Jesus: believed by Christians to be the Christ - the Son of God.
important figures & gospels
Mary: Mary was the mother of Jesus. Christians believe she was made pregnant miraculously by God while she was still a virgin.
John the Baptist: the messenger which God sent to prepare the way for the coming of the promised Messiah. John’s role was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. He did this through telling people to repent as the Kingdom of Heaven was near.
teachings
original sin:The Catholic Church teaches that all humans are born with original sin as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve. This means that all humans are born with the urge to sin and disobey God.
Apostolic succession: Catholicism teaches that each pope is the successor to the Apostle Peter who was chosen by Jesus as the rock on which the church was to be built. Because of the role allotted of the Holy Spirit, each pope after Saint Peter is said to stand in a chain called the Apostolic Succession.
Canonical Gospels: By the end of the 4th Century, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were widely accepted as integral to the 27 texts which constitute the New Testament. Together with the Old Testament, these form the canon of Christian sacred scriptures.
Synoptic Gospels – Mark Matthew Luke: The synoptics - Matthew, Mark and Luke - have more a similar point of view than what you find in the Gospel of John which stands apart and alone. They are all interested in Christology.
Mystical Gospel – John: The synoptics - Matthew, Mark and Luke - have more a similar point of view than what you find in the Gospel of John which stands apart and alone. John, usually thought to be the latest of the four, is the most forthright. John's Gospel provides a clear example of how the Gospel writers, or evangelists, were thinking about their task.
Gospel of Thomas: The Gospel of Thomas surfaced in the archaeological discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library around 1945. Unlike the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it does not narrate Jesus’ life but is solely a collection of one hundred and fourteen of his sayings.
Gospel of Mary Magdalene: When Jesus is crucified by the Romans, Mary Magdalene was there supporting him in his final terrifying moments and mourning his death. She also discovers the empty tomb, and she's a witness to the resurrection. When Jesus is crucified by the Romans, Mary Magdalene was there supporting him in his final terrifying moments and mourning his death. She also discovers the empty tomb, and she's a witness to the resurrection.
Gospel of Judas: Judas was instructed to sacrifice Jesus the man - "you will sacrifice the man that clothes me" - and was warned by Jesus that he, Judas, would be hated by future generations as a result. More recently, other translators have come up with a different take which portrays Judas as a demon who betrays Jesus, possibly in order to further the interests of a different, and evil God, and who is doomed never to reach heaven.
Gnostic Christianity: Gnosticism is derived from the Greek word gnosis, which means ‘knowledge’, and expresses the fact that adherents of Gnosticism believed that they had privileged access to hidden knowledge about the divine.
Paul of Tarsus: It was Paul who came up with the doctrine that would turn Christianity from a small sect of Judaism into a worldwide faith that was open to all. Famously converted on the road to Damascus, he traveled tens of thousands of miles around the Mediterranean spreading the word of Jesus.
Marcion: Sometime after his arrival in Rome, Marcion fell under the influence of Cerdo, a gnostic Christian who held that the God of the Old Testament embodied justice while the God of the New Testament embodied goodness, and further developed this ideology. According to Marcion, that distinction had been obscured at the very earliest stages of the Christian movement, and, among the Apostles, only St. Paul had understood it.
History
Council of Nicea: in the year 325 the Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicea to decide whether Christ was of the same substance as God or only of like substance
Trinity: A difficult but fundamental concept within Christianity, the Trinity is the belief that God is three separate persons but is still a single God.
Eastern Orthodox: Essentially the Orthodox Church shares much with the other Christian Churches in the belief that God revealed himself in Jesus Christ, and a belief in the incarnation of Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection. The Orthodox Church differs substantially in the way of life and worship.
Crusades: in the Middle Ages, Christians waged a ‘holy war’ aiming in part – ostensibly, at least – to liberate the Holy Land.
Protestant Reformation: A religious movement which challenged the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church which led to the creation of Protestant churches separate from the Roman Catholic Church
Luther: Dr. King was the leading spokesman for the American civil rights movement and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. In 1963, some of his fellow clergymen had issued a statement that, while sympathizing with his civil rights goals, criticized his tactic of civil disobedience. In jail for that offense, King, with a smuggled pen and on scraps of paper, defended his actions in a letter that was to become the most famous document of the movement.
Calvin: Calvin was not merely a theologian but a pastor-theologian. Calvin was on his way to become an academic when Guillaume Farel confronted Calvin with the cause of the reformation in Geneva. With a fear of God that could not be avoided, Calvin found himself, like the prophets of old, called to pastor a flock in need of help
REFLECTION: The most important thing I learned about Christianity from making this mind map is the concept of the Trinity. Although God exists as a singular entity, he is also the union of three separate persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. This implies God exists transcendentally, spiritually in the physical world, as well as in human form.
