View source for Christendom

{{Short description|Countries where Christianity prevails}}
[[File:Christianity percent population in each nation World Map Christian data by Pew Research.svg|thumb|330px|Christianity – Percentage of population by country (2010 data)<ref name="assets_pewresearch_org">{{cite web|url=https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf|title=Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population|publisher=Pew Research Center}}</ref>{{Update inline|date=March 2024}}]]
{{Christianity}}
{{Christian culture}}

'''Christendom''' or the '''Christian world'''<ref name="MWChristendom" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Marty|first=Martin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MoolUlqQdmAC|title=The Christian World: A Global History|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|year=2008|isbn=978-1-58836-684-9|pages=42}}</ref> are terms commonly used to refer to the global Christian community, [[Christian state]]s, [[Christianity by country|Christian-majority countries]] or countries in which [[Christianity]] is dominant<ref name="ixHall"/> or prevails.<ref name="MWChristendom">See [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Christendom Merriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"]</ref>

Following the spread of Christianity from the [[Levant]] to [[Europe]] and [[North Africa]] during the early [[Roman Empire]], Christendom has been divided in the pre-existing [[Greek East and Latin West]]. After the [[East–West Schism|Great schism]] of 1054, two main branches within Christianity emerged, centred around the cities of [[Rome]] ([[Western Christianity]], whose community was called Western or Latin Christendom<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chazan |first=Robert |date=2006 |title=The Jews of Medieval Western Christendom: 1000-1500 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JxJQ_98I3R0C |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=xi |isbn=9780521616645 |access-date=26 January 2018}}</ref>) and [[Constantinople]] ([[Eastern Christianity]], whose community was called Eastern Christendom<ref>Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "christendom. §1.3 Scheidingen". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.</ref> or [[Byzantine commonwealth]]). After the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, [[Latin Christendom]] rose to a central role in the [[Western world]].<ref>Chazan, p. 5.</ref> Following the [[reformation]], [[protestantism]] emerged as the third main branch of Christianity in the 16th century. The history of the Christian world spans about 2,000 years and includes a variety of socio-political developments, as well as advancements in the [[Christian art|arts]], [[Architecture of cathedrals and great churches|architecture]], [[Christian literature|literature]], [[Christianity and science|science]], [[Christian philosophy|philosophy]], [[Christianity and politics|politics]] and technology.<ref name="Crisis in Western Education">{{cite book|last1=Dawson|first1=Christopher|title=Crisis in Western Education|year=1961|isbn=978-0-8132-1683-6|edition=reprint|first2=Glenn |last2=Olsen|publisher=CUA Press }}</ref><ref name=" E. McGrath ">{{cite book |last= E. McGrath|first= Alister |title=Christianity: An Introduction|year=2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=1405108991|page=336}}</ref><ref name="National Review Book Service">{{cite web |title=Review of ''How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization'' by Thomas Woods, Jr. |url=http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=c6664 |work=National Review Book Service |access-date=16 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822150152/http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6664 |archive-date=22 August 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Terminology==
The [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]] term ''crīstendōm'' appears to have been coined in the 9th century by a scribe somewhere in southern England, possibly at the court of king [[Alfred the Great]] of [[Wessex]]. The scribe was translating [[Paulus Orosius]]' book ''History Against the Pagans'' ({{Circa|416}}) and in need for a term to express the concept of the universal culture focused on [[Jesus Christ]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacCulloch |first=Diarmaid |date=2010 |title=A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yaU-cpc8sWgC&pg=PT572 |location=London |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |page=572 |isbn=9781101189993 |access-date=26 January 2018}}</ref> It had the sense now taken by ''[[Christianity]]'' (as is still the case with the cognate Dutch ''christendom'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.interglot.com/dictionary/nl/en/translate/christendom|title = Translate christendom from Dutch to English}}</ref> where it denotes mostly the religion itself, just like the German ''Christentum'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.bab.la/dictionary/german-english/christentum|title = CHRISTENTUM - Translation in English - bab.la}}</ref>

The current sense of the word of "lands where Christianity is the dominant religion"<ref name="ixHall">{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Douglas John |author-link=Douglas John Hall |date=2002 |title=The End of Christendom and the Future of Christianity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RM1KAwAAQBAJ |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |page=ix |quote="Christendom" [...] means literally the dominion or sovereignty of the Christian religion. |isbn=9781579109844 |access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref> emerged in [[Late Middle English]] (by {{Circa|1400}}).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/christendom|title = Christendom &#124; Origin and meaning of christendom by Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref>

Canadian theology professor [[Douglas John Hall]] stated (1997) that "Christendom" [...] means literally the dominion or sovereignty of the Christian religion."<ref name="ixHall"/> [[Thomas John Curry]], Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles|Los Angeles]], defined (2001) Christendom as "the system dating from the fourth century by which governments upheld and promoted Christianity."<ref name="Curry12">{{Cite book |last=Curry |first=Thomas John |author-link=Thomas John Curry |date=2001 |title=Farewell to Christendom: The Future of Church and State in America |url=https://archive.org/details/farewelltochrist00curr_0 |url-access=registration |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/farewelltochrist00curr_0/page/12 12] |isbn=9780190287061 |access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref> Curry states that the end of Christendom came about because modern governments refused to "uphold the teachings, customs, ethos, and practice of Christianity."<ref name="Curry12"/> British [[church history|church historian]] [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] described (2010) Christendom as "the union between Christianity and secular power."<ref name="MacCulloch1024"/>

{{Blockquote|Christendom was originally a medieval concept which has steadily evolved since the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the gradual rise of the Papacy more in religio-temporal implications practically during and after the reign of Charlemagne; and the concept let itself be lulled in the minds of the staunch believers to the archetype of a holy religious space inhabited by Christians, blessed by God, the Heavenly Father, ruled by Christ through the Church and protected by the Spirit-body of Christ; no wonder, this concept, as included the whole of Europe and then the expanding Christian territories on earth, strengthened the roots of Romance of the greatness of Christianity in the world.<ref>{{cite book| last = Debnath| first = Sailen| title = Secularism: Western And Indian| year = 2010| publisher = Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Limited| isbn = 978-81-269-1366-4 }}</ref>}}

There is a common and nonliteral sense of the word that is much like the terms ''[[Western world]]'', ''[[history of geography|known world]]'' or ''[[Free World]]''. The notion of "Europe" and the "[[Western World]]" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom"; many even attribute Christianity for being the link that created a unified [[European identity]].<ref name="Dawson 1961 108">{{cite book|author-last1=Dawson|author-first1=Christopher|title=Crisis in Western Education|year=1961|isbn=9780813216836|edition=reprint|author-first2=Glenn |author-last2=Olsen|page=108|publisher=The Catholic University of America Press}}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|History of Christianity|History of Western civilization}}

===Rise of Christendom===
{{See also|Early Christianity|Hellenistic Judaism|State church of the Roman Empire}}
[[File:T and O map Guntherus Ziner 1472.jpg|thumb|This [[T-and-O map]], which abstracts the then known world to a cross inscribed within an orb, remakes geography in the service of Christian iconography. More detailed versions place [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]] at the center of the world.]]

Early Christianity spread in the Greek/Roman world and beyond as a 1st-century [[Judaism|Jewish]] sect,<ref>{{bibleref|Acts|3:1}}; {{bibleref|Acts|5:27–42}}; {{bibleref|Acts|21:18–26}}; {{bibleref|Acts|24:5}}; {{bibleref|Acts|24:14}}; {{bibleref|Acts|28:22}}; {{bibleref|Romans|1:16}}; Tacitus, ''Annales'' xv 44; Josephus ''Antiquities'' xviii 3; Mortimer Chambers, ''The Western Experience Volume II'' chapter 5; ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion'' page 158{{failed verification|date=January 2018}}.</ref> which historians refer to as [[Jewish Christianity]]. It may be divided into two distinct phases: the [[Apostolic Age|apostolic period]], when the first apostles were alive and organizing the Church, and the [[post-apostolic period]], when an early [[Historical episcopate|episcopal structure]] developed, whereby bishoprics were governed by [[bishops]] (overseers).

The post-apostolic period concerns the time roughly after the death of the apostles when bishops emerged as overseers of urban Christian populations. The earliest recorded use of the terms ''Christianity'' (Greek {{lang|grc|Χριστιανισμός}}) and ''[[Four Marks of the Church#Catholic|catholic]]'' (Greek {{lang|grc|καθολικός}}), dates to this period, the [[Christianity in the 2nd century|2nd century]], attributed to [[Ignatius of Antioch]] ''c.'' 107.<ref>Walter Bauer, ''Greek-English Lexicon''; [[Ignatius of Antioch]] [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-magnesians-roberts.html Letter to the Magnesians] 10, Letter to the Romans ([http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01–19.htm#P1838_311890 Roberts-Donaldson tr.], [http://earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-romans-lightfoot.html Lightfoot tr.], [http://www.ccel.org/l/lake/fathers/ignatius-romans.htm Greek text]). However, an [http://earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-romans-roberts.html edition] presented on some websites, one that otherwise corresponds exactly with the Roberts-Donaldson translation, renders this passage to the interpolated inauthentic longer recension of Ignatius's letters, which does not contain the word "Christianity."</ref> Early Christendom would close at the end of [[Persecution of early Christians by the Romans|imperial persecution of Christians]] after the ascension of [[Constantine the Great]] and the [[Edict of Milan]] in AD&nbsp;313 and the [[First Council of Nicaea]] in 325.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Schaff | first1 = Philip | author-link1 = Philip Schaff | orig-year = 1858–1890 | title = History of the Christian Church | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6fBpjjN64sC | volume = 2: Ante-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 100–325 | publisher = Christian Classics Ethereal Library | date = 1998 |isbn=978-1-61025-041-2 | access-date = 13 October 2019 | quote = The ante-Nicene age&nbsp;... is the natural transition from the Apostolic age to the Nicene age.}}</ref>

According to [[Malcolm Muggeridge]] (1980), Christ founded Christianity, but Constantine founded Christendom.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0218/021801.html |title=Impish defense of Christianity; The End of Christendom, by Malcolm Muggeridge |author=Robert Peel |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |date=18 February 1981 |access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref> Canadian theology professor [[Douglas John Hall]] dates the 'inauguration of Christendom' to the 4th century, with Constantine playing the primary role (so much so that he equates Christendom with "Constantinianism") and Theodosius I ([[Edict of Thessalonica]], 380) and [[Justinian I]]{{efn|In 529, Justinian closed the [[Platonic Academy#Neoplatonic Academy|Neoplatonic Academy]] of [[Athens]], a last bulwark of pagan philosophy, made rigorous efforts to exterminate [[Arianism]] and [[Montanism]], personally campaigned against [[Monophysitism]], and made [[Chalcedonian Christianity]] the Byzantine state religion.<ref>Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Justinianus I". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.</ref>}} secondary roles.<ref name="1–9Hall">Hall (2002), p. 1–9.</ref>

===Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages===
{{Further|First seven Ecumenical Councils|Germanic Christianity}}
[[File:Nicaea icon.jpg|thumb|upright|Icon depicting [[Constantine I|the Emperor Constantine]] and the [[bishop]]s of the [[First Council of Nicaea]] (AD 325) holding the [[Nicene Creed#Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed|Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381]]]]
[[File:Spread of Christianity to AD 600 (1).png|thumb|Spread of Christianity by AD 600 (shown in dark blue is the spread of [[Early Christianity]] up to AD 325)]]

"Christendom" has referred to the [[medieval]] and [[renaissance]] notion of the ''Christian world'' as a [[polity]]. In essence, the earliest vision of Christendom was a vision of a Christian [[theocracy]], a [[Forms of government|government]] founded upon and upholding [[Christian values]], whose institutions are spread through and over with [[Christian doctrine]]. In this period, members of the Christian [[clergy]] wield [[political authority]]. The specific relationship between the [[political leader]]s and the [[clergy]] varied but, in theory, the national and political divisions were at times subsumed under the leadership of the [[Christian Church|church as an institution]]. This [[Church and state in medieval Europe|model of church-state relations]] was accepted by various Church leaders and political leaders in [[European history]].<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Episcopacy |volume= 9 |last= Phillips |first= Walter Alison |author-link= Walter Alison Phillips | pages = 699&ndash;701; see page 700, para 2, half way down |quote= The whole issue had, in fact, become confused with the confusion of functions of the Church and State. In the view of the Church of England the ultimate governance of the Christian community, in things spiritual and temporal, was vested not in the clergy but in the "Christian prince" as the vicegerent of God.}}</ref>

The Church gradually became a defining institution of the Roman Empire.<ref>The church in the Roman empire before A.D. 170, Part 170 By Sir William Mitchell Ramsay</ref> [[Emperor Constantine]] issued the [[Edict of Milan]] in 313 proclaiming toleration for the Christian religion, and [[convoke]]d the [[First Council of Nicaea]] in 325 whose [[Nicene Creed]] included belief in "one holy catholic and apostolic Church". Emperor [[Theodosius I]] made [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicene]] Christianity the [[state church of the Roman Empire]] with the [[Edict of Thessalonica]] of 380.<ref>Boyd, William Kenneth (1905). The ecclesiastical edicts of the Theodosian code, Columbia University Press.</ref> In terms of prosperity and cultural life, the [[Byzantine Empire]] was one of the peaks in [[Christian history]] and [[Christian civilization]],<ref name="Cameron 2006 42">{{harvnb|Cameron|2006|p=42}}.</ref> and [[Constantinople]] remained the leading city of the [[Christian world]] in size, wealth, and culture.<ref>{{harvnb|Cameron|2006|p=47}}.</ref> [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance|There was a renewed interest in classical Greek philosophy]], as well as an increase in literary output in vernacular Greek.<ref name="Browning-1992-190-218">{{harvnb|Browning|1992|pp=198–208}}.</ref>

As the [[Western Roman Empire]] [[Decline of the Roman Empire|disintegrated]] into [[feudalism|feudal kingdom]]s and [[principalities]], the concept of Christendom changed as the [[Western Christianity#History of Western Christianity|western church became one]] of five patriarchates of the [[Pentarchy]] and the Christians of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] developed.{{Clarify|date=June 2018}} The [[Byzantine Empire]] was the last bastion of Christendom.<ref>{{cite book| last = Challand| first = Gérard| title = The Art of War in World History: From Antiquity to the Nuclear Age| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aXuxw070d-wC&pg=PA25| year = 1994| publisher = University of California Press| isbn = 978-0-520-07964-9| page = 25 }}</ref> Christendom would take a turn with the rise of the [[Franks]], a Germanic tribe who converted to the Christian faith and entered into [[communion with Rome]].

On Christmas Day 800 AD, [[Pope Leo III]] crowned [[Charlemagne]], resulting in the creation of another Christian king beside the Christian emperor in the [[Byzantine]] state.<ref>{{cite book| author = Willis Mason West| title = The ancient world from the earliest times to 800 A.D. ...| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tdEyAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA551| year = 1904| publisher = Allyn and Bacon| page = 551 }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=June 2011}}<!-- An outdated source by an author whose qualifications are unknown is not a reliable source --> The [[Carolingian Empire]] created a definition of ''Christendom'' in juxtaposition with the Byzantine Empire, that of a distributed versus centralized [[culture]] respectively.<ref>{{cite book| author = Peter Brown|author2=Peter Robert Lamont Brown| title = The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity 200-1000 AD| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-S9N1h_RS-IC&pg=PA443| year = 2003| publisher = Wiley| isbn = 978-0-631-22138-8| page = 443 }}</ref>

The classical heritage flourished throughout the Middle Ages in both the Byzantine Greek East and the Latin West. In the Greek philosopher [[Plato]]'s ideal state there are three major classes, which was representative of the idea of the "tripartite soul", which is expressive of three functions or capacities of the human soul: "reason", "the spirited element", and "appetites" (or "passions"). [[Will Durant]] made a convincing case that certain prominent features of Plato's [[The Republic (Plato)|ideal community]] where discernible in the organization, dogma and effectiveness of "the" Medieval Church in Europe:<ref name="Durant">{{cite book |first=Will |last=Durant |year=2005 |title=Story of Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=suLI7RoaBEEC&pg=PA34 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-69500-2 |access-date=10 December 2013}}</ref>

<blockquote>... For a thousand years Europe was ruled by an order of guardians considerably like that which was visioned by our philosopher. During the Middle Ages it was customary to classify the population of Christendom into ''laboratores'' (workers), ''bellatores'' (soldiers), and ''oratores'' (clergy). The last group, though small in number, monopolized the instruments and opportunities of culture, and ruled with almost unlimited sway half of the most powerful continent on the globe. The clergy, like Plato's guardians, were placed in authority... by their talent as shown in ecclesiastical studies and administration, by their disposition to a life of meditation and simplicity, and ... by the influence of their relatives with the powers of state and church. In the latter half of the period in which they ruled [800 AD onwards], the clergy were as free from family cares as even Plato could desire [for such guardians]... [Clerical] Celibacy was part of the psychological structure of the power of the clergy; for on the one hand they were unimpeded by the narrowing egoism of the family, and on the other their apparent superiority to the call of the flesh added to the awe in which lay sinners held them....''<ref name="Durant"/>''</blockquote>

===Later Middle Ages and Renaissance===
{{Main|High Middle Ages|Late Middle Ages}}
{{Further|East–West Schism|Western Schism|Crusades|Reconquista}}
{{Further|Latin Empire|Frankokratia|Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty|Byzantine–Ottoman Wars|Fall of Constantinople}}

After the [[collapse of Charlemagne's empire]], the southern remnants of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] became a collection of [[papal states|states loosely connected]] to the [[Holy See|Holy See of Rome]]. Tensions between [[Pope Innocent III]] and secular rulers ran high, as the [[pontiff]] exerted control over their temporal counterparts in the west and vice versa. The [[pontificate]] of Innocent III is considered the height of temporal power of the papacy. The ''[[Corpus Christianum]]'' described the then-current notion of the [[community]] of all [[Christians]] united under the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. The community was to be guided by Christian values in its politics, economics and social life.<ref>Shaping a global theological mind By Darren C. Marks. Page 45</ref> Its legal basis was the ''[[Canon Law|corpus iuris canonica]]'' (body of canon law).<ref>Somerville, R. (1998). Prefaces to Canon Law books in Latin Christianity: Selected translations, 500-1245; commentary and translations. New Haven [u.a.: Yale Univ. Press</ref><ref>VanDeWiel, C. (1991). History of canon law. Leuven: Peeters Press.</ref><ref>Canon law and the Christian community By Clarence Gallagher. Gregorian & Biblical BookShop, 1978.</ref><ref>Catholic Church., Canon Law Society of America., Catholic Church., & Libreria editrice vaticana. (1998). Code of canon law, Latin-English edition: New English translation. Washington, DC: Canon Law Society of America.</ref>

In the East, Christendom became more defined as the [[Byzantine Empire]]'s gradual loss of territory to an [[Early Muslim conquests|expanding Islam]] and the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]]. This caused Christianity to become important to the Byzantine identity. Before the [[East–West Schism]] which divided the Church religiously, there had been the notion of a ''universal Christendom'' that included the East and the West. After the East–West Schism, hopes of regaining religious unity with the West were ended by the [[Fourth Crusade]], when [[Crusades|Crusaders]] [[Siege of Constantinople (1204)|conquered the Byzantine capital of Constantinople]] and hastened the [[decline of the Byzantine Empire]] on the [[Byzantine–Ottoman Wars|path to its destruction]].<ref>Mango, C. (2002). The Oxford history of Byzantium. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>Angold, M. (1997). The Byzantine Empire, 1025-1204: A political history. New York: Longman.</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Schevill| first = Ferdinand| title = The History of the Balkan Peninsula: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day| url = https://archive.org/details/historybalkanpe00schegoog| year = 1922| publisher = Harcourt, Brace and Company| page = [https://archive.org/details/historybalkanpe00schegoog/page/n142 124] }}</ref> With the breakup of the Byzantine Empire into individual nations with nationalist Orthodox Churches, the term Christendom described Western Europe, Catholicism, Orthodox Byzantines, and other Eastern rites of the Church.<ref>{{cite book| last = Schaff| first = Philip| title = The history of creeds| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WVsvAAAAYAAJ| year = 1878| publisher = Harper }}</ref><ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Christendom}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church]]'s peak of authority over all European Christians and their common endeavours of the Christian community—for example, the [[Crusades]], the fight against the [[Moors]] in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and against the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]] in the [[Balkans]]—helped to develop a sense of communal identity against the obstacle of Europe's deep political divisions. The popes, formally just the bishops of Rome, claimed to be the focus of all Christendom, which was largely recognised in Western Christendom from the 11th century until the Reformation, but not in Eastern Christendom.<ref>MacCulloch (2010), p. 625.</ref> Moreover, this authority was also sometimes abused, and fostered the [[Inquisition]] and [[Anti-Judaism|anti-Jewish]] [[pogroms]], to root out divergent elements and create a religiously uniform community.<ref name="lazare61">{{harvp|Lazare|1903|p=61}}</ref> Ultimately, the Inquisition was done away with by order of Pope Innocent III.<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Inquisition}}</ref>

Christendom ultimately was led into specific crisis in the [[late Middle Ages]], when the [[monarch|kings]] of France managed to establish a French national church during the 14th century and the papacy became ever more aligned with the [[Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation]]. Known as the [[Western Schism]], western Christendom was a split between three men, who were driven by politics rather than any real theological disagreement for simultaneously claiming to be the true pope. The [[Avignon Papacy]] developed a reputation for corruption that estranged major parts of Western Christendom. The Avignon schism was ended by the [[Council of Constance]].<ref>Stump, P. H. (1994). The reforms of the Council of Constance, 1414-1418. Leiden: E.J. Brill</ref>

Before the modern period, Christendom was in a general crisis at the time of the [[Renaissance Papacy|Renaissance Popes]] because of the moral laxity of these pontiffs and their willingness to seek and rely on temporal power as secular rulers did.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} Many in the Catholic Church's hierarchy in the Renaissance became increasingly entangled with insatiable greed for material wealth and temporal power, which led to many reform movements, some merely wanting a moral reformation of the Church's clergy, while others repudiated the Church and separated from it in order to form new sects.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} The [[Italian Renaissance]] produced ideas or institutions by which men living in society could be held together in harmony. In the early 16th century, [[Baldassare Castiglione]] (''[[The Book of the Courtier]]'') laid out his vision of the ideal gentleman and lady, while [[Machiavelli]] cast a jaundiced eye on "la verità effetuale delle cose"—the actual truth of things—in ''[[The Prince]]'', composed, humanist style, chiefly of parallel ancient and modern examples of [[Virtù]]. Some Protestant movements grew up along lines of [[mysticism]] or [[renaissance humanism]] ([[cf.]] [[Erasmus]]). The Catholic Church fell partly into general neglect under the Renaissance Popes, whose inability to govern the Church by showing personal example of high moral standards set the climate for what would ultimately become the Protestant Reformation.<ref>The Cambridge Modern History. Vol 2: [https://archive.today/20121206015231/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=62407231 The Reformation (1903)].</ref> During the Renaissance, the papacy was mainly run by the wealthy families and also had strong secular interests. To safeguard Rome and the connected Papal States the popes became necessarily involved in temporal matters, even leading armies, as the great patron of arts [[Pope Julius II]] did. During these intermediate times, popes strove to make Rome the capital of Christendom while projecting it through art, architecture, and literature as the center of a Golden Age of unity, order, and peace.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pape/hd_pape.htm|title = The Papacy during the Renaissance|last = Norris |first =  Michael|date = August 2007|website = The Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date= 11 December 2013}}</ref>

Professor Frederick J. McGinness described Rome as essential in understanding the legacy the Church and its representatives encapsulated best by [[Rome|The Eternal City]]: <blockquote>No other city in Europe matches Rome in its traditions, history, legacies, and influence in the Western world. Rome in the Renaissance under the papacy not only acted as guardian and transmitter of these elements stemming from the Roman Empire but also assumed the role as artificer and interpreter of its myths and meanings for the peoples of Europe from the Middle Ages to modern times... Under the patronage of the popes, whose wealth and income were exceeded only by their ambitions, the city became a cultural center for master architects, sculptors, musicians, painters, and artisans of every kind...In its myth and message, Rome had become the sacred city of the popes, the prime symbol of a triumphant Catholicism, the center of orthodox Christianity, a new Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0053.xml|title = Papal Rome|last = McGinness|first =  Frederick|date = 26 August 2011|website = Oxford Bibliographies|access-date= 11 December 2013}}</ref></blockquote>

It is clearly noticeable that the popes of the Italian Renaissance have been subjected by many writers with an overly harsh tone. Pope Julius II, for example, was not only an effective secular leader in military affairs, a deviously effective politician but foremost one of the [[Art patronage of Julius II|greatest patron of the Renaissance period]] and person who also encouraged open criticism from noted humanists.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://faculty.uml.edu/CulturalStudies/Italian_Renaissance/5.htm|title = Background for Italian Renaissance|last = Cheney|first = Liana|date = 26 August 2011|website = University of Massachusetts Lowell|access-date = 11 December 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140116035753/http://faculty.uml.edu/CulturalStudies/Italian_Renaissance/5.htm|archive-date = 16 January 2014|url-status = dead}}</ref>

The blossoming of renaissance humanism was made very much possible due to the universality of the institutions of Catholic Church and represented by personalities such as [[Pope Pius II]], [[Nicolaus Copernicus]], [[Leon Battista Alberti]], [[Desiderius Erasmus]], sir [[Thomas More]], [[Bartolomé de Las Casas]], [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[Teresa of Ávila]]. [[George Santayana]] in his work ''[[The Life of Reason]]'' postulated the tenets of the all encompassing order the Church had brought and as the repository of the legacy of [[classical antiquity]]:<ref name="Santayana">{{cite book |last= Santayana |first= George |year= 1982 |title= The Life of Reason|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15000/15000-h/vol5.html|location=New York |publisher= Dover Publications |access-date= 10 December 2013}}</ref>

<blockquote>The enterprise of individuals or of small aristocratic bodies has meantime sown the world which we call civilised with some seeds and nuclei of order. There are scattered about a variety of churches, industries, academies, and governments. But the universal order once dreamt of and nominally almost established, the empire of universal peace, all-permeating rational art, and philosophical worship, is mentioned no more. An unformulated conception, the prerational ethics of private privilege and national unity, fills the background of men's minds. It represents feudal traditions rather than the tendency really involved in contemporary industry, science, or philanthropy. Those dark ages, from which our political practice is derived, had a political theory which we should do well to study; for their theory about a universal empire and a Catholic church was in turn the echo of a former age of reason, when a few men conscious of ruling the world had for a moment sought to survey it as a whole and to rule it justly.<ref name="Santayana"/></blockquote>

===Reformation and Early Modern era===
{{Further|Reformation|Counter-Reformation|History of Protestantism|European wars of religion}}
{{Further|Ottoman wars in Europe|History of the Russo-Turkish wars|History of the Serbian–Turkish wars}}
{{Further|Jesuit China missions|Spanish missions in the Americas}}

Developments in [[western philosophy]] and European events brought change to the notion of the ''Corpus Christianum''. The [[Hundred Years' War]] accelerated the process of transforming France from a feudal monarchy to a centralized state. The rise of [[Absolutism (European history)|strong, centralized monarchies]]<ref>This was presaging the modern [[nation-state]]</ref> denoted the European transition from [[feudalism]] to [[capitalism]]. By the end of the Hundred Years' War, both France and England were able to raise enough money through taxation to create independent standing armies. In the [[Wars of the Roses]], [[Henry VII of England|Henry Tudor]] took the crown of England. His heir, the [[Absolutism (European history)|absolute]] king [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] establishing the [[Church of England|English church]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://anglican.org/church/ChurchHistory.html| title = The Anglican Domain: Church History}}</ref>

In [[modern history]], [[the Reformation]] and rise of [[modernity]] in the early 16th century entailed a change in the ''Corpus Christianum''. In the [[Holy Roman Empire]], the [[Peace of Augsburg]] of 1555 officially ended the idea among secular leaders that all Christians must be united under one church.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-18 |title=Peace of Augsburg {{!}} Germany [1555], Religion & Politics {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Peace-of-Augsburg |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The principle of ''[[cuius regio, eius religio]]'' ("whose the region is, his religion") established the religious, political and geographic divisions of Christianity, and this was established with the [[Treaty of Westphalia]] in 1648, which legally ended the concept of a single Christian hegemony in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire, despite the [[Catholic Church]]'s doctrine that it alone is the one true Church founded by Christ.<ref name="Excerpts">{{cite web |title=The Peace of Westphalia |url=https://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/301ModernEurope/Treaty%20of%20Westphalia%20%5BExcerpts%5D.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617200242/https://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/301ModernEurope/Treaty%20of%20Westphalia%20%5BExcerpts%5D.pdf |archive-date=17 June 2012 |access-date=6 October 2021 |website=University of Oregon}}</ref>
Subsequently, each government determined the religion of their own state. Christians living in states where their denomination was ''not'' the established one were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in public during allotted hours and in private at their will.<ref name="Excerpts" /> At times there were mass expulsions of dissenting faiths as happened with the [[Salzburg Protestants]]. Some people passed as adhering to the official church, but instead lived as [[Nicodemite]]s or [[crypto-protestantism|crypto-protestants]].<ref>Žalta, Anja. 2004. Protestantizem in bukovništvo med koroškimi Slovenci. ''Anthropos'' 36(1/4): 1–23, p. 7.</ref>

The [[European wars of religion]] are usually taken to have ended with the Treaty of Westphalia (1648),<ref name="Becker">{{cite book|first1=Uwe|last1=Becker|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKqN5FPL6-cC&pg=PA54|title=Europese democratieën: vrijheid, gelijkheid, solidariteit en soevereiniteit in praktijk|isbn=90-5589-128-2|year=1999|publisher=Het Spinhuis}}</ref> or arguably, including the [[Nine Years' War]] and the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] in this period, with the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] of 1713.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 26, 2021|title=Wars of Religion|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Wars-of-Religion|access-date=June 26, 2021|website=Britannica Online}}</ref> In the 18th century, the focus shifts away from religious conflicts, either between Christian factions or against the external threat of Islamic factions.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

===End of Christendom===
[[File:Christian World—Pew Research Center 2010.svg|thumb|330px|Christian majority countries in 2010; Countries with 50% or more Christians are colored purple while countries with 10% to 50% Christians are colored pink.<ref name="assets_pewresearch_org" />{{Update inline|date=March 2024}}]]
The [[European Miracle]], the [[Age of Enlightenment]] and the formation of the great [[colonial empire]]s, together with the beginning [[decline of the Ottoman Empire]], mark the end of the geopolitical "history of Christendom".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=Warren |title=The Cleaving of Christendom - A history of Christendom vol. 4 |publisher=Christendom Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780931888755}}</ref> Instead, the focus of Western history shifts to the development of the [[nation-state]], accompanied by increasing [[History of atheism|atheism]] and [[secularism]], culminating with the [[French Revolution]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]] at the turn of the 19th century.<ref name=":0" />

In his 1964 [[encyclical letter]] ''[[Ecclesiam Suam]]'', [[Pope Paul VI]] observed that{{quote|One part of [the] world ... has in recent years detached itself and broken away from the Christian foundations of its culture, although formerly it had been so imbued with Christianity and had drawn from it such strength and vigor that the people of these nations in many cases owe to Christianity all that is best in their own tradition.<ref>Pope Paul VI, [https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_06081964_ecclesiam.html Ecclesiam Suam], paragraph 13, published on 6 August 1964, accessed on 11 July 2024</ref>}}Writing in 1997, Canadian [[theology]] professor [[Douglas John Hall]] argued that Christendom had either fallen already or was in its death throes; although its end was gradual and not as clear to pin down as its 4th-century establishment, the "transition to the post-Constantinian, or post-Christendom, situation (...) has already been in process for a century or two", beginning with the 18th-century rationalist Enlightenment and the French Revolution (the first attempt to topple the Christian establishment).<ref name="1–9Hall"/> American Catholic bishop [[Thomas John Curry]] stated in 2001 that the end of Christendom came about because modern governments refused to "uphold the teachings, customs, ethos, and practice of Christianity".<ref name="Curry12"/> He argued the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]] (1791) and the [[Second Vatican Council]]'s [[Dignitatis humanae|Declaration on Religious Freedom]] (1965) are two of the most important documents setting the stage for its end.<ref name="Curry12"/> According to British historian Diarmaid MacCulloch (2010), Christendom was 'killed' by the [[First World War]] (1914–18), which led to the fall of the three main Christian empires ([[Russian Empire|Russian]], [[German Empire|German]] and [[Austria-Hungary|Austrian]]) of Europe, as well as the Ottoman Empire, rupturing the Eastern Christian communities that had existed on its territory. The Christian empires were replaced by secular, even anti-clerical republics seeking to definitively keep the churches out of politics. The only surviving monarchy with an established church, Britain, was severely damaged by the war, lost [[Irish Free State|most of Ireland]] due to Catholic–Protestant infighting, and was starting to lose grip on its colonies.<ref name="MacCulloch1024">MacCulloch (2010), p. 1024–1030.</ref>

Changes in worldwide Christianity over the last century have been significant, since 1900, Christianity has spread rapidly in the [[Global South]] and Third World countries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Jenkins |year=2011 |title=The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity |chapter=The Rise of the New Christianity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rPBoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=101–133 |isbn=9780199767465 |lccn=2010046058}}</ref> The late 20th century has shown the shift of Christian adherence to the [[Third World]] and the Southern Hemisphere in general,<ref>{{cite book|page=2|title=Christianity as a World Religion|author-last1=Kim|author-first1=Sebastian|author-last2=Kim|author-link=Sebastian Kim|author-first2=Kirsteen|author-link2=Kirsteen Kim|publisher=Continuum|location=London|date=2008}}</ref> by 2010 about 157 countries and territories in the world had [[Christianity by country|Christian majorities]].<ref name="assets_pewresearch_org" />

==Classical culture==
{{Further|Middle Ages|Renaissance|Theological aesthetics|Role of the Catholic Church in Western civilization|Christian culture}}
[[File:Wien - Stephansdom (1).JPG|thumb|[[St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna]]]]

[[Western culture]], throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to [[Christian culture]], and many of the population of the Western hemisphere could broadly be described as [[cultural Christian]]s. The notion of "[[Europe]]" and the "[[Western World]]" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom"; many even attribute Christianity for being the link that created a unified [[European identity]].<ref name="Dawson 1961 108"/> [[Historian]] Paul Legutko of [[Stanford University]] said the [[Catholic Church]] is "at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call Western civilization."<ref name="National Review Book Service"/>

Though Western culture contained several polytheistic religions during its early years under the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Roman Empire]]s, as the centralized Roman power waned, the dominance of the Catholic Church was the only consistent force in Western Europe.<ref name="autogenerated1994">{{cite book|last=Koch|first=Carl|title=The Catholic Church: Journey, Wisdom, and Mission|year=1994|publisher=St. Mary's Press|location=Early Middle Ages|isbn=978-0-88489-298-4|url=https://archive.org/details/catholicchurchjo00koch}}</ref> Until the [[Age of Enlightenment]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Koch|first=Carl|title=The Catholic Church: Journey, Wisdom, and Mission|year=1994|publisher=St. Mary's Press|location=The Age of Enlightenment|isbn=978-0-88489-298-4|url=https://archive.org/details/catholicchurchjo00koch}}</ref> Christian culture guided the course of philosophy, literature, art, music and science.<ref name="autogenerated1994"/><ref name="Crisis in Western Education"/> Christian disciplines of the respective arts have subsequently developed into [[Christian philosophy]], [[Christian art]], [[Christian music]], [[Christian literature]] etc. Art and literature, law, education, and politics were preserved in the teachings of the Church, in an environment that, otherwise, would have probably seen their loss. The Church founded many [[cathedrals]], [[university|universities]], [[Monastery|monasteries]] and [[Seminary|seminaries]], some of which continue to exist today. [[History of Christianity during the Middle Ages|Medieval Christianity]] created the first [[Medieval university|modern universities]].<ref>Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-36105-2}}, pp. xix–xx</ref><ref>{{harnvb|Verger|1999}}</ref> The Catholic Church established a hospital system in medieval Europe that vastly improved upon the Roman ''valetudinaria''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/valetudinaria|title=Valetudinaria|website=broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-02-22|archive-date=2018-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005164628/http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/valetudinaria|url-status=dead}}</ref> These hospitals were established to cater to "particular social groups marginalized by poverty, sickness, and age," according to historian of hospitals, Guenter Risse.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals |last=Risse |first=Guenter B |date=April 1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=59 |isbn=978-0-19-505523-8}}</ref> Christianity also had a strong impact on all other aspects of life: marriage and family, education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy, and the arts.<ref>Karl Heussi, ''Kompendium der Kirchengeschichte'', 11. Auflage (1956), Tübingen (Germany), pp. 317–319, 325–326</ref>

Christianity had a significant impact on education and science and medicine as the church created the bases of the Western system of education,<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115240/Christianity/67592/Forms-of-Christian-education Britannica.com] Forms of Christian education</ref> and was the sponsor of founding [[Medieval university|universities]] in the Western world as the university is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the [[History of Christianity|Medieval Christian]] setting.<ref name="Rüegg, Walter 1992, pp. XIX">Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in: ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. 1: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-36105-2}}, pp. XIX–XX</ref><ref name=verger1999>{{cite book |last=Verger |first=Jacques |date=1999 |author-link=:fr:Jacques Verger|title=Culture, enseignement et société en Occident aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles |edition=1st |language=fr |publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes in Rennes |isbn=978-2868473448 |url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL822497W |access-date=17 June 2014 }}</ref> Many [[List of Roman Catholic cleric-scientists|clerics]] throughout history have made significant contributions to science and [[List of Jesuit scientists|Jesuits]] in particular have made numerous significant contributions to the [[History of science|development of science]].<ref>Susan Elizabeth Hough, ''Richter's Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man'', Princeton University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0691128073}}, [https://archive.org/details/richtersscalemea00houg/page/68 p. 68.]</ref>{{Sfn|Woods|2005|p=109}}<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/302999/Jesuit Britannica.com] Jesuit</ref> The cultural influence of Christianity includes [[social welfare]],<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115240/Christianity/67594/Church-and-social-welfare Britannica.com] Church and social welfare</ref> founding [[hospitals]],<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115240/Christianity/67597/Care-for-the-sick Britannica.com] Care for the sick</ref> economics (as the [[Protestant work ethic]]),<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115240/Christianity/67599/Property-poverty-and-the-poor Britannica.com] Property, poverty, and the poor,</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Weber|first=Max|title=The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism|year=1905}}</ref> [[natural law]] (which would later influence the creation of [[international law]]),<ref>Cf. [[Jeremy Waldron]] (2002), ''God, Locke, and Equality: Christian Foundations in Locke's Political Thought'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK), {{ISBN|978-0-521-89057-1}}, pp. 189, 208</ref> politics,<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115240/Christianity/67577/Church-and-state Britannica.com] Church and state</ref> architecture,<ref name= BF>Sir [[Banister Fletcher]], ''History of Architecture on the Comparative Method''.</ref> literature,<ref>Buringh, Eltjo; van Zanden, Jan Luiten: "Charting the 'Rise of the West': Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries", ''The Journal of Economic History'', Vol. 69, No. 2 (2009), pp.&nbsp;409–445 (416, table 1)</ref> [[Ablution in Christianity|personal hygiene]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Eveleigh, Bogs|title=Baths and Basins: The Story of Domestic Sanitation|publisher=Stroud, England: Sutton|year=2002}}</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/christianityinac0000gari <!-- quote=Christianity in Action: The History of the International. --> Christianity in Action: The History of the International Salvation Army] p.16</ref> and family life.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/115240/Christianity/67603/The-tendency-to-spiritualize-and-individualize-marriage Britannica.com] The tendency to spiritualize and individualize marriage</ref> Christianity played a role in ending practices common among [[pagan]] [[societies]], such as [[human sacrifice]], [[slavery]],<ref>Chadwick, Owen p. 242.</ref> [[infanticide]] and [[polygamy]].<ref>Hastings, p. 309.</ref>

===Art and literature===
====Writings and poetry====
{{Main|Christian literature|Christian poetry}}

[[Christian literature]] is writing that deals with Christian themes and incorporates the Christian world view. This constitutes a huge body of extremely varied writing. [[Christian poetry]] is any [[poetry]] that contains [[Christianity|Christian]] teachings, [[theme (arts)|theme]]s, or references. The influence of Christianity on [[poetry]] has been great in any area that Christianity has taken hold. Christian poems often directly reference the [[Bible]], while others provide [[allegory]].<ref>Watson Kirkconnell (1952), ''The Celestial Cycle: The Theme of Paradise Lost in World Literature with Translations of the Major Analogues'', [[University of Toronto]] Press. Pages 569-570.</ref>

====Supplemental arts====
{{Main|Christian art}}

[[Christian art]] is art produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the principles of [[Christianity]]. Virtually all Christian groupings use or have used art to some extent. The prominence of art and the media, style, and representations change; however, the unifying theme is ultimately the representation of the life and times of [[Jesus]] and in some cases the [[Old Testament]]. Depictions of saints are also common, especially in [[Anglicanism]], [[Roman Catholicism]], and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]].<ref name=":1" />

====Illumination====
{{Main|Illuminated manuscript}}

[[File:Codex Bruchsal 1 01v cropped.jpg|thumb|Picture of [[Christ in Majesty]] contained in an illuminated manuscript]]
An [[illuminated manuscript]] is a [[manuscript]] in which the [[Writing|text]] is supplemented by the addition of decoration. The earliest surviving substantive illuminated manuscripts are from the period [[AD]] 400 to 600, primarily produced in Ireland, [[Constantinople]] and Italy. The majority of surviving manuscripts are from the [[Middle Ages]], although many illuminated manuscripts survive from the 15th century [[Renaissance]], along with a very limited number from [[Late Antiquity]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rholetter |first=Wylene |date=2018 |title=Written Word in Medieval Society |journal=Salem Press Encyclopedia}}</ref>

Most illuminated manuscripts were created as [[codex|codices]], which had superseded scrolls; some isolated single sheets survive. A very few illuminated manuscript fragments survive on [[papyrus]]. Most medieval manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on [[parchment]] (most commonly of [[calfskin|calf]], sheep, or goat skin), but most manuscripts important enough to illuminate were written on the best quality of parchment, called [[vellum]], traditionally made of unsplit [[calfskin]], though high quality parchment from other skins was also called ''parchment''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-08-15 |title=Differences between Parchment, Vellum and Paper |url=https://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/paper-vellum.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615030013/http://www.archives.gov/preservation/formats/paper-vellum.html |archive-date=15 June 2016 |access-date=2021-11-21 |website=National Archives |language=en}}</ref>

====Iconography====
{{Main|Iconoclasm|Religious image|Christian icons|Christian symbolism|Saint symbology|Iconography}}
[[File:St. Theodor.jpg|thumb|There are few old ceramic icons, such as this [[St. Theodor]] icon which dates to {{Circa|900}} (from [[Preslav]], [[Bulgaria]]).]]

Christian art began, about two centuries after Christ, by borrowing motifs from [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[Roman Empire|Imperial]] [[imagery]], [[classical Greek]] and Roman religion and popular art. [[Religious images]] are used to some extent by the [[Abrahamic religion|Abrahamic]] Christian faith, and often contain highly complex iconography, which reflects centuries of accumulated tradition.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |title=Answering Eastern Orthodox Apologists regarding Icons |author-first1=John B. |author-last1=Carpenter|url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/answering-eastern-orthodox-apologists-regarding-icons/ |website=The Gospel Coalition}}</ref> In the [[Late Antique]] period iconography began to be standardised, and to relate more closely to [[Biblical]] texts, although many gaps in the [[canonical Gospel]] narratives were plugged with matter from the [[apocrypha|apocryphal gospels]]. Eventually the Church would succeed in weeding most of these out, but some remain, like the ox and ass in the [[Nativity of Jesus in art|Nativity of Christ]].

An [[icon]] is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from [[Eastern Christianity]]. Christianity has used symbolism from its very beginnings.<ref name=":1">{{CathEncy|wstitle=Symbolism}}</ref> In both East and West, numerous iconic types of [[Christ]], [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]] and saints and other subjects were developed; the number of named types of icons of Mary, with or without the infant Christ, was especially large in the East, whereas [[Christ Pantocrator]] was much the commonest image of Christ.

[[Christian symbolism]] invests objects or actions with an inner meaning expressing Christian ideas. Christianity has borrowed from the common stock of significant symbols known to most periods and to all regions of the world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jenner |first=Henry |title=Christian Symbolism |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2004 |page=xiv |author-link=Henry Jenner |orig-year=1910}}</ref> [[Religious symbolism]] is effective when it appeals to both the intellect and the emotions. Especially important depictions of Mary include the [[Hodegetria]] and [[Panagia]] types. Traditional models evolved for narrative paintings, including large cycles covering the events of the Life of Christ, the [[Life of the Virgin]], parts of the Old Testament, and, increasingly, the lives of popular [[saint]]s. Especially in the West, a system of [[emblem|attributes]] developed for [[Saint symbology|identifying individual]] figures of saints by a standard appearance and symbolic objects held by them; in the East they were more likely to identified by text labels.<ref name=":1" />

Each saint has a story and a reason why he or she led an exemplary life. [[Symbols]] have been used to tell these stories throughout the history of the Church. A number of Christian saints are traditionally represented by a symbol or [[Icon|iconic motif]] associated with their life, termed an attribute or [[emblem]], in order to identify them. The study of these forms part of [[iconography]] in [[Art history]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eiland |first=Murray |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.30861/9781407360713 |title=Picturing Roman Belief Systems: The iconography of coins in the Republic and Empire |date=2023-04-30 |publisher=British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd |isbn=978-1-4073-6071-3 |doi=10.30861/9781407360713}}</ref>

====Architecture====
{{Main|Church architecture}}
[[File:Gotic3d2.jpg|thumb|The structure of a typical Gothic cathedral]]

[[Christian architecture]] encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Christianity to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in [[Christian culture]].<ref name="BF2">Fletcher, Banister. ''A History of Architecture''</ref>

Buildings were at first adapted from those originally intended for other purposes but, with the rise of distinctively ecclesiastical architecture, church buildings came to influence secular ones which have often imitated religious architecture. In the 20th century, the use of new materials, such as concrete, as well as simpler styles has had its effect upon the design of churches and arguably the flow of influence has been reversed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Derrick |first=Andrew |date=2017 |title=19th- and 20th-Century Roman Catholic Churches |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-19th-20th-century-roman-catholic-churches/heag159-roman-catholic-churches-iha/ |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=Historic England}}</ref> From the birth of Christianity to the present, the most significant period of transformation for [[Christian architecture]] in the west was the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic cathedral]]. In the east, [[Byzantine architecture]] was a continuation of [[Roman architecture]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |title=Byzantine Architecture |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Byzantine_Architecture/ |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=World History Encyclopedia |date=26 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

===Philosophy===
{{Main|Christian philosophy|Scholasticism}}

[[Christian philosophy]] is a term to describe the fusion of various fields of [[philosophy]] with the [[Theology|theological]] doctrines of Christianity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Michael J. |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/christiantheology-philosophy/ |title=Philosophy and Christian Theology |last2=Rea |first2=Michael |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |year=2016 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N.}}</ref> [[Scholasticism]], which means "that [which] belongs to the school", and was a method of learning taught by the [[Academic staff|academic]]s (or ''school people'') of medieval [[university|universities]] c. 1100–1500.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Scholasticism |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13548a.htm |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref> [[Scholasticism]] originally started to reconcile the [[philosophy]] of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval Christian theology. Scholasticism is not a philosophy or theology in itself but a tool and method for learning which places emphasis on [[dialectical reasoning]].<ref name=":2" />
{{Further|Christian apologetics|History of science in the Middle Ages}}

==Christian civilization==
{{Off topic|date=January 2018|Christianity and science}}
{{Main|Christianity and science}}
[[File:God the Geometer.jpg|thumb|[[Science]], and particularly [[geometry]] and [[astronomy]], was linked directly to the divine for most medieval scholars. Since these Christians believed God imbued the universe with regular geometric and harmonic principles, to seek these principles was therefore to seek and worship God.]]

===Medieval conditions===
{{Main|Medieval science|Medieval technology|List of Christian thinkers in science}}

The [[Byzantine Empire]], which was the most sophisticated culture during antiquity, suffered under [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]] limiting its scientific prowess during the [[Medieval period]]. Christian [[Western Europe]] had suffered a catastrophic loss of knowledge following the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]]. But thanks to the [[Roman Catholic Church|Church]] scholars such as [[Aquinas]] and [[Buridan]], the West carried on at least the spirit of scientific inquiry which would later lead to Europe's taking the lead in science during the [[Scientific Revolution]] using [[Latin translations of the 12th century|translations of medieval works]].

[[Medieval technology]] refers to the [[technology]] used in [[medieval Europe]] under Christian rule. After the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]], medieval Europe saw a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth.<ref>Alfred Crosby described some of this technological revolution in his ''The Measure of Reality : Quantification in Western Europe, 1250–1600'' and other major historians of technology have also noted it.</ref> The period saw major [[technology|technological]] advances, including the adoption of [[gunpowder]] and the [[astrolabe]], the invention of [[spectacles]], and greatly improved [[water mill]]s, [[building]] techniques, [[agriculture]] in general, [[clock]]s, and [[ship]]s. The latter advances made possible the dawn of the [[Age of Exploration]]. The development of water mills was impressive, and extended from agriculture to [[sawmill]]s both for timber and stone, probably derived from [[Roman technology]]. By the time of the [[Domesday Book]], most large villages in [[Great Britain|Britain]] had mills. They also were widely used in [[mining]], as described by [[Georg Agricola]] in [[De Re Metallica]] for raising ore from shafts, crushing ore, and even powering [[bellows]].

Significant in this respect were advances within the fields of [[navigation]]. The [[compass]] and [[astrolabe]] along with advances in shipbuilding, enabled the navigation of the [[Ocean|World Oceans]] and thus domination of the worlds economic trade. [[Johann Gutenberg|Gutenberg]]'s [[printing press]] made possible a dissemination of knowledge to a wider population, that would not only lead to a gradually more [[egalitarian society]], but one more able to dominate other cultures, drawing from a vast reserve of knowledge and experience.

===Renaissance innovations===
{{Main|History of science in the Renaissance|Renaissance technology}}

During the [[Renaissance]], great advances occurred in geography, astronomy, chemistry, physics, math, manufacturing, and engineering. The rediscovery of ancient scientific texts was accelerated after the Fall of Constantinople, and the invention of [[printing]] which would democratize learning and allow a faster propagation of new ideas. ''[[Renaissance technology]]'' is the set of artifacts and customs, spanning roughly the 14th through the 16th century. The era is marked by such profound technical advancements like the [[printing press]], [[Perspective (graphical)|linear perspectivity]], [[patent law]], [[Santa Maria del Fiore|double shell domes]] or [[Bastion fortress]]es. Draw-books of the Renaissance artist-engineers such as [[Taccola]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci]] give a deep insight into the mechanical technology then known and applied.

[[History of science in the Renaissance|Renaissance science]] spawned the [[Scientific Revolution]]; science and technology began a cycle of mutual advancement. The ''Scientific Renaissance'' was the early phase of the Scientific Revolution. In the two-phase model of [[early modern]] science: a ''Scientific Renaissance'' of the 15th and 16th centuries, focused on the restoration of the natural knowledge of the ancients; and a ''Scientific Revolution'' of the 17th century, when scientists shifted from recovery to innovation. Some scholars and historians attributes Christianity to having contributed to the rise of the [[Scientific Revolution]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Harrison|first1=Peter|title=Christianity and the rise of western science|website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=8 May 2012|url=http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/05/08/3498202.htm|access-date=28 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{citation | last = Noll | first = Mark | author-link = Mark Noll | title = Science, Religion, and A.D. White: Seeking Peace in the "Warfare Between Science and Theology" | publisher = The Biologos Foundation | page = 4 | url = http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/noll_scholarly_essay2.pdf | access-date = 14 January 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150322013257/http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/noll_scholarly_essay2.pdf | archive-date = 22 March 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last1 = Lindberg | first1 = David C. | author-link = David C. Lindberg | last2 = Numbers | first2 = Ronald L. | author2-link = Ronald L. Numbers | title = God & Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science | place = Berkeley and Los Angeles | publisher = University of California Press | year = 1986 | chapter = Introduction | pages = 5, 12 | isbn = 978-0-520-05538-4 }}</ref><ref name="Gilley1">{{cite book |last= Gilley |first= Sheridan |others=Brian Stanley|title=The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 8, World Christianities C.1815-c.1914 |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521814561|page=164}}</ref>

Professor [[Noah Efron|Noah J Efron]] says that "Generations of historians and sociologists have discovered many ways in which Christians, Christian beliefs, and Christian institutions played crucial roles in fashioning the tenets, methods, and institutions of what in time became modern science. They found that some forms of Christianity provided the motivation to study nature systematically..."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILIPEAAAQBAJ|title=Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion|pages=80|isbn=9780674057418 |last1=Numbers |first1=Ronald L. |date=8 November 2010 |publisher= [[Harvard University Press]] }}</ref> Virtually all modern scholars and historians agree that Christianity moved many early-modern intellectuals to study nature systematically.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILIPEAAAQBAJ|title=Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion|pages=80–81|isbn=9780674057418 |last1=Numbers |first1=Ronald L. |date=8 November 2010 |publisher= [[Harvard University Press]] }}</ref>

==Demographics==
{{Main|Christianity by country}}{{See also|List of Christian denominations by number of members|Christian population growth}}

===Geographic spread===
{{Further|State religion}}
[[File:Christ Islam.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Relative geographic prevalence of Christianity versus [[Islam]] versus lack of either religion (2006)]]

In 2009, according to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Christianity was the majority religion in Europe (including Russia) with 80%, [[Latin America]] with 92%, [[North America]] with 81%, and [[Oceania]] with 79%.<ref>{{Cite book |date=2010 |title=Britannica Book of the Year 2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeKbAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA300 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. |page=300 |isbn=9781615353668 |access-date=30 January 2018}}</ref> There are also large Christian communities in other parts of the world, such as China, India and [[Central Asia]], where Christianity is the second-largest religion after [[Islam]]. The United States is home to the world's largest Christian population, followed by [[Brazil]] and Mexico.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/ | title=The Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population| date=2011-12-19}}</ref>

Many Christians not only live under, but also have an official status in, a [[state religion]] of the following nations: [[Argentina]] (Roman Catholic Church),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-Argentina">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/33657/Argentina| title = Argentina|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 11 May 2008}}</ref> [[Armenia]] ([[Armenian Apostolic Church]]),<ref name="Armenian National Committee of America-Armenia">{{cite web|url = http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=82|title = Gov. Pataki Honors 1700th Anniversary of Armenia's Adoption of Christianity as a state religion|publisher = Armenian National Committee of America|access-date = 2009-04-11|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100615140846/http://anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=82|archive-date = 2010-06-15|url-status = dead}}</ref> [[Costa Rica]] (Roman Catholic Church),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-Costa Rica">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/139528/Costa-Rica| title = Costa Rica|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[Denmark]] ([[Church of Denmark]]),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-Denmark">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/157748/Denmark| title = Denmark|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[El Salvador]] (Roman Catholic Church),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-El Salvador">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/181798/El-Salvador| title = El Salvador|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[England]] ([[Church of England]]),<ref name="Centre for Citizenship-England">{{cite web|url=http://www.centreforcitizenship.org/church1.html |title=Church and State in Britain: The Church of privilege |publisher=Centre for Citizenship |access-date=2008-05-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511204430/http://www.centreforcitizenship.org/church1.html |archive-date=2008-05-11 }}</ref> [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] ([[Georgian Orthodox Church]]), [[Greece]] ([[Church of Greece]]), [[Iceland]] ([[Church of Iceland]]),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-Iceland">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/281235/Iceland|title = Iceland|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[Liechtenstein]] (Roman Catholic Church),<ref name="U.S. Department of State-Liechtenstein">{{cite web|url =https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2003/24418.htm|title = Liechtenstein|publisher = U.S. Department of State|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[Malta]] (Roman Catholic Church),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-Malta">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/360532/Malta|title = Malta|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[Monaco]] (Roman Catholic Church),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-Monaco">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/388747/Monaco|title = Monaco|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[Romania]] ([[Romanian Orthodox Church]]), [[Norway]] ([[Church of Norway]]),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-Norway">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/420178/Norway|title = Norway|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[Vatican City]] (Roman Catholic Church),<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica-Vatican City">{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/623972/Vatican-City|title = Vatican|encyclopedia = Britannica.com|access-date = 2008-05-11}}</ref> [[Switzerland]] (Roman Catholic Church, [[Swiss Reformed Church]] and [[Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland]]).

===Number of adherents===
The estimated number of [[Christians]] in the world ranges from 2.2 billion<ref name="World">33.39% of ~7.2&nbsp;billion world population (under the section 'People') {{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=World|date=27 July 2022 }}</ref><ref name="gordonconwell.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/1IBMR2015.pdf|title=Christianity 2015: Religious Diversity and Personal Contact|publisher=gordonconwell.edu|date=January 2015|access-date=2015-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525141543/http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/1IBMR2015.pdf|archive-date=2017-05-25|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Major Religions Ranked by Size">{{cite web|url=http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816004118/http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=August 16, 2000 |title=Major Religions Ranked by Size |publisher=Adherents.com |access-date=2009-05-05}}</ref><ref name="Global Christianity">{{cite web |author=ANALYSIS |url=http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-exec.aspx |title=Global Christianity |publisher=Pewforum.org |date=2011-12-19 |access-date=2012-08-17 |archive-date=2013-07-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730062627/http://www.pewforum.org/christian/global-christianity-exec.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> to 2.4 billion people.{{efn|Current sources are in general agreement that Christians make up about 33% of the world's population—slightly over 2.4 billion adherents in mid-2015.}} The faith represents approximately one-third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world,<ref name="Major Religions Ranked by Size"/> with the [[List of Christian denominations|three largest groups of Christians]] being the [[Catholic Church]], [[Protestantism]], and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].<ref>Hinnells, ''The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion'', p. 441.</ref> The largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church, with an estimated 1.2 billion adherents.<ref>{{cite news|title=How many Roman Catholics are there in the world?|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-21443313|work=BBC News|access-date=2016-10-05|date=March 14, 2013}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;margin: auto"
|+ Demographics of major traditions within Christianity ([[Pew Research Center]], 2010 data)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/|title=Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population|date=19 December 2011}}</ref>{{Update inline|date=March 2024}}
|-
! cyrus="col" | Tradition
! scope="col" | Followers
! scope="col" | % of the Christian population
! scope="col" | % of the world population
! scope="col" | Follower dynamics
! scope="col" | Dynamics in- and outside Christianity
|- style="background: yellow"
| [[Catholic Church]]
| 1,094,610,000
| 50.1
| 15.9
| {{increase}} Growing
| {{decrease}} Declining
|- style="background: #B57EDC"
| [[Protestantism]]
| 800,640,000
| 36.7
| 11.6
| {{increase}} Growing
| {{increase}} Growing
|- style="background: #9F8170"
|[[Orthodoxy in Christianity|Orthodoxy]]
| 260,380,000
| 11.9
| 3.8
| {{decrease}} Declining
| {{decrease}} Declining
|- style="background: cyan"
|[[Nontrinitarianism|Other Christianity]]
| 28,430,000
| 1.3
| 0.4
| {{increase}} Growing
| {{increase}} Growing
|-
! Christianity
! 2,184,060,000
! 100
! 31.7
! {{increase}} Growing
! {{nochange}} Stable
|}

===Notable Christian organizations===
A [[religious order]] is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. In contrast, the term [[Holy Orders]] is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to a group of individuals who are set apart for a special role or ministry. Historically, the word "order" designated an established civil body or corporation with a hierarchy, and ordination meant legal incorporation into an ordo. The word "holy" refers to the Church. In context, therefore, a holy order is set apart for ministry in the Church. Religious orders are composed of initiates (laity) and, in some traditions, ordained clergies.

Various organizations include:
* In the Roman Catholic Church, [[religious institute]]s and [[secular institute]]s are the major forms of [[institute of consecrated life|institutes of consecrated life]], similar to which are [[society of apostolic life|societies of apostolic life]]. They are organizations of laity or clergy who live a common life under the guidance of a fixed rule and the leadership of a superior. (ed., see [[:Category: Catholic orders and societies]] for a particular listing.)
* [[Anglican religious order]]s are communities of laity or clergy in the Anglican churches who live under a common rule of life. (ed., see [[:Category: Anglican organizations]] for a particular listing)
{{See also|Category: Christian organizations}}

==Christianity law and ethics==

===Church and state framing===
{{Main|Canon law|Christian ethics}}

Within the framework of Christianity, there are at least three possible definitions for Church law. One is the Torah/Mosaic Law (from what Christians consider to be the [[Old Testament]]) also called [[Divine Law]] or [[Biblical law]]. Another is the instructions of [[Jesus|Jesus of Nazareth]] in the [[Gospel]] (sometimes referred to as [[the Law of Christ]] or the [[New Commandment]] or the [[New Covenant]]). A third is [[canon law]] which is the internal [[ecclesiastical]] law governing the [[Roman Catholic Church]], the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] churches, and the [[Anglicanism|Anglican Communion]] of churches.<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Canon law}}</ref> The way that such church law is [[legislative power|legislated]], interpreted and at times [[court|adjudicated]] varies widely among these three bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was initially a rule adopted by a [[ecumenical council|council]] (From Greek ''kanon'' / κανών, [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] kaneh / קנה, for rule, standard, or measure); these canons formed the foundation of canon law.

[[Christian ethics]] in general has tended to stress the need for [[divine grace|grace]], [[mercy]], and [[forgiveness]] because of human weakness and developed while [[Early Christians]] were subjects of the [[Roman Empire]]. From the time Nero blamed Christians for setting Rome ablaze (64 AD) until [[Galerius]] (311 AD), persecutions against Christians erupted periodically. Consequently, Early Christian ethics included discussions of how believers should relate to Roman authority and to the empire.

Under the [[Constantine I and Christianity|Emperor Constantine I]] (312–337), Christianity became a legal religion. While some scholars debate whether Constantine's conversion to Christianity was authentic or simply matter of political expediency, [[Edict of Milan|Constantine's decree]] made the empire safe for Christian practice and belief. Consequently, issues of Christian doctrine, ethics and church practice were debated openly, see for example the [[First Council of Nicaea]] and the [[First seven Ecumenical Councils]]. By the time of [[Theodosius I]] (379–395), Christianity had become the [[state religion]] of the empire. With Christianity in power, ethical concerns broaden and included discussions of the proper role of the state.

[[Render unto Caesar...]] is the beginning of a phrase attributed to Jesus in the [[synoptic gospel]]s which reads in full, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's". This phrase has become a widely quoted summary of the relationship between Christianity and secular authority. The gospels say that when Jesus gave his response, his interrogators "marvelled, and left him, and went their way." Time has not resolved an ambiguity in this phrase, and people continue to interpret this passage to support various positions that are poles apart. The traditional division, carefully determined, in Christian thought is the [[Sovereign state|state]] and [[Christian Church|church]] have separate [[sphere of influence|spheres of influence]].

[[Thomas Aquinas]] thoroughly discussed that ''human law'' is [[positive law]] which means that it is [[natural law]] applied by governments to societies. All human laws were to be judged by their conformity to the natural law. An unjust law was in a sense no law at all. At this point, the natural law was not only used to pass judgment on the moral worth of various laws, but also to determine what the law said in the first place. This could result in some tension.<ref>Burns, "Aquinas's Two Doctrines of Natural Law."</ref> Late ecclesiastical writers followed in his footsteps.

{{See also|Doctrine of the two kingdoms|Unam sanctam}}

====Democratic ideology====
{{Main|Christian democracy}}

[[Christian democracy]] is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of [[Catholic social teaching]]. In a number of countries, the democracy's Christian ethos has been diluted by [[secularisation]]. In practice, Christian democracy is often considered [[social conservatism|conservative]] on cultural, social and moral issues and [[progressivism|progressive]] on fiscal and economic issues. In places, where their opponents have traditionally been secularist [[socialism|socialists]] and [[social democracy|social democrats]], Christian democratic parties are moderately [[conservatism|conservative]], whereas in other cultural and political environments they can lean to the left.

===Women's roles===
{{Main|Women in Christianity}}

Attitudes and beliefs about the roles and responsibilities of [[women in Christianity]] vary considerably today as they have throughout the last two millennia—evolving along with or counter to the societies in which Christians have lived. The Bible and Christianity historically have been interpreted as excluding women from church leadership and placing them in submissive roles in marriage. Male leadership has been assumed in the church and within marriage, society and government.<ref name="Blevins">Blevins, Carolyn DeArmond, ''Women in Christian History: A Bibliography.'' Macon, Georgia: Mercer Univ Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-86554-493-X}}</ref>

Some contemporary writers describe the role of women in the life of the church as having been downplayed, overlooked, or denied throughout much of Christian history. [[Paradigm shift]]s in gender roles in society and also many churches has inspired reevaluation by many Christians of some long-held attitudes to the contrary. [[Christian egalitarianism|Christian egalitarians]] have increasingly argued for equal roles for men and women in [[Christian views of marriage|marriage]], as well as for the [[ordination of women]] to the [[clergy]]. Contemporary conservatives meanwhile have reasserted what has been termed a "[[Complementarianism|complementarian]]" position, promoting the traditional belief that the [[Bible]] ordains different roles and responsibilities for women and men in the Church and family.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Piper |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/recoveringbiblic00pipe_587 |title=Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood |publisher=Crossway |year=1991 |isbn=9781856840453 |location=Wheaton, Illinois |pages=[https://archive.org/details/recoveringbiblic00pipe_587/page/n30 31]–59 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{Annotated link|Caesaropapism}}
* {{Annotated link|Christian republic}}
* {{Annotated link|The City of God|''The City of God''}}
* {{Annotated link|Constantine the Great and Christianity}}
* {{Annotated link|Constantinian shift}}
* {{Annotated link|Dominion theology}}
* {{Annotated link|Ecumenism}}
* {{Annotated link|Holy Roman Emperor}}
* {{Annotated link|Integralism}}
* {{Annotated link|Res publica Christiana|''Res publica Christiana''}}
* {{Annotated link|Role of Christianity in civilization}}
* [[Union of Christendom]], a traditional Catholic view of ecumenism

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Browning |first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/byzantineempire0000brow |title=The Byzantine Empire |date=1992 |publisher=The Catholic University of America Press |isbn=978-0-8132-0754-4 |location=Washington, DC |url-access=registration}}
* Bosanquet, Bernard. [https://archive.org/details/civilizationchr02bosagoog The Civilization of Christendom, And Other Studies]. London: S. Sonnenschein, 1893.
* {{Cite book |last=Cameron |first=Averil |author-link=Averil Cameron |title=The Byzantines |date=2006 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-9833-2 |location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lazare |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Lazare |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028696783 |title=Antisemitism: Its History and Causes |date=1903 |publisher=International Library |location=New York}}
* {{Cite book |last=Woods |first=Thomas Jr |author-link=Thomas Woods |url=https://archive.org/details/howcatholicchurc0000wood |title=How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization |date=2005 |publisher=Regnery Publishing, Inc |isbn=0-8952-6038-7 |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/churcheschriste00unkngoog |title=The Churches of Christendom |date=1884 |publisher=Macniven and Wallace}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyteaching00yorkgoog |title=The History of Teachings of the Early Church, as a Basis for the Re-union of Christendom: Lectures |date=1893 |publisher=E. & J. B. Young}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/returnchristend00chesgoog |title=The Return of Christendom |date=1922 |publisher=Macmillan}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Allies |first=Thomas William |url=https://archive.org/details/formationchrist00alligoog |title=The formation of Christendom |date=1865 |publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green}}
* {{Cite book |last=Charles |first=Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUUBAAAAQAAJ |title=Sketches of the women of Christendom, by the author of 'Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta family'. |date=1880}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cole |first=F. G. |url=https://archive.org/details/motherallchurch00colegoog |title=Mother of All Churches: A Brief and Comprehensive Handbook of the Holy Eastern Orthodox Church |date=1908 |publisher=Skeffington}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cox |first=George William |url=https://archive.org/details/latinandteutoni01coxgoog |title=Latin and Teutonic Christendom: An Historical Sketch |date=1870 |publisher=Longmans, Green & Company}}
* {{Cite book |last=Egar |first=John Hodson |url=https://archive.org/details/christendomeccl00egargoog |title=Christendom; ecclesiastical and political, from Constantine to the Reformation |date=1887 |publisher=J. Pott}}
* {{Cite book |last=Girdlestone |first=Charles |url=https://archive.org/details/christendomsket00girdgoog |title=Christendom, sketched from history in the light of holy Scripture |date=1870 |publisher=Published for the Author by Sampson Low, Son, & Marston}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hull |first=Moses |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_wgCOgAACAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Biblical Spiritualism; Or, A Concordance to the Principal Passages of the Old and New Testament Scriptures Which Prove or Imply Spiritualism; Together with a Brief History of the Origin of Many of the Important Books of the Bible |date=1895 |publisher=M. Hull |location=Chicago}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=pqAEibVjkA4C reprint version] is available)
* {{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/renownedhistory01johngoog |title=The Renowned History of the Seven Champions of Christendom: St. George of England, St. Denis of France, St. James of Spain, St. Anthony of Italy, St. Andrew of Scotland, St. Patrick of Ireland, and St. David of Wales, and Their Sons |date=1824 |publisher=W. Baynes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Naville |first=Ernest |url=https://archive.org/details/thechristsevenle00naviuoft |title=The Christ: Seven lectures |date=1880 |publisher=T. & T. Clark}}
* {{Cite book |last=Stearns |first=George |url=https://archive.org/details/mistakechristen00steagoog |title=The mistake of Christendom; or, Jesus and His Gospel before Paul and Christianity |date=1857 |publisher=B. Marsh}}
* {{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=John Radford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOECAAAAQAAJ |title=Symbols of Christendom: an elementary text-book |date=1867}}
* {{Cite book |last=White |first=Andrew Dickson |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorywarfare02whitgoog |title=A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom |date=1897 |publisher=D. Appleton}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Bainton, Roland H. (1966). ''Christendom: a Short History of Christianity and Its Impact on Western Civilization'', in series, ''Harper Colophon Books''. New York: Harper & Row. 2 vol., ill.
*Molland, Einar (1959) ''Christendom: the Christian churches, their doctrines, constitutional forms and ways of worship''. London: A. & R. Mowbray & Co. (first published in Norwegian in 1953 as ''Konfesjonskunnskap'').
* Whalen, Brett Edward (2009). ''Dominion of God: Christendom and Apocalypse in the Middle Ages''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Christendom}}
{{Sister project links}}
;Websites
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Union of Christendom}}

{{Christianity footer}}
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[[Category:Christendom| ]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Cultural regions]]
[[Category:Ecclesiology]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]
[[Category:World Christianity]]