Christianity is the single largest religion in the world and has existed for two thousand years with it first beginning as a part of Judaism in first century A.D/CE. Since then, it has spread worldwide. It is a religion known to most Canadians; yet little people know the fundamental nature of Christianity within a global historical context (Smith, 2018). There are four major elements of religion, which express the characters of the traditions within the religion. The first characteristic is material religion/ architecture, which relates to material objects and architecture including both external design and interior decoration. The second is dogma/ doctrine, which means the official theology of a religion. Third, ritual relates to ritual activities …show more content…
He then, spoke himself into existence in the form of Jesus Christ. By doing this, God infused himself into the creation by the Holy Spirit (Smith, 2018). The significance of the story of Christ is that Christ as a human had experienced birth, growth and eventually death. He is then believed to have rose from the dead, returning as God the creator. This aligns with one of the central dogmas in Christianity, the idea of resurrection (Smith, 2018). God is seen in the Christian faith to be pure. Further, biblical readings and oral stories play the significance in the word of god. In all Christian denominations, the word of God, further the logos, refers to the foundation of truth, which acts as a metaphor for Jesus Christ. This is often seen in the bible and is an essential component of Christianity as it proves to followers that Jesus Christ was a part of external reality (Smith, 2018). Another essential component of Christianity refers to the worldview that the sacred and the worldly are all one and a part of the same whole (Smith 2018). The idea that the regular people are connected to the divine allow for purpose. The idea of God in Christianity has not changed over time, but has remained a fundamental core for the …show more content…
For instance, the church aspect of Christianity was not the fundamental aspect as people told stories through oral communication and later the bible. Going to a physical church may come as a fundamental practice for Christian’s in today’s world, however in the second century, communities were under the Empire which meant fear of persecution. For this reason, Christians did not worship in churches but they still had a church hierarchy present that assisted with settling disputes (Smith, 2018). Because these people were in such small communities, there were not a large number of Christians and therefore was not uncommon for a family to have family members who were not Christian. Additionally, baptism is now a large part of the ritualistic aspect of Christianity and did not become a fundamental part until after the Empire of Constantine’s time. In 313 A.D., Constantine wanted to be converted to Christianity just before he passed, to wash away all his sins to gain entry to heaven and he did this by getting baptized. This moment was seen as changing the face of Christianity until secularization in the Western world (Smith 2018). Both of these aspects are deeply rooted characteristics of Christianity, however are not essential in understanding Christianity, as is the dogma/