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Christianity - Coggle Diagram
Christianity
Denominations
Christianity consists of three main branches:
- The Roman Catholic Church
- The Orthodox Church
- The Protestant Church
Roman Catholic tradition
Roman Catholic is the largest branch within the Christian faith, having approx. 1.2 billion followers
Catholics accept the authority of the Pope, who rules and guides the Church.
The Pope is seen as the successor of Saint Peter and is regarded as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Catholics believe that there are seven sacraments, which aid humans in achieving salvation.
Protestant Tradition
Protestants do not accept the authority of the Pope, but believe that the Bible is the only source of authority. These are key aspects of Protestant belief.
In comparison to Catholics, the sacraments do not hold the same significance to Protestants. Salvation is achieved through faith instead.
There are many subgroups within the Protestant tradition, such as Baptists and Methodists.
There are also fringe groups, which are groups that do not agree with the mainstream Protestant beliefs. They may also have some quite diverse views due to variations in beliefs. Examples of these fringe groups are, Unitarians and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Orthodox Tradition
Orthodox Christians reject the authority of the Pope.
They do, however, believe that the sacraments are essential for salvation.
The Orthodox Church can trace its origins back to the first Church started by Jesus' disciples in Jerusalem. Many Orthodox Christians believe that this gives them greater authority than other denominations and that they are following the right teachings.
Many Orthodox churches are organised on a national level, for example the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Chruch.
The Bible
The Bible is the central source of authority for all Christians and reveals many important teachings. Christians often turn to the Bible to seek guidance and understand the history of their faith.
The Bible is a collection of books. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament.
The Old testament
- Written in Hebrew 1500-50000 BC
- Old Testament contains 3 types of literature TENAkH
- Torah: Laws and the 5 books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy)
- Nevi'im: Prophets and contains 700 years of Jewish history after Moses (Joshua, Judges, Samuel)
- Ketuvim: Writings extended narrative of Abraham, Isaac and the Israelites.
The New Testament
- Written in c.45-95 AD
- Three parts:
- Gospels: ministry and teaching of Jesus
- Letters/Epistles: St Paul
- Acts of the Apostles: History of the early church
- 250 AD St Jerome translated the NT from Greek to Latin
- c.450 AD, OT was translated from Hebrew to Greek
Nature of God
- Omnipotent - God is all powerful
- Omnibenevolence - God is all loving
- Just - God is fair to all and forgives those who say sorry for their actions
- Omniscience - God is all knowing
- Transcendence - God exists outside of our worldly constraints and physical laws. (eternal)
- Immanence - God is 'in the world'
Evil
Evil is everything morally bad and causes harm or suffering.
There are two categories of evil: natural and moral
- Moral evil is done by humans with intent and it can be prevented:
- stealing
- bullying
- disrespecting
- murdering
etc.
- Natural evil is naturally occurring and cannot be prevented:
- climate change
- viruses
- earth quakes
- tsunamis
etc.
God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent, where does evil come from..?
Adam and Eve ate the fruit and caused the fall of man (genesis : 3). The serpent is the devil. They broke the first law of God
The Trinity
Christians believe in one God but they believe He exists in three parts or persons. These are: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, known collectively as the Trinity.
The Trinity is first mentioned in Genesis as part of the creation story, where all three persons of the Trinity are present.
The Father
Christians believe that the father is:
- the creator of everything
- the sustainer of all
- transcendent
The Son
The gospel narratives reveal that God the Son came into the world in the person of Jesus, who is:
- both divine and fully human
- immanent
- personal - so understands human suffering
- a model for Christian behaviour
- the saviour (Messiah)
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the guiding part of the Trinity. Christians believe it is:
- a presence of God in the world today, as stated in the Gospel of John
- the immanence part of God guiding the Church
- a source of Strength, courage and wisdom
The Creation
Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It is divided into three parts:
Genesis 1: the heavens and the earth
Genesis 2: creations of humans, Adam and Eve
Genesis 3: Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world - the fall of mancreation poster
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