Describing Jesus' life and teachings are the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, with the Old Testament as the gospel's respected background.Ĭhristianity began in the 1st century after the birth of Jesus as a Judaic sect with Hellenistic influence, in the Roman province of Judea. The creeds of various Christian denominations generally hold in common Jesus as the Son of God-the Logos incarnated-who ministered, suffered, and died on a cross, but rose from the dead for the salvation of humankind and referred to as the gospel, meaning the 'good news'. Ĭhristianity remains culturally diverse in its Western and Eastern branches, and doctrinally diverse concerning justification and the nature of salvation, ecclesiology, ordination, and Christology. Its adherents, known as Christians, are estimated to make up a majority of the population in 157 countries and territories, and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament in Christianity) and chronicled in the New Testament. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.4 billion followers representing one-third of the global population. Christianity ( / ˌ k r ɪ s t ɪ ˈ æ n ɪ t i/) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
