Christianity

Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Most Christians believe God sent Jesus to the world as the Savior. Christianity teaches that humanity can achieve salvation through Jesus.

After Jesus' Crucifixion, a number of His followers spread His teachings. One of the most important of these followers was Saint Paul. After Paul's death, about A.D.67, Christianity continued to grow in spite of persecution by the Romans, whose empire covered most of Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa. In the early 300's, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great became a Christian. By the late 300's, Christianity was widely practiced throughout the empire.

During the Middle Ages, Christian missionaries converted many European peoples, which led to the Christian church's dominant influence on European life for centuries. For many years, a split had been developing between Christians in western Europe and those in eastern Europe and western Asia. The split finally occurred in the 1000's. The churches in Greece, Russia, and other parts of eastern Europe and western Asia became known as the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The church in western Europe became known as the Roman Catholic Church.

In the 1500's, a religious movement called the Reformation divided western Christianity into several bodies. Most southern Europeans remained Roman Catholics. A great number of northern Europeans, known as Protestants, formed new churches. The largest included the Baptist, Congregationalist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches.

Beginning in the 1500's, Catholic missionaries converted many people in Africa, Asia, and the Americas to Christianity. Protestant missionaries became active in the 1600's and made converts in the Far East, Africa, and North America.

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