Christianity

How it is used

The largest religion in the world by number of followers. Its three main branches are Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism. Followers are Christians, and the adjective Christian is used for people, texts and institutions (Christian thought, early Christian communities).

Example sentences

1. Christianity spread across Anatolia very early, and Paul's letters mention several of its cities.

2. The seminar traces how Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Common collocations

• early Christianity
• Eastern Christianity
• convert to Christianity
• history of Christianity

Related terms

• CatholicismThe faith, teaching and practice of the Catholic Church, the largest Christian church, which is led by the Pope as Bishop of Rome.
• ProtestantismThe branch of Christianity that grew out of the sixteenth-century Reformation, stressing the authority of the Bible and salvation by grace through faith.
• Eastern OrthodoxyThe Christian tradition of the Eastern Orthodox churches, such as the Greek, Russian and Serbian churches, which share doctrine and liturgy and are in communion with each other.
• TrinityIn mainstream Christian doctrine, the belief that God is one being who exists in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.
• BibleThe sacred scriptures of Christianity, made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament; the Jewish Bible, or Tanakh, largely corresponds to the Old Testament.

More terms: World Religions and Traditions

• Islam
• Judaism
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Sunni
• Shia
• Abrahamic religions
• Sikhism
• Daoism