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A Christian (/ˈkrɪstʃən, -tiən/ ) is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world.[11] The words Christ and Christian derive from the Koine Greek title Christós (Χριστός), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach (מָשִׁיחַ) (usually rendered as messiah in English).[12] While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict,[13][14] they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance.[13] The term Christian used as an adjective is descriptive of anything associated with Christianity or Christian churches, or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like."[15]
According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910.[4] Today, about 37% of all Christians live in the Americas, about 26% live in Europe, 24% live in sub-Saharan Africa, about 13% live in Asia and the Pacific, and 1% live in the Middle East and North Africa.[4] Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories.[4] 280 million Christians live as a minority. About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant (37%).[4] Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world's Christians.[4] Other Christian groups make up the remainder. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion.[4] According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue. In recent history, Christians have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in the Middle-East, North Africa, East Asia, and South Asia.[16][17][18]
- ^ "Religion Information Data Explorer | GRF". www.globalreligiousfutures.org. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
- ^ Johnson, Todd M.; Grim, Brian J., eds. (2020). "All Religions (global totals)". World Religion Database. Leiden, Boston: BRILL, Boston University.
- ^ "Christianity 2015: Religious Diversity and Personal Contact" (PDF). gordonconwell.edu. January 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Analysis (19 December 2011). "Global Christianity" (PDF). Pewforum.org. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
- ^ Ehrman, Bart D. (2014). How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. HarperOne. ISBN 978-0-06-177818-6.
- ^ Melton, J. Gordon (2005). Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Infobase Publishing. pp. 284–285. ISBN 978-0-8160-6983-5.
Today, the Christian community in India includes approximately 62 million people, about 6 percent of the population. Of these, 14 million are Roman Catholic and 3 million are Orthodox.
- ^ Melton, J. Gordon; Baumann, Martin (2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition [6 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1399, 1401–1403. ISBN 978-1-59884-204-3.
Protestants 21,100,000 Independents 18,200,000 Roman Catholics 21,700,000 (2010)
- ^ Johnson, Todd M.; Grim, Brian J. (2013). The World's Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography (PDF). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- ^ A history of ancient Greek by Maria Chritē, Maria Arapopoulou, Centre for the Greek Language (Thessalonikē, Greece) pg 436 ISBN 0-521-83307-8
- ^ Wilken, Robert Louis (27 November 2012). The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-300-11884-1.
- ^ Center, Pew Research (19 December 2011). "Global Christianity - A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- ^ Bickerman (1949) p. 145, "The Christians got their appellation from 'Christus,' that is, 'the Anointed,' the Messiah."
- ^ a b Woodhead, Linda (2004). Christianity: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. n.p.
- ^ Beal, Timothy (2008). Religion in America: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. pp. 35, 39.
Although all of them have their historical roots in Christian theology and tradition, and although most would identify themselves as Christian, many would not identify others within the larger category as Christian. Most Baptists and Fundamentalists, for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian. In fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity.
- ^ Schaff, Philip. "V. St. Paul and the Conversion of the Gentiles (Note 496)". History of the Christian Church.
- ^ "Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'". BBC News. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ Kay, Barbara. "Our politicians may not care, but Christians are under siege across the world". National Post. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ Wintour, Patrick. "Persecution of Christians coming close to genocide' in Middle East – report". The Guardian. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.