Microsoft Word - 3 Basics of Christian Theology (Rev8).doc

THE BOISI CENTER PAPERS ON RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES

An Introduction to

Christian Theology

Thoughtful, constructive interreligious dialogue depends not only upon the openness of the dialogue

partners to diverse perspectives, but also upon a reliable foundation of correct information about the

various beliefs being discussed. For those who desire a basic understanding of the tenets of Christian

faith, this paper offers a brief history of Christianity and summarizes the central Christian beliefs in

God, Jesus Christ, the Trinity, the Bible and authority, sin and reconciliation, sacraments, spiritual

practices, and ethical living.

INTRODUCTION

This paper provides a primer on the basics of

Christian theology as it is understood in the

American context. It explains the major beliefs or

doctrines that are generally accepted by all

Christians while also highlighting the theological

diversity of the Christian churches. In other words,

although all Christians adhere to the doctrines

discussed here, various groups of Christians often

interpret these doctrines differently. These

disagreements usually have historical roots; thus,

Christianity’s historical development is

inseparable from its doctrinal development. For

this reason, the paper gives an overview of

Christianity’s historical development before

moving into a discussion of the major Christian

beliefs.

As would be the case with any religious tradition,

the complexity of Christian theology and history

cannot be explained fully in a brief paper. Many

nuances of Christian theology and history tend to

remain in the background of how Christianity is

perceived and practiced in the United States;

frequently, these details may not even be familiar

to American Christians themselves. Nevertheless,

some knowledge of these particulars is essential

to ground an accurate understanding of

Christianity.

This paper thus provides an important

complement to the other papers in the Boisi

Center series. In particular, since religious beliefs

and religious practices always inform one another,

reading this paper together with the paper on

Religious Practice in the United States is

recommended. The paper begins with a brief

historical outline of the beginnings and major

divisions of Christianity. It then summarizes the

Christian beliefs in God, Jesus Christ, the Trinity,

the Bible and authority, sin and reconciliation,

sacraments, spiritual practices, and ethical living.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY

The history of Christianity unfolds organically

through time. It is commonly understood to begin

with Jesus, who was born two thousand years ago.

However, because Jesus was Jewish, some date

Christianity’s roots much further back, to the

beginnings of Judaism. To illustrate the vast

sweep of historical development, this section

proceeds in four parts. First, it addresses the roots

of Christianity in the first through the third

centuries C.E. (“Common Era,” dating from the

time of Jesus’ birth); second, it describes

Christianity’s development through the Middle

Ages; third, it explores the Protestant

Reformations in the 1600s and their continuing

influence today; fourth, focusing on the United

States, it summarizes several aspects of American

Protestantism.

The Beginnings of Christianity (1-300 C.E.)

Christianity began as a movement within

Judaism during the first century C.E. At this time,

the Jewish rabbi now known as Jesus of Nazareth

undertook a public teaching ministry in which he

preached about the imminent coming of the

Kingdom of God. As reported in the Christian

Scriptures (commonly known among Christians

as the New Testament), Jesus assembled a core

group of twelve Jewish disciples, along with many

other followers. Together they ministered to the

poor and outcast in present-day Israel and

Palestine. Around the year 33 C.E., Jesus was

arrested and executed by the Roman governor.

However, Jesus’ followers claimed that he rose

from the dead; they came to believe that he was

the Son of God and that his death and

resurrection saved them from their sins. As their

conviction grew, they named Jesus the “Christ”—

meaning Messiah or Anointed One—according to

the prophecies of the Jewish Bible, the Hebrew

Scriptures (commonly known among Christians

as the Old Testament). This is the origin of the

name “Jesus Christ” and led to Jesus’ followers

being called “Christians.”

After Jesus’ death, “Christians” became identified

as a particular sect within Judaism. These Jews

believed that Jesus was the Messiah foretold in

their Hebrew Scriptures, whose coming they had

long anticipated. However, as time went on, the

majority of Jews did not believe that Jesus was the

Messiah, and their differences with “Christian”

Jews increased. Further, many non-Jewish people

did come to believe in Jesus. In this way,

“Christianity” gradually became a religious

movement distinct from Judaism, as it is practiced

today.

Over several generations, Christians compiled

their collective memories of Jesus’ teachings and

sayings in various documents. Best known among

these today are the four narratives of Jesus’ life,

death, and resurrection that now appear in the

Christian Scriptures, the “Gospels” of Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John. During these early years,

many letters were also circulated among

Christian communities about their belief in Jesus

as the Messiah and the way Christians should live

and worship. The letters of the apostle Paul and a

few other authors were eventually included in the

Christian Scriptures along with the four Gospels.

Christians debated for centuries over which

documents to include in their scriptures; the first

known list of the twenty-seven documents now

accepted as the Christian Scriptures did not

appear until the year 367 CE, and it may have

taken even longer before Christians universally

accepted this list.

Further Development (300-1500 C.E.)

Since their religious practices were distinguished

from Judaism only gradually, Christians of the

first and second centuries worshipped in small

pockets throughout the Middle and Near East, and

their religious practices differed from town to

town. Moreover, Christianity was often outlawed

under Roman law; many believers were

persecuted and executed for professing their faith.

In the year 313 C.E., the Roman emperor

Constantine converted to Christianity and

legalized it, virtually ending the persecutions.

Noticing that Christians disagreed with one

another on many important points, such as the

relationship of Jesus to God, and that these

debates were causing unrest and confusion in his

empire, Constantine called Christian leaders

(bishops) from across the empire to a council at

Nicaea in 325 C.E. This first major council of the

Christian churches clarified key points of theology,

including the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus (see

discussion below). The primary written

contribution of this council was the Nicene Creed.

More debates followed in the succeeding years,

and the second great council, held in

Constantinople in 381 C.E., expanded this creed

into a longer statement of faith that members of

many Christian churches still recite. (For the full

text of the creed, see Appendix.)

Although lively debates over key theological points

continued, Christianity underwent further

unification in the fourth century under the reign

of Emperor Theodosius and through the theology

of Bishop Augustine of Hippo (b. 356-d. 430).

Almost seventy years after Constantine legalized

Christianity, Theodosius established the

Christian faith as the official religion of the

Roman Empire. From then on, Christianity

spread rapidly. Some converted to Christianity to

advance in Roman society or out of fear of Roman

authorities, but many converted willingly. These

conversions catapulted Christianity forward as a

leading religion of the Roman Empire, which

then encompassed most of Europe and North

Africa.

Shortly after Theodosius’ decree, Augustine

became bishop of Hippo in North Africa. An adult

convert to Christianity, Augustine came to be one

of the most influential theologians in the history

of the Christian church. At this time, basic

Christian beliefs were still contested, so

Augustine articulated much of his theology in

response to competing interpretations of the faith

and to non-Christian faiths of the fourth and fifth

centuries. Through these conflicts, Augustine

provided significant explorations of the Trinity and

human sinfulness, as well as the relationship

between church and state. Augustine’s numerous

writings greatly influenced Christian thought

from the fifth century to the Protestant

Reformation of the sixteenth century and beyond.

Despite his powerful influence, Augustine did not

end the disputes within Christianity. At the

church councils, which continued to take place

every 50-100 years, questions about Jesus’

humanity and divinity—that is, his identity as the

Son of God—proved an ongoing source of

controversy. As Christians from different areas of

the world drew on the philosophical traditions of

their cultures to reflect upon these questions, the

most marked differences arose between Christian

leaders of the Latin West and those of the Greek

East. In the year 1054 C.E., these disagreements

culminated in the “Great Schism” that divided

Christianity into two major strands, Western and

Eastern. Today, Eastern Christianity includes the

Orthodox churches, while Western Christianity

includes the Catholic and Protestant churches.

Because the Orthodox Church in America

accounts for only about one percent of Christians

in the United States, this primer considers only

Western Christianity from this point on.

Western Christianity flourished during the High

Middle Ages of eleventh- to thirteenth-century

Europe. Christianity inspired exquisite art, music,

and architecture. As the first universities were

established, Christian theology became highly

systematized, most notably in the works of

Thomas Aquinas (b. 1225-d. 1274). The leader of

the Western Christian church, the pope, was a

major figure in European politics. During the

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, however, the

papacy lost some of its moral authority due to

widespread corruption in the church, and many

Christians began to question the power of Rome.

The Emergence of Protestant Christianity (1500

C.E.-Present)

These questions eventually led to another major

split within the Christian church in the early

sixteenth century. What is now known as

Protestant Christianity first began to emerge in

present-day Germany, where Christians protested

(hence the name “Protestant”) corruption in the

Christian church.

The key figure of the German protest was a

Christian monk, Martin Luther (1483-1543). In 1517

Luther wrote ninety-five theses criticizing various

corruptions in the church, most notably its

practice of selling “indulgences.” In their original

form, indulgences were gifts offered to the church

by repentant sinners to show their gratitude to

God for the forgiveness of their sins. By the early

1500s, the practice had become corrupted, and it

appeared that the Christian church was selling

forgiveness rather than merely accepting gifts

from the faithful. Luther criticized this practice for

de-emphasizing repentance and making

Christians think they could buy God’s forgiveness.

Instead, Luther preached that salvation is a gift

from God that comes through faith alone upon

repentance for sin. Luther also objected to the

hierarchical structure of the Christian church,

arguing that any Christian could interpret the

Bible and serve as a minister as well as any other;

this idea is now known as the “priesthood of all

believers.” His efforts at reform, however, met

with resistance, and in 1522 Christian authorities

condemned his theological claims. Luther

continued his attempts at reform, and his

followers eventually formed a new Christian

group distinct from the original Western or

“Catholic” church. These Christians became

known as “Lutherans” and remained most

numerous in Germany. Today, in the United

States, Lutherans are one of the larger Protestant

denominations, numbering about five million.

Other reformations closely followed Luther’s. The

most successful included the Calvinist, English,

and radical reformations; these movements

eventually resulted in several new churches. (As a

result of these and subsequent divisions, the

various Christian churches are distinguished by

differences in theology and worship practices and

are now known as “denominations.”) The

Calvinists took their name from the French

lawyer and theologian John Calvin (1509-1564),

who fled the Catholic city of Paris to avoid

persecution for his religious ideas. He eventually

settled in the thoroughly Protestant city of Geneva.

While several of Calvin’s ideas paralleled Luther’s,

Calvin advocated a closer relationship between

church and state than Luther. (For more on the

relationship between church and state in the U.S.,

see the paper on Separation of Church and State.)

Calvin’s ideas influenced many Western

Europeans, including an English group known as

the Puritans. The Puritans immigrated across the

Atlantic in the late seventeenth century; as a

result, the United States has a strong Reformed-

Calvinist tradition. Several present-day American

Protestant groups, including Presbyterians,

Congregationalists, and the Reformed Church in

America, have Calvinist roots.

The English Reformation began in 1529 with

King Henry VIII’s decision to annul his marriage

in defiance of the pope’s orders. To justify his

annulment in religious terms, Henry established

the English or “Anglican” church, making

himself the titular head. This church eventually

adopted a blend of Catholic and Protestant ideas;

the Thirty-Nine Articles, written in the latter years

of the sixteenth century, summarize the

principles of Anglican theology. In the United

States today, the Episcopalian church has

Anglican roots.

The Anabaptists, whose movement is called the

“Radical Reformation,” separated themselves

more definitively from the Roman faith than the

Lutherans or Calvinists. Anabaptists rejected

some traditional worship practices that Lutherans

and Calvinists continued. Most notably,

Anabaptists refused to baptize infants, instead

deferring baptism until people were old enough to

request it. In the United States today, Quakers

and Mennonites trace their origins to Anabaptists.

Most have adopted a modern lifestyle, but small

numbers within these denominations live in

isolated communities, witnessing to their faith by

dressing simply and preserving traditional ways of

living. One well-known example is the Amish

community in Pennsylvania. In the United States

today, groups who trace their beginnings to the

Radical Reformation are much smaller in

comparison to other Christian denominations.

These four groups—Lutherans, Calvinists,

Anglicans, and Anabaptists—represent the

original manifestations of Protestant Christianity

as distinct from Catholic Christianity. In response

to the Protestant reformations, the Catholic

church adopted some minor reforms and

reaffirmed certain teachings, most notably at the

Council of Trent (1545-1563); this response became

known as the “Counter-Reformation.”

Structurally, however, the Catholic church has

continued until the present time in much the

same form as it had in the Middle Ages; Roman

Catholic churches in the United States are part of

the worldwide Roman Catholic Church.

Protestant denominations continued to multiply

in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Drawing on and further adapting Reformation

ideas, additional groups such as Wesleyans, which

includes Methodists and some Pentecostals,

Restorationists, namely the Churches of Christ

and Disciples of Christ, and Baptists organized in

England and the United States. Baptists are now

the largest Protestant denominational group in

the United States, with about forty-seven million

people claiming membership in American,

Southern, or independent Baptist churches. (For a

discussion of the status in the United States of

religions other than Christianity, see the paper on

Religious Pluralism in the United States.)

Contemporary Protestant Christianity in the

United States

In the contemporary United States, Christians

and their beliefs are often described as

“evangelical,” “fundamentalist,” “liberal,” or

“conservative,” or some combination of these

terms. Each term is controversial and freighted

with subtext. This section begins to unpack these

descriptions.

Evangelical Christianity

American Protestantism is often associated with a

movement known as evangelicalism. The meaning

of the term “evangelical” is commonly used to

describe Protestant churches that stress

evangelization, or converting non-Christians to

faith in Jesus. As a general rule, evangelicals

stress three core beliefs: Christianity requires

conversion or “rebirth” through a personal

spiritual encounter with Jesus Christ; Christians

must witness their faith to or “evangelize”

Christians and non-Christians alike; the Bible is

directly inspired by God. Many other Christians,

such as Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Catholics,

also share these three beliefs; thus, evangelicals

can be members of almost any denomination.

However, some denominations, such as Baptists

and Wesleyans, are more evangelical than others,

such as Catholics and Lutherans. One major

distinction is that the less evangelical

denominations tend to emphasize formal

doctrine as similar in importance to the three core

beliefs, while the more evangelical

denominations do not.

Fundamentalist Christianity

Another term sometimes used to describe certain

Christians—and people of other faiths, including

Muslims—is fundamentalist. This term refers to

people who maintain a literalist interpretation of

their religious faith. Within American

Christianity, fundamentalist Protestants share

the evangelical emphasis on Jesus Christ but

shun participation in American politics and

culture. Also, they often insist upon a literal

interpretation of the Bible, whereas other

Christians understand some parts of the Bible to

be symbolic or metaphorical. Not all Christian

evangelicals are fundamentalists, but all

Christian fundamentalists are evangelicals

insofar as they embrace the three foundational

beliefs described above. In the United States today,

Christian fundamentalists constitute a small but

vocal minority of the Christian population.

Liberal and Conservative Christianity

Various Christian denominations are also

sometimes characterized as liberal or conservative.

Some denominations even contain both liberal

and conservative groups. Generally speaking,

liberal Christians accept historical and scientific

information that calls into question the literal

truth of some biblical stories, while conservatives

are typically less convinced that such knowledge is

relevant to faith. For example, liberals typically

acknowledge the theory of evolution as a credible

explanation of life’s origins, while conservatives

adhere to a literal interpretation of the biblical

account of creation. In contrast to conservatives,

liberals also tend to display more openness toward

cultural attitudes about social problems and hold

a more positive view of human nature.

American Christianity contains many

denominations that can be grouped according to

evangelical, fundamentalist, liberal, and

conservative tendencies. Clearly, the distinctions

go far beyond the simple division between

Catholic and Protestant. Nevertheless, basic

similarities in theology and practice remain; the

next section explains these.

BASIC CONCEPTS IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

Given this brief history of Christianity, one can

imagine the difficulty of summarizing the basics

of Christian theology. Yet Catholics and

Protestants are all Christians, and they do share

some basic and vital similarities in their religious

beliefs and practices. They worship a monotheistic

God, manifested in Trinitarian form; they believe

that all humans are sinners, saved from their sin

by the grace of God through Jesus; they profess

that the Bible is God’s word; they regard worship

and prayer as important; they share sacramental

practices; and they attempt to lead ethical lives.

The following summaries of each of these points

offer an introductory but by no means exhaustive

description of these core beliefs.

God

Christians believe in a God who is omnipresent.

This God is understood as both immanent, or

present within the world, and transcendent,

having an existence far beyond the world and

beyond human imagination and experience.

Christians believe that individual persons and

groups can enjoy a personal relationship with God,

but that God always remains a mystery beyond

human understanding. Catholics and Protestants

share this view of God, although Catholics often

stress God’s immanence more than Protestants.

This is evident particularly through their

understanding of the sacraments, as will be

explained in a later section.

What does it mean to understand God as both in

and beyond the world? On the one hand, God is

beyond direct human experience and

comprehension. Christians, not unlike Muslims,

stand in awe of the majesty and dominion of God

over the earth. Christians proclaim that just as the

human eye cannot look directly into the sun, so

human beings cannot comprehend the full

magnificence of God. On the other hand, the Bible

is filled with earthly analogies for God, such as a

parent, a shepherd, a woman searching for a lost

coin, a king, and even a mother hen. So Christians

also believe God loves humanity like a shepherd

tending a flock or a parent caring for children. The

challenge for Christians is to maintain a balanced

view of God as both in and outside of the world—to

remember that although they believe God cares

for them tenderly as a mother, God also remains a

mystery beyond their comprehension. Thus,

Christians commonly feel reverence, love, and

trust towards God: they recognize God’s wondrous

majesty, yet they are also grateful for God’s

merciful and intimate concern for them and the

entire world.

Christian perceptions of God come primarily from

the scriptures. The Hebrew Scriptures represent

God as Lord of all, the one true deity of the cosmos.

The Christian Scriptures continue to emphasize

the monotheism of the Hebrew Scriptures,

describing God as underived and unsurpassable.

In the Gospels, for example, Jesus teaches only

according to God’s authority. Christians

emphasize God’s reign over all that is. In doing so,

they believe they are faithful to the scriptures

(both Hebrew and Christian) and to Jesus’

teachings. Indeed, according to Christian tradition,

sin is defined as turning away from God.

Alluding to Jesus, however, raises questions about

the Christian claim to monotheism. Christians

are distinguished from other monotheists by their

belief in Jesus as the divine son of God. Non-

Christians correctly ask: if Christians believe that

Jesus is the son of God and worship him as God,

how can they claim to be monotheists? The

answer, for Christians, is found in the doctrine of

the Trinity. To understand the Trinity, it is best

first to consider the Christian belief in Jesus as

human and divine, because the earliest

Christians’ understanding of Jesus was what

prompted the development of the doctrine of the

Trinity.

Jesus Christ

Christians’ beliefs about Jesus are based in

scripture and other historical artifacts and

documents. Since few of these other documents

contain information about Jesus, most knowledge

comes from the Christian Scriptures. As noted,

the four Gospels tell the story of Jesus’ life and

ministry, while the rest of the Christian

Scriptures includes letters written by the apostle

Paul and others from the first generations of

Christianity. These documents describe the early

communities’ faith in the message of Jesus’

ministry and how they spread this message.

The Christian Scriptures report that there was no

consensus about who Jesus was during his

human lifetime, even among those who knew

him. Although, even during his ministry, his

disciples are sometimes portrayed as believing he

was the Messiah and the son of God, other people

thought he was a prophet or simply a great

teacher. In a gradual process that began during

Jesus’ ministry and continued for many years after

his death and resurrection, his followers came to

believe that he was the son of God. The gradual

development of this belief is evident in the

Christian Scriptures and other historical

documents that describe the worship practices of

early Christian communities. As noted, the

earliest Christians were Jews who continued to

believe in their monotheistic God. These

Christians remembered and struggled to

understand Jesus’ promise, recorded in the

Gospels, that he would continue to be with them

even when they could no longer see him, and that

he would send his spirit to them as well. Gradually,

through much prayer, worship, and discussion,

Christians came to believe that God was now with

them in three distinct ways: the “Father” or God

of the Hebrew Scriptures, Jesus the Son, and the

Spirit.

Centuries passed before Christians officially

decided that they could believe that Jesus was

divine without sacrificing their belief in one God.

How could this be? At the great councils of Nicaea,

Chalcedon, and beyond, Christians determined

that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine.

They argued that only God could save humans, but

only a human should pay the debt owed to God for

sin. Thus, they came to believe that Jesus

experienced the fullness of human existence—

including birth, life, and death—yet was also

divine. Christians respect Jesus’ mother Mary as

the “Mother of God” because she gave birth to

God’s own son. Christians believe that God

became human in Jesus to provide access to God’s

grace, and Christians view Jesus as the ideal

human being, the full revelation of God’s plan for

humanity. Because of their faith in Jesus,

Christians believe that God is with them, loves

them and saves them from sin and death, and will

raise them to eternal life. In the end, Jesus’

simultaneous divinity and humanity is a mystery

that Christians confess in faith, although they

cannot fully explain it.

Christians also believe that Jesus brings God’s

forgiveness of sin to humanity. Christians call this

“salvation” or “atonement.” “Salvation” means

that sin is taken away and people are reconciled

with God. While all Christians believe that Jesus

accomplished this, no consensus has been

reached among Christians about how exactly he

did so, as the scriptures describe it in various ways.

For example, the word “atonement” usually refers

specifically to the belief that it was Jesus’ death on

the cross that accomplished the taking away of

sins; the cross thus symbolizes both human guilt

and God’s mercy. However, some Christians object

to “atonement theology” on the grounds that it

portrays God as a cruel and irresponsible parent,

condemning a child to a horrible death. These

Christians prefer to emphasize Jesus’ teaching

and healing ministry as reconciling people with

God and consider Jesus’ death a tragedy

perpetrated by sinful people, not intended by God.

Despite these differences, all Christians believe

that through Jesus, God saves them from sin and

promises them eternal life.

The Trinity

While the above subsection explains how the early

Christians’ experience and memories of Jesus led

them to believe that God was present with them in

three ways, the doctrine of the Trinity remains

one of the most difficult points of Christian

theology to explain. Again, according to this

doctrine, God is one being who is revealed to

human beings in three ways: Father, Son (Jesus),

and Spirit. In light of this assertion, Christian

monotheism is easily challenged. If the God of the

Hebrew Scriptures is God, and Jesus is God, and

the Spirit is God, how can Christians claim to

believe in one God and not three?

In light of their encounters with Jesus, the early

Christians—who maintained their Jewish

monotheistic roots—came to believe that the

trinitarian nature of God was compatible with

monotheism. They remembered, as recorded in

the Christian Scriptures, that Jesus had a unique

relationship with God, whom he called his father;

that Jesus had promised to be with them even

after he was no longer visible to them; and that

Jesus had said he would also send his Spirit to

them. Christians believed the Spirit did come to

them at Pentecost, an event chronicled in the

Christian Scriptures. As time went on, Christians

also began to notice that several passages in their

scriptures could be interpreted as describing

distinctions within God. For example, the Gospels

instruct Christians to be baptized “in the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

In this way, over several centuries, the doctrine of

the Trinity slowly took shape. As noted above, it

was first officially formulated in the creed of the

Council of Nicaea in 325 and developed further at

Constantinople in 381.

Of course, the councils did not end debate over the

Trinity. Given that the idea is difficult to

comprehend, Christians have explained it with

varying degrees of success. At times it has

degenerated into a belief in God as three distinct

divine beings or as one God revealed in different

ways at different times. Such conceptions of the

Trinity have given rise to charges of polytheism. In

general, Christian theologians have succeeded

better at saying what the Trinity is not than at

explaining what it is. Briefly, however, the three

persons can be described as follows: God the

“Father” is the creator of all that is; God the “Son”

is Jesus, who became human and came to earth;

God the “Spirit” is the wisdom of God whom Jesus

sent to be with humans after he left the earth.

Theologians and mystics have understood these

three persons of the Trinity to have various names.

The most commonly used are Father, Son, and

Spirit; others include Creator, Redeemer, and

Sanctifier, and Mother, Daughter, and Wisdom.

In sum, the Christian view of the Trinity is that

the one eternal God is manifest in three ways.

Christians believe that God has one nature, and

that nature is to be relational; thus, the three

divine “persons” are believed not only to exist in

Christians’ experiences of God but also to

correspond to real distinctions within God. How

exactly this works remains a mystery. A common

way to understand the Trinity is by analogy. For

example, consider the several roles a single

woman may occupy. She may be a daughter, a wife,

and a mother. In each of these roles, she functions

differently in relationship to the people around

her. She remains one woman, yet at the same

time, real differences in her own personhood

correspond to her various roles. Similarly, for

Christians, the one eternal God is three persons

sharing one divine nature.

The Bible and Church Authority

Catholics and Protestants alike view the Bible as

the revealed word of God and the primary

authority for Christian life and worship. All

Christians respect the ability of individual persons

to read and interpret the Bible for themselves, but

they do so in various ways. On the one hand,

Protestant churches tend to follow a central

principle of the sixteenth-century Reformations in

assigning absolute authority to individual

Christians to interpret the Bible for themselves.

On the other hand, the Catholic church

emphasizes that individual Christians who are

reading the Bible should also consider the long

tradition of church interpretation of scripture.

When considering Catholic and Protestant

interpretation of the Bible, further exploration of

each one’s notion of church is needed. This section

gives a general account of the theology behind the

different Christian churches. (For a description of

the varieties of religious worship and expression

among Christians, see the paper on Religious

Practice.)

Generally speaking, Protestants view church as a

group of Christian believers who come together to

worship God and support each other in their

efforts to live a Christian life. Scripture serves as

the final spiritual authority of the church; it is

interpreted individually by each member as well

as collectively by the group. According to Luther’s

principle of the priesthood of all believers, any

individual may be called forth by the community

to serve as its spiritual leader or pastor. The pastor

is not assumed to have a special understanding of

the Bible compared to the other church members.

Since they understand church as a particular

community of believers, Protestants—especially

evangelical Protestants—tend to read and

interpret the Bible as relevant to their current

situation with less attention to how it has been

interpreted in the past.

Some Protestant churches, such as Lutherans,

Methodists, and especially Episcopalians, proceed

formally in training and assigning their leaders.

In the Episcopalian church, which as noted is

theologically a blend of Catholic and Protestant

principles, leaders succeed one another in a

formal fashion similar to that of the Catholic

church. This “apostolic succession” is connected

theologically back to Peter, one of Jesus’ closest

followers who is now considered the first bishop of

Rome (i.e., the pope). In these Protestant churches,

as in the more evangelical churches, the

emphasis in scriptural interpretation is usually on

its present meaning, not on a tradition of past

interpretation. However, they do have a long

history of scholarly biblical interpretation. A

difference is that when major disagreements over

scriptural interpretation arise, these

denominations will call general meetings to

discuss them, whereas less highly organized

evangelical churches are more likely simply to

split and form new churches along these lines.

In contrast to most Protestants, Catholics define

church as a much larger community. For Catholics,

church includes not only the believers in a

particular faith community, but also all Catholics

around the world and even all believers who have

died and whose souls are believed to be with God.

The Catholic church has a very formal training or

“ordination” process for its leaders; its leadership

consists of a hierarchical structure of priests, who

lead individual parishes, and bishops, who lead all

the parishes in a given region (for example, all the

Catholic parishes in eastern Massachusetts are

headed by one bishop). Bishops, not the members

of the individual parishes, decide who will serve as

priest for each parish. The bishop of Rome is

known as the pope, and he serves as the symbolic

head of the worldwide Catholic church. As the

“first among equals,” the pope is considered to be

the successor of Peter. Catholics do not worship

the pope—only God is worshiped—but they do

hold the office of the papacy in very high esteem

because it symbolizes the unity of the worldwide

Catholic church.

As noted, like Protestants, Catholics believe that

any Christian can read and interpret the Bible.

However, in accordance with the Catholic

understanding of the church as a community that

includes all believers, even those who have died,

contemporary interpretations of scripture take

into account past interpretations. The Catholic

tradition of successive church leadership dates

back to before most people were literate, when

only priests and bishops could actually read and

had to interpret the Bible for the people. Often

these interpretations were written down and have

been preserved as the collective wisdom of the

church. Because official church leaders and those

trained in church history and theology have a

broad knowledge of this historical tradition of

scriptural interpretation, their opinions also carry

weight with individual Catholics as they read the

scriptures. Thus, the Catholic church has a long

tradition of scriptural interpretation.

In the end, however, the Catholic church

emphasizes the final authority of the individual

conscience. It teaches that individual Catholics

who sincerely pray and study the scriptures should

follow their consciences regarding spiritual

matters, even if they disagree with church leaders

and even if—as sometimes happens in extreme

circumstances—this leads to their

excommunication from the church. This option of

legitimate disagreement with church leaders is

called “dissent.” Depending on the issue and on

who is dissenting, church leaders treat dissent as

more or less of a problem. For example, many

Catholics disagree with the church’s official

position on the issue of birth control, and this has

not been considered serious enough to merit

punishment. However, a few American bishops

have attempted to discipline prominent Catholic

politicians who deviate from the church’s strict

anti-abortion stance. The tradition of dissent

shows that although Catholics place more weight

than Protestants on church tradition as an

important part of scriptural interpretation, all

Christians ultimately rely on the Bible and their

consciences as the final spiritual authority in

living the Christian life.

Traditional Catholic teachings derive from and

are interdependent with scripture. Catholics

regard the sacred writings of the Bible as the

inspired word of God, written by humans who

were guided by the Holy Spirit. For Catholics, the

Bible is not free from human error, yet it

nevertheless constitutes the record of God’s

revelation and design for the world. Catholic

tradition helps distinguish the divine elements

from the human elements in the Bible. For

instance, Catholics (and most Protestants) now

interpret the biblical justification of slavery as a

function of a past historical era, and they are

certain that slavery is contrary to God’s will. In this

way, tradition provides guidance for Catholics.

In sum, both Protestants and Catholics believe

that the church is composed of humans gathered

together to confess their faith in Jesus and

worship God. All Christians agree that the Bible is

the primary authority for Christian life. Most

Protestants profess “the priesthood of all

believers” and stress contemporary interpretation

of the Bible, while Catholics and some Protestants

also respect the long tradition of scriptural

interpretation, including the teaching ability of

church leaders and theologians. The authority

and legitimacy of a Protestant church or leader

often correlates only to adherence to the Bible,

while for Catholics, tradition is an important part

of both biblical interpretation and the appointing

of church leaders.

While all Christians understand the Bible as the

authority for Christian life, they differ over the

question of the Bible’s “inerrancy.” Representing

the far ends of the spectrum are Catholics and

fundamentalist Protestants. Catholics believe the

Bible was inspired by God but composed by various

people over many centuries, so they view

inconsistencies and contradictions as a result of

human fallibility or cultural change. For

Catholics, the challenge is to determine which

passages are directly relevant and which must be

reinterpreted. Fundamentalist Protestants believe

that God’s inspiration of the scriptures means that

everything recorded in them is literally true and

free from error, or “inerrant”; they consider the

Bible to be directly applicable to contemporary life.

Evangelical, conservative, and liberal Protestants

fall between these two extremes. Evangelical and

conservative Protestants typically understand the

Bible as inspired by God, with any apparent errors

representing mysteries that humans must

struggle to understand; liberal Protestants tend to

see inconsistencies as due to human error and

cultural change.

Sin and Reconciliation

In accordance with their reading of the Bible,

Christians believe that human beings were

originally created in the image of God, meaning

that they were completely good. However, people

used their free will to turn away from God,

following their own desires rather than God’s will.

This gave rise to a universal human tendency

toward evil that Christians call “original sin”;

individual sinful acts are believed to be rooted in

this condition. Despite their sinfulness, Christians

believe humans are still the image of God;

Catholics hold a more optimistic view than

Protestants about the extent to which the image

remains present. Although humans retain a

tremendous capacity for good, the tendency

towards sin often outweighs the impulse towards

good. This leads to a universal human need for

salvation from sin and reconciliation with God.

Christians understand reconciliation with God as

something accomplished by Jesus and accepted by

the Christian in faith. As noted in the section on

Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection reveal God’s

love and mercy. And as the Reformations stressed,

forgiveness of sins (also called justification) also

comes from God as a gift; it has nothing to do with

human achievements. Catholics and Protestants

share this view of justification as a free gift offered

through Jesus and accepted in faith. While all

Christians also agree that faith should lead to

living a Christian life, or performing “good

works,” they sometimes disagree about the

relationship of faith and works. In particular,

Catholics and evangelical Protestants have

emphasized the need to grow in faith by doing

good works, while other Christians such as

Lutherans have stressed the distinction between

faith and works. However, recent documents such

as the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of

Justification,” which was published by the

Lutheran and Catholic churches, show that this

particular difference is being resolved.

Sacraments

In Christian worship, sacraments are ritual

practices that are believed to bring people into

tangible union with God. Sacraments are

understood as visible signs of God’s grace. When a

sacrament is performed, prayers are said and

elements such as water, wine, bread, and oil may

be used. Protestants usually celebrate two

sacraments, while Catholics, in accordance with

their greater emphasis on God’s immanence,

celebrate seven. Almost all Christians observe the

sacraments of baptism and Eucharist. For

Catholics, the other five are confession,

confirmation, matrimony, holy orders, and

anointing of the sick. Thus, sacraments often

mark important epochs in a Christian’s life. This

section describes the sacraments of baptism and

Eucharist.

Baptism celebrates a person’s entrance into the

Christian family. In some denominations, such as

Catholicism and Lutheranism, people are

baptized as infants; in others, baptism is

performed when the person requests it. According

to the Christian Scriptures, the tradition of

baptism began with Jesus, who, following a Jewish

custom, was baptized with water at the start of his

ministry. Since then, Christians have been

baptized to symbolize their new identity as God’s

children as they commence lives as Christians. At

a baptism, the person being baptized—or, if an

infant, the person’s parents—affirms his or her

belief in the Trinitarian God. Water is then

sprinkled on the person’s head, or the person may

be fully immersed in water, to symbolize the

washing away of sin. The baptized person enters

the Christian life as a new creature, freed from

original sin. This freedom is not experienced fully

in earthly life; Christians do not claim that they no

longer sin after baptism. Rather, they are

confident that God forgives their sins, and with

faith in their reconciliation with God through

Jesus, they try to perform only good works. When

they fail, they remember God’s forgiveness as

symbolized at their baptism and try to do better.

The Eucharist, usually known among Protestants

as the Lord’s Supper or communion, is the second

sacrament Christians celebrate regularly. In

Catholic churches the Eucharist is celebrated

daily, while Protestant churches may only

celebrate it every week or once a month. The

Eucharist is usually celebrated within the context

of a worship service; it reenacts the final meal

Jesus ate with his followers before his death. The

Christian Scriptures report that at this meal,

which was a Jewish Passover feast, Jesus broke

bread and raised a cup of wine. He declared that

the bread and wine were his body and blood, given

to his followers for the forgiveness of sin, and he

instructed the disciples to eat and drink in this

manner in memory of him. Accordingly, in

Christian worship, the minister (pastor or priest)

takes bread and wine, repeats the words Jesus

spoke, and invites all believers to consume the

bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus.

Christians have long debated about whether the

Eucharistic bread and wine only symbolize Jesus’

body and blood or actually become Jesus’ body and

blood. In particular, the sixteenth-century

Reformers had diverse understandings of the

Eucharist. Luther taught the Real Presence of

Christ in the Eucharist but declined to speculate

about exactly what this meant. Anglicans held that

Christ was present in the bread and wine “in a

heavenly sense,” while Calvin maintained that

the sacrament served simply to remind believers

of Jesus’ death. Meanwhile, Catholics retained the

medieval doctrine of transubstantiation, the idea

that the bread and wine are transformed into

Jesus’ body and blood. Today, while both

Protestants and Catholics observe the Eucharist,

most Protestant churches teach that the bread and

wine somehow symbolize Jesus’ presence; the

Catholic church, here interpreting the Bible more

literally, still teaches that the bread and wine

mysteriously become the body and blood of Christ.

In addition to baptism and Eucharist, the other

five sacraments celebrated in the Catholic church

are reconciliation (confession and forgiveness of

sins), confirmation (the adult decision to remain

part of the church), marriage, holy orders or

“ordination,” and anointing of the sick. These

sacraments mark major milestones in the life of

faith. Many Protestants also mark these

milestones and even use similar terms to describe

them, but they do not consider these events to be

“sacraments.” This practice dates back to Luther,

who emphasized the individual’s direct

relationship with God over the role of church

leaders.

CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL PRACTICES: WORSHIP AND PRAYER

Communal worship—informal or formal services

during which Christians gather to offer praise and

thanksgiving to God—is central to all Christian

denominations. Communal worship may occur

throughout the week, but Catholics and

Protestants usually attend services on Sunday

mornings. The style of these services differs

greatly among the denominations.

The Catholic Mass is a liturgical celebration that

includes songs of praise, formal prayers, readings

from the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, a talk

by the priest interpreting the scriptures called the

“sermon” or “homily,” the recitation of the

Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and the

sacrament of Eucharist. The Mass is often

described as “high church” because of the strict

organization of the liturgy, the formal prayers,

and the ceremonial robes worn by the priest.

Protestant worship ranges from “high church” to

“low church” forms. Lutheran and Episcopal

services are quite similar to the Catholic Mass,

while evangelical worship often consists more

simply of singing, a scripture reading, and a

sermon. Christian worship services usually last

between sixty and ninety minutes but may be

longer or shorter. (For more on Christian worship

practices, see the paper on Religious Practice in

the United States.)

Because Christians believe in a personal God who

listens to individuals, and because Jesus instructs

his followers to pray in the Christian Scriptures,

Christians pray to sustain their relationship with

God. Prayer takes many forms, including the

ritualized prayers of worship services, personal

prayer, group prayer, and even Bible study. Prayers

may be silent or spoken aloud; contemplative,

nonverbal forms of prayer are also practiced.

Intercessory prayer, asking others to pray on one’s

behalf, is also common. For Catholics, as noted,

the church includes all believers, even those who

have died; therefore, Catholics sometimes ask

saints, including Mary, the mother of God, to

“intercede” with God on their behalf. Among all

Christians, the Lord’s Prayer or “Our Father,”

which Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in the

Gospels, is the most-recited prayer. (For the text of

the Lord’s Prayer, see the Appendix.)

ETHICAL CHRISTIAN LIVING

How do these fundamentals of Christian theology

transfer into action in the lives of Christians? The

answer is complex, for the multiple expressions of

Christian faith give rise to various understandings

of the ethical Christian life. In general, however,

Jesus teaches in the Gospels that Christians are to

love God and to love their neighbors as themselves,

whether the neighbor be friend or enemy.

Christians do not always succeed in following this

command; however, it is manifested in the

Christian ideals of vocation, justice, and

missionary activity.

Vocation

Like everyone else, Christians must work to earn a

living, and most do not have jobs in churches. Yet

vocation refers to the idea that people serve God

through their everyday work. How does the

ordinary labor of Christians relate to their

spiritual lives? Put simply, Christians believe that

any work that serves the neighbor and the

community—the “common good”—also serves

God. Virtually any labor can become an extension

of Christian faith. The work of doctors, lawyers,

and politicians has no greater spiritual value than

that of carpenters, trash collectors, and cab drivers;

what matters is their faithful exercise for the

benefit of others. This idea extends to Christians’

personal lives as well; Christians have an

obligation to serve relatives and friends charitably

and responsibly. Of course, Christians do not

always remember to conceive of their work in this

fashion and sometimes adopt the idea that certain

kinds of work are inherently more valuable. But

the Christian idea of vocation is that any good

work, done well, serves God.

Christians also use the word “vocation” to refer to

the work for which a person seems particularly

well suited, due to their abilities. Vocations are

not always easily determined nor are they always

easy. Many people spend much of their lives trying

to identify their talents and how best to use them.

Moreover, like anyone else, Christians do not

always enjoy their work; sometimes, for reasons

beyond their immediate control—lack of

education, skill level, or physical ailments—they

are engaged in unsatisfying jobs. The Christian

understanding of vocation does not excuse

insufficient income or satisfaction; when injustice

prevents a person from undertaking her or his

proper vocation, that injustice should be resisted.

Again, however, from the Christian perspective,

the complexities and burdens of work

notwithstanding, any work that serves the

neighbor and the common good can also serve

God.

Justice

The command to love one’s neighbor also

captures the primary ethical position of Christians.

As noted, this ideal, which Christians strive for but

often fail to reach, comes from a scriptural

command of Jesus. The Gospels record Jesus’ own

love for his neighbors and his concern for justice:

Jesus cares for the poor, the sick, and the outcasts

of society, and he speaks out against the political,

social, and economic circumstances that worsen

their plight. Christians today are called to imitate

Jesus, working to transform the world through

love and advocacy for justice, as they themselves

have been transformed by the love and forgiveness

of God.

Christians recognize that their efforts to emulate

Jesus will always fall short, but this does not

excuse them from striving to obey this ethical

imperative as well as they can in the

circumstances in which they find themselves. For

example, Christians should respect the dignity of

every human being by trying never to exploit

persons, groups, or nations as means to an end.

And when conflict arises—whether it is an

argument between two people or the possibility of

international war—Christians should always

exhaust all nonviolent options of reconciliation.

Because Christians, like all people, are not perfect,

they do not always live up to this “love principle”

and they are not always just in their actions and

attitudes. Nevertheless, they are obligated to try.

Missionary Activity

The Christian life is also distinguished by

missionary activity, also known as evangelism. In

the Gospels, Jesus commands his followers to

spread the good news about God to the whole

world. Christians believe this task is ongoing. The

task of spreading the Gospel intertwines with the

Christian understanding of vocation and justice.

Exercising one’s vocation and working toward

justice model the Christian faith for non-

Christians, and as such they constitute a form of

indirect evangelism. However, “evangelism” is

usually associated with direct efforts to tell non-

Christians about Jesus in the hope of converting

them to the Christian faith. Because Christians

believe that Jesus is the way to reconciliation with

God and eternal life, they are eager to share their

faith with everyone. At its best, Christian

evangelism is an act of love—the ultimate

obedience to the command to love one’s neighbor.

Christian evangelism often causes controversy.

Non-believers and adherents of other faiths—and

even some Christians themselves—tend to

perceive evangelism as self-righteous and

arrogant, often with good reason. Christian

missionary activity has even become associated

with Western imperialism, also with good reason.

As a result, there is no consensus about the most

appropriate and respectful way to introduce non-

Christians to Christianity. Yet the Christian

desire to spread the faith is not unique. Most of

the major religious traditions of the world have

attempted to increase their ranks through various

forms of missionary activity.

CONCLUSION

The goal of this paper has been to familiarize the

reader with the historical development of

Christianity and the basic theological tenets of

this religion. Further exploration of these

concepts is encouraged. In today’s world, an

important challenge for all people of faith is to

learn about religions different from their own.

Meeting that challenge may be the surest path to

peaceful coexistence among people of different

faiths.

APPENDIX

The Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father”):

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy

name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it

is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our

debts as we forgive our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from

evil. Amen.

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381 C.E.):

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, light from light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven,

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin

Mary

and became truly human.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius

Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and

the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of

life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],

who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and

glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic

church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of

sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

In order to provide an accessible introduction to religion in the United States, this paper has been

produced without footnotes and with few direct quotations from secondary literature. It nevertheless

reflects the influence of a wide range of scholarly arguments. This annotated bibliography presents a

complete list of the texts to which this paper refers, as well as a number of other resources with further

information about the topics discussed. Comments following each citation indicate the nature of the text

and, where applicable, the extent of the paper’s reliance upon it.

Books and Articles

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica, 5 volumes. Christian Classics, 1981.

Augustine. Confessions. Henry Chadwick, trans. Oxford University Press, 1998.

Augustine. The City of God. Modern Library, 1994.

The Bible. Recommended translations are the New American Bible, New American Standard Bible, or

New Revised Standard Version. Some versions offer helpful material in addition to the text; for

example, the Catholic Study Bible (Oxford, 2006) contains extensive reading guides that give

background and context for each book.

Calvin, John. Institutes of Christian Religion. John T. McNeill, ed.; Ford Lewis Battles, trans. Westminster

John Knox, 1960.

Detailed overview of Christianity from its origins to the present.

Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. Penguin, 1993.

Gonzalez, Justo. The Story of Christianity. Prince Press, 1999; originally published in two volumes by

HarperSanFrancisco, 1984/85.

Overview of the first five centuries of Christian history.

Lynch, Joseph. The Medieval Church: A Brief History. Longman, 1995.

Overview of Christianity during the medieval period.

Corrigan, John, and Winthrop Hudson. Religion in America. Prentice Hall, 2003.

Overview of Christianity in the United States from 1607 to the late twentieth century.

Flannery, Austin, ed. Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations. Costello, 1996. [Vatican II

documents also online at http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm]

Gonzalez, Justo, and Zaida Maldonado Perez. An Introduction to Christian Theology. Abingdon, 2002.

Introduces theology topically (by major doctrines) from a Protestant perspective.

Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. HarperSanFrancisco, 2001.

A classic presentation of the “essentials” of Christian faith for non-Christians. Classified as

“apologetics,” meaning that it argues for the reasonableness of Christianity.

Luther, Martin. Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings. John Dillenberger, ed. Anchor, 1958.

McGrath, Alister. Christian Theology: An Introduction. Blackwell, 2001.

Introduces theology topically (by major doctrines) from a Protestant perspective.

Noll, Mark. Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. Baker Academic, 2000.

Brief overview of Christianity from its origins to the present.

Placher, William. A History of Christian Theology: An Introduction. Westminster John Knox, 1983.

Introduces the development of Christian theology chronologically (as it developed through history)

from a Protestant perspective.

Placher, William, ed. Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. I: From Its Beginnings to the Eve of the Reformation

and Vol. 2: From the Reformation to the Present. Westminster John Knox, 1988.

Rausch, Thomas. The College Student’s Introduction to Theology. Michael Glazier, 1993.

Introduces theology topically (by major doctrines) from a Roman Catholic perspective.

Simons, Menno. Complete Writings. Herald Press, 1956.

This project was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of

New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the

responsibility of the author.