Portal:Christianity

Welcome To The Christianity Portal

Main

Indices

Projects

Introduction

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, a holy place of Christianity

Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. The Gospels state that Jesus is the Son of God and rose from the dead after his crucifixion, whose coming as the messiah (Christ) was prophesied in the Old Testament and chronicled in the New Testament. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with over 2.3 billion followers, comprising around 28.8% of the world population. Its adherents, known as Christians, are estimated to make up a majority of the population in 120 countries and territories.

Christianity remains culturally diverse in its Western and Eastern branches, and doctrinally diverse concerning justification and the nature of salvation, ecclesiology, ordination, and Christology. Most Christian denominations, however, generally hold in common the belief that Jesus is God the Son—the Logos incarnated—who ministered, suffered, and died on a cross, but rose from the dead for the salvation of humankind; this message is called the gospel, meaning the "good news". The four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John describe the life of Jesus and teachings as preserved in the early Christian tradition, with the Old Testament as the gospels' respected background.

The three main branches of Christianity are Catholicism (1.3 billion people), Protestantism (800 million), and Eastern Orthodoxy (300 million), while other prominent branches include Oriental Orthodoxy (60 million) and Restorationism (35 million). Smaller church communities number in the thousands. In Christianity, efforts toward unity (ecumenism) are underway. In the West, Christianity remains the dominant religion even with a decline in adherence, with about 70% of that population identifying as Christian. Christianity is growing in Africa and Asia, the world's most populous continents. Many Christians are still persecuted in some regions of the world, particularly where they are a minority, such as in the Middle East, North Africa, East Asia, and South Asia. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Featured article - show another

This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

James II and VII (14 October 1633 O.S. – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from February 1685 until he was deposed in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. The last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland, his reign was marked by conflicts over religion, absolutism and the divine right of kings; his deposition ended a century of political and civil strife by confirming the primacy of the English Parliament over the Crown.

James was the second surviving son of Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France, and was created Duke of York at birth. His conversion to Catholicism in the 1660s caused growing concern, particularly during the Exclusion Crisis of 1679–81, when attempts were made by Whigs to exclude him from the succession on religious grounds. However, the trauma of the brief republican Commonwealth of England 20 years earlier made the public reluctant to undermine the principle of hereditary succession. At the age of 51, James therefore succeeded to the throne with widespread support following the death of his elder brother, Charles II, with many believing that a Catholic monarchy would be temporary. However, tolerance of James's personal views did not extend to Catholicism in general, and both the English and Scottish parliaments refused to pass measures viewed as undermining the primacy of the Protestant religion. His attempts to impose them by absolutist decrees, as a matter of his perceived divine right, were met with opposition. (Full article...)

List of Featured articles

General images

The following are images from various Christianity-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1God, in the person of the Son, confronts Adam and Eve, by Master Bertram (d. c. 1415). (from Trinity)
Image 2Depiction of Trinity from Saint Denis Basilica in Paris (12th century) (from Trinity)
Image 3A Gospel of John, 1056 (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 4Jesus' Farewell Discourse to his eleven remaining disciples after the Last Supper, from the Maestà by Duccio (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 5A Shield of the Trinity diagram, illustrating relationships between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (from Trinity)
Image 6The Glory of Saint Nicholas, by António Manuel da Fonseca; Nicholas of Myra, a participant in the First Council of Nicaea, achieves the beatific vision in the shape of the Holy Trinity. (from Trinity)
Image 7God the Father (top), the Holy Spirit (a dove), and the child Jesus, painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (d. 1682) (from Trinity)
Image 8God the Father (top), and the Holy Spirit (represented by a dove) depicted above Jesus Painting by Francesco Albani (d. 1660) (from Trinity)
Image 9Jesus healing the paralytic in The Pool by Palma il Giovane, 1592 (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 10Depictions of the Resurrection of Jesus are central to Christian art (Resurrection of Christ by Raphael, 1499–1502). (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 11The Holy Trinity on the stained glass windows of the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Brockdish (from Trinity)
Image 12Many Christians use the crucifix to symbolise Jesus' sacrificial death and as a focus for devotion. (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 13A depiction of the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, at which the Deity of Christ was declared orthodox and Arianism condemned (from Trinity)
Image 14A representation of the Trifacial Trinity, as a three faced head, sometimes used in Renaissance iconography (but disavowed by the Catholic Church). (from Trinity)
Image 15The Trinity by Russian icon painter Andrei Rublev, early 15th century (from Trinity)
Image 16A painting depicting the Trifacial Trinity by an anonymous author from the Peruvian Cuzco School (but disavowed by the Catholic Church). (from Trinity)
Image 17Three doors representing the trinity at a cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio (from Trinity)
Image 18Detail of the earliest known artwork of the Trinity, the Dogmatic or Trinity Sarcophagus, c. 350 (Vatican Museums).
Three similar figures, representing the Trinity, are involved in the creation of Eve, whose much smaller figure is cut off at lower right; to her right, Adam lies on the ground. (from Trinity)
Image 1913th-century depiction of the Trinity from a Roman de la Rose manuscript (from Trinity)
Image 20The Adoration of the Trinity by Albrecht Dürer (1511).
From top to bottom: Holy Spirit (dove), God the Father and Christ on the cross. (from Trinity)
Image 21A Greek fresco of Athanasius of Alexandria, the chief architect of the Nicene Creed, formulated at Nicaea (from Trinity)
Image 22The Communion of the Apostles, by Luca Signorelli, 1512 (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 23Atypical depiction of the Trinity where the Son is identified by a lamb, the Father an Eye of Providence, and the Spirit a dove (from Trinity)
Image 24Pope Clement I prays to the Trinity, in a typical post-Renaissance depiction by Gianbattista Tiepolo (d. 1770). (from Trinity)
Image 25The Trinity by Russian icon painter Andrei Rublev, early 15th century: this portrayal of the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (Genesis 18:1-8) (from Trinity)
Image 26Representation of the Trinity in the form of the mercy seat (epitaph from 1549) (from Trinity)
Image 27Attributed to the circle of Pieter Claeissins II, A Christian Allegory of the Salvation of a Christian Soul (c. 1570–1600) depicts the triumph of virtue over death and Satan. The Bowes Museum. (from Salvation in Christianity)
Image 28An artistic depiction of the Trinity, with the hand representing the Father, the Chi Rho and ichthys representing the Son, and the dove representing the Holy Spirit (from Trinity)
Image 29The "Heavenly Trinity" joined to the "Earthly Trinity" through the Incarnation of the Son–The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities by Murillo (c. 1677) (from Trinity)
Image 30The Father, The Holy Spirit, and Christ crucified, depicted in a Welsh manuscript c. 1390–1400 (from Trinity)
Image 31Nativity at Night, by Geertgen tot Sint Jans, c. 1490 (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 32The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a holy site in Jerusalem believed by most Christians to encompass the tomb of Jesus and the site of his crucifixion and resurrection. (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 33First page of Mark, by Sargis Pitsak (14th century): "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God". (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 34The Baptism of Christ, by Piero della Francesca, 15th century (from Trinity)
Image 35The Good Samaritan by James Tissot. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the parables of Jesus. (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 36Christ on the Cross, 1870, by Carl Heinrich Bloch, depicting Jesus's crucifixion (from Jesus in Christianity)
Image 37The Holy Trinity in an angelic glory over a landscape, by Lucas Cranach the Elder (d. 1553) (from Trinity)

edit

Related portals

Good article - show another

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

Prester John (Latin: Presbyter Ioannes) was a postulated Christian patriarch, presbyter, and king. Stories popular in Europe in the 12th to the 17th centuries told of a Nestorian patriarch and king who was said to rule over a Christian nation lost amid the pagans and Muslims in the Orient. The accounts were often embellished with various tropes of medieval popular literature, depicting Prester John as a descendant of the Three Magi, ruling a kingdom full of riches, marvels, and strange creatures.

At first, Prester John was thought to reside in India. Reports of the Nestorian Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the Acts of Thomas probably provided the first seeds of the narrative. As Europeans became aware of the Mongols and their empire, accounts placed the king in Central Asia, and eventually Portuguese explorers came to assume that the term was a reference to Ethiopia, which at that time was an isolated Christian "exclave" distant from any other Christian-ruled territory. (Full article...)

List of Good articles

edit

Selected image

Credit: User:Mathiasrex

The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul (Παῦλος) as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents. They provide an insight into the beliefs and controversies of early Christianity and as part of the canon of the New Testament they are foundational texts for both Christian theology and ethics.

More selected pictures

Read more

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that a reviewer said that the musicians on the Christian music compilation 4-Way Noise Explosion would prompt a wave of people leaving Christianity?
... that a former management consultant who coined the framework of "The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism" was described by The New York Times as "a kind of Malcolm Gladwell of conservative Christianity"?
... that Nala Ray, the daughter of a Baptist minister, left an OnlyFans channel making millions of dollars per year to return to Christianity?
... that the birth of Christianity in Minahasa, Indonesia, is celebrated annually on June 12, the day that Johann Friedrich Riedel set foot in Manado?
... that anti-racism campaigner Kamal Chunchie converted to Christianity from Islam during the First World War when serving in the British Army?
... that John Allen Chau illegally travelled to North Sentinel Island in an attempt to convert its inhabitants to Christianity?

Topics

edit

Selected scripture

Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” None of the disciples dared inquire of him, “Who are you?” knowing that it was the Lord. Then Jesus came and took the bread, gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was revealed to his disciples, after he had risen from the dead. So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.”He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself, and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you, and carry you where you don’t want to go.” Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ breast at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray You?” Peter seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” This saying therefore went out among the brothers,† that this disciple wouldn’t die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?” This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true. There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.

— Restoration of Peter, John 21:12-25; World English Bible

More selected scriptures

More at Wikiquote

edit