• I. INTRODUCTION
• II. THE CHURCH AND ITS HISTORY
  • 1. The essence and identity of Christianity
    • 1) HISTORICAL VIEWS OF THE ESSENCE
      • i) Early views.
      • ii) Medieval and Reformation views.
      • iii) Modern views.
    • 2) THE QUESTION OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
  • 2. The history of Christianity
    • 1) THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH
      • i) The relation of the early church to late Judaism.
      • ii) The relation of the early church to the career and intentions of Jesus.
      • iii) The Gentile mission and St. Paul.
      • iv) The contemporary social, religious, and intellectual world.
    • 2) THE INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH
      • i) The problem of jurisdictional authority.
      • ii) The problem of scriptural authority.
      • iii) The problem of theological authority.
      • iv) Early heretical movements.
    • 3) RELATIONS BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT AND THE HELLENISTIC CULTURE
      • i) Church-state relations.
      • ii) Christianity and classical culture.
      • iii) Apologetics.
    • 4) THE EARLY LITURGY, THE CALENDAR, AND THE ARTS
    • 5) THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN CHURCH AND EMPIRE
    • 6) THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES OF THE 4TH AND 5TH CENTURIES
      • i) Western controversies.
      • ii) Eastern controversies.
    • 7) POPULAR CHRISTIANITY IN THE LATE EMPIRE
    • 8) LITURGY AND THE ARTS AFTER CONSTANTINE
      • i) New forms of worship.
      • ii) Historical and polemical writing.
    • 9) POLITICAL RELATIONS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST
    • 10) LITERATURE AND ART OF THE "DARK AGES"
    • 11) MISSIONS AND MONASTICISM
    • 12) THE PHOTIAN SCHISM AND THE GREAT EAST-WEST SCHISM
      • i) The Photian schism.
      • ii) The great East-West schism.
    • 13) FROM THE SCHISM TO THE REFORMATION
      • i) Papacy and empire.
      • ii) Medieval thought.
      • iii) Reformation.
    • 14) MODERN CHRISTIANITY
    • 15) THE MODERN DENOMINATIONS
      • i) Roman Catholicism.
        • (1) Doctrine.
        • (2) Liturgy.
      • ii) The Eastern churches.
      • iii) Protestantism.
        • (1) Lutheranism.
        • (2) Anglicanism.
        • (3) Presbyterian and Reformed Churches.
        • (4) Free churches.
        • (5) Other churches and movements.
  • 3. Christian doctrine
    • 1) THE MEANING OF DOGMA
      • i) Importance to Christian doctrine and later implications.
      • ii) Orientation of the Western churches.
      • iii) Orientation of the Eastern churches.
    • 2) GOD THE FATHER
      • i) Characteristic features of the Christian concept of God.
      • ii) The specific concept of God as Father.
      • iii) The belief in the oneness of the Father and the Son.
      • iv) The revelatory character of God.
      • v) God as Creator, Sustainer, and Judge.
      • vi) Modern views of God.
      • vii) The view that God is not solitary.
      • viii) Satan and the origin of evil.
    • 3) GOD THE SON
      • i) Different interpretations of the person of Jesus.
      • ii) The Christological controversies.
      • iii) Messianic views.
      • iv) The doctrine of the Virgin Mary and holy Wisdom.
    • 4) GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
      • i) Contradictory aspects of the Holy Spirit.
      • ii) Conflict between order and charismatic freedom.
      • iii) The operations of the Holy Spirit.
    • 5) THE HOLY TRINITY
      • i) The basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.
      • ii) Introduction of Neoplatonic themes.
      • iii) Attempts to define the Trinity.
    • 6) THE DOCTRINE OF MAN
      • i) What it is to be human.
      • ii) The human as a creature.
      • iii) The human as the image of God.
      • iv) Human redemption.
      • v) The problem of suffering.
      • vi) The resurrection of the body.
      • vii) Progressive human perfection.
      • viii) The justified human.
      • ix) The "new man": The human being in the light of Christ.
      • x) The "reborn human."
      • xi) Human liberation.
      • xii) Joy in human existence.
      • xiii) The charismatic believer.
      • xiv) Christian perfection.
      • xv) Fellow humans as the present Christ.
    • 7) THE CHURCH
      • i) Normative defenses in the early church.
      • ii) Evolution of the episcopal office.
      • iii) Authority and dissent.
      • iv) Creeds and confessions.
      • v) Organization.
      • vi) Episcopacy in Anglican and other Reformation churches.
      • vii) Liturgy.
      • viii) New liturgical forms and antiliturgical attitudes.
      • ix) The sacraments.
      • x) Tradition.
      • xi) Scriptural traditions.
      • xii) Veneration of places, objects, and people.
      • xiii) Monasticism.
      • xiv) The saintly life.
      • xv) Art and iconography.
      • xvi) Theology of icons.
      • xvii) Missions.
    • 8) LAST THINGS
      • i) Expectations of the Kingdom of God in early Christianity.
      • ii) Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the medieval and Reformation periods.
      • iii) Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the post-Reformation period.
      • iv) The role of imminent expectation in missions and emigrations.
      • v) Eschatological expectations and secularization.
      • vi) Concepts of life after death.
  • 4. Church year
    • 1) ORIGINS OF THE CHURCH YEAR
      • i) Religious times and seasons.
      • ii) Jewish background.
      • iii) Formation of the church year.
    • 2) THE MAJOR CHURCH CALENDARS
      • i) Eastern churches.
      • ii) Roman Catholic Church.
      • iii) Protestant churches.
    • 3) HISTORY OF THE CHURCH YEAR
      • i) Sunday.
      • ii) Advent.
      • iii) Christmas.
      • iv) Epiphany.
      • v) Pre-Lent.
      • vi) Lent.
      • vii) Easter.
      • viii) Ascension.
      • ix) Pentecost.
      • x) Pentecost or Trinity Season.
      • xi) Saints' days and other holy days.
    • 4) LITURGICAL COLOURS
  • 5. Canon law
    • 1) NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE
      • i) Historical and cultural importance of canon law.
      • ii) Problems in the study of canon law and its sources.
    • 2) HISTORY
      • i) The formative period in the East.
        • (1) Eastern churches.
        • (2) Independent churches of Eastern Christianity.
      • ii) Development of canon law in the West.
      • iii) The Corpus Juris Canonici (c. 1140-c. 1500).
      • iv) From the Council of Trent (1545-63) to the Codex Juris Canonici (1917).
        • (1) The end of decretal law.
        • (2) Law for the missions.
      • v) The Codex Juris Canonici (1917).
      • vi) The Eastern churches in union with Rome.
    • 3) THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL AND POST-CONCILIAR CANON LAW
      • i) Vatican II.
      • ii) Post-conciliar legislation.
      • iii) Revision of the Code of Canon Law.
      • iv) The new Code of Canon Law.
      • v) The Eastern churches.
    • 4) ANGLICAN CANON LAW
• III. ASPECTS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
  • 1. Patristic literature
    • 1) THE ANTE-NICENE PERIOD
      • i) The Apostolic Fathers.
      • ii) The Gnostic writers.
      • iii) The Apologists.
      • iv) Late 2nd to early 4th century.
    • 2) THE POST-NICENE PERIOD
      • i) The Nicene Fathers.
      • ii) The Cappadocian Fathers.
      • iii) Monastic literature.
      • iv) The school of Antioch.
      • v) The schools of Edessa and Nisibis.
      • vi) The Chalcedonian Fathers.
      • vii) Non-Chalcedonian Fathers.
      • viii) The post-Nicene Latin Fathers.
      • ix) Later Greek Fathers.
    • 3) THE CHARACTER OF THE HERITAGE
  • 2. Christian philosophy
    • 1) HISTORY OF THE INTERACTIONS OF PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
      • i) Influence of Greek philosophy.
      • ii) Emergence of official doctrine.
      • iii) Aristotle, Aquinas, and Descartes.
      • iv) Other influences.
    • 2) FAITH AND REASON
    • 3) CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY AS NATURAL THEOLOGY
      • i) Arguments for the existence of God.
        • (1) The design (or teleological) argument.
        • (2) The cosmological argument.
        • (3) The ontological argument.
        • (4) Moral arguments.
        • (5) Arguments from religious experience and miracles.
      • ii) The immortality of the soul.
    • 4) CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSIONS
      • i) Influence of logical positivism.
      • ii) Evidentialist approach.
  • 3. Christian mysticism
    • 1) HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM
      • i) Early church.
      • ii) Eastern Christianity.
      • iii) Western Catholic Christianity.
      • iv) Protestant Christianity.
    • 2) STAGES OF CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM
      • i) The dying to self.
      • ii) The union with God.
      • iii) The readjustment.
    • 3) FORMS OF CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM
      • i) Christ-mysticism.
      • ii) Trinitarian mysticism.
      • iii) Negative mysticism: God and the Godhead.
    • 4) SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM
  • 4. Christian myth and legend
    • 1) CHARACTERISTICS OF CHRISTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
    • 2) HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
      • i) The early church.
        • (1) The ages of the world.
        • (2) Messianic secrets and the mysteries of salvation.
        • (3) The Magi and the Child of Wondrous Light.
        • (4) Relics and saints.
      • ii) The Middle Ages.
      • iii) Renaissance magic and science.
      • iv) Christian practice in the modern world.
• IV. THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY AND THE WORLD
  • 1. The relationships of Christianity
    • 1) Historical views.
    • 2) Church, sect, and mystical movement.
    • 3) CHURCH AND STATE
      • i) The history of church and state.
        • (1) The church and the Roman Empire.
        • (2) The church and the Byzantine, or Eastern, Empire.
        • (3) The church and Western states.
        • (4) Separation of church and state.
      • ii) Church and state in Eastern and Western theology.
        • (1) The views of Eusebius of Caesarea.
        • (2) The views of Augustine.
        • (3) Later developments.
    • 4) CHURCH AND SOCIETY
      • i) The problem of slavery and persecution.
      • ii) Theological and humanitarian motivations.
    • 5) CHURCH AND EDUCATION
      • i) Intellectualism versus anti-intellectualism.
      • ii) Forms of Christian education.
    • 6) CHURCH AND THE ARTS
    • 7) CHURCH AND SOCIAL WELFARE
      • i) Curing and caring for the sick.
        • (1) Healing the sick.
        • (2) Care for the sick.
      • ii) Care for widows and orphans.
      • iii) Property, poverty, and the poor.
      • iv) Pastoral care.
    • 8) CHURCH AND MINORITIES
    • 9) CHURCH AND FAMILY
      • i) The tendency to spiritualize and individualize marriage.
      • ii) The tendency toward asceticism.
    • 10) CHURCH AND THE INDIVIDUAL
      • i) Love as the basis for Christian ethics.
      • ii) Freedom and responsibility.
  • 2. Christian missions
    • 1) BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS
    • 2) THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
      • i) First transition, to AD 500.
      • ii) Second transition, to AD 1500.
        • (1) Western mission.
        • (2) Papal mission.
        • (3) Eastern and Nestorian missions.
        • (4) The rise of Islam.
      • iii) Third transition, to AD 1950.
        • (1) Roman Catholic mission, 1500-1950.
        • (2) Protestant missions, 1500-1950.
        • (3) Orthodox missions.
      • iv) Fourth transition, from 1950.
      • v) Scripture translations.
  • 3. Ecumenism
    • 1) THE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
    • 2) THE HISTORY OF ECUMENISM
      • i) Early controversies.
      • ii) The schism of 1054.
      • iii) The Reformation.
      • iv) Ecumenism in the 17th and 18th centuries.
      • v) 19th-century efforts.
      • vi) Ecumenism in the 20th century.
  • 4. The Christian church and non-Christian religions
    • 1) CONFLICTING CHRISTIAN ATTITUDES
    • 2) MODERN VIEWS
• 5. Bibliography
  • 1) General works:
  • 2) History of the Christian Church:
  • 3) Major traditional doctrinal issues: (The meaning of dogma):
  • 4) Church year:
  • 5) Canon law:
  • 6) Patristic literature:
  • 7) Christian philosophy:
  • 8) Mysticism:
  • 9) Christian myth and legend:
  • 10) Roles of Christianity:
  • 11) Missions:
  • 12) Ecumenism:
  • 13) The Christian Church and non-Christian religions:

Founded in the 1st century AD by Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God), Christianity has become the largest of the world's religions. Geographically the most widely diffused of all religions, it has a constituency of more than 1,000,000,000. Its largest groups are the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Protestant churches; in addition to these churches there are several independent churches of Eastern Christianity as well as numerous sects throughout the world. See also EASTERN ORTHODOXY ; ROMAN CATHOLICISM ; and PROTESTANTISM .

This article first considers the nature and development of the Christian religion, its ideas, and its institutions. This is followed by an examination of several intellectual manifestations of Christianity. Finally, the position of Christianity in the world, the relations among its divisions and denominations, its missionary outreach to other peoples, and its relations with other world religions are discussed. For supporting material on various topics, see BIBLICAL LITERATURE AND ITS CRITICAL INTERPRETATION ; DOCTRINES AND DOGMAS, RELIGIOUS ; JESUS: THE CHRIST AND CHRISTOLOGY ; RITES AND CEREMONIES, SACRED ; and SACRED OFFICES AND ORDERS .