Christianity and Church

Coates Memorial Church, Paisley, Scotland

The cross is the symbol of Christianity. Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, died on a cross in Palestine.

Saint Francis of Assisi established the influential Franciscan religious order during the Middle Ages. In this fresco, Francis and his followers kneel before Pope Innocent III.

Christianity is the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Most followers of Christianity,

called Christians, are members of one of three major groups—Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Ortho­dox. These groups have different beliefs about Jesus and His teachings. But all Christians consider Jesus central to their religion. Most Christians believe that God sent Jesus into the world as the Saviour. Christianity teaches that humanity can achieve salvation through Jesus.

Jesus lived in Palestine, a Middle Eastern land ruled by the Romans. The Romans crucified Jesus in about A.D. 30. Jesus' followers were convinced that He rose from the dead after three days, and they soon spread Christianity to major cities throughout the Roman Em­pire. Today, Christians make up the largest religious group in the world. Christianity has about 1.5 billion followers—about a quarter of the world's population. Christianity is the major religion in Europe, the Western Hemisphere, and Australia. Many Christians also live in Africa and Asia.

Christianity has had an enormous influence on West­ern civilization, especially on art, literature, and philoso­phy. Its teachings have had a lasting effect on the con­duct of business, government, and social relations.

Beliefs

Christians believe that there is one God, and that He created the universe and continues to care for it. The be­lief in one God was first taught by the Jewish reli­gion.

Christianity teaches that God sent His Son Jesus into the world as His cho­sen servant, called the Messiah (Christos in Greek), to help people fulfil their religious duties.

Christianity also teaches that after Jesus' earthly life,

God's presence remained on earth in the form of the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost.

The belief that in one God there are three People—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—is known as the doctrine of the Trinity.

Roman Catholic and East­ern Orthodox Churches and many Protestant churches accept this doctrine as the central teaching of Christian­ity.

Some Christians regard Jesus as a great but human teacher. However, most Christians view Jesus as God incarnate—that is, a divine being who took on the human appearance and characteristics of a man. They believe that Jesus is the Saviour who died to save humanity from sin. According to this view, Jesus' death made salvation and eternal life possible for others.

Christians gather in churches because they believe that God intended them to form special groups for wor­ship. They also meet in churches to encourage one an­other to lead upright lives according to God's moral law.

Two practices important to Christian worship usually take place in churches. They are (1) baptism and (2) the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper. Baptism celebrates an individual's entrance into Christianity. The Eucharist represents the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus shared with His disciples. Worshippers share bread and wine in the Eucharist as a sign of their unity with each other and with Jesus.

Christians see Jesus as continuous with the God of Ju­daism. A collection of Christian writings was added to the Jewish scriptures known as the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible. The Christian writings, called the New Testament, record the life and teachings of Jesus. They also describe the development of the early church and explain what faith in Jesus means. The Christian Bible in­cludes both the Old and New Testaments. Some Chris­tian groups also accept as part of the Bible a collection of writings called the Apocrypha.

The origin of Christianity

Jesus' ministry. Christianity originated in the ministry of Jesus. During His lifetime, Jesus preached the gospel, meaning good news, that God was coming to earth to be among His people in a special way. Jesus called this special way the Kingdom of God. He warned His listen­ers to repent their sinful ways to be ready for the ap­proaching Kingdom of God. In urging repentance, Jesus gave His own interpretation of Jewish law to show how people could obey God and achieve righteousness.

Jesus' teaching brought Him great popularity. Reports spread that He performed such miracles as healing the sick and bringing the dead back to life. Jesus' popularity caused opposition from Jewish and Roman officials. The Romans charged Jesus with treason for calling Himself King of the Jews, and they crucified Him.

Resurrection and Pentecost. The followers of Jesus did not accept His death as His end. They were certain that Jesus came back from the dead and that He late rose to heaven. Many stories circulated about Jesus appearance among His disciples after His death.

Reports of the Resurrection convinced many people that Jesus was the Son of God. Some followers began to call Jesus the Messiah, the Saviour of the Jewish people promised in the Old Testament. Followers of Jesus came to believe that they, too, could receive eternal life because of Jesus' Resurrection.

Jesus had chosen 12 men, known as the apostles to preach the gospel after His death. About 50 days after the Crucifixion, the apostles and other followers of Jesus claimed that the Holy Spirit had entered them and given them the ability to speak foreign languages. This ability enabled them to spread Jesus' teachings to all land Christians date the beginning of the church to this event, which they celebrate as Pentecost.

The first Christians were Jews. Soon, many gentles (non-Jews) converted to the new faith. Peter and the other apostles urged people to accept Jesus as the divine Christ who had conquered sin and death. Peter founded churches in Palestine and, according to Christian tradition, headed the church in Rome.

At first, there were many kinds of Christian leader both men and women. No central authority regulated their activities. But by A.D. 100, churches began to distinguish between religious leaders, called clergy, and the general membership. The most important leader in every large church was a bishop who supervised other clergy. Christians relied on bishops to interpret Christian teachings and ensure correct belief.

The spread of Christianity

The early church. At first, the Roman government considered Christianity a legal Jewish sect. But beginning in A.D. 64, and continuing for the next 250 years, various Roman emperors persecuted the Christians. Rather than weakening the young religion, persecution strengthened it. Persecution gave believers an opportunity to prove their faith by dying for it.

The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great gave Christians freedom of worship in 313. He called the first ecumenical (general) church council in 325 to make doctrine uniform throughout the empire. The council adopted a statement known as the Nicene Creed, which said that Jesus Christ was of the same substance as God. The council condemned Arianism, a belief that Jesus was not completely divine.

By 392, Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire. The church then grew more involved in worldly affairs. In protest, some believers adopted a way of life known as monasticism. They withdrew from everyday life to concentrate on prayer and meditation. During the 500's, Saint Benedict of Nursia established monasteries where monks and nuns lived in separate communities. He also set down rules for the monastic way of life. For 500 years, most monastics in Europe belonged to the Benedictine religious order. The Benedictines helped spread Christianity throughout western Europe.

In 395, the Roman Empire was split into the West and East Roman empires. In 476, the last West Roman emperor fell from power. German chieftains carved up the West Roman Empire. The East Roman Empire survived as the Byzantine Empire until 1453, when Turks captured its capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul). Christianity also had a Western and an Eastern church. The centre of the Western church was in Rome and the centre of the Eastern church was in Constantinople. The most power­ful church leaders were the bishop of Rome, called the pope, in the West and the patriarch of Constantinople in the East.

The Middle Ages began after the fall of the West Roman Empire and continued for about 1,000 years. During the Middle Ages, Christianity replaced the Roman Empire as the unifying force in western Europe.

After the fall of the West Roman Empire, the pope had more authority than any other person in Europe.

The most influential early pope was Gregory the Great, whose reign began in 590. Gregory sent missionaries to convert the people of England. He also established rules of conduct for the clergy.

The pope exercised political as well as spiritual au­thority. In 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish ruler Charlemagne emperor of the Romans. Charlemagne had united much of western Europe. He wanted to restore the stability of Roman rule in an empire built on the Christian faith. Charlemagne's empire declined after his death in 814. But Leo III had established the pope's right to make an emperor's authority lawful.

After Charlemagne, disputes arose over the distribu­tion of power between the church and the state. Many kings and nobles insisted on the right to appoint church officials. The desire for an independent clergy led Pope Nicholas II to establish the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1059. The college assumed responsibility for electing a pope. In 1075, Pope Gregory VII announced that the pope would appoint clergy free from outside interfer­ence. He also outlawed simony, the practice of buying and selling church posts.

Medieval religious scholars called scholastics ex­panded Christian doctrine into a complete body of thought that included science and philosophy. The scholastics wished to reach a better understanding of Christian faith through reason. Saint Anselm, an early scholastic, attempted to prove God's existence through logic. In the 1200's, Saint Thomas Aquinas produced the most important scholastic work, the Summa Theologica. In it, he brought Christian doctrine into harmony with the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

Monasteries were centres of learning throughout the Middle Ages. In the 1200's, members of new religious orders, called friars, began to work among the people. Franciscan friars followed the selfless example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who founded their order in 1209. Fran­ciscans were noted for their loving service to others.

The Dominican order, founded in 1216 by Saint Domi­nic, became noted for its scholarship.

During the Middle Ages, Christian armies tried to re­capture Palestine, which had been conquered by Mus­lim Turks. These military expeditions, known as Cru­sades, began just before 1100 and ended in the late 1200s. The crusaders failed to hold the Holy Land. But contact with the East influenced European culture.

The division of the church

The split between East and West. The two centres of Christianity—Rome and Constantinople—drifted fur­

ther apart during the early Middle Ages. Eastern Chris­tians enjoyed political stability, and they tolerated a wide range of religious discussion. Western believers supported many different kingdoms, but they insisted on complete agreement over doctrine. Disagreements over the pope's authority in the East produced a schism (split) in 1054 between the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. The schism still exists today.

Decline of papal authority. In 1309, a French pope moved the papacy (office of the pope) from Rome to Avi­gnon in what is now France. The papacy remained in Avignon until 1377. French kings and nobles exerted in­fluence on the papacy and greatly reduced its prestige. This decline in the institution of the papacy made many members of the clergy impatient for reform.

In 1378, a disagreement among the cardinals resulted in the election of two rival popes. For a time, three men opposed one another as the rightful pope. Finally in 1417, the Council of Constance elected a pope who was accepted by all the rival groups.

The Reformation. The desire to reform Christianity grew stronger during the 1500's. In 1517, a movement called the Reformation began when Martin Luther, a German monk, criticized certain church practices. The Reformation divided Western Christianity into the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism.

Luther disagreed with church teaching about the role of human effort in salvation. Appealing to the theology of Saint Paul, Luther emphasized solely God's role in sal­vation. Luther's position contrasted with Roman Catholic views that humanity must freely cooperate with God's grace. According to Luther, the Bible alone and not tra­ditional church doctrine should guide Christians. The Lutheran movement based on his teachings spread rap­idly through northern Germany and the Scandinavian countries during the 1520's.

The teachings of John Calvin, a French Protestant thinker, greatly influenced the Reformation in Switzer­land, England, Scotland, France, and the Netherlands. Calvin agreed with Luther about salvation through faith. But Calvin was more interested in how Christianity could reform society. Calvin urged Christians to live in communities according to the divine law expressed in the Bible.

In England, King Henry VIII influenced Parliament to break with the Roman Catholic Church and establish the Church of England after he had declared his independ­ence from the pope in 1534. But Calvinists in England wanted further reform. Their disputes with the Church of England led to the formation of the Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches in the 1600's.

Some smaller, more radical religious groups claimed that the Lutherans and Calvinists had not gone far enough in reforming Christianity. Some of these groups, including the Baptists, Quakers, and Mennonites, devel­oped their own forms of worship.

The Counter Reformation. Some Christians wanted to reform the Roman Catholic Church without leaving it. To renew Catholic worship, the pope and other Catholic bishops called the Council of Trent, which met at vari­ous times from 1545 to 1563. Many of the decrees that were issued by the council deliberately opposed Protes­tant viewpoints.

For this reason, the movement for reform within the church has been called the Counter Reformation. It is also known as the Catholic Reformation. The council emphasized church tradition as having equal authority with the Bible. The bishops at the council also stressed the role of human effort in achieving salvation.

A leading force in the Counter Reformation was the Society of Jesus, or Jesuit order, founded by Saint Igna­tius Loyola in 1534. The Jesuits quickly restored religious zeal among believers in southern Europe. Jesuit mis­sionaries helped spread Roman Catholicism to many peoples throughout the world.

The 1700's and 1800's

The spread of Protestantism contributed to a series of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants that ended in 1648. Christianity faced many challenges in the periods that followed, even though conflicts among Christians lessened.

Rationalism and pietism were two viewpoints that reduced religious controversy during the 1700's. Ration­alism was the belief in an orderly universe that could be explained by human reason, especially by scientific prin­ciples. Rationalist thinkers urged religious people of all beliefs to agree on certain basic ideas. These ideas in­cluded the existence of a purposeful God or maker of the world, the existence of the soul, and the certainty of rewards and punishment in a life after death. Rationalists thought that disputes over belief involved matters of opinion rather than reasoned truths. But they came into conflict with many Christians because they rejected the Bible and church tradition as sources of truth.

Pietism avoided controversy in another way. Rather than appealing to reason, pietism emphasized the strong emotional power of personal religious experi­ence. The pietists believed such experience was more important than intellectual formulas. They considered a private relationship with God more important than doc­trinal precision or correct forms of worship. The most important figure in the pietist movement was John Wes­ley, an English clergyman. Wesley's followers, called Methodists, separated from the Church of England in the late 1700s.

The rise of nationalism during the 1800's weakened the influence of Christianity, especially the Roman Cath­olic Church. After the French Revolution began in 1789, the forces of nationalism and democracy swept across Europe. New governments tended to separate the pow­ers of church and state. Nationalist movements ques­tioned the supreme authority of the pope.

In the mid-1800's, Pope Pius IX took steps to uphold the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The Sylla­bus of Errors issued by Pius in 1864 condemned republi­can government, rationalism, and other ideas that threatened the power and authority of the church. In 1869, Pius assembled Vatican Council I. It produced the most controversial act of his reign—the declaration of papal infallibility. According to this declaration, the pope cannot be in error when he speaks as head of the church on matters of faith or morals.

Science also challenged Christian belief. The evolu­tionary theory of biological development proposed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin conflicted with the Biblical version of creation.

Christianity today

Science and technology have changed the modern world and have created some new problems while solv­ing old ones. Many people question whether religion can meet human needs in today's world of technology.

In response, many Christians try to deal with basic is­sues of human welfare, and Christian leaders speak out on such issues as world peace and human rights. Some Christians seek a more emotional form of religious wor­ship and turn to charismatic Christianity and other movements that stress a personal response to Jesus.

A search for unity, known as the ecumenical move­ment, has become a major concern of Christians during the 1900's. Protestants began meeting to explore closer cooperation in 1910. Protestant leaders formed the World Council of Churches in 1948. This organization works to reduce differences on doctrine and to promote Christian unity. Today, it also represents Eastern Ortho­dox Churches. The Roman Catholic Church expressed its support for the ecumenical movement at Vatican Coun­cil II, which met from 1962 to 1965. See the separate articles Jesus Christ; Bible; Roman Catholic Church; Protestantism; and Eastern Orthodox Churches and their lists of related articles. See also the following articles: Church, Crusades, Religion, Cross, Monasticism, and Religious life.

Church

Church, in Christianity, has two basic meanings. Church is the term for a community of Christians who share a specific set of beliefs. It also means the building that Christians use for worship and other religious activ­ities. The word church comes from the Greek kuriakon, which means of the Lord.

In the early centuries of Christianity, church meant the community of all Christians. But in 1054, a split oc­curred between Christians in western Europe and those in eastern Europe and western Asia. The communities in eastern Europe and western Asia became known as the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

In the 1500s, a religious movement called the Refor­mation divided western Christianity into the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism. The Protestants es­tablished a number of new churches—often called denominations— including the Anglican, Baptist, Lu­theran, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches.

The early Christians had no church buildings. Be­cause they feared persecution from the Roman rulers, they met secretly in private homes or in underground passages and rooms called catacombs. Christians began building churches in the 300's, when the Roman em­peror Constantine the Great ended persecution of the Christians. Since then, most churches have reflected the architecture of their time and region.

During the 30Os, the basilica became the most com­mon form of church design. The basilica was originally a large hall built by the Romans for administrative and ju­dicial purposes. Between 1000 and 1500, Christians built numerous majestic and richly decorated cathedrals. Many churches built today combine traditional and modern architectural styles.

For more information about the church as a commu­nity, see Eastern Orthodox Churches; Protestantism; Roman Catholic Church. For information about church buildings, see Architecture (Medieval architecture; Renaissance architecture; Baroque architecture); Basil­ica; Cathedral.

Church and state

Church and state is a term that refers to the relations between churches and governments. These relations have been a source of controversy.

In early times. The Old Testament implies that such problems may have existed in ancient Israel. In ancient Greece and Rome, closely related bodies handled both religious and governmental affairs, so that controversy between them did not arise. The problems first became serious in the later days of the Roman Empire, after Christianity became the state religion in about A.D. 380. Historians believe Pope Gelasius I, who reigned from 492 to 496, first formulated a doctrine of equality and co­ordination between the church and civil government.

But it was not until the Concordat of Worms in 1122 that the powers of the two bodies were formally defined.

The Middle Ages saw continuing struggle between the Roman Catholic Church and various European rul­ers. At the height of papal supremacy, Boniface VIII, pope from 1294 to 1303, issued a bull (papal decree) called Unam Sanctam. This controversial bull declared that the pope should have a voice in civil, as well as reli­gious, affairs. The bull embodied the Doctrine of the Two Swords. The doctrine angered King Philip IV of France. He forced the next pope, Clement V, to move the papal court to Avignon, France, in 1309. This temporary exile of the popes is often called the seventy years' cap­tivity. This exile helped cause the Great Schism (see Pope [The troubles of the papacyl). But, by the end of the 1400's, the church and many of the governments had es­tablished an uneasy peace.

The Reformation of the 1500's radically changed the church-state situation. There were now several Christian

churches, not just one. The conflict over spiritual author­ity led to wars in many countries (see Peasants' War). Lutheranism made the prince of a country the head of the church (see Lutherans). The idea spread that a coun­try's ruler should determine the religion of his subjects.

If the king and parliament shared ruling power, they would both decide. Their disagreement in England in the 1600s resulted in civil war (see England [The Civil War]). But, with minor exceptions, the principle contin­ued until the American and French revolutions.

The 1900's. A new phase in church-state relationship began with the rise of totalitarian dictatorships of the 1900's. These governments denied freedom of religion, and subjected churches, and often religious leaders, to interference and persecution. Related articles include: Education (How should education be financed?), Reformation, Roman Catholic Church, Freedom of religion, Totalitarianism, and Pope

Church Army

Church Army is a voluntary organization within the Church of England. Men and women who join the Church Army become officers, known as Captains and Sisters, after three years of training. They then undertake evangelistic and social and moral welfare work, both in the United Kingdom and other countries. This work in­cludes welfare work among prisoners and caring for elderly and homeless people. The Army also runs youth clubs and moral-welfare homes. Wilson Carlile founded the Church Army in 1882.

Church in Wales

Church in Wales is the Anglican Church in Wales.

The Church in Wales has about 150,000 members, about 1,000 ministers, and about 1,750 places of worship. The Church in Wales, like the Church of England, is catholic, reformed, episcopal, and apostolic. But the Church in Wales is independent, with its own constitution and laws.

The Church in Wales is organized as a single prov­ince, the Province of Wales, under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Wales. The province has six dioceses: St. Asaph, St. David's, Swansea and Brecon, Bangor, Llan- daff, and Monmouth, each in the care of a bishop. The archbishop and bishops are elected. The lay folk take a large part in the government of the Church, and women are eligible for election to Church bodies. The govern­ing body of the Church consists of three orders: bish­ops, clergy, and laity. The clergy and laity are elected.

Roman and Celtic missionaries introduced Christian­ity to Wales after the Roman conquest. The Celtic Church in Wales remained independent until the 1200s, when it came under the Province of Canterbury. The Reformation was reluctantly accepted in Wales. But by the 1800's, many Welsh people had become Noncon­formist. The Church in Wales became an independent, disestablished Church in 1920.

Church of Christ. See Churches of Christ Church of Christ, Scientist. See Christian Scien­tists.

Church of England

A Church of England bishop visits a church within his diocese (area controlled by a bishop). After performing ceremonial duties, the bishop, relaxes and talks to the church congregation.

During Advent, Church of England children celebrate the anni­versary of Christ's coming by lighting Advent candles, left, or in performing a Nativity play.

Church of England is the established or national Church in England. The reigning monarch is its supreme governor. More than half of the people in England are baptized members of the Church of England. Each year, about 200,000 babies are baptized into the Church. Five out of every 100 people in England attend Easter Com­munion in the Church of England.

The Church is catholic and reformed. It is catholic be­cause it has been a continuous part of the catholic (uni­versal) Church founded by Jesus Christ. It is reformed because it accepts the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s (see Reformation). The Church of England is an episcopal Church (with bishops) and has a ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons. It is an apostolic Church because it maintains the faith as it was originally given to the Apostles.

The Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church, is the mother Church of the worldwide group of Churches called the Anglican Communion. The other Anglican Churches in the United Kingdom are the Church of Ireland, the Church in Wales, and the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Church congregations have grown gradually smaller over most of the 1900s in most churches. Even so, the Church of England is still a major centre of life in many communities. It organizes many local activities, such as youth clubs.

The faith of the Church. The Church of England as part of the holy catholic and apostolic Church rests its faith on the Bible. It expresses its faith in the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. It

accepts the doctrinal decisions of the first four councils of the Christian Church. See Apostles' Creed and Ni­cene Councils.

The prayer book of the Church of England is the Book of Common Prayer. The book contains the Thirty-Nine Articles of religion. The clergy must affirm that the doc­trine of the Church of England as set out in the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles agrees with Biblical teachings. They undertake not to teach in contradiction of them. Bible reading forms a large part of Church serv­ices.

Anglicans who emphasize the catholic heritage of the Church are known as high-church Anglicans or Anglo- Catholics (see Anglo-Catholic). Anglicans who empha­size the Protestant aspects of the Church are low-church Anglicans or Evangelicals. Many Church of England members hold views that fall between these two ex­tremes.

Structure. There are two areas called provinces in the Church of England. They are the provinces of Can­terbury and York. Each province has its own archbishop. The archbishop of Canterbury is also called the metro­politan and primate of all England. The archbishop of York has a slightly different title. He is called the primate of England and metropolitan. George Carey is the pres­ent archbishop of Canterbury.

Each province is divided into areas known as dio­ceses. The province of Canterbury has 30 dioceses, and the province of York has 14 dioceses. Each diocese is controlled by a bishop. Most dioceses have a suffragan bishop who assists the bishop. Many dioceses also have assistant bishops, who are usually retired bishops. The Crown appoints archbishops and bishops (see The Crown).

Dioceses are divided into archdeaconries, each with an archdeacon; rural deaneries, each with a rural dean; and parishes, each with a rector or a vicar. Rectors and vicars are appointed for life and can be removed only for serious misconduct or if they fail to do their duties.

There are 13,370 parishes in England. Most large par­ishes have one or more curates assisting the rector or the vicar. Some small parishes share a rector or vicar.

Candidates are accepted to train for ordination by a bishop. Most candidates first attend a selection confer­ence run by the Advisory Council for the Church's Min­istry. Candidates train in theological colleges. Many can­didates already hold university degrees. At the end of their training, they must pass the General Ordination Ex­amination, after which they are ordained as deacons by a bishop. At this point, they must be at least 23 years old. After another year they are made priests. Most deacons or priests first work as assistants to curates.

Church government. The General Synod (Church Council) makes decisions on faith, doctrine, Church cer­emonies, Church legislation, and administration. The General Synod consists of a House of Bishops, a House of Clergy, and a House of Laity (non-ordained Church members).

At a synod meeting, most questions are decided by a majority of the members. But if 25 synod members ask for a division by houses on an important measure, each house must agree to the measure or it cannot be passed. The synod can decide changes that affect doc­trine or Church ceremony, but only in terms proposed by the House of Bishops. The synod meets at least twice, and usually three times, a year. Each diocese and dean­ery elects its own synod to make decisions on adminis­tration and to express local opinion. Each parish may also express its opinion through an elected parochial church council.

History. The Church of England came from two sources. The first was the old Celtic Church, which sur­vived from the Christianity that was taken to Britain dur­ing the Roman occupation. The second was the later

Roman Church, which was taken to England by St. Au­gustine, who landed in Kent in A.D. 597.

The Church recognized the spiritual authority of the pope until the reign of King Henry VIII. Henry quarrelled with the pope and declared that, as bishop of Rome, the pope had no more authority in England than any other foreign bishop. In 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Su­premacy, which made the king, not the pope, head of the Church.

Henry VIII allowed no changes in Church doctrine.

But he ordered the Great Bible, an English translation, to be set up in every church. Under Edward VI, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer produced the first and second books of Common Prayer. When Queen Mary I came to the throne in 1553, she restored the authority of the pope. But, under Queen Elizabeth I, the monarch again be­came the supreme governor of the Church. Once again, the second Book of Common Prayer became its service book.

Archbishop William Laud took many strong measures against the Protestant elements in the Church. As a reac­tion, Protestant elements were strengthened when Par­liament, under Oliver Cromwell, defeated King Charles I in the Civil Wars of 1642-1646 and 1648. Under Crom­well, use of the Book of Common Prayer was banned, and the bishops were abolished. But, when the monar­chy was restored with King Charles II, the Church once again became established and episcopal. But it had lost some of its political power.

During the late 1600s and 1700s, liberal churchmen called Latitudinarians advocated leaving doctrinal ques­tions up to the individual. Charles Simeon (1759-1836) re­acted against this relaxed attitude. He founded the Evan­gelical Revival, stressing the need for personal conver­sion and salvation.

The evangelical movement reminded Anglicans of the Protestant basis of their Church. The Oxford Movement that followed reminded them of its catholic basis. Its leaders were John Keble, John Henry Newman, and Ed­ward Pusey, all of whom were Oxford clergymen.

In 1966, a historic meeting between the archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Paul VI took place in the Vatican. It was the first official meeting between the heads of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches since the reign of Henry VIII. In 1978, an archbishop of Canterbury at­tended a papal installation for the first time since the Reformation. In 1982, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to visit England since 1531. He and Archbishop Robert Runcie joined in prayer in Canterbury Cathedral.

In 1990, the General Synod voted to allow the ordina­tion of women as priests. The Church was deeply di­vided by the issue and many clergy and members trans­ferred to the Roman Catholic Church. The first women priests were ordained in 1994.

Related articles include:

Biographies - Augustine of Canterbury, Saint;  Coggan, Lord; Coverdale, Miles; Donne, John; Fisher, Geoffrey; Habgood, John Stapylton; Henry (VIII), Herbert, George; Hooker, Richard; Keble, John; Lang, Cosmo Gordon; Carey, George;

Latimer, Hugh; More, Saint Thomas; Newman, John Henry Cardinal; Pusey, Edward; Ramsey, Lord; Ridley, Nicholas; Runcie, Robert; Whitgift, John; Wilberforce, Samuel; Wolsey, Thomas Cardinal; and Wolsey, Thomas Cardinal.

Other related articles – Anglicans, Anglo-Catholic, Bible, Bishop, Cathedral, Church Army, Church in Wales, Church of Ireland, Church of Scotland, Communion, Episcopal Church, Lambeth Palace, Methodists, Missionary, Monarchy, Monastery, Oxford Movement, Prayer Book, Puritans, Reformation, Religion, Thirty-Nine Articles, Tractarians, Westminster Abbey, and World Council of Churches.

Church of Ireland

Members of the Church of Ireland attend a service at Ar­magh Cathedral. Parts of the cathedral date from the 1100's.

Church of Ireland is the ancient, reformed, and Prot­estant Church in Ireland. About 440,000 people in Ire­land belong to the Church of Ireland. About 340,000 of these are in Northern Ireland, where 1 out of every 4 people belongs to the Church of Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland, about 95,000 people belong to the Church.

Like the Church of England, the Church of Ireland is catholic, episcopal, and apostolic, and is a member Church of the Anglican Communion (see Church of Eng­land). It is independent and self-governing. It has its own prayer book, constitution, and laws. Its governing body is the General Synod, consisting of a House of Bishops and a House of Representatives, which has 216 clerical and 432 lay members. The Church has two provinces, Armagh and Dublin, each in the care of an archbishop. It has 12 bishops and about 600 clergy. The primate of all Ireland, the archbishop of Armagh, is chosen by the House of Bishops. See also Eames, Robert.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. See Mormons.

Church of Scotland

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland meets once every year. It is made up of elected ministers and elders.

Church of Scotland is the established national Church in Scotland. In Scotland, it is sometimes called the Kirk. The majority of Scots belong to it, and it has about 900,000 communicant members. It has about 2,000 ministers.

The Church of Scotland is reformed and Presbyterian (see Presbyterians; Reformation). It has complete free­dom of self-government. Its decisions are not subject to parliamentary debate or consent.

As in all Presbyterian Churches, Christ is the Head of the Church of Scotland, and the supreme guide in faith and life is the Bible. Both the Old and the New Testa­ment are held to be the word of God. The Church of Scotland accepts, as a subordinate standard, the West­minster Confession of Faith. The teachings of the re­formers John Calvin and John Knox are sources of the Church's form of worship.

The spirit of the Scottish Reformation is still a marked characteristic of the Church of Scotland. The Church emphasizes the identity of the Christian Sunday with the Sabbath day of rest and religious observance. Church services are simple, with an emphasis on Bible readings and preaching. Communion services are held infre­quently but regularly. Most churches hold communion between 4 and 12 times a year. In most services no set liturgy or prayer book is followed. But many ministers use the Book of Common Order to provide a general pattern.

The Church of Scotland is organized and governed democratically through a hierarchy of courts (gather­ings). All ministers have equal status. Each congregation is governed locally by a Kirk Session, consisting of the minister and elected elders (lay people). Higher courts are known as Presbyteries and Synods. The final court is the General Assembly, which meets annually. The As­sembly consists of elected ministers and elders, generally in equal numbers. The Queen appoints a High Com­missioner to observe the Assembly. In 1969, the Queen herself attended. The Assembly president, the Modera­tor, is elected annually. In 1966, the Assembly agreed to admit women as elders, and in 1968 it enabled women to become ministers.

Church of the Brethren. See The Church Brethren.

Church of Wales

Church of Wales. See Church of England (History). Churches of Christ are a group of religious congre­gations that accept the New Testament as their sole rule of faith and practice. They maintain that it sets forth faith, repentance, confession, and baptism as the conditions of salvation. Members believe that the first Church of Christ was established on Pentecost after the Resurrec­tion and Ascension of Jesus Christ. They claim that the church spread throughout the Roman world but later declined until the 1800s. Then Thomas Campbell, his son Alexander, and their associates restored it. Thomas Campbell was an Irish-born Presbyterian clergyman who settled in Pennsylvania in 1807.

The Churches of Christ regard Christ as the founder, head, and Saviour of the church. They regard the Camp­bells as restorers of the primitive church. They contend that the word of God is the seed of the kingdom. When it is faithfully preached and obeyed, without addition or subtraction, it will produce true Christians, or a church of Christ. The churches consider the entire Bible to be inspired by God, but believe that the Old Testament was binding only in earlier times.

There are about 18,500 independent Churches of Christ, with about 2,400,000 members. A group of elders presides over each church, and a group of deacons serves each. Most of the churches are in the Southern and Southwestern United States. The churches conduct extensive evangelical programmes. They support about 300 workers in more than 80 countries. They also oper­ate 5 senior colleges, 14 junior colleges, 2 graduate schools of religion, 18 schools of preaching, and several orphanages and old-age homes. The churches publish 10 religious papers.

Selected articles:
What is Christmas...
Being jolly together...
Embracing Christmas Differently