History of Christianity/Introduction to Christianity/Defining Christianity

Christianity is the world's largest religion, practiced by over 2 billion adherents (known as Christians). Christianity is based on the teachings of the 1st-century itinerant preacher, Jesus of Nazareth. The main literary source of information regarding the life and teachings of Jesus (distinguished by the epitaph Christ, meaning the anointed one) is the Bible. The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to the Christian religion, with some Christian Bibles having as few as 66 books and others have as many as 81 books. It broken up into two parts: the Old Testament (based primarily on the Hebrew Bible, though most Apostolic Christian denominations utilize the Septuagint), and the New Testament, which contains the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, various epistles traditionally attributed to Jesus' disciples, and the Apocalypse of John (better known as the Book of Revelation). There are many different sects of Christianity, but the key concepts of Christianity are contained within the Nicene Creed. The Creed espouses many dogmatic concepts such as monotheism, trinitarianism, the death and resurrection of both Jesus Christ and the souls of the dead, and the second coming of Christ. The two greatest commandments of Christianity are, "Love God with all your heart, body, and mind"Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 22:36-40 - New International Version https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022%3A36-40&version=NIV 2025-05-28 Bible Gateway en and "Love your neighbor as yourself". The belief in grace is also a key component of Christianity, grace in the context of the Christian faith is the belief that redemption is an inherently unearned gift bought and paid for by JesusBible Gateway passage: Ephesians 2:8-9 - New International Version https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202%3A8-9&version=NIV 2025-05-28 Bible Gateway en, and that through receiving this gift one might receive with it eternal life. The resurrection is one of the central beliefs of Christianity. There are different views on whether this will be a resurrection of spirit or of flesh, though the belief is that this resurrection shall be eternal. The hope is that through belief in Jesus, and faith in the words of Jesus, and accepting of his Grace we shall be granted access into this resurrection.