CHRISTIANITY

major religion, stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century AD. It has become the largest of the world's religions. Geographically the most widely diffused of all faiths, it has a constituency of some 2 billion believers. Its largest groups are the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Protestant churches; in addition to these churches there are several independent churches of Eastern Christianity as well as numerous sects throughout the world. See also Eastern Orthodoxy; Roman Catholicism; and Protestantism. This article first considers the nature and development of the Christian religion, its ideas, and its institutions. This is followed by an examination of several intellectual manifestations of Christianity. Finally, the position of Christianity in the world, the relations among its divisions and denominations, its missionary outreach to other peoples, and its relations with other world religions are discussed. For supporting material on various topics, see biblical literature; doctrine and dogma; Jesus Christ; sacred; worship; prayer; creed; sacrament; religious dress; monasticism; and priesthood. major religion, stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ) in the 1st century AD. Christians number more than 1,700,000,000 and can be divided among three principal groups: the Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Protestant churches. Christianity began as a movement within Judaism. Jesus was a Jew, as were his chief followers, the Apostles. His followers accepted him as the "Christ," or chosen one, sent to fulfill God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Believers in the one eternal truth and one universal salvation celebrated the rites instituted by Christ, especially baptism and the Eucharist. Authority passed through the apostle Peter, and the teachings of Jesus were collected and eventually consolidated in a body of writing known as the Gospel. From the outset, therefore, an informal pattern of bishop, creed, and biblical canon existed. The Gospel met opposition within Judaism, and its message was spread instead among the Gentile world by the apostle Paul, the great missionary of the church. In the Hellenistic world, the Christ was interpreted by 3rd-century apologists, such as Clement and Origen, in terms derived from Greek philosophy. The Gospel was also interpreted metaphysically, especially in Syria, Egypt, North Africa, and Persia, where conditions existed for an ascetic, otherworldly interpretation. Wherever Christianity caught on, tension with the community of nonbelievers was inevitable. Pagan practices, especially the worship by Romans of the caesar, conflicted with monotheism and other worldly concerns and led to persecution of the Christians. The struggles with universal and particular interpretations of Christian doctrine, as embodied in the Gnostic and Montanist heresies, tested catholic Christianity, which viewed itself as possessing identity and universality. Tensions between the church and "the world," viewed as distinct, were redirected in 313 when the Roman emperor Constantine was converted and the church triumphed over the world. The middle age of Christianity was neither a "dark" age nor an "age of faith." With the conversion of the Roman world, a general council was established for adjudicating controversies. Council decisions from the 4th to the 6th centuries produced the dogma of the Trinity and the Person of Christ. Christianity's intellectual formulation befitted its new status as the dominant religion of the Mediterranean. At the same time, monasticism reasserted the value of spiritual life nurtured by living apart from the world. The Gospel and the remnants of classical learning were preserved. Augustine's City of God translated the monastic ideal into a philosophy of history that was to prevail for more than a millennium. Barbarian invasions and the loss of Eastern territory to Islam created a new geographical context and new tension between East and West. Ideologies and religious practices of the different cultures competed as Christianity strove to win the acceptance of both the Greeks and the Germanic tribes. The papacy, a unique Western development, was both a cause and an effect of the new conditions. Its authority finally secured Christianity in a land ruled by Germanic kings. Popes Gregory VII and Innocent III built the papacy into the great institutional achievement of the Middle Ages. Another development was the rediscovery of Aristotelian philosophy, which Aquinas incorporated into a grand systematic theology. Medieval spirituality was heightened by the piety of St. Bernard and St. Francis, but spiritual values were at times difficult to apply, as with the Spiritual Franciscans and their ideal of poverty. Although new interpretations of Christian life clashed with the authority of Rome, dissent played an important role, especially in the late Middle Ages. The Reformation continued the late medieval tradition of dissent. Revelation, pure teaching, and apostolic order were set against the "externals" of the Roman Catholic Church. Reformers may be classed according to how radical were their protests: Martin Luther and the Anglicans were the most conservative in their treatment of medieval theology, piety, and polity; John Calvin, in Geneva, was less conservative; and the Anabaptists were least conservative of all. Despite differences, reformers emphasized the authority of the Bible over church traditions, insisted on the sovereignty of free grace in the forgiveness of sins, stressed "faith alone" as the condition of God's acceptance, and demanded participation of the laity in church life. Reformers had not intended to break from the church, but soon Christendom was divided and the West secularized. No political structure was believed capable of fully bearing the divine, and distrustful reformers had allied with the civil power over the Roman Catholic Church. Other factors contributed to the transformation of Christianity: the discovery of the Americas, the Renaissance, the dawn of modern science, the rise of capitalist economy, and the growth of nationalism. The result was the end of "established" Christianity as it had been known since Constantine's conversion. Paradoxically, the end of establishment coincided with the most rapid expansion in the history of Christianity. Africa, America, Asia, and Australia became missions for both Protestants and Roman Catholics. Modern Christianity lost prestige and authority, however, despite its rapid growth. The Enlightenment introduced toleration and religious liberty, and many Christians agreed with the modern political program out of concern for the freedom of personal faith. Disestablishment in America after the U.S. War of Independence was a prime expression of modern relations between church and state. Pietism, a personal approach to the new Protestant orthodoxy, unwittingly played into the hands of Enlightenment rationalists, who used it to undermine traditional belief. Sciences, especially geology and biology, clashed with cherished notions about the world and human nature. However, if the age of revolutions-political, intellectual, and technological-brought crisis to Christianity, it also brought opportunity. The 19th century, the great century of Christian missions, took the faith to every corner of the world. Critical methods of modern scholarship produced fresh editions of Christian texts: the Bible, the writings of the church founders and of the reformers, and devotional works from the Byzantine East. Such classics aroused unprecedented interest. The ecumenical movement of the 20th century renewed the effort to heal the schism within, and theologians creatively interpreted Christianity's relation to modern culture. Additional reading General works Information on aspects treated in this article is available in David B. Barrett (ed.), World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World, AD 1900-2000 (1982); F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingstone (eds.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 2nd ed. (1974, reprinted 1983); J.D. Douglas (ed.), The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, 2nd ed. (1978); Mircea Eliade (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion, 16 vol. (1987), with helpful bibliographies; and New Catholic Encyclopedia, 16 vol. (1967-79, reissued 1981), especially useful for the Roman Catholic Church. History of the Christian Church Broad overviews are found in Kurt Aland, A History of Christianity, 2 vol. (1985-86; originally published in German, 1980-82); Roland H. Bainton, The Horizon History of Christianity (1964, reissued with the title Christianity, 1985); Geoffrey Barraclough (ed.), The Christian World: A Social and Cultural History (1981); Owen Chadwick, The Pelican History of the Church, 6 vol. (1960-70, reprinted 1985-86); Paul Johnson, A History of Christianity (1976, reprinted 1985); Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, rev. ed., 2 vol. (1975); Henry Chadwick and G.R. Evans (eds.), Atlas of the Christian Church (1987); and F. van der Meer and Christine Mohrmann, Atlas of the Early Christian World, trans. from Dutch (1958, reprinted 1966). See also the series edited by Hubert Jedin and John Dolan, Handbook of Church History, 10 vol. (1965-81; originally published in German, 7 vol. in 10, 1962-79), later vol. of which have the title History of the Church.Guides to the first five centuries of the Christian Church include Louis Duchesne, Early History of the Christian Church: From Its Foundation to the End of the Fifth Century, trans. from French, 3 vol. (1909-24, reprinted 1957-60); W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (1984, reprinted 1986); Robert M. Grant, Augustus to Constantine: The Thrust of the Christian Movement into the Roman World (1970); Rowan A. Greer, Broken Lights and Mended Lives: Theology and Common Life in the Early Church (1986); Adolf Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, 2nd enl. and rev. ed., 2 vol. (1908; originally published in German, 1902); Hans Lietzmann, A History of the Early Church, 4 vol. (1949-52, reissued 4 vol. in 2, 1964; originally published in German, 4 vol., 1932-44); A.D. Nock, Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (1933, reprinted 1988); and A.D. Nock (ed.), Essays on Religion and the Ancient World, ed. and comp. by Zeph Stewart, 2 vol. (1972, reprinted 1986). See also J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church (1983).For discussions of more specialized topics, see Cecil John Cadoux, The Early Church and the World: A History of the Christian Attitude to Pagan Society and the State Down to the Time of Constantine (1925, reprinted 1955); Henry Chadwick, Early Christian Thought and the Classical Tradition: Studies in Justin, Clement, and Origen (1966, reprinted 1984); Francis Dvornik, Early Christian and Byzantine Political Philosophy: Origins and Background, 2 vol. (1966); Robert M. Grant, Early Christianity and Society (1977); Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (1986, reissued 1988); Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (1983); Arnaldo Momigliano, The Conflict Between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century (1963, reprinted 1970); Peter Richardson, Israel in the Apostolic Church (1969); and J.M. Hussey, The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire (1986).In addition to the relevant volumes of the histories cited above, the church in the Middle Ages is studied in Hans-Georg Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich (1959, reprinted 1977); John Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (1985); Louis Duchesne, L'glise au VIe sicle (1925); Judith Herrin, The Formation of Christendom (1987); and Steven Ozment, The Age of Reform (1250-1550): An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe (1980).Modern church history is treated in the general histories cited above; in the sections below on roles of Christianity, on missions, and on ecumenism; and in Kenneth Scott Latourette, Christianity in a Revolutionary Age: A History of Christianity in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 5 vol. (1958-62, reissued 1973); James Hastings Nichols, History of Christianity, 1650-1950: Secularization of the West (1956); Jerald C. Brauer, Protestantism in America: A Narrative History, rev. ed. (1965, reprinted 1974); and Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams (eds.), Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience: Studies of Traditions and Movements, 3 vol. (1988). Martin E. Marty The Very Rev. Henry Chadwick Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Christian doctrine The meaning of dogma Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4 vol. in 12 (1939-59; originally published in German, 4 vol. in 12, 1932-59); Emil Brunner, Dogmatics, vol. 3, The Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation (1960, reissued in a new trans., 1979; originally published in German, 1960); Yves M.J. Congar, A History of Theology, trans. from French (1968); T.A. Burkill, The Evolution of Christian Thought (1971); Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (1971- ); Paul Tillich, A History of Christian Thought, from Its Judaic and Hellenistic Origins to Existentialism (1972); J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 5th rev. ed. (1977, reprinted 1985); Hubert Cunliffe-Jones (ed.), A History of Christian Doctrine (1978, reissued 1980); and Walter Kasper, An Introduction to Christian Faith (1980; originally published in German, 1972). God the Father W.R. Matthews, God in Christian Thought and Experience, 3rd ed. (1963); H.P. Owen, Concepts of Deity (1971); Gordon D. Kaufman, The Theological Imagination: Constructing the Concept of God (1981); and Walter Kasper, The God of Jesus Christ (1984, reprinted 1986; originally published in German, 1982). God the Son Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of Its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede, 3rd ed. (1954, reissued 1981; originally published in German, 1906); Gnther Bornkamm, Jesus of Nazareth (1960, reprinted 1975; originally published in German, 1956); Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ, the Sacrament of the Encounter with God (1963, reprinted 1977; originally published in Dutch, 1960); Frederick Houk Borsch, The Son of Man in Myth and History (1967); Edward Rochie Hardy (ed.), Christology of the Later Fathers (1954, reprinted 1977); John Reumann, Jesus in the Church's Gospels: Modern Scholarship and the Earliest Sources (1968, reprinted 1973); and Aloys Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition, vol. 1, From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451), trans. from German, 2nd rev. ed. (1975). God the Holy Spirit Charles Williams, The Descent of the Dove: A Short History of the Holy Spirit in the Church (1939, reissued 1974); Henry P. Van Dusen, Spirit, Son and Father: Christian Faith in the Light of the Holy Spirit (1958, reissued 1960); Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit: The Pentacostal Experience and the New Testament Witness (1970, reprinted 1973); George T. Montague, The Holy Spirit: Growth of a Biblical Tradition (1976); Karl Rahner, The Spirit in the Church (1979; originally published in German, 1977); Yves M.J. Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, 3 vol. (1983; originally published in French, 1979-80); and Alasdair I.C. Heron, The Holy Spirit (1983). The Holy Trinity Jules Lebreton, History of the Dogma of the Trinity: From Its Origins to the Council of Nicaea (1939; originally published in French, 8th ed., 1927); Karl Rahner, The Trinity, trans. from German (1970); Edmund J. Fortman, The Triune God: A Historical Study of the Doctrine of the Trinity (1972); Robert W. Jenson, The Triune Identity: God According to the Gospel (1982); and Michael O'Carroll, Trinitas: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Holy Trinity (1987). The doctrine of man Emil Brunner, Man in Revolt: A Christian Anthropology (1939, reissued 1957; originally published in German, 1937); Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation, 2 vol. (1941-43, reprinted 1964); H. Wheeler Robinson, The Christian Doctrine of Man, 4th ed. (1958, reprinted 1974); Werner G. Kmmel, Man in the New Testament, rev. and enl. ed. (1963; originally published in German, 1948); Ernst Benz, "The Concept of Man in Christian Thought," in S. Radhakrishnan and P.T. Raju (eds.), The Concept of Man: A Study in Comparative Philosophy, 2nd ed. (1966, reprinted 1972), pp. 394-451; and Wolfhart Pannenberg, What Is Man?: Contemporary Anthropology in Theological Perspective (1970). The church Works on various aspects of church doctrine include, on the church, George Johnston, The Doctrine of the Church in the New Testament (1943); Hans Kng, The Church (1967, reissued 1976; originally published in German, 1967); Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sanctorum Communio: Eine dogmatische Untersuchung zur Soziologie der Kirche, 4th ed. (1969); and Einar Molland, Christendom: The Christian Churches, Their Doctrines, Constitutional Forms, and Ways of Worship (1971); on the formation of the biblical canon, Hans Von Campenhausen, The Formation of the Christian Bible (1972, reissued 1977; originally published in German, 1968); Harry Y. Gamble, The New Testament Canon: Its Making and Meaning (1985); and Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance (1987); on Christian creeds and confessions, Philip Schaff, Biblioteca symbolica ecclesiae universalis: The Creeds of Christendom, 6th ed., 3 vol. (1919, reprinted 1985); B.A. Gerrish (ed.), The Faith of Christendom: A Source Book of Creeds and Confessions (1963); J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 3rd ed. (1972, reprinted 1981), and a companion volume, The Athanasian Creed (1964); and John H. Leith (ed.), Creeds of the Churches: A Reader in Christian Doctrine, from the Bible to the Present, 3rd ed. (1982); on the apostolic succession, Ernst Benz, Bischofsamt und apostolische Sukzession im deutschen Protestantismus (1953); on church polity and structure, James Vernon Bartlet, Church-Life and Church-Order During the First Four Centuries (1943); on the liturgy, Josef A. Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, to the Time of Gregory the Great, trans. from German (1959); Theodor Klauser, A Short History of the Western Liturgy: An Account and Some Reflections, 2nd ed. (1979; originally published in German, 1965); James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship (1980); and Herman A.J. Wegman, Christian Worship in East and West: A Study Guide to Liturgical History (1985; originally published in Dutch, 1976); on Christian tradition, Daniel T. Jenkins, Tradition, Freedom, and the Spirit (U.K. title, Tradition and the Spirit, 1951); and F.W. Dillistone (ed.), Scripture and Tradition (1955); on monasticism, Cuthbert Butler, Benedictine Monachism: Studies in Benedictine Life and Rule, 2nd ed. (1924, reprinted 1962); David Knowles, Christian Monasticism (1969); and Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture, 3rd ed. (1982); and on Christian art and iconography, Emile Mle, Religious Art from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century (1949, reissued 1970; originally published in French, 1945); John G. Davies, The Origin and Development of Early Christian Church Architecture (1952); Jane Dillenberger, Style and Content in Christian Art (1965, reissued 1986); Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, 2nd ed. (1982; originally published in German, 1952); and Robert Milburn, Early Christian Art and Architecture (1987). Last things Paul S. Minear, Christian Hope and the Second Coming (1954); Rudolf Bultmann, History and Eschatology (U.S. title, The Presence of Eternity, 1957, reissued 1975); Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time: The Primitive Christian Conception of Time and History, rev. ed. (1962, reprinted 1964; originally published in German, 1946); Jrgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology (1967, reprinted 1975; originally published in German, 1964), and Hope and Planning, trans. from German (1971); William Strawson, Jesus and the Future Life, new and rev. ed. (1970); and Geoffrey Wainwright, Eucharist and Eschatology, 2nd ed. (1978, reprinted 1981). Ernst Wilhelm Benz Martin E. Marty Christian philosophy On the early period, Claude Tresmontant, The Origins of Christian Philosophy (1962; originally published in French, 1962); A.H. Armstrong and R.A. Markus, Christian Faith and Greek Philosophy (1960, reissued 1964); and Adam Fox (ed. and trans.), Plato and the Christians (1957), cover the Hebraic and Greek sources of Christian thought. The classic works on the medieval period are tienne Gilson, The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy (1936; originally published in French, 2 vol., 1932), Reason and Revelation in the Middle Ages (1938, reprinted 1966), and History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (1955, reissued 1980). See also Philippe Delhaye, Medieval Christian Philosophy (1960; originally published in French, 1959). J.V. Langmead Casserley, The Christian in Philosophy (1949, reissued 1955); and George F. Thomas, Religious Philosophies of the West (1965), and Philosophy and Religious Belief (1970), provide broad surveys up to the contemporary period. For existentialism, see David E. Roberts, Existentialism and Religious Belief (1957). Much of the contemporary discussion takes place in articles, such as those collected in Basil Mitchell (ed.), The Philosophy of Religion (1971, reprinted 1978), all of whose contributors are Christian philosophers grappling with current issues. Also useful are Stuart C. Brown (ed.), Reason and Religion (1977); Richard Swinburne, The Existence of God (1979); Hans Kng, Does God Exist?: An Answer for Today (1980; originally published in German, 1978); Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff (eds.), Faith and Rationality: Reason and Belief in God (1983); and Leroy S. Rouner (ed.), Religious Pluralism (1984). Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers (quarterly) is another forum of contemporary discussion. John Hick Christian mysticism General descriptive approaches include Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness (1911, reissued 1977); R.C. Zaehner, Mysticism, Sacred and Profane: An Inquiry Into Some Varieties of Praeter-Natural Experience (1957, reissued 1980); Sidney Spencer, Mysticism in World Religion (1963, reissued 1971); and Andrew Louth, The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition from Plato to Denys (1981, reprinted 1983). A good anthology is that of Elmer O'Brien, Varieties of Mystic Experience (1964). Many of the texts of the great Christian mystics have been published in new translations in "The Classics of Western Spirituality" series (1978- ). Helpful for the serious student are the classic works of William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902, reissued 1985); Friedrich von Hgel, The Mystical Element of Religion: As Studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and Her Friends, 2 vol. (1908, reprinted 1961); Cuthbert Butler, Western Mysticism: The Teaching of SS Augustine, Gregory, and Bernard on Contemplation and the Contemplative Life (1922, reprinted 1975); Joseph Marchal, Studies in the Psychology of the Mystics (1927; originally published in French, 2 vol., 1924-37); Albert Schweitzer, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (1931, reissued 1968; originally published in German, 1930); Henri Bergson, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1935; originally published in French, 1932); Rudolf Otto, Mysticism East and West: A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of Mysticism (1932, reissued 1987; originally published in German, 1926); Jacques Maritain, Distinguish to Unite: or, The Degrees of Knowledge (1959; originally published in French, 4th ed., 1946). For recent issues, see Steven T. Katz (ed.), Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (1978); and Phillip C. Almond, Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine: An Investigation of the Study of Mysticism in World Religions (1982). The most important recent theological contributions have been those of Karl Rahner, The Practice of Faith: A Handbook of Contemporary Spirituality (1983, reprinted 1986; originally published in German, 1982); and Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics, trans. from German (1981- ). Bernard J. McGinn Christian myth and legend On the nature of myth, see Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality (1963, reprinted 1975; originally published in French, 1963). William G. Doty, Mythography: The Study of Myths and Rituals (1986), analyzes a number of important approaches to the study of myth and, in addition, offers extensive bibliographies. Resistance to myth and legend in early Christianity is described in Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (1971, reprinted 1979; originally published in German, 1934). Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, 3 vol. (1978-85; originally published in French, 3 vol., 1976-83), discusses Christian myth and legend in several chapters.On the androgyny of Christ, see Wayne A. Meeks, "The Image of the Androgyne: Some Uses of a Symbol in Earliest Christianity," History of Religions, 13(3):165-208 (Feb. 1974); and Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (1982, reprinted 1984). Geo Widengren, Mesopotamian Elements in Manichaeism (King and Saviour II): Studies in Manichaean, Mandaean, and Syrian-Gnostic Religion (1946); and Robert Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition (1975, reprinted 1977), discuss the origins of sacramental oils. Hugo Rahner, Greek Myths and Christian Mystery (1963, reissued 1971; originally published in German, 1945), traces the theme of the Christian World Tree.For apocryphal gospels, see Morton Smith, The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark (1973, reissued 1982); James M. Robinson (comp.), The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1977); Jacques E. Mnard, L'vangile selon Philippe (1964, reissued 1967), and L'vangile selon Thomas (1975); and the series "Bibliothque copte de Nag Hammadi: section textes" (1977- ). See also Charles W. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson, Jr. (eds.), Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, & Early Christianity (1986). For the Protogospel of James, the Chronicle of Zugnin, and the Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, see Ugo Monneret de Villard, Le leggende orientali sui magi evangelici (1952). On Bogomil and Cathar apocrypha, see mile Turdeanu, "Apocryphes bogomiles et apocryphes pseudo-bogomiles," Revue de l'Histoire des Religions 138:22-52, 176-218 (1950); and Edina Bozky (ed. and trans.), Le Livre secret des cathares, Interrogatio Iohannis: apocryphe d'origine bogomile (1980).On the cult of saints, see H. Delehaye, The Legends of the Saints: An Introduction to Hagiography (1907, reprinted 1974; originally published in French, 1905); Lawrence S. Cunningham, The Meaning of Saints (1980); Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (1981); Donald Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell, Saints & Society: The Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000-1700 (1982, reprinted 1986); and Stephen Wilson (ed.), Saints and Their Cults: Studies in Religious Sociology, Folklore, and History (1983, reprinted 1985). See also John J. Delaney, Dictionary of Saints (1980); and David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 2nd ed. (1987), on Irish and English saints.Henry Kahane and Rene Kahane, The Krater and the Grail: Hermetic Sources of the Parzival (1965, reprinted 1984), analyzes Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival. For the Arthurian cycles, see P.B. Grout et al. (eds.), The Legend of Arthur in the Middle Ages (1983); and Alfred Nutt, Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail: With Especial References to the Hypothesis of Its Celtic Origin (1888, reissued 1967).Christian alchemy is described in C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, 2nd ed. rev. (1968, reprinted 1980; originally published in German, 2nd rev. ed., 1952). Symbolic astronomy and the mutual refiguration of Christian and pagan legends are treated in a 15th-century text, Ioan P. Couliano (Culianu), Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, trans. from French (1987). On the alchemical researches of Enlightenment scientists, especially physicists and chemists, see Frances A. Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972, reissued 1986); and Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs, The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy: or, "The Hunting of the Greene Lyon" (1975, reprinted 1983).Two examples of non-Western materials are Roger Bastide, The African Religions of Brazil: Toward a Sociology of the Interpenetration of Civilizations (1978; originally published in French, 1960), especially pp. 260-84 on Afro-Brazilian Christianity; and Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. from Spanish (1980). Lawrence E. Sullivan The relationships of Christianity The relation of the Christian community to the world is discussed in Ernst Troeltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, 2 vol. (1931, reprinted 1981; originally published in German, 1912), dated in specifics but still one of the most comprehensive and influential studies of this topic; H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (1951, reprinted 1975); Paul Tillich, Theology of Culture (1959, reprinted 1978), essays on philosophy, art, literature, and science; and Peter L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (1967, reprinted 1969; U.K. title, The Social Reality of Religion, 1969, reissued 1973). Works on various aspects of Christianity's intersection with the world include, on pastoral care, William A. Clebsch and Charles R. Jaekle, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective (1964, reissued 1983), including excerpts from primary sources in the history of the church; and Ronald L. Numbers and Darrel W. Amundsen (eds.), Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions (1986), a unique and comprehensive presentation by scholars of various faith traditions, with bibliographies; on poverty, Michel Mollat (ed.), tudes sur l'histoire de la pauvret, 2 vol. (1974), a collection of essays on the history of the church's understanding of poverty from the early church to the modern period-each essay with an English abstract; and Carter Lindberg, "Through a Glass Darkly: A History of the Church's Vision of the Poor and Poverty, The Ecumenical Review, 33(1):37-52 (Jan. 1981); on birth control, John T. Noonan, Jr., Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, enlarged ed. (1986); on the concept of love, Anders Nygren, Agape and Eros, 2 vol. in 3 (1932-39, reissued 1982; originally published in Swedish, 2 vol., 1930-36); on black theology, Gayraud S. Wilmore and James H. Cone (eds.), Black Theology: A Documentary History, 1966-1979 (1979); and James H. Cone, For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church (1984); on liberation theology, Deane William Ferm, Third World Liberation Theologies: An Introductory Survey (1986); and Leonardo Boff and Clodovis Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology (1987; originally published in Portuguese, 1986); and, on feminist theology, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (1983); and Letty M. Russell (ed.), Feminist Interpretation of the Bible (1985). Carter H. Lindberg Christian missions David B. Barrett (ed.), World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World (1982), is comprehensive and indispensable. See also Stephen Neill, Gerald Anderson, and John Goodwin (eds.), Concise Dictionary of the Christian World Mission (1971); and Don M. McCurry, World Christianity (1979- ), with volumes on the Middle East, eastern Asia, South Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, and Oceania. Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, 7 vol. (1937-45, reprinted 1971), is a pioneering classic. Stephen Neill, A History of Christian Missions, 2nd ed. rev. by Owen Chadwick (1986), is a lively, engaging work. Walter M. Abbott (ed.), The Documents of Vatican II (1966), includes the relevant texts. Pope Paul VI, On Evangelization in the Modern World (1975), addresses post-Vatican II debates. R. Pierce Beaver (ed.), American Missions in Bicentennial Perspective (1977), is a collection of interpretive essays. Volumes in the series "Mission Trends," ed. by Gerald H. Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky (1974- ), include discussions of current issues, evangelization, Third World theologies, North American and European liberation theologies, and Christianity and other religions. See also Marcello de Carvalho Azevedo, Inculturation and the Challenges of Modernity (1982). Useful journals include International Review of Mission (quarterly); and International Bulletin of Missionary Research (quarterly), which annually updates the statistics in the World Christian Encyclopedia. William Richey Hogg Ecumenism Introductions to the topic are provided by Paul A. Crow, Jr., Christian Unity: Matrix for Mission (1982); Norman Goodall, The Ecumenical Movement: What It Is and What It Does, 2nd ed. (1964); Ernst Lange, And Yet It Moves: Dream and Reality of the Ecumenical Movement, trans. from Swedish (1979); John T. McNeill, Unitive Protestantism: The Ecumenical Spirit and Its Persistent Expression, rev. ed. (1964); and Charles Clayton Morrison, The Unfinished Reformation (1953). Historical overviews can be found in Marc Boegner, The Long Road to Unity (1970; originally published in French, 1968); Robert McAfee Brown, The Ecumenical Revolution: An Interpretation of the Catholic-Protestant Dialogue, rev. and expanded ed. (1969); William Adams Brown, Toward a United Church: Three Decades of Ecumenical Christianity (1946); Samuel McCrea Cavert, The American Churches in the Ecumenical Movement, 1900-1968 (1968), and Church Cooperation and Unity in America: A Historical Review: 1900-1970 (1970); Harold E. Fey (ed.), The Ecumenical Advance, 2nd ed. (1986); Austin Flannery (ed.), Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Documents (1975, reissued 1984), and a companion volume, Vatican Council II: More Postconciliar Documents (1982); Norman Goodall, Ecumenical Progress: A Decade of Change in the Ecumenical Movement, 1961-71 (1972); William Richey Hogg, Ecumenical Foundations: A History of the International Missionary Council and Its Nineteenth Century Background (1952); Harding Meyer and Lukas Vischer (eds.), Growth in Agreement: Reports and Agreed Statements of Ecumenical Conversations on a World Level (1984); Constantin G. Patelos (ed.), The Orthodox Church in the Ecumenical Movement: Documents and Statements, 1902-1975 (1978); Ruth Rouse and Stephen Neill (eds.), A History of the Ecumenical Movement, 1517-1948, 3rd ed. (1986); Barry Till, The Churches Search for Unity (1972); Thomas F. Torrance, "Ecumenism: A Reappraisal of Its Significance, Past, Present and Future," in his Theology in Reconciliation: Essays Towards Evangelical and Catholic Unity in East and West (1975); Henry Pitney Van Dusen, One Great Ground of Hope: Christian Missions and Christian Unity (1961); Maurice Villain, Unity: A History and Some Reflections (1963; originally published in French, 3rd rev. and augmented ed., 1961); W.A. Visser 't Hooft, Memoirs (1973), and The Genesis and Formation of the World Council of Churches (1982); and Hans-Ruedi Weber, Asia and the Ecumenical Movement, 1895-1961 (1966). Paul A. Crow, Jr. The Christian church and non-Christian religions: The most comprehensive and up-to-date survey of Christian attitudes toward the world religions is Paul F. Knitter, No Other Name? (1985). A wide range of views is reflected in John Hick and Brian Hebblethwaite (eds.), Christianity and Other Religions: Selected Readings (1980); and Gerald H. Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky (eds.), Christ's Lordship and Religious Pluralism (1981). The classic modern statement of a conservative position is that of Hendrick Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, 3rd ed. (1956, reprinted 1969). S.J. Samartha (ed.), Faith in the Midst of Faiths: Reflections on Dialogue in Community (1977), was produced by the World Council of Churches. Arnulf Camps, Partners in Dialogue: Christianity and Other World Religions (1983; originally published in Dutch, 3 vol., 1976-78); and Hans Kng et al., Christianity and the World Religions: Paths of Dialogue with Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism (1986; originally published in German, 1984), represent different contemporary Roman Catholic standpoints. The pluralistic option is expressed in, for example, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Towards a World Theology: Faith and the Comparative History of Religion (1981); John Hick, God Has Many Names (1982); and John Hick and Paul F. Knitter (eds.), The Myth of Christian Uniqueness: Toward a Pluralistic Theology of Religions (1987). John Hick Aspects of the Christian religion Christian mysticism Christian mysticism refers to the human being's direct experience or consciousness of ultimate reality, understood as God within the context of Christian faith. The essence of mysticism is the sense of some form of contact with the divine or transcendent, frequently understood in its higher forms as involving union with God. Mysticism has played an important role in the history of Christian religion, and it has once again become a noticeably living influence in recent times. In the modern period mysticism has been studied from many perspectives: psychological, comparativist, philosophical, and theological, to name only the most vital. The mystical text has been the subject of new attention sparked by hermeneutical and deconstructionist philosophies. Among the theoretical questions that have been much debated are such issues as whether mysticism constitutes the core or essence of personal religion or whether it is better viewed as one element interacting with others in the formation of concrete religions. Those who emphasize a strong distinction between mystical experience and subsequent interpretation tend to search for a common core of all mysticism; others insist that experience and interpretation cannot be so easily sundered and that mysticism is in most cases tied to a specific religion and contingent upon its teachings. Both those who search for the common core, such as the British philosopher Walter T. Stace, and those who emphasize the differences among forms of mysticism, such as the British historian of religion Robert C. Zaehner, have made use of typologies of mysticism, often based on the contrast between introvertive and extrovertive mysticism developed by the comparativist Rudolf Otto. Studies have criticized the typological approach, but many scholars still find it useful. The cognitive status of mystical knowing and its clash with the mystics' claims about the ineffability of their experiences have also been topics of interest for modern students of mysticism. Among the most important investigations of mystical knowing are those of the Belgian Jesuit Joseph Marchal and the French philosophers Henri Bergson and Jacques Maritain. The relation between mysticism and morality has been a topic of scholarly debate since the time of William James, but certain questions have concerned Christian mystics for centuries. Does mystical experience always confirm traditional religious ideas about right and wrong, or is mysticism totally independent of moral issues? The problems regarding mysticism are fairly easy to identify; definitive solutions seem far off. The role of mysticism in Christianity has been variously evaluated by modern theologians. Many Protestant thinkers, from Albrecht Ritschl and Adolf von Harnack through Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann, have denied mysticism an integral role in the Christian religion, claiming that mystical union was a Greek import incompatible with saving faith in the Gospel word. Other Protestant theologians, such as Ernst Troeltsch in The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches (trans. 1931) and Albert Schweitzer in The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (trans. 1931), were more sympathetic. Anglican thinkers, especially William R. Inge, Evelyn Underhill, and Kenneth E. Kirk, championed the importance of mysticism in Christian history. Orthodox Christianity has given mysticism so central a role in Christian life that all theology in the Christian East by definition is mystical theology, as the Russian emigr thi