The word "Christianity" is confused when used in the academic circles of mainland China, which can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Broadly speaking, Christianity refers to all sects that believe in Jesus Christ as the savior, including the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and other minor sects, which means Christianity in English; The narrow sense of Christianity refers to Protestantism.
Due to historical reasons, Chinese people have long been accustomed to calling Protestantism Christianity only. Protestant churches on the mainland never call themselves Protestants, but only Christianity or Jesuits, while Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Church are called Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Church respectively.
In order to solve this confusion, the Chinese in Hong Kong and Taiwan called Christianity in its broad sense "Christianity" to distinguish it from Christianity in its narrow sense, which specifically refers to Protestantism. This usage is also gradually accepted by mainland scholars. The broad sense of Christianity is called "Christianity", and the word "Christianity" refers specifically to Protestantism.
All sects of Christian religion believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, and all take the Bible, also known as the Old and New Testaments, as the classic. The chapters of the New Testament are the same, but the Old Testament is different. The contents of Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholic Church are several more chapters than Protestantism (Christianity). The doctrines shared by all schools include "Trinity", "Original Sin", "Justification by Faith", "Forgiveness of Sin", etc., but the emphasis points are different, and there are also some unique doctrines. In terms of sacraments, Protestantism has only two kinds, while Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity have seven. There are also great differences in the church system. Catholicism is the papal system, and Eastern Orthodox is the pastoral system; The Christian system is complex and diverse, including presbyterian system, axiomatic system, bishopric system, etc. In some sects that implement the bishopric system, the bishop's authority is far less than that of Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Church. In addition, there are many other differences among the three factions, which will not be listed here.
Christianity originated in the Jewish community in Palestine under the rule of the Roman Empire in the first century AD. The first to fifth centuries were the period when Christianity was founded and spread from Israel to the Greek and Roman cultural regions, the early stage of the development of Christianity, and the period when the apostles and early godfathers established the basic doctrines and theology of Christianity. This period is often called the first stage of the development of Christianity. In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into western Rome with Rome as the center and eastern Rome with Constantinople as the capital under the internal contradictions and foreign invasion. With the division of East and West Rome, Christianity began to split into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Church. Until 1453, the Eastern Roman Empire was destroyed under the attack of Turks who believed in Islam, which was the second stage in the history of the development of Christianity.
The direct trigger of the religious reform movement was that Pope Leo X, in the name of the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, sent Dominic Friar Terscher to Germany in 1517 to sell redemption certificates, which aroused great resentment. It is said that Martin Luther posted 95 Outlines against selling redemption certificates in front of the Wittenberg Church on October 31, the same year, This is the prelude to the religious reform movement. Luther put forward the slogan of "relying only on the Bible, grace and faith", which was inherited and followed by later reformers. The wave of reform spread throughout Western Europe, causing one reform movement after another in areas where the Holy See was weak. The reform movement led by Zwingli took place in Zurich, Switzerland. In Geneva, the radical group led by Calvin established a civil class republican presbyterian church, which resulted in the Protestant Calvinism (that is, orthodox or reformist). Under the promotion of King Henry VIII, Britain carried out reform from top to bottom and established the Church of England (Episcopal Church) independent of the Holy See. Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and other countries have reformed from top to bottom, and have successively replaced Catholicism with Lutheran Church as the state religion. Christianity began to develop all over the world.
The main sects of Protestantism include Sindhi, Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, Congregational, Wesleyan, etc. In addition to these larger sects, Protestantism also divided into many smaller sects and church groups. Since the second half of the 19th century, evangelical churches that transcended traditional sects have sprung up and formed a huge influence.
Christianity generally believes that its basic doctrines are derived from the Bible. The churches in history have made a lot of summary of the basic doctrines of Christianity in the form of scriptures, creeds, confessions and other forms, which are also regarded as the origin of the doctrines by scholars studying dogmatics today. In addition, theologians of all ages attempted to interpret and discern the belief principles of Christianity based on the concepts of their times. The works of many theologians are also valuable resources for elucidating the basic doctrines of Christianity. One of the most widely accepted Creeds of the Christian churches is the Apostles Creed. With the development of the church and the evolution of theological discussion, some arguments related to the basic doctrines in the Apostles' Creed have been put forward continuously. Early Christian theologians constructed a more complex doctrinal system by giving play to the basic doctrines of Christianity and relying on the popular philosophical carriers at that time. Christianity generally believes that the trinity of God: Christianity, as a monotheism, is characterized by the fact that the Christian God is a "trinity" God, and the same God has three personalities: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Gender of Christ: Christ is both a complete God and a complete man, with complete divinity and complete humanity. God's creation and the image of man as God: the world is created by God, and God creates man according to his own image. Grace and good deeds: people need to rely on God's grace to restore normal relations with God. Revelation: Revelation is a gift from God. Christians know God and believe in God according to revelation. Sacraments: Protestants generally only recognize baptism and communion as sacraments.
