Christianity in Credo: History of Christianity

The reconciliation, or "at-one-ment," of sinful humanity with God. In Judaism both the Bible and rabbinical thought reflect the belief that God's chosen people must be pure to remain in communion with God. The Bible prescribed Temple sacrifice for the removal of sin and uncleanliness.

Doctrines of the end of time. Christian eschatology concerns the end of this Earth and of time; the resurrection of the dead; the Antichrist; the return of Jesus Christ to overthrow the Antichrist; and the culmination of history with the destruction of this world.

The power of making choices without the constraint of fate or some other uncontrollable force, regarded as a human characteristic.

In Greek and Hebrew metaphysics, the unifying principle of the world. The central idea of the Logos is that it links God and man, hence any system in which the Logos plays a part is monistic.

In theology, doctrine that asserts that God predestines from eternity the salvation of certain souls. So-called double predestination, as in Calvinism, is the added assertion that God also foreordains certain souls to damnation.

Transgression of the will of God or the gods, as revealed in the moral code laid down by a particular religion.

From Cultural Studies: Holidays Around the World
The Greek word theotokos means “god-bearer,” or “mother of God.” Mary was declared to be Theotokos as a result of the Council of Ephesus, held in 431.

In Christianity, the union of three persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost - in one Godhead. The precise meaning of the doctrine has been the cause of unending dispute, and was the chief cause of the split between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Christianity is in a direct sense an offshoot of Judaism, because Jesus and his immediate followers were Jews living in Palestine and Jesus was believed by his followers to have fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. Following a trend of proselytization in the Judaism of that period Christianity was from its beginnings expansionist. Its early missionaries (the most notable of whom was St. Paul, who was also responsible for the formulation of elements of Christian doctrine) spread its teachings in Asia Minor, Alexandria, Greece, and Rome.

Tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church established for the investigation of heresy, active between the 13th century and the 19th century. In the early Middle Ages investigation of heresy was a duty of the bishops. Alarmed especially by the spread of Albigensianism (see Albigenses), the popes issued increasingly stringent instructions as to the methods for dealing with heretics.

Period in Western European history that followed the disintegration of the West Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries and lasted into the 15th century, i.e., into the period of the Renaissance.

Period in European cultural history that began in Italy around 1400 and lasted there until the end of the 1500s. Elsewhere in Europe it began later, and lasted until the 1600s. As increasingly urban, educated, and secular populations became dissatisfied with medieval values—first (circa 1350) in the Italian republics and principalities and then later north of the Alps—they sought to recover the knowledge and wisdom of the ancient world. A new and remarkable self-confidence in human agency resulted, and it sparked an intellectual, cultural, and artistic revolution known as the Renaissance.

Religious and political movement in 16th-century Europe to reform the Roman Catholic Church, which led to the establishment of the Protestant churches.

16th-century reformation that arose largely in answer to the Protestant Reformation; sometimes called the Catholic Reformation. Although the Roman Catholic reformers shared the Protestants' revulsion at the corrupt conditions in the church, there was present none of the tradition breaking that characterized Protestantism.

Term applied to the mainstream of thought of 18th-century Europe and America. The Enlightenment, a philosophical movement, rejected traditional social, religious, and political ideas and adopted rational thinking as a way to develop new theories accounting for human behavior and feelings. These new explanations were then applied to the social and political spheres, changing the way people viewed and thought about government, and directly influencing the development of the modern world. The scientific and intellectual developments of the 17th century fostered the belief in natural law and universal order and the confidence in human reason that spread to influence all of 18th-century society.

From Encyclopedia of American Religious History
Revivalism, a major American religious phenomenon, is a method, predominantly Christian and Protestant, whereby a speaker attempts to bring listeners to a conversion experience—an acceptance of God's saving grace. While revivals have occurred throughout the history of Christianity and are common to many religions, the development of this particular method of religious awakening is distinctive to the United States.