Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, whom Christians call Jesus Christ, and New Testament accounts of his life and teachings. With an estimated 2.1 billion adherents in 2001, Christianity is the world's largest religion.[1]
Christianity began in the first century as a Jewish sect[2] [citation needed]. Christians call the Hebrew Bible the Old Testament (see Judeo-Christian).[3] Like Judaism and Islam, Christianity is an Abrahamic religion.
In the Christian scriptures, the term "Christian" is first attested in Acts 11:26: "And in Antioch Jesus' disciples were first called Christians" (Gr. ???st?a????, from Christ Gr. ???st??, which means "the anointed one").
Denominations of Christianity
Within Christianity numerous distinct groups have developed with beliefs that vary widely by culture and place. Since the Reformation Christianity is usually represented as being divided into three main branches:
Roman Catholicism: The Roman Catholic Church, the largest single body ? which includes several Eastern Catholic communities ? as well as certain smaller communities (e.g., the Old-Catholics), with more than 1.085 billion baptized members.
Eastern Christianity: Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches (including Western Orthodox churches which preserve Latin practices while accepting Orthodox theology), with a combined membership of more than 240 million baptized members.
Protestantism: Numerous denominations and groups such as Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed, Evangelical, Charismatic, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Anabaptists, and Pentecostals. The oldest of these separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, f ...