- Christian mysticism
- Christian myth and legend
- The Christian community and the world
- The relationships of Christianity
- Christian missions
- Ecumenism
- Christianity and world religions
- Related
- Contributors & Bibliography
- Year in Review Links
- Introduction
- The church and its history
- The essence and identity of Christianity
- The history of Christianity
- The primitive church
- The internal development of the early Christian Church
- Relations between Christianity and the Roman government and the Hellenistic culture
- The early liturgy, the calendar, and the arts
- The alliance between church and empire
- Theological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries
- Liturgy and the arts after Constantine
- Political relations between East and West
- Literature and art of the “Dark Ages”
- Missions and monasticism
- The Photian schism and the great East–West schism
- From the schism to the Reformation
- Christianity from the 16th to the 20th century
- Contemporary Christianity
- Christian doctrine
- The nature and functions of doctrine
- Scripture and tradition: the apostolic witness
- Evangelism: the first teaching about the God of Jesus Christ
- Catechesis: instructing candidates for baptism
- Liturgy: the school and feast of faith
- Ethics: obeying the truth
- Aversion of heresy: the establishment of orthodoxy
- Apologetics: defending the faith
- Restatement: respecting language and knowledge
- Inculturation: respecting places and peoples
- Dogma: the most authoritative teaching
- Consensus: patterns of agreement
- Theology: loving God with the mind
- Symbolics: creeds and confessions
- Development: the maturation of understanding
- Schism: division over substantial matters
- Controversy: fighting over the faith
- Ecumenism: speaking the truth in love
- God the Father
- God the Son
- God the Holy Spirit
- The Holy Trinity
- Anthropology
- What it is to be human
- The human as a creature
- The human as the image of God
- Human redemption
- The problem of suffering
- The resurrection of the body
- Progressive human perfection
- The “new man”: The human being in the light of Christ
- The “reborn human”
- Human liberation
- Joy in human existence
- The charismatic believer
- Christian perfection
- Fellow humans as the present Christ
- The church
- Church tradition
- Eschatology
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in early Christianity
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the medieval and Reformation periods
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the post-Reformation period
- The role of imminent expectation in missions and emigrations
- Eschatological expectations and secularization
- Concepts of life after death
- Aspects of the Christian religion
- Christian philosophy
- Christian mysticism
- Christian myth and legend
- The Christian community and the world
- The relationships of Christianity
- Christian missions
- Ecumenism
- Christianity and world religions
- Related
- Contributors & Bibliography
- Year in Review Links
Medieval thought
No product of medieval Christianity has been more influential in the centuries since the Middle Ages than medieval thought, particularly the philosophy and theology of Scholasticism, whose outstanding exponent was Thomas Aquinas (1224/25–1274). Scholastic theology was an effort to harmonize the doctrinal traditions inherited from the Fathers of the early church with the intellectual achievements of classical antiquity—in other words, to create a synthesis of faith and reason. Because many of the early Fathers both in the East and in the West had developed their theologies under the influence of Neoplatonism, the recovery of Aristotle—first through the influence of Aristotelian philosophers and theologians among the Muslims, and eventually, with help from Byzantium, through translation and study of the authentic texts of Aristotle himself—caused a profound transformation in the methodology and substance of medieval thought. Because it combined fidelity to Scripture and tradition with a positive, though critical, attitude toward the “natural” mind, Scholasticism is a landmark both in the history of Christianity and in the history of Western culture and a symbol of the Christianization of society and culture.
Reformation
Initially the Protestant Reformers maintained the hope that they could accomplish the reformation of the doctrine and life of the church from within, but this proved impossible because of the intransigence of the church, the polemic of the Protestant movements, or the political and cultural situation—or because of all of these factors. The several parties of the Reformation may be conveniently classified according to the extent of their protest against medieval theology, piety, and polity. The Anglican Reformers, as well as Martin Luther and his movement, were, in general, the most conservative in their treatment of the Roman Catholic tradition; John Calvin and his followers were less conservative; the Anabaptists and related groups were least conservative of all. Despite their deep differences, almost all the various Reformation movements were characterized by an emphasis upon the Bible, as distinguished from the church or its tradition, as the authority in religion; by an insistence upon the sovereignty of free grace in the forgiveness of sins; by a stress upon faith alone, without works, as the preconditions of acceptance with God; and by the demand that the laity assume a more significant place in both the work and the worship of the church.
The Reformation envisaged neither schism within the church nor the dissolution of the Christian culture that had developed for more than a millennium. But when the Reformation was over, both the church and the culture had been radically transformed. In part this transformation was the effect of the Reformation; in part it was the cause of the Reformation. The voyages of discovery, the beginnings of a capitalist economy, the rise of modern nationalism, the dawn of the scientific age, the culture of the Renaissance—all these factors, and others besides, helped to break up the “medieval synthesis.” Among these factors, however, the Reformation was one of the most important and, certainly for the history of Christianity, the most significant. For the consequences of the Reformation, not in intention but in fact, were a divided Christendom and a secularized West. Roman Catholicism, no less than Protestantism, has developed historically in the modern world as an effort to adapt historic forms to the implications of these consequences. Established Christianity, as it had been known in the West since the 4th century, ended after the Reformation, though not everywhere at once.
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People
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(German theologian and church historian)"/>
(German theologian and church historian)"/> Adolf von Harnack (German theologian and church historian)
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al-Ḥākim (Fāṭimid caliph)
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(Flemish theologian)"/>
(Flemish theologian)"/> Cornelius Otto Jansen (Flemish theologian)
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(king of Scotland)"/>
(king of Scotland)"/> David I (king of Scotland)
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(Dutch humanist and scholar)"/>
(Dutch humanist and scholar)"/> Desiderius Erasmus (Dutch humanist and scholar)
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Elaine Pagels (American scholar)
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(German theologian)"/>
(German theologian)"/> Ernst Troeltsch (German theologian)
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(German theologian)"/>
(German theologian)"/> Ferdinand Christian Baur (German theologian)
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(king of Denmark)"/>
(king of Denmark)"/> Harald I (king of Denmark)
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(Bohemian religious leader)"/>
(Bohemian religious leader)"/> Jan Hus (Bohemian religious leader)
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(Czech philosopher)"/>
(Czech philosopher)"/> Jerome Of Prague (Czech philosopher)
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Jesus Christ
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(English philosopher)"/>
(English philosopher)"/> John Locke (English philosopher)
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John Toland (British author)
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(Mohawk chief)"/>
(Mohawk chief)"/> Joseph Brant (Mohawk chief)
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(Spanish architect)"/>
(Spanish architect)"/> Juan de Herrera (Spanish architect)
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Keshab Chunder Sen (Hindu philosopher and social reformer)
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(German religious philosopher)"/>
(German religious philosopher)"/> Martin Buber (German religious philosopher)
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Martin E. Marty (American historian of religion)
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(mother of Jesus)"/>
(mother of Jesus)"/> Mary (mother of Jesus)
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Mary Hannah Fulton (American physician and missionary)
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Matthias Flacius Illyricus (European religious reformer)
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Michael Psellus (Byzantine philosopher, theologian, and statesman)
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(Italian artist)"/>
(Italian artist)"/> Michelozzo (Italian artist)
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Mieszko I (duke and prince of Poland)
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Minh Mang (emperor of Vietnam)
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(Danish bishop and poet)"/>
(Danish bishop and poet)"/> N.F.S. Grundtvig (Danish bishop and poet)
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(German religious leader)"/>
(German religious leader)"/> Nikolaus Ludwig, count von Zinzendorf (German religious leader)
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Nikolay Aleksandrovich Berdyayev (Russian philosopher)
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Olaf I Tryggvason (king of Norway)
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Olaf II Haraldsson (king of Norway)
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Pelagius (Christian theologian)
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(American theologian)"/>
(American theologian)"/> Philip Schaff (American theologian)
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(French philosopher)"/>
(French philosopher)"/> Pierre Bayle (French philosopher)
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Pseudo-Dionysius The Areopagite (Syrian author)
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(German theologian, scientist, and philosopher)"/>
(German theologian, scientist, and philosopher)"/> Saint Albertus Magnus (German theologian, scientist, and philosopher)
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(Russian painter)"/>
(Russian painter)"/> Saint Andrey Rublyov (Russian painter)
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(Christian bishop and theologian)"/>
(Christian bishop and theologian)"/> Saint Augustine (Christian bishop and theologian)
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(Anglo-Saxon historian)"/>
(Anglo-Saxon historian)"/> Saint Bede the Venerable (Anglo-Saxon historian)
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(Christian Apostle)"/>
(Christian Apostle)"/> Saint Paul, the Apostle (Christian Apostle)
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Saint Theophilus of Alexandria (Egyptian theologian)
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Sir Sigmund Sternberg (British philanthropist and entrepreneur)
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(Danish philosopher)"/>
(Danish philosopher)"/> Søren Kierkegaard (Danish philosopher)
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(king of Hungary)"/>
(king of Hungary)"/> Stephen I (king of Hungary)
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(American missionary and educator)"/>
(American missionary and educator)"/> Susan Lincoln Tolman Mills (American missionary and educator)
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Theōdūrus Abū Qurrah (Syrian bishop)
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Tu Duc (emperor of Vietnam)
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(grand prince of Kiev)"/>
(grand prince of Kiev)"/> Vladimir I (grand prince of Kiev)
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(prince of Bohemia)"/>
(prince of Bohemia)"/> Wenceslas I (prince of Bohemia)
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(British missionary)"/>
(British missionary)"/> William Carey (British missionary)
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Places
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Armageddon (biblical place)
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(ancient city, Israel)"/>
(ancient city, Israel)"/> Caesarea (ancient city, Israel)
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(Ireland)"/>
(Ireland)"/> Clonmacnoise (Ireland)
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(Spain)"/>
(Spain)"/> El Escorial (Spain)
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Le Temple (prison, Paris, France)
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(monasteries, Greece)"/>
(monasteries, Greece)"/> Metéora (monasteries, Greece)
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(mosque, Córdoba, Spain)"/>
(mosque, Córdoba, Spain)"/> Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba (mosque, Córdoba, Spain)
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(mountain, Greece)"/>
(mountain, Greece)"/> Mount Athos (mountain, Greece)
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(ridge, Jerusalem)"/>
(ridge, Jerusalem)"/> Mount of Olives (ridge, Jerusalem)
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(Italy)"/>
(Italy)"/> Rome (Italy)
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(monastery and church, Assisi, Italy)"/>
(monastery and church, Assisi, Italy)"/> San Francesco (monastery and church, Assisi, Italy)
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School of Alexandria (institution, Alexandria, Egypt)
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(ecclesiastical state, Europe)"/>
(ecclesiastical state, Europe)"/> Vatican City (ecclesiastical state, Europe)
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(Scotland, United Kingdom)"/>
(Scotland, United Kingdom)"/> Whithorn (Scotland, United Kingdom)
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Topics
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Annunciation (Christianity)
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apocrypha (biblical literature)
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apologetics (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Apostle (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Ascension (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Assumption (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> baptism (Christianity)
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(denomination)"/>
(denomination)"/> Baptist (denomination)
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(biblical literature)"/>
(biblical literature)"/> Beatitude (biblical literature)
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(sacred text)"/>
(sacred text)"/> Bible (sacred text)
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biblical literature
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canon law (religion)
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catechism (religious manual)
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(liturgical vessel)"/>
(liturgical vessel)"/> chalice (liturgical vessel)
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(doctrine of Christ)"/>
(doctrine of Christ)"/> Christology (doctrine of Christ)
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church (Christianity)
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Church Father (Christianity)
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church year (Christianity)
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city mission (Christianity)
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confirmation (Christianity)
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creationism
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(religious symbol)"/>
(religious symbol)"/> cross (religious symbol)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> ecumenism (Christianity)
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gospel music
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heresy
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(Jesus Christ)"/>
(Jesus Christ)"/> Incarnation (Jesus Christ)
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justification (Christianity)
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kerygma and catechesis (Christian theology)
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Kingdom of God (Christianity)
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Kirishitan (religion)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Last Supper (Christianity)
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(philosophy and theology)"/>
(philosophy and theology)"/> logos (philosophy and theology)
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Lord’s Prayer (Christianity)
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(theology)"/>
(theology)"/> Mariology (theology)
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ministry (Christianity)
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moral theology
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(biblical literature)"/>
(biblical literature)"/> New Testament (biblical literature)
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oratorio (music)
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(religion)"/>
(religion)"/> ordination (religion)
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original sin (theology)
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Passion music (vocal music)
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patristic literature (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Protestantism (Christianity)
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Religionsgeschichtliche Schule (biblical criticism)
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Roman Catholicism
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Second Coming (Christianity)
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Sunday school
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theological liberalism (religion)
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tithe (almsgiving)
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