Christianity

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Christianity is the religion stemming from the teachings of Jesus in the 1st century AD. Its sacred scripture is the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Its principal tenets are that Jesus is the Son of God (the second person of the Holy Trinity), that God's love for the world is the essential component of his being, and that Jesus died to redeem humankind. Christianity was originally a movement of Jews who accepted Jesus as the messiah, but the movement quickly became predominantly Gentile. The early church was shaped by St. Paul and other Christian missionaries and theologians; it was persecuted under the Roman Empire but supported by Constantine I, the first Christian emperor. In medieval and early modern Europe, Christian thinkers such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther contributed to the growth of Christian theology, and beginning in the 15th century missionaries spread the faith throughout much of the world. The major divisions of Christianity are Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Nearly all Christian churches have an ordained clergy, members of which are typically though not universally male. Members of the clergy lead group worship services and are viewed as intermediaries between the laity and the divine in some churches. Most Christian churches administer two sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist. In the early 21st century there were more than two billion adherents of Christianity throughout the world, found on all continents.

Also see Esoteric Christianity.

Christianity and Theosophy

Many Theosophists began their spiritual journeys in the Christian churches. Some, like Theosophical Society Founders Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, were moved later in life to take pansil, adopting the beliefs of Buddhism. Others, such as Annie Besant, Charles Webster Leadbeater, James Ingall Wedgwood, Charles Hampton, Robert Kelsey Walton, and Stephan Hoeller became active with esoteric forms of Christianity. Theosophists Alexander Fullerton, James H. Wiggin, R. B. Westbrook, William Stainton Moses, Ernest Temple Hargrove, John Gayner Banks, and Marc Edmund Jones each spent some years in Christian ministry.

Additional resources

A vast amount of information is available in print and online about Christianity and all of its many manifestations. These are some good resources.