PHIL 205: Analyzing the Philosophical Perspectives on Christianity

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the history and evolution of Christianity, starting from its origins in the 1st century AD and its roots in Judaism. It examines the core beliefs of Christianity, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the spread of the religion across the Roman Empire and beyond, including the schisms within the Christian faith, such as the divisions between Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Protestantism. The essay also discusses the role of missionaries in spreading Christianity globally, the impact of the religion on different cultures, and the decline in religious affiliation in some regions, such as the United States, due to various factors. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding the origins and growth of Christianity and its continued influence on morality and societal values worldwide, highlighting the faith's ability to provide people with moral visions.

Running head: PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The birth and growth of the Christian religion is a very fascinating part of the world
history. There are several viewpoints from which critics have described it. There are many
differences of opinions in this regard too. Almost all the critics and historical researchers have
agreed on the fact that the birth and overall evolution of the Christian religion is dependent on
the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Donovan, 2019). This essay would look to
focus on different perspectives of the Christian religion. The views of the common people on the
Christian religion and their beliefs will also be considered. The spread of Christianity in different
countries and its influence on the lives of common people will also be considered in this paper.
According to the chronicles of history, it has been recorded that the beginning of the
Christian religion was in the 1st century AD. All the principles of Christianity are based on the
messages of the Bible and preaching of Jesus Christ. The beginning was through the death of
Jesus Christ when the small religious group of Jewish followers started it in Judea. Gradually this
went on to spread throughout the Roman Empire. In the beginning years, Christian followers
were persecuted and they were treated very badly. After few years, Christianity became to be
known as the state religion (Donovan, 2019). The spread of Christianity was to continue when it
spread across Russia and Northern Europe during the Middle Ages. Christianity is considered as
the largest practiced religion in the world. It had expanded throughout the world as the impacts
of the Age of Exploration.
Several religious movements have taken place within the Christian religion during the
growth and development period of that religion. Many disputes have also been taken place over
the theological aspects (Cochrane, 2015). Basically, historians have declared that there are four
main branches in Christian religion. These are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental
Orthodox and Protestantism. These schisms within the Christian religion have been quite

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problematic due to the Christian identities. The very first group of the Christians belonged to the
Jewish community. Various apostles of Jesus had provided some teachings on the essential
principles of the Christianity. Still, some problems or conflicts had come into play with the
religious authorities of the Jewish persons. After several of events of bloodshed and martyrdom,
Christianity was given a unique identity and that too, different from Jewish ethnicity
(Kierkegaard, 2015).
Two of the most legendary sources of Christian worship are the Old Testament and New
Testament. There was a very close relationship between the Christianity and Judaism.
Researchers have put up two important questions regarding this close relationship and interlinked
connections. The first question is the messianic role that Jesus of Nazareth played and secondly
validating the Mosaic Law for all the people within the community (Cochrane, 2015). The early
developments of Christianity have been found in various Hebrew Scriptures. The Pharisees
eventually went on to understand the meaning of Christianity and finally embraced the various
doctrines that were propagated by the Christian followers. The birth story of Jesus Christ has
been detailed in Gospels of Luke and Matthew in the New Testament (Moffett, 2014).
The schisms within Christianity broke out when the differences between Eastern and
Western divisions came to be revealed. The central part of the Eastern orthodoxy was
Constantinople and Rome was the central point of the Western division. The conflicts were so
immense that both the parties were unable to resolve their disputes properly (Kautsky, 2014).
Critics of Christian religion have found out from the religious documents of the time that
Orthodox Christian religion never admitted the overall authority of the papacy of Roman
Catholic Christianity. They claimed about the heritage of Christianity from the believers of Jesus
Christ as part of their inheritance rights (Moffett, 2014). The spread of Christianity in different

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countries is definitely one of the major developments for the religion. Most countries in the
world are recognized as the Christian countries. This has been recognized as the predominant
religion in North America, South America, Russia, Europe, East Africa, east Timor, Oceania,
Southern Africa and many other sections (Schonfield, 2015).
These geographical expansions took place through the Christian missionaries. These
missionaries went on to travel through different parts of the world since their aim was to spread
the word of God across these regions. Many people are of the opinion that Christianity
originated in the western world. It can be countered by saying that Christianity is definitely not a
religion of the western world and it actually originated in the western fringes of Asia. It has been
confirmed that more than two thirds of the European population live outside Europe. The
Christians of Europe spread the messages of Jesus Christ by the efforts of the missionaries. It
must be acknowledged that the missionaries were successful in spreading the religion through
Scriptures, sermons and hymns of Jesus (Schonfield, 2015). There are also several reasons as to
why Christianity was very deep rooted into the cultures of different parts of the world. The Bible
had been translated into numerous languages all over the world. This proves the popularity of the
Christian religion (Schäfer, 2014).
The Christian missionaries are thought to be the main reasons for expansion of the
religion in such an intense amount. The process of sending missionaries to different countries
and continents was very prominent practice during the 16th and 17th centuries Davidson, A. K., &
(Lineham, 2015). Thus, they played a vital part in converting people of different religious groups
into Christianity. This approach has been criticized widely across the world and it seems to be
quite fascinating that they were relentless and undaunted in their responsibilities. These religious
missionaries of Christianity mostly belonged to the Roman Catholic orders. Most of the people

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in Europe and Oceania respect Christianity. They acknowledge the messages of Jesus Christ and
obey all the teachings. On the contrary, it has been observed that respect for the Christian
religion and its beliefs have been declining in many parts of the United States (Mullin, 2014).
People of the country have lost their faith and trust on the religion. Many gallup polls
have been arranged and the results have found that the impact of Christian religion on the
common people is going down. A big number of the Christians have claimed to be religiously
unaffiliated (Lineham, 2015). This proves the fact that they have lost the faith on the clergymen
as some of these clergymen have been accused of sexual abuses and scandals. However, people
are quite concerned about this deterioration of the morality of Christianity. The Christian beliefs
have supplied people with motivation and they have applied this motivation to their personal and
professional lives. The collective view on Christianity is it will serve for establishing morality
across the country (Harbison, 2015).
On a concluding note, it should be mentioned that origin and growth of Christianity is
indeed very important to know. There are several stories behind the origin of this religion. The
Scriptures and sermons have played a crucial role in the overall expansion of the religion across
the world. Very recently, it has been found that the people of United States have lost their faith in
Christian religion because of some issues. Apart from that, Christianity has been established as
the largest religion in the world. It has been spread throughout all the continents. Christian faith
has helped people to grow with moral visions because it has supplied them with strong faith.

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References
Cochrane, C. N. (2015). Christianity and classical culture. Ravenio Books.
Davidson, A. K., & Lineham, P. J. (2015). Transplanted Christianity: Documents listing aspects
of New Zealand Church History. Kereru Publishing Limited.
Donovan, V. J. (2019). Christianity rediscovered. Orbis Books.
Harbison, E. H. (2015). Christianity and history: essays. Princeton University Press.
Kautsky, K. (2014). Foundations of Christianity (Routledge Revivals): A Study in Christian
Origins. Routledge.
Kierkegaard, S. (2015). Training in Christianity. Princeton University Press.
Moffett, S. H. (2014). A History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. I: Beginnings to 1500 (Vol. 1).
Orbis Books.
Mullin, R. B. (2014). A short world history of Christianity. Westminster John Knox Press.
Schäfer, P. (2014). The Jewish Jesus: How Judaism and Christianity Shaped Each Other.
Princeton University Press.
Schonfield, H. (2015). History of Jewish Christianity. Lulu Press, Inc.