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ChristianFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Christian ( pronunciation ) is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life andteachings of Jesus of Nazareth. "Christian" derives from the Koine Greek word Christós (Χριστός), a translation of the Biblical

Hebrew term mashiach.[1]

There are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict.[2][3] However, "Whatever else they might disagree

about, Christians are at least united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance.”[2] The term "Christian" is also usedadjectivally to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-

like."[4] It is also used as a label to identify people who associate with the cultural aspects of Christianity, irrespective of personal

religious beliefs or practices.[5]

Contents

1 Etymology2 Early usage

2.1 Nazarenes3 Modern usage

3.1 Hebrew terms3.2 Arabic terms

3.3 Asian terms3.4 Russian terms

4 Demographics5 See also

6 Bibliography7 References

Etymology

The Greek word Χριστιανός (Christianos), meaning "follower of Christ", comes from Χριστός (Christos), meaning "anointed

one",[6] with an adjectival ending borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership.[7] In the

Greek Septuagint, christos was used to translate the Hebrew ָמִׁשיַח (Mašíaḥ, messiah), meaning "[one who is] anointed."[8] Inother European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as Chrétien in French andCristiano in Spanish.

Early usage

The first recorded use of the term (or its cognates in other languages) is in the New Testament, in Acts 11:26, after Barnabasbrought Saul (Paul) to Antioch where they taught the disciples for about a year, the text says: "[...] the disciples were calledChristians first in Antioch." The second mention of the term follows in Acts 26:28, where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul theApostle, "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." The third and final New Testamentreference to the term is in 1 Peter 4:16, which exhorts believers: "Yet if [any man suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed;but let him glorify God on this behalf."

Kenneth Samuel Wuest holds that all three original New Testament verses' usages reflect a derisive element in the term Christian

to refer to followers of Christ who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome.[9] The city of Antioch, where someone gave them

the name Christians, had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames.[10] However Peter's apparent endorsement of the term

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The cross and

Ichthys symbols,

two symbols often

used by Christians

to represent their

religion.

led to its being preferred over "Nazarenes" and the term Christianoi from 1 Peter becomes the standard term in the Early Church

Fathers from Ignatius and Polycarp onwards.[11]

The earliest occurrences of the term in non-Christian literature include Josephus, referring to "the tribe of Christians, so named

from him;"[12] Pliny the Younger in correspondence with Trajan; and Tacitus, writing near the end of the 1st century. In the

Annals he relates that "by vulgar appellation [they were] commonly called Christians"[13] and identifies Christians as Nero's

scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome.[14]

Nazarenes

Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is "Nazarenes" which is used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus inActs 24. Tertullian (Against Marcion 4:8) records that "the Jews call us Nazarenes," while around 331 AD Eusebius records thatChrist was called a Nazoraean from the name Nazareth, and that in earlier centuries "Christians," were once called

"Nazarenes."[15] The Hebrew equivalent of "Nazarenes", Notzrim, occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, and is still the modern IsraeliHebrew term for Christian.

Modern usage

A wide range of beliefs and practices is found across the world among those who call themselvesChristian. There is usually a consensus among many denominations about what defines a Christian, butdisagreement does exist among some sects and denominations on a common definition of "Christianity."Philosopher Michael Martin, in his book The Case Against Christianity, evaluated three historicalChristian creeds (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed) to establish a set ofbasic assumptions which include belief in theism, the historicity of Jesus, the Incarnation, salvation through

faith in Jesus, and Jesus as an ethical role model.[16]

Hebrew terms

As the identification of the Messiah with Jesus is not accepted within Judaism, the Talmudic term forChristians in Hebrew is Notzrim ("Nazarenes"), originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the

village of Nazareth in Israel.[17] However, Messianic Jews are referred to in modern Hebrew as יהודים.(Yehudim Meshihi'im) משיחיים

Arabic terms

In Arabic-speaking cultures, two words are commonly used for Christians: Nasrani (نصراني), plural Nasara (نصارى) is generally

understood to be derived from Nazareth[18] through the Syriac (Aramaic); Masihi (مسیحي) means followers of the

Messiah.[18][19]

Where there is a distinction, Nasrani refers to people from a Christian culture and Masihi means those with a religious faith in

Jesus.[20] In some countries Nasrani tends to be used generically for non-Muslim white people.[20] Another Arabic wordsometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Salibi (صلیبي "Crusader") from salib (صلیب "crucifix") which

refers to Crusaders and has negative connotations.[19][21]

Asian terms

The Syriac term Nasrani (Nazarene) has also been attached to the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, India. In the Indiansubcontinent, Christians call themselves "Isaai" (Hindi: ईसाई, Urdu: عیسائی), and are also known by this term to adherents of other

religions.[22] This is related to the name they call Jesus, "Isa Masih".

In the past, the Malays used to call the Portuguese Serani from the Arabic Nasrani. Today the term Serani is used for the creoleChristian community of Malaysia today.

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Set of pictures for a number of

famous Christians from various

fields.

The Chinese word is 基督徒 (pinyin: jīdū tú), literally "Christ follower." The two charactersnow pronounced Jīdū in Mandarin Chinese, were originally pronounced Ki-To inCantonese as representation of Latin "Cristo." Likewise in Vietnam the same twocharacters read Cơ đốc, and a "follower of Christianity" is a tín đồ Cơ đốc giáo. In Japan,the term kirishitan (written in Edo period documents 吉利支丹, 切支丹, and in modernJapanese histories as キリシタン), from Portuguese cristão, referred to Roman CatholicChristians in the 16th and 17th centuries before the religion was banned by the Tokugawashogunate. Today Christians are referred to in standard Japanese as Kuristo-kyo-to キリスト教徒, or the English-derived term kurisuchan クリスチャン. Korean still uses Kidok-kyo-do (written in hangul as 기독교도) for "Christian," though the Greek form Kurisudo그리스도 has now replaced the old Sino-Korean Kidok for Christ himself.

Russian terms

Region of modern Eastern Europe and Central Eurasia (Russia, Ukraine and othercountries of ex-USSR) have a long history of Christianity and Christian communities on itslands. In ancient times, first centuries after the birth of Christ, when this region was called

Scythia - Christians already lived there.[23] Later here the first Christian states emerged,among them - Great Russian Principality (Kyivan Rus, рус. Великое княжествоРусское). People of that time used to denote themselfes Christians (христиане,крестьяне) and Russians (русские). Both terms had strong Christian connotations. It is also interesting that time by time the term"крестьяне" got the meaning - "peasants of christian faith" and later "peasants" - the main part of population of the region, term"христиане" saved his meaning and term "русские" began to mean representatives of heterogeneous Russian nation formed onthe basis of common Christian faith and language, which strongly influenced the history and development of the region. In theregion "Pravoslav faith" (православная вера) or "Russian faith" (русская вера) from earliest times became almost as known asthe original "Christian faith" (христианская, крестьянская вера). Also in some contexts the term "cossack" (козак, казак - freeman by the will of God) was used to denote "free" Christians of Steppe origin and Russian language.

Demographics

Main article: Christianity by country

As of the early 21st century, Christianity has around 2.1 billion adherents.[24][25][26] The faith represents about a quarter to a third

of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world, with approximately 38,000 Christian denominations.[27] Christianshave composed about 33 percent of the world's population for around 100 years. The largest Christian denomination is the

Roman Catholic Church, with 1.17 billion adherents, representing half of all Christians.[28]

Percentage of Christians worldwide

Twenty countries with the most

Christians

%

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Country Christians Christian

United

States

(details)

176,400,000 78.4%

Brazil

(details)174,700,000 90.4%

Mexico

(details)

105,095,000 94.5%

Russia

(details)99,775,000 70.3%

Philippines

(details)

90,530,000 92.4%

Nigeria

(details)76,281,000 48.2%

Congo,Democratic

Republic of

(details)

68,558,000 95.6%

China,People's

Republic of

(details)

66,959,000 5.0%

Italy

(details)55,070,000 91.1%

Ethiopia

(details)

54,978,000 64.5%

Germany(details)

49,400,000 59.9%

Colombia

(details)

44,502,000 97.6%

Ukraine

(details)

41,973,000 91.5%

South

Africa(details)

39,843,000 79.7%

Argentina

(details)

37,561,000 92.7%

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Poland

(details)

36,526,000 95.7%

Spain

(details)35,568,000 77.2%

France(details)

35,014,000 53.5%

Kenya

(details)34,774,000 85.1%

Uganda

(details)

29,943,000 88.6%

See also

Christendom

Christian Church

Conversion to Christianity

Cultural Christian

List of Christian synonymsLists of Christians

Rice Christian, referring to people who profess Christianity for material benefits

Bibliography

Etymology

Bickerman, Elias J. (April 1949). "The Name of Christians". The Harvard Theological Review 42 (2): 109–124.

JSTOR 1507955 (//www.jstor.org/stable/1507955). also available in Bickerman, Elias J. (1986). Studies in Jewish and

Christian history (http://books.google.com/?id=gqQfAAAAIAAJ). ISBN 90-04-04395-0. (from which page numbersare cited)

Wuest, Kenneth Samuel (1973). Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament

(http://books.google.com/books?id=ZHhK3AKkc9EC) 1. ISBN 978-0-8028-2280-2.

References

1. ^ Bickerman (1949) p. 145, The Christians got their appellation from "Christus," that is, "the Anointed," the Messiah.

2. ̂a b Woodhead, Linda (2004). Christianity: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. n.p.

3. ^ Beal, Timothy (2008). Religion in America: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 35, 39. Beal statesthat, "Although all of them have their historical roots in Christian theology and tradition, and although most would identifythemselves as Christian, many would not identify others within the larger category as Christian. Most Baptists andFundamentalists, for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian. In fact, the nearly 77percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity."

4. ^ Schaff, Philip. "V. St. Paul and the Conversion of the Gentiles (Note 496)" (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1.txt). Historyof the Christian Church.

5. ^ Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7136682.stm). BBC News. 10 December 2007.

6. ^ Christ (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Christ) at Etymology Online

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7. ^ Bickerman, 1949 p. 147, All these Greek terms, formed with the Latin suffix -ianus, exactly as the Latin words of the samederivation, express the idea that the men or things referred to, belong to the person to whose name the suffix is added.p. 145, In Latin this suffix produced proper names of the type Marcianus and, on the other hand, derivatives from the name of aperson, which referred to his belongings, like fundus Narcissianus, or, by extension, to his adherents, Ciceroniani.

8. ^ Messiah (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=messiah) at Etymology Online

9. ^ #Wuest-1973 p. 19. The word is used three times in the New Testament, and each time as a term of reproach or derision. Herein Antioch, the name Christianos was coined to distinguish the worshippers of the Christ from the Kaisarianos, the worshippers ofCaesar.

10. ^ #Wuest-1973 p. 19. The city of Antioch in Syria had a reputation for coining nicknames.

11. ^ Christine Trevett Christian women and the time of the Apostolic Fathers 2006 "'Christians' (christianoi) was a term first coinedin Syrian Antioch (Acts 11: 26) and which appeared next in Christian sources in Ignatius, Eph 11.2; Rom 3.2; Pol 7.3. Cf. too Did12.4; MPol 3.1; 10.1; 12.1-2; EpDiog 1.1; 4.6; 5.1;"

12. ^ Josephus. "Antiquities of the Jews — XVIII, 3:3" (http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-18.htm).

13. ^ Tacitus, Cornelius; Murphy, Arthur (1836). The works of Cornelius Tacitus: with an essay on his life and genius, notes,supplements, &c (http://books.google.com/?id=E0vy1dAhgj0C). Thomas Wardle. p. 287.

14. ^ Bruce, Frederick Fyvie (1988). The Book of the Acts. Eerdmans. p. 228. ISBN 0-8028-2505-2.

15. ^ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies: Volume 65, Issue 1 University of London. School of Oriental and AfricanStudies - 2002 "... around 331, Eusebius says of the place name Nazareth that 'from this name the Christ was called a Nazoraean,and in ancient times we, who are now called Christians, were once called Nazarenes';6 thus he attributes this designation ..."

16. ^ Martin, Michael (1993). The Case Against Christianity. Temple University Press. p. 12. ISBN 1-56639-081-8.

17. ^ Nazarene (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nazarene) at Etymology Online

18. ̂a b Khaled Ahmed, Pakistan Daily Times (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C02%5C19%5Cstory_19-2-2006_pg3_4).

19. ̂a b Society for Internet Research, The Hamas Charter (http://www.sofir.org/sarchives/005539.php), note 62 (erroneously,"salidi").

20. ̂a b Jeffrey Tayler, Trekking through the Moroccan Sahara (http://books.google.com/books?id=98dQ39WOoUUC&pg=RA1-PA41&lpg=RA1-PA41&dq=masihi+nasrani&source=web&ots=LESqWUSy43&sig=ABHlcsuLXyO4iZBR2gMP4dnoux8).

21. ^ Akbar S. Ahmed, Islam, Globalization, and Postmodernity (http://books.google.com/books?id=kXY9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=salibi+crusader&source=web&ots=R_6x5wvD-L&sig=iSIt3GH4P7yJg-OrI39idUrO0AA), p 110.

22. ^ "Catholic priest in saffron robe called 'Isai Baba' " (http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Catholic-priest-in-saffron-robe-called---Isai-Baba--/402458/). The Indian Express. December 24, 2008.

23. ^ http://azbyka.ru/dictionary/03/kartashev_vselenskie_sobory_07-all.shtml#s19

24. ^ 33.2% of 6.7 billion world population (under "People") "World" (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html). CIA world facts.

25. ^ "The List: The World's Fastest-Growing Religions" (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3835).foreignpolicy.com. March 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-04.

26. ^ "Major Religions Ranked by Size" (http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html). Adherents.com. Retrieved 2009-05-05.

27. ^ Hinnells, The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion, p. 441.

28. ^ Pontifical Yearbook 2010(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/universal_church_sees_increase_in_seminarians_reports_pontifical_yearbook/),Catholic News Agency. Accessed September 22, 2011.

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