Autonomous and Hierarchical Religions. Christianity

With over 1.5 billion adherents, Christianity claims more believers than any other religion. Christianity is the dominant religion of Europe, North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and large parts of Africa. Christians form sizable minorities in many other parts of the world.

The Christian religion is based on the teachings of Jesus, a Jew who spent his life in the Roman province of Palestine. The well-developed communications network of the Romans aided the diffusion of Christianity following Jesus' death. In A.D. 325, the Roman emperor Constantine decreed Christianity to be the official religion of the Empire, and middle- and upper-class people began to accept the new doctrine.

By A.D. 1000 Christianity had diffused outside the area of the Roman Empire to Scandinavia, Russia, and most other locations in Europe. The diffusion of European civilization during the Age of Exploration resulted in the worldwide diffusion of Christianity.

Christianity is divided into three major branches. Nearly 60 percent of the world's Christians are Roman Catholics. 25 percent are Protestants, and 10 percent are Eastern Orthodox (Figure 5-4). The remainder are associated with other smaller branches of Christianity. Many of these small branches are found in Africa and Asia.

Figure 5-4 Three Branches of Christianity. The three major branches of Christianity are distinguished not only by their variations in beliefs, but also by their architecture. Roman Catholic churches (a) are often characterized by ornate facades and pointed spires. Eastern Orthodox churches (b) are identified by their dome-like (sometimes gold painted) spires while the Protestant churches (c) are recognized by their simplicity

The Roman Catholic branch of Christianity is the temporal successor of the church established in Rome by the Emperor Constantine. It traces its spiritual history to the early disciples of Jesus. The Pope, or spiritual leader of the Church, traces the lineage of his office to St. Peter, the first Pope, who was one of Jesus' twelve disciples.

Roman Catholicism is a hierarchical religion. Throughout the world, territories are divided into dioceses, with each diocese administered by a bishop. Each diocese is subdivided into local parishes, which are neighborhood congregations whose day-to-day religious activities are supervised by a parish priest. Parishes are intended to be small enough so that Catholics in the vicinity can fulfill their obligations to attend Mass every Sunday. In areas with large Catholic populations, a diocese may include as many as several hundred parishes. Dioceses are in turn grouped into archdioceses. Each archdiocese is supervised by an archbishop. On the average, each archdiocese includes about four dioceses.

The split between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy was the result of political division of the Roman Empire into western and eastern components in the fourth century. The Rome-based western and Constantinople-based eastern portions of the empire shared both spiritual and temporal authority over the Church until 1054, when the two branches split formally.

In contrast to the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox churches are organized along national lines. Each Orthodox church is associated with a particular nationality, and each is self-governing within that country. The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest national grouping. Of all Orthodox Christians, about 40 percent are associated with the Russian Orthodox Church. Other Orthodox churches are found in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Armenia, and other parts of Eastern Europe. Orthodox congregations are also found in areas where large numbers of eastern and southern Europeans have migrated abroad.

The Protestant branch of Christianity split from Catholicism during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries during the Reformation, a series of reforms in church doc- trine and practice that challenged the hitherto dominant authority of the Catholic Church. The Reformation diffused through much of northern and western Europe, but acceptance or rejection of the Protestant Reformation occurred mainly along national lines. Most people in the Scandinavian countries, England, and the Netherlands are Protestants, while Ireland, Poland, France, and Spain are predominantly Catholic (Figure 5-5).

Figure 5-5. Catholics and Protestants in Europe. To a considerable extent, acceptance or rejection of the Protestant Reformation occurred along national lines. Hence, the line of demarcation between these branches of Christianity is rather sharp, although some countries contain sizeable populations of both Catholics and Protestants. Orthodox congregations are concentrated in Eastern Europe, usually along national lines

The Protestant branch of Christianity is divided into numerous denominations, or subdivisions. The various denominations arose in response to dispute concerning doctrine, theology, or religious practice. Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians are among the largest denominations of Protestant Christianity.

The degree to which church organization is hierarchical or autonomous is a major distinguishing factor among Protestant denominations. The organization of the Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Mormon denominations is hierarchical, although each denomination is organized differently. By contrast, the organization of many Baptist and Pentecostal churches is autonomous. Each congregation is self-governing. Pastors are responsible to the congregations that retain their services, and each congregation sets its own rules concerning theology, doctrine, and church activities.