Five Faiths Project

Introduction



Hinduism



Judaism



Buddhism



Christianity



Islam


CHRISTIANITY

The birth of Jesus

…the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and be called the Son of the Most High.”
Luke 2: 30-32

In order to appreciate the Christian tradition, it is important to remember that recorded stories are believed to have taken place two thousand years ago, within the context of a Jewish heritage. The stories unfold in a part of the world that in the future would be called Palestine, during the reign of King Herod. During this time, a young woman, named Mary, gave birth to a baby boy. The stories of his birth are recorded in two infancy narratives within the Christian tradition: one in the Gospel of Luke and the other in the Gospel of Matthew. In these narratives, the Mary calls the boy, Jesus. Christians believe that his birth had been foretold in many Jewish prophecies and visions.

Both Joseph, a direct descendent of the Jewish King David, and his wife, Mary, were faithful Jews. In the stories, angels visit both Mary and Joseph in the months surrounding Jesus’ birth. According to the sacred texts, without ever having intercourse, Mary conceived a son and after nine months gave birth in a small village called Bethlehem. Many other people living in Palestine and the surrounding areas were also granted visions and dreams in which they saw the coming of the Son of God. Some of them traveled to see him shortly after his birth. Looking to the night sky for guidance, Magi, sometimes referred to as the Wise Men traveled a great distance to see him. With gifts in hand, they traveled to find and worship the baby boy.

This story of the birth of Jesus is central to the religion now known in the world as Christianity. For Christians, the importance of this story lies in more than the angels’ visits, Jesus’ miraculous conception, or even the mysterious star which stood in the night sky. This story, derived from the Gospels of Luke and Mark, stands out because it affirms a pivotal time and place in which Christians believe God came to earth and in the person of Jesus, intervened in human history. Christians believe that through this and the subsequent events in the life of Jesus, God made it possible for human beings and their maker to have a relationship transformed by the presence of Jesus in human history. Christians call this activity of God, the coming of God into human form, the Incarnation.

Stories of Jesus’ life and ministry

The events of the life of Jesus and his teachings were recorded in many texts. Most were written over the course of the hundred years or so after the life of Jesus. Many Christians believe that these texts were divinely inspired and are without error. In the sacred stories, readers find a man who was well-known and well-liked by some, especially those who lived on the margins of society, both civil and religious. He spent time alone and he spent time with people from every layer of his society. The stories depict a man who was willing to speak with a solitary and outcast woman as she drew water from a local well, but also to people in positions of importance and authority. He spoke in public and in private. Large groups of people gathered on the side of a hill near the Sea of Galilee in order to hear his lengthy sermons on the love of God and the nature of the world. But the Gospels also introduce Jesus as a man who challenged many of the prevailing ideas of his day. Acquainted with Roman law, raised and well-versed in the teachings of the Jewish tradition, and a Jew himself, having been raised in a Jewish household, Jesus engaged the elders of the synagogue, the leaders of the faith communities, and even the political establishment.

Jesus lived in a society which was sharply divided between men and women, Jews and Gentiles, Romans and Palestinians, rich and poor, free men and slaves. These distinctions, along with others, created a culture in which barriers and limitations were familiar. It was in this social climate that Jesus began his ministry. At approximately the age of 30, he left his family and friends and went out into the wilderness. In the stories, Jesus is said to have remained in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. He fasted and prayed for guidance. During that time, he was tempted by the Devil, an evil spirit in the Christian tradition, who works in opposition to the goodness of God. He overcame the temptations and remained obedient to God.

After Jesus’ time of prayer and fasting, he returned to the community and gathered a small group of followers, called disciples, to come travel with him as he spread the word of God to men and women throughout Palestine. Together with his disciples and others, some of whom were women, Jesus traveled in the regions of Galilee and Judea and to such places as Jerusalem, Bethany, and Cana. The Christian sacred texts are filled with many stories in which Jesus gave examples of how faithful people ought to live. Many of these stories are called parables, in which Jesus used common, everyday events and activities of his time in order to teach a principle.

The gospels also include stories in which Jesus performed miracles. He healed men, women and children of terrible diseases, restored sight to the blind, cast out evil spirits, fed multitudes who gathered to listen to him teach with only a few loaves of bread and a few fish. He also walked on water, changed water into wine, and appeared to his followers surrounded by light, glowing on a hill top with the Jewish prophets Moses and Elijah at his right and left hand. He was called Teacher, Friend, Rabbi, and Savior. He is also called the Christ in these texts, which translates to “the anointed one.” According to the stories, many people came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah promised by the prophets in several of the Jewish sacred texts.

The death and resurrection of Jesus

The stories describe approximately three years of Jesus’ life in some measure of detail. At the end of these years, when Christian tradition holds that Jesus was 33 years old, the government, religious leaders and others in positions of authority had become very worried about Jesus and his teachings. While many Christians believe that Jesus was not advocating political or religious upheaval, many of the leaders of the time thought that he was. Perceiving Jesus and his followers to be a threat to the government and to the established religious traditions, he was arrested, tried, found guilty and sentenced to death. Around the age of 33, Jesus was crucified. This was a common means of execution at the time, in which the guilty was publicly hung on a cross and left until dead.

Based on the stories recorded in the Gospels, even though Jesus performed countless miracles during his lifetime, many Christians believe that only after his death did the greatest miracle occur. The Gospels tell readers that three days after Jesus died and was buried, he was resurrected from the dead and came back to life. The stories teach that God did not allow Jesus to be conquered by death, but rather, Jesus’ death opened up a pathway by which all who believed in him might live with him forever. The Gospels include stories of the forty days after his resurrection, when people saw and talked with him. In these stories, Jesus continued to teach how people might live faithful lives, and encouraged them to share the good news of the love and forgiveness of God with as many people as they could. He reminded his followers that even though their bodies might die, they, too would be resurrected and have eternal life with God in heaven. The stories of the life of Jesus end, when , at the end of the forty days after his resurrection, while many of his followers were gathered around him and watching, Jesus ascended from earth into heaven. This story is recorded in the opening of the Book of Acts.

It is commonly held among Christians that the Incarnation of God in the person of Jesus, is the pivotal moment in human history. Through Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, and through the establishment of a faith community based on his teachings, Jesus fulfilled all the promises of God and made it possible, by faith in him, for all human beings to be in relationship with God.

The beginnings of Christianity: the sacred texts

After Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, his followers began to organize new communities based on many of the Jewish teachings, but also incorporating the sayings and teachings of Jesus. These new communities were based on what they believed to be the good news of Jesus, intended for the whole world. Within the next century, the Gospels were written, letters to the newly formed churches were circulated among other faith communities, and the growth of the early church recorded. Over time, together with a selection of the sacred texts of Judaism, Christians organized a number of these texts into a new book. The documents which came from the Jewish tradition were named the Old Testament, indicated an on-going understanding of the origins of Christianity in the sacred stories of Judaism, while the Gospels and letters and other documents written after the life of Jesus were called the New Testament. It is within the New Testament that Christians established new ways of understanding the writings of the Old Testament, regarding all that had gone before to be a necessary precursor to the coming of this new faith. The writers of the New Testament, and particularly Paul, one of the early leaders of the new Christian religion, established teachings and instructions for living a Christian life and the establishment of what is now known as the Christian faith. In all, the Old and New Testaments form the Bible, the central text of Christianity. Within the Bible, the text affirms that the teachings are divinely inspired and suitable for instructing the followers of Jesus.

The growth of Christianity

In the nearly 2,000 years since these events were recorded in Christianity’s sacred texts, the faith tradition has grown and spread throughout the world. Christians now live in virtually every country on earth, and it is estimated that there are over 1.5 billion Christians worldwide. As Christianity grew, the Bible remained the most important document for followers of Jesus. While all Christians regard the Bible as a sacred text, certainly inspired by the Spirit of God, there are also additional practices and beliefs. In much the way that the Bible has been translated into the indigenous languages of peoples all over the world, these additional religious beliefs and practices reflect the place, time, and heritage of individual followers and their cultures.

Over time, Christianity grew into a richly diverse tradition, with three main branches: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy, as well as many other smaller sects. Within the Protestant tradition alone, there is a wide range of denominations including Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists and others, each expressing this faith heritage in particular ways. In America, there are more than 2,000 distinct denominations which identify themselves as Christian. What then binds all these groups within the Christian tradition?

Christian beliefs

First, Christians believe in God. Christians speak of God as a Trinity: one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many believe that the man named Jesus was unique in that he was both the son of Mary and the Son of God, fully human and fully divine. Christians believe that all human beings are invited to recognize the gift which God gave in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to human beings in order to comfort and guide them in their lives as followers of Jesus. Generally, Christians assert that belief in the Trinity is the central tenet of the faith. There is general agreement among Christians that all people must acknowledge their need for God, renounce evil and embrace the teachings of Jesus and the Bible as a whole. Many Christians believe that God continues to intervene in human history by actively helping people who seek God’s help, and by providing spiritual gifts and graces to those who model their lives after the love and sacrifice of Jesus.

Christian practices

Throughout the Christian tradition, certain practices and other beliefs bind individuals and faith communities together. Baptism, a ritual in which individuals are immersed in or sprinkled with water as a symbol of death and resurrection, represents a change in life, a binding to God and the faith community as well as an expression of one’s commitment to follow the teachings of Jesus. From its beginnings, Christianity has maintained at least some level of commitment to missionary efforts, spreading the teachings of Jesus throughout the world. Many Christians also place a high value on acts of charity and compassion as expressions of discipleship. Just as God’s love for the world was made tangible in the person of his son, so, too, Christian’s make love visible by caring for the sick, giving food and clothing to the poor, caring for widows and children who have lost their parents. The Bible teaches “Love must not be a matter of theory or talk, it must be true love which shows itself in action.” The Gospels tell of Jesus’ insistence that charity and love must be extended to all people, not just to those with whom there is agreement, or to those with whom there is a certain kinship. According to Christian teaching, love must reach out even to one’s enemies.

Prayer is another central feature in the lives of many Christians. Prayer may be loosely defined as time spent talking to and listening to God. It can be either an individual or a corporate practice. Jesus offered specific instructions to his followers on how to pray. Christians may pray privately or as families, or in gatherings both in sacred centers of worship (churches, cathedrals) as well as in secular settings. In the Christian tradition, prayer includes thanksgivings, petitions and intercessions for the needs of others and praise. It is also considered to be a from of worship, in which Christians offer expressions of love and adoration to God.

The Church Year

In every Christian tradition, rituals, festivals and special celebrations commemorate and reenact important moments in the life of Jesus. Over the course of a year, Christians celebrate at least some, if not all of the following cycle of events.

In many of the Christian traditions, the single most important celebration is called the Lord’s Supper. Some call it Communion, or Eucharist. Depending on the tradition of the faith community, the Lord’s Supper is celebrated daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly. At this celebration, Christians reenact Jesus’ final meal with his closest followers and friends before his crucifixion.

The Gathering of the Christian Community

Jesus placed a high value on relationships, especially between himself and God, often calling God his Father in heaven, and through Jesus, between his disciples and his heavenly Father, and finally among his disciples. Following his example, Christians maintain relationships with God, with the people in their lives, and with those people, throughout history, who have lived trustworthy lives of faith.

In many, Christian traditions, though certainly not all, the gathering of the Christian community is a central aspect of faithfulness. In these traditions, the church stands as a unified whole, with its members sharing a common life, practice and belief. Individuals may become members of the church by infant baptism and other childhood rituals, or later, in adult conversion to Christian beliefs and practices. In Christianity, the church is understood as a community of believers who express their relationship with God and others through communal worship, service and community life.

The Christian Saints and Other Models of Discipleship

The Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions have given special recognition to individuals throughout history who devoted their lives to God and who lived according to that devotion. They are known in the Christian tradition as saints. First among these is Mary, who is revered as the Mother of Jesus, the Christ-bearer. Historically, much of the art of the Christian world focuses on these individuals as reminders and exemplars of discipleship. St. Lucy, St. Bartholomew, St. John the Evangelist are only three of the literally thousands of Christian saints. Many Protestant churches also recognize the importance of the saints, although it is less common for a Protestant church to include images of and prayers to the saints in their regular patterns of prayer and worship. Churches and cathedrals are often named for a particular saint. A church asks for a special remembrance by the saint in heaven by taking the saint’s name. In this faith tradition, saints are not worshipped in the same way that God is worshipped, but rather, they are venerated and revered as friends who have gone on to heaven. Some Christian traditions maintain that the saints are helpers who come to the aid of Christians who invoke their name for aid and assistance. Individual Christians may even have a statue or an icon of a beloved saint (such as St. Francis) in their homes.

The Christian life of faith

Whatever the particular practice and belief of Christian individuals, there is a unifying devotion to God, the Creator and to his son, Jesus. Singing, prayer, praise, thanksgiving, rituals, celebrations and gatherings with other Christians, worship and fellowship, financial offerings to the church community, acts of charity, as well as regular study of the Bible and the writings of Christians throughout history may appear in many combinations to form the devotional life of a Christian. Through these and others practices, diverse and myriad, Christians aspire to live a life in which the truth of God’s love and God’s intervention in history through the person of Jesus, is made manifest again and again. The daily rhythms of a faith-filled life, the celebrations of the church and private devotions, all fuel the Christian’s relationship with Jesus, with God the Father, with the Holy Spirit, and with all of God’s creation.

Footnotes

  1. Most Biblical scholars and historians place the birth of Jesus in the year 4 CE. Our modern calendar is based on the calculations of a medieval monk. Taking into account all the historical information available to him at the time, he calculated the year in which Jesus was born and established it as year one. Modern historians have added to his work and the calculations have shifted slightly.
  2. O’Brien, Joanne and Martin Palmer, The State of Religion Atlas. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1993.
  3. Bible, 1 John 3:18 (see the Christian poster included in the materials packet)
  4. Many of the words used to describe Christian rituals have their roots in Latin or Greek. This came to be because in the centuries after the life of Jesus, the early manuscripts, many of which were written in Aramaic, were then translated into Greek and Latin. The impact of those translations continues. When the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as the religion of the state, it codified a great many of the practices of Christians throughout the world. The Orthodox Church shares some of the terminology of the Roman Church, but also has other language with which to mark holy days. For example, most Protestant and all Roman Catholic churches refer to the day on which we commemorate Jesus’ death as Good Friday. The Orthodox Church calls that day Holy Friday. In addition, Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches share a basic calendar for the celebrations of the Church, with all churches celebrating Easter on the same Sunday. The Orthodox Church follows a slightly different calendar, with Easter coming one week later.
  5. Different traditions within Christianity maintain differing beliefs with regard to the Lord’s Supper. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, as well as in most of the mainline Protestant churches, the Communion service is considered to be a “Sacrament.” This means that it is a most sacred reenactment, the administration of which is reserved for the ordained. These individuals, called priests and ministers, are entrusted with the responsibility of faithfully executing intricate rituals and prayers which invite the Spirit of God to move in particular ways at the celebration. So carefully held are these rituals, that the community participates in them only in the presence of a priest or minister. In addition, the exact result of this reenactment differs from tradition to tradition. Some denominations believe in a theology of “real presence.” In other words, those denominations profess that Jesus Christ is in some way truly present in the bread and wine once it have been consecrated. Roman Catholic doctrine, for example, maintains that the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. This is called the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. Some Protestants believe in the Doctrine of Consubstantiation, which differs from the former only in that it asserts that the properties of the bread and wine remain with (con) the presence of Jesus’ body and blood. These doctrines assert that every time the Eucharist is celebrated, whatever transformation happened at the Last Supper happens again at the table or altar in modern circumstance. There are equally interesting differences regarding the sacrament of Baptism. Each tradition maintains its particular doctrines with a commitment to holding the gifts of God and the teachings of Jesus alive in the world as accurately as their conscience and faith will allow.