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Introduction
Throughout the history of the world, Christianity has been debated and talked about. In this report, I have given a brief overview of Christianity, including what it is, its origin, different denominations, as well as common beliefs of Christianity. The point of this paper is not to preach to anyone, but more to educate people about what Christianity and its beliefs are all about.
The Idea in a Nutshell
Christianity has grown to be the largest religion in the entire world since it’s beginning so many years ago. Christianity is a multi-faceted religion that is more than meets the eye. Christianity involves more than people know or have heard. Christianity attracts new followers every year and will more than likely continue to grow.
The 10 Things You Need to Know About Christianity
1. What is Christianity? Christianity is a monotheistic religion, which is the belief in one god. It is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and was officially founded in 33AD. Jesus Christ is considered the founder of Christianity. Christianity is often referred to as the Christian religion, which includes Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox church, each will be further discussed later. Today, Christianity has the largest following of any religion with almost two billion followers.
2. Where did Christianity originate? Christianity originated in the city of Jerusalem located in current-day Israel. Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, was born in a little town called Bethlehem, located southwest of Jerusalem.
3. Who is Jesus Christ? The Bible refers to Jesus as the son of God sent to Earth to be the Savior of the world. Christianity is based on Jesus’ life and teachings. Jesus Christ is also the founder of Christianity. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, who is further discussed later, in Jerusalem where he lived and taught in Nazareth. Jesus traveled with his disciples and followers teaching and healing until he was crucified by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, for claiming to be the King of Jews. Three days after his death, Jesus was resurrected, appeared to his disciples and then ascended into heaven.
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4. What is Roman Catholicism? Roman Catholicism is by far the largest denomination of Christians. In 2001, 24% of Americans identified themselves as Catholics, making it the largest denomination of Christianity. The Catholic religion first originated with the apostles of Jesus Christ. In fact, St. Peter is considered to be the first pope of the Catholic religion, and every pope after him is considered to be his successor. The leader of the church, the pope, has spiritual authority to provide ways for solving disputes that could threaten to divide the church. The pope, however, has not always been the leader of the Catholic Church. It was not until many centuries after Christ that the church began to develop into what we know today.
As do the other two branches of Christianity, Catholicism follows the belief of the Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Catholics believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and the inspiration of the Bible. Different from the other two denominations, however, Catholics believe in the authority of the pope, purgatory, the ability of saints to help those who believe, and that the bread used in the Eucharist becomes the true body of Christ when blessed by a priest.
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5. What is Protestantism? The Protestant denomination originated from the 16th century Reformation era. Protestant is more of a branch of Christianity than it is a denomination. The Protestant denomination consists of many different churches or belief systems. To name a few: Presbyterians, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and Evangelicalism. Although Protestants follow the teachings of the Bible as do Catholics, Protestants only believe in two sacraments, baptism and communion, whereas Catholics believe in seven.
6. What is the Eastern Orthodox Church? The Eastern Orthodox hurch came to be due to a splitting of the eastern and western Christendom. The split was not sudden, however. The Eastern and Western churches had significant religious, cultural, and political differences for centuries. The Orthodox Church is divided into several regional churches. The Orthodox Church does not have a central leader, like the pope in Catholicism, rather they follow the scriptures as interpreted by the regional churches.
Doctrine is very important to the Orthodox Church. Orthodox Christians attach great importance to the Bible and the interpretation of it by the regional churches. The Eastern Church approaches truth different than western churches. They believe truth needs to be experienced to be truly understood.
7. What is the “Trinity”? The Christian religion holds that there is one God; but he is composed of three; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is what is often referred to as the trinity. The word trinity is not mentioned in the Bible. It was first used by Tertullian. Even though the word trinity is not in the Bible, teachings as to the existence of it can be found in the New Testament, especially the Gospel of John.
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8. The Virgin Mary. It is taught in Christianity that Jesus Christ, the son of God, was born to Mary by Immaculate Conception. It is said that an angel came to Mary and told her that she would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit. Christianity regards Mary as being a perpetual virgin, meaning that she was a virgin before and after she gave birth to Jesus, although this idea has been debated for centuries. This idea has been debated because of references in the Bible to Jesus’ brothers and sisters, but Catholics explain these references as meaning either cousins or children of Mary’s husband, Joseph, from a prior marriage.
9. Advertising Christianity. In today’s world, advertising Christianity is becoming very popular. Many different churches are resorting to advertising much like big companies advertise their products to try to get people to come to church. The method of advertising, however, is not always received well, as is demonstrated in the video I’ve found.
10. Christianity and the work place. Usually religion and the work place are two ideas kept completely separate. Managers usually don’t get into the topic of religion or beliefs with their employees. While I don’t think that managers should make religion a huge topic of conversation at work, I do think that managers need to have at least some sort of knowledge of the different religions and beliefs systems. I think it would be good for managers to know about different religions of their employees so that they don’t unintentionally offend one of them because of their religious beliefs.
The Video Lounge
This video shows how things have changed in this day and age. This church is advertising like it was selling beer to college kids. I don’t think this was an appropriate ad for a church, at all. And as you watch the video, the comments of the parishioners at the end of the video agree. It just blows my mind that now Christianity is being sold and advertised like a product, such as beer or a sports car, as the title of the video references. I think this video is relevant to the business world today because this church is using marketing and advertising techniques that most people use in business today.
My Take
I think that the topic of Christianity is, and always will be relevant. There is always going to be at least one or two groups of people who practice Christianity. Christianity isn’t going anywhere. It has survived the test of time for thousands upon thousands of years, so I really don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon. Usually religion isn’t tied in with the work place. This is due to avoiding discrimination in the work place. But, I think it would still be a good idea for managers to have some sort of knowledge about not only Christianity but different religions. Even though religion isn’t usually a topic in the work place, I think it’d be good to have knowledge of different religions so a manager can be sensitive to their employee’s beliefs and not offend any of them without meaning to.
References
Christianity. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Christianity
Fairchild, M. (n.d.). Jesus Christ – lord and savior of the world. Retrieved from http://Christianity.about.com/od/newtestamentpeople/p/jesuschrist.htm
ReligionFacts, (n.d.). Eastern orthodoxy. Retrieved from http://www.religionfacts.com/Christianity/denominations/orthodoxy.htm
ReligionFacts, (n.d.). Fast facts on Christianity. Retrieved from http://www.religionfacts.com/Christianity/fastfacts.htm
ReligionFacts, (n.d.). Roman Catholicism. Retrieved from http://www.religionfacts.com/Christianity/denominations/Catholicism.htm
ReligionFacts, (n.d.). The doctrine of the trinity. Retrieved from http://www.religionfacts.com/Christianity/beliefs/trinity.htm
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Contact Information
To contact the author of “Top 10 Management on Christianity,” please email Arielle L. Roussel at Arielle.Roussel@selu.edu or Arielle.Roussel@gmail.com.
About the Publisher
David C. Wyld (dwyld.kwu@gmail.com) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Wyld About Management, can be viewed at http://wyldaboutmanagement.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.com/), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding. Dr. Wyld also maintains compilations of his student’s publications regarding:
- management concepts (http://toptenmanagement.blogspot.com/)
- book reviews (http://wyld-about-books.blogspot.com/) and
- international foods (http://wyld-about-food.blogspot.com/).
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