Christianity In Western Europe Research Paper
The Role of Christianity in Europe
Christianity has always been playing an important role in people’s lives. In the past, it was the unifying power between nations; today, it has a great concern in secular issues; and what the future will bring ? We can only guess.
Christianity is the largest religion practiced in the world, with an estimated number of believers ranges between 1.5 billion and 2.1 billion, split into around 34,000 separate denominations. Chiristianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus. Its followers, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the only Son of God and the Messiah predicted in the Hebrew Bible. To Christians, Jesus Christ is a teacher, the model of a virtuous life, the revealer of God, as well as an incarnation of God, and most importantly the savior of humanity who suffered, …show more content…
died, and was resurrected to bring about salvation from sin.
To understand the importance of Christianity we have to concern the development of the religion.
Christianity goes back high in the past. In Europe it begins with Paul the apostle, who was the most notable of early Christian missionaries. Beside his Christian activities, the most important achievement was his 13 New Testament books, called epistles. These letters provide an insight into the beliefs of formative Christianity and, they have also been, and continue to be, foundational to Christian theology and ethics.
Christianity in Europe at Paul’s time was missionary in spirit. Christians looked upon themselves as a new race, the true Israel, and possessing a heavenly citizenship reaching down to earth. To become a Christian, a person had to believe in the truth of the Christian message and commit to live the Christian lifestyle. After that, a person could belong to the church through baptism. Services occurred mainly on Sundays but on other days as well. There were two types of meetings: one was a meeting where reading the Scriptures, preaching, song, and prayer took place. The other was a common evening meal followed by the Lord's Supper (communion).
The church in Rome became prominent as a source of true Apostolic teaching, passed on from the apostles to the succeeding bishops. Because of the apostles' association (especially that of Peter and Paul) with the church at Rome and its generosity and steadfastness in the face of persecution, it gained a place of leadership and prominence. The Roman practice of celebrating Easter with a vigil and the Lord's Supper held on Sunday became common practice about 200.
Around the late 200's there was a time of peace and rapid growth of Christianity. By 300 Christianity was found in all parts of the Roman Empire, including central Italy, southern Gaul and Spain. Around 313, Constantine, a Christian and the Roman emperor, proclaimed freedom of conscience for the people, made Christianity on a full legal equality with any religion in Rome, and ordered all church property restored that had been confiscated during the most recent time of persecution. The next step for Constantine was to make Christianity the state religion of Rome.
Constantine I adopted Christianity following his victory in the Battle of Milvian Bridge 312. Under his rule, Christianity rose to become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, and for his example of a "Christian monarch" Constantine is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The accession of Constantine was a turning point for the Christian Church. In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christian worship, and the emperor would be a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian Emperor within the Church that would be followed for centuries.
As we see, Christianity had gone through decades until it reached its present-day shape. It was very essential to people in the past to have a religion like this that is why it played an outstanding role in the past of Europe.
It was a unifying power between nations and people, it helped a person to give new meaning to life and offered a new hope to men and woman in troubling times. During the Hellenistic Age, the individual had struggled with the problem of alienation and lack of community. As people’s independency had declined, the individual searched for a new attachment what the Christianity could have given.
The Christianity offered the individaul what its city or empire could not: a profoundly personal realtionship with God, an intimate connection to a higher world, and a membership in a community of the faithful, who cared for each other. Those, who were poor , abused or enslaved were attracted to the life of Jesus, his love for all, and his concern for suffering humanity. They found a spiritual support in religion that offered a hand in love, that thought that a person need not to be well-born, rich, educated, talented to be worthy. To people burdened with misfortune and terrified by death, Christianity held the promise of eternal life, a kingdom of heaven where they would be comforted by God. So, it gave the common people hope and a sense of dignity.
The rapid spread of Christianity came not only from its message but from the power of its own organisation, called the Christian Church. It gathered the followers of the religion and developed an organized unit. The Chiristian Church grew into a strong organization uniting the faithful. The church filled an elemental need of human beings to belong. Another attraction for Christian believers was the absence of painful or expensive initiation rites (like in Mithraism). Also, unlike other religions, the church welcomed women, who were the first to join and who brought their men after them. The curch attracted women, because it ordered that husbands had to treat their wives kindly, remain faithful, and provide for the children.
Furhermore, it provided social services for the poor and weak, it welcomed slaves, criminals, sinners and other outcasts and offered community and comfort during hard times.
People also used the power of Christianity as a policy tool as the Christendom was involved in political, economical and social issues. In the eleventh century a political conception was realized in the Chritendom which lead to the appearance of the crusades.
The Crusades were a series of religion-driven military campaigns waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, though campaigns were also directed against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians and political enemies of the popes Crusaders took vows and were granted an indulgence for past sins Popes played powerful roles in Western Europe, often struggling with monarchs for power over wide-ranging affairs of church and state, crowning and regulating disputes among secular rulers. The Bishop of Rome continued to be nominally allied with and part of the civil structure of the (Byzantine) Roman Empire until the 8th century, when the Donation of Pepin gave Rome and the surrounding area to the full sovereignty of the pope, over which the popes already had been de facto rulers, creating the Papal States that lasted until 1870. For centuries, the forged Donation of Constantine also provided the basis for the papacy's claim of political supremacy over the entire former Western Roman Empire.
Due to these influential factors in the past, today Christianity is the world's most widely practiced religion, with 2 billion.Although Christianity is the largest religion in the world and there are massive missionary efforts under way, as a whole it is declining in terms of the overall population. While the population of the world grows at roughly 1.25% per year, Christianity is growing at about 1.12% per year. The slow growth can be attributed to most of the Christian population residing in affluent nations where the birth rate is quite low.
Not all people identified as Christians accept all of the theological positions held by their particular churches. Perhaps the most significant change for the Christians was total or effective separation of church and state, thus ending the state-sponsored Christianity that existed in so many European countries. Now one could be a free member of society and disagree with one's church on various issues, and one could even be free to leave the church altogether. Many did leave, developing belief systems such as Deism, Unitarianism, and Universalism, or becoming atheists, agnostics, or humanists.
In Europe, liberalism also led to secularism. Some Christians have long since stopped participating in traditional religious duties, attending churches only on a few particular holy days per year or not at all. Many of them recall having highly religious grandparents, but grew up in homes where Christian theology was no longer a priority. They have developed ambivalent feelings towards their religious duties.
On the one hand they cling to their traditions for identity reasons; on the other hand, the influence of the secular Western mentality, the demands of daily life, and peer pressure tear them away from traditional Christianity. Marriage between Christians of different denominations, or between a Christian and a non-Christian, was once taboo, but has become commonplace. Traditionally Catholic countries such as France have largely become agnostic, also with a large number of followers of Islam, which is growing rapidly, and similar trends are reflected in various degrees in Western Europe.
Since the development of Postmodernism with its rejection of universally accepted belief structures in favour of more personalized and experiential truth, organized Christianity has increasingly found itself at odds with the desire many people have to express faith and spirituality in a way that is authentic to them. What has thus far been known as the Emerging Church is a by-product of this trend, as many people who broadly accept Christianity seek to practice that faith while avoiding established Church institutions. Because they think that churches exploit them by raising money for different Christian activities rather than giving them faith.
The Pope (Pope Benedict XVI) – as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City - has a great effect on today’s society, but sadly its role is diminishing.
The pope has a great interest in migration. He urged the ratification of international conventions and policies that defend all migrants, including refugees, exiles, evacuees, and internally displaced persons. "The church encourages the ratification of the international legal instruments that aim to defend the rights of migrants, refugees and their families," the pope said. "Much is already being done for the integration of the families of immigrants, although much still remains to be done."
Pope Benedict has also promoted various UN events, such as World Refugee Day, on which he offered up special prayers for refugees and called for the international community to do more to secure refugees' human rights. He also called on Catholic communities and organizations to offer them concrete help.
In 2005, the Pope listed several ways to combat the spread of HIV, including chastity, fidelity in marriage and anti-poverty efforts; he also rejected the use of condoms. However, it was widely reported that the Vatican had launched a commission to investigate and prepare a document regarding the question of whether there are any cases when married persons may use condoms to protect against the spread of infections. This alleged investigation surprised many Catholics in the wake of John Paul II's consistent refusal to consider condom use in response to AIDS. However, the Vatican has since stated that no such change in the Church's teaching can occur.
Christianity also plays an important role in politics. Politicians often use the power of religion to gain the support of people.
Tough Christianity is diminishing, it is still the most powerful religion in the world. What future will bring with itself in connection with Christianity is unpredictable.
We can put up the questions that:
What is the future of Christianity in Europe?
Does it have a future that can give life in modern Europe a new breath and depth?
How can European Christians prevent their faith becoming further distorted from its original truth ?
Do European Christians have any longer that necessary yearning, love, and love for truth in particular, for the scared, for what’s both humble and also demanding, and for what ultimately gives one that inner life of true freedom?
Can this message mean anything, in the important sense of giving a person both depth and breath, any longer?
With the declining power of the churches, can we still speak about Christianity in the future ?
I think, even though religion and state have long ago been separated, we cannot ignore what Christian religion has given us. Whether we accept it or not, Christian values are there in our philosophy, our general view on the world.
European culture would not be the same today if it was not for Christianity. It brought about ideas such as humanism and universal love. These values are considered to be the most important values Western culture owns.
I reckon that Christianity does have a future. As in the past, people still have problems, and they need a spiritual support that offers them relieves in hard times. They need something to believe in, something that can give them hope.
There are many people in the world, who are so lonely that the only bliss in their life to go somewhere where they are part of a community, where they feel they belong to somewhere. And that is exactly what Christianity can give
them.
Christianity has always been playing an important role in people’s lives. In the past, it was the unifying power between nations; today, it has a great concern in secular issues; and what the future will bring ? We can only guess.
Christianity is the largest religion practiced in the world, with an estimated number of believers ranges between 1.5 billion and 2.1 billion, split into around 34,000 separate denominations. Chiristianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus. Its followers, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the only Son of God and the Messiah predicted in the Hebrew Bible. To Christians, Jesus Christ is a teacher, the model of a virtuous life, the revealer of God, as well as an incarnation of God, and most importantly the savior of humanity who suffered, …show more content…
died, and was resurrected to bring about salvation from sin.
To understand the importance of Christianity we have to concern the development of the religion.
Christianity goes back high in the past. In Europe it begins with Paul the apostle, who was the most notable of early Christian missionaries. Beside his Christian activities, the most important achievement was his 13 New Testament books, called epistles. These letters provide an insight into the beliefs of formative Christianity and, they have also been, and continue to be, foundational to Christian theology and ethics.
Christianity in Europe at Paul’s time was missionary in spirit. Christians looked upon themselves as a new race, the true Israel, and possessing a heavenly citizenship reaching down to earth. To become a Christian, a person had to believe in the truth of the Christian message and commit to live the Christian lifestyle. After that, a person could belong to the church through baptism. Services occurred mainly on Sundays but on other days as well. There were two types of meetings: one was a meeting where reading the Scriptures, preaching, song, and prayer took place. The other was a common evening meal followed by the Lord's Supper (communion).
The church in Rome became prominent as a source of true Apostolic teaching, passed on from the apostles to the succeeding bishops. Because of the apostles' association (especially that of Peter and Paul) with the church at Rome and its generosity and steadfastness in the face of persecution, it gained a place of leadership and prominence. The Roman practice of celebrating Easter with a vigil and the Lord's Supper held on Sunday became common practice about 200.
Around the late 200's there was a time of peace and rapid growth of Christianity. By 300 Christianity was found in all parts of the Roman Empire, including central Italy, southern Gaul and Spain. Around 313, Constantine, a Christian and the Roman emperor, proclaimed freedom of conscience for the people, made Christianity on a full legal equality with any religion in Rome, and ordered all church property restored that had been confiscated during the most recent time of persecution. The next step for Constantine was to make Christianity the state religion of Rome.
Constantine I adopted Christianity following his victory in the Battle of Milvian Bridge 312. Under his rule, Christianity rose to become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, and for his example of a "Christian monarch" Constantine is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The accession of Constantine was a turning point for the Christian Church. In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christian worship, and the emperor would be a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian Emperor within the Church that would be followed for centuries.
As we see, Christianity had gone through decades until it reached its present-day shape. It was very essential to people in the past to have a religion like this that is why it played an outstanding role in the past of Europe.
It was a unifying power between nations and people, it helped a person to give new meaning to life and offered a new hope to men and woman in troubling times. During the Hellenistic Age, the individual had struggled with the problem of alienation and lack of community. As people’s independency had declined, the individual searched for a new attachment what the Christianity could have given.
The Christianity offered the individaul what its city or empire could not: a profoundly personal realtionship with God, an intimate connection to a higher world, and a membership in a community of the faithful, who cared for each other. Those, who were poor , abused or enslaved were attracted to the life of Jesus, his love for all, and his concern for suffering humanity. They found a spiritual support in religion that offered a hand in love, that thought that a person need not to be well-born, rich, educated, talented to be worthy. To people burdened with misfortune and terrified by death, Christianity held the promise of eternal life, a kingdom of heaven where they would be comforted by God. So, it gave the common people hope and a sense of dignity.
The rapid spread of Christianity came not only from its message but from the power of its own organisation, called the Christian Church. It gathered the followers of the religion and developed an organized unit. The Chiristian Church grew into a strong organization uniting the faithful. The church filled an elemental need of human beings to belong. Another attraction for Christian believers was the absence of painful or expensive initiation rites (like in Mithraism). Also, unlike other religions, the church welcomed women, who were the first to join and who brought their men after them. The curch attracted women, because it ordered that husbands had to treat their wives kindly, remain faithful, and provide for the children.
Furhermore, it provided social services for the poor and weak, it welcomed slaves, criminals, sinners and other outcasts and offered community and comfort during hard times.
People also used the power of Christianity as a policy tool as the Christendom was involved in political, economical and social issues. In the eleventh century a political conception was realized in the Chritendom which lead to the appearance of the crusades.
The Crusades were a series of religion-driven military campaigns waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents. Crusades were fought mainly against Muslims, though campaigns were also directed against pagan Slavs, Jews, Russian and Greek Orthodox Christians, Mongols, Cathars, Hussites, Waldensians, Old Prussians and political enemies of the popes Crusaders took vows and were granted an indulgence for past sins Popes played powerful roles in Western Europe, often struggling with monarchs for power over wide-ranging affairs of church and state, crowning and regulating disputes among secular rulers. The Bishop of Rome continued to be nominally allied with and part of the civil structure of the (Byzantine) Roman Empire until the 8th century, when the Donation of Pepin gave Rome and the surrounding area to the full sovereignty of the pope, over which the popes already had been de facto rulers, creating the Papal States that lasted until 1870. For centuries, the forged Donation of Constantine also provided the basis for the papacy's claim of political supremacy over the entire former Western Roman Empire.
Due to these influential factors in the past, today Christianity is the world's most widely practiced religion, with 2 billion.Although Christianity is the largest religion in the world and there are massive missionary efforts under way, as a whole it is declining in terms of the overall population. While the population of the world grows at roughly 1.25% per year, Christianity is growing at about 1.12% per year. The slow growth can be attributed to most of the Christian population residing in affluent nations where the birth rate is quite low.
Not all people identified as Christians accept all of the theological positions held by their particular churches. Perhaps the most significant change for the Christians was total or effective separation of church and state, thus ending the state-sponsored Christianity that existed in so many European countries. Now one could be a free member of society and disagree with one's church on various issues, and one could even be free to leave the church altogether. Many did leave, developing belief systems such as Deism, Unitarianism, and Universalism, or becoming atheists, agnostics, or humanists.
In Europe, liberalism also led to secularism. Some Christians have long since stopped participating in traditional religious duties, attending churches only on a few particular holy days per year or not at all. Many of them recall having highly religious grandparents, but grew up in homes where Christian theology was no longer a priority. They have developed ambivalent feelings towards their religious duties.
On the one hand they cling to their traditions for identity reasons; on the other hand, the influence of the secular Western mentality, the demands of daily life, and peer pressure tear them away from traditional Christianity. Marriage between Christians of different denominations, or between a Christian and a non-Christian, was once taboo, but has become commonplace. Traditionally Catholic countries such as France have largely become agnostic, also with a large number of followers of Islam, which is growing rapidly, and similar trends are reflected in various degrees in Western Europe.
Since the development of Postmodernism with its rejection of universally accepted belief structures in favour of more personalized and experiential truth, organized Christianity has increasingly found itself at odds with the desire many people have to express faith and spirituality in a way that is authentic to them. What has thus far been known as the Emerging Church is a by-product of this trend, as many people who broadly accept Christianity seek to practice that faith while avoiding established Church institutions. Because they think that churches exploit them by raising money for different Christian activities rather than giving them faith.
The Pope (Pope Benedict XVI) – as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City - has a great effect on today’s society, but sadly its role is diminishing.
The pope has a great interest in migration. He urged the ratification of international conventions and policies that defend all migrants, including refugees, exiles, evacuees, and internally displaced persons. "The church encourages the ratification of the international legal instruments that aim to defend the rights of migrants, refugees and their families," the pope said. "Much is already being done for the integration of the families of immigrants, although much still remains to be done."
Pope Benedict has also promoted various UN events, such as World Refugee Day, on which he offered up special prayers for refugees and called for the international community to do more to secure refugees' human rights. He also called on Catholic communities and organizations to offer them concrete help.
In 2005, the Pope listed several ways to combat the spread of HIV, including chastity, fidelity in marriage and anti-poverty efforts; he also rejected the use of condoms. However, it was widely reported that the Vatican had launched a commission to investigate and prepare a document regarding the question of whether there are any cases when married persons may use condoms to protect against the spread of infections. This alleged investigation surprised many Catholics in the wake of John Paul II's consistent refusal to consider condom use in response to AIDS. However, the Vatican has since stated that no such change in the Church's teaching can occur.
Christianity also plays an important role in politics. Politicians often use the power of religion to gain the support of people.
Tough Christianity is diminishing, it is still the most powerful religion in the world. What future will bring with itself in connection with Christianity is unpredictable.
We can put up the questions that:
What is the future of Christianity in Europe?
Does it have a future that can give life in modern Europe a new breath and depth?
How can European Christians prevent their faith becoming further distorted from its original truth ?
Do European Christians have any longer that necessary yearning, love, and love for truth in particular, for the scared, for what’s both humble and also demanding, and for what ultimately gives one that inner life of true freedom?
Can this message mean anything, in the important sense of giving a person both depth and breath, any longer?
With the declining power of the churches, can we still speak about Christianity in the future ?
I think, even though religion and state have long ago been separated, we cannot ignore what Christian religion has given us. Whether we accept it or not, Christian values are there in our philosophy, our general view on the world.
European culture would not be the same today if it was not for Christianity. It brought about ideas such as humanism and universal love. These values are considered to be the most important values Western culture owns.
I reckon that Christianity does have a future. As in the past, people still have problems, and they need a spiritual support that offers them relieves in hard times. They need something to believe in, something that can give them hope.
There are many people in the world, who are so lonely that the only bliss in their life to go somewhere where they are part of a community, where they feel they belong to somewhere. And that is exactly what Christianity can give
them.