World religions. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 8 стр.

                               UNI T TW O                                            was most central in their faith. In the process it developed a message of univer-
                                                                                     sal significance, and one which found much of a response outside the Jewish
Part I                                                                               community, in the Graeco-Roman world.
                                                                                          The Christian view of life can perhaps be summed up in the phrase, the
                                   Christianity
                                                                                     humanity of God. The God who made the heavens and the earth has become
     Christianity is one of the major world religions, arising out of Judaism and
                                                                                     human, born as a child, growing to a man, teaching us the ways of God, and
founded on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians regard the
                                                                                     sharing our fate in suffering and death, for love of mankind. Although we are
Bible as authoritative, but the place given to the tradition and reason varies.
                                                                                     by nature sinful, he himself has made atonement for our sins, and has recon-
Early Christians suffered persecution until the Emperor Constantine proclaimed
                                                                                     ciled us to himself. “There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay
freedom of worship throughout the Roman Empire (313 A.D.). He made Chris-
                                                                                     down his life for his friends”.
tianity Rome’s official religion in 324 A.D./C.E. Almost from the beginning the
                                                                                          To understand the meaning of Christianity, it is helpful to understand both
Church had been divided into the Greek-speaking East and the Latin-speaking
                                                                                     the condition of the Jewish community in Jesus’ time, and also the state of re-
West. This division finally led to the Great Schism of 1054. In medieval West-
                                                                                     ligion in the Graeco-Roman world, which provided its larger context and even-
ern Europe the increasing secular power and corruption of the Roman Church
                                                                                     tually became its home.
sparked the Reformation of the 16th century and Protestantism emerged as
various national churches separated from the Roman Catholic Church. Modern
                                                                                                                   Some Christian terms
Ecumenical Movement among the Christian churches encourages greater coop-
                                                                                          It may be useful at this point to explain some Christian terms in common
eration and eventual unity. But substantial progress was not made until 1948,
                                                                                     use. The language spoken by the early Gentile Christians was predominantly
when representatives of 147 world churches agreed to form the World Council
                                                                                     Greek, which is the language of the New Testament and other early Christian
of Churches.
                                                                                     documents.
     Orthodox Christianity is characterized by monasticism and veneration of
                                                                                          Christ. This is not a personal name, but a title, meaning in Greek “the
icons. It rejects papal claims, the “immaculate conception”, purgatory and does
                                                                                     Anointed One”, that is, the Messiah. In classical Hebrew religion, anointing
not require clerical celibacy.
                                                                                     with olive oil was a ceremony of special importance, setting a person aside for a
                                                                                     special purpose. Kings, priests, and prophets were anointed. The Hebrew word
Task 1. The following are the definitions of words from the text bellow. What
                                                                                     for “anointed” is “messiah”, the Greek translation of which is “christos”.
are the words?
                                                                                          Church. The Greek term for the Christian community was “kyriake ekkle-
     – state of living unmarried as a religious obligation;                          sia”, “ekklesia” meaning “community”, and “kyriake” coming from “kyrios”, a
     – pure, faultless;                                                              lord or master, and meaning “belonging to the Lord”. “Kyriake ekklesia” thus
     – regarding with deep respect;                                                  means “the community of the Lord”. The word “church” derives from “kyri-
     – division of an organization;                                                  ake”, a fact that can perhaps be seen more clearly in the Scottish word “kirk”.
     – immoral, dishonest;                                                                Christianity. The early followers of Jesus called their religious faith simply
     – condition after death in which the soul has to be purified by temporary       “the Way”. The word “Christian” came into use first in the city of Antioch, to-
suffering; place where souls are so purified;                                        ward the end of the first century.
     – punishing, treating cruelly, esp. because of religious beliefs;                    Catholic. The Greek word “holos” means “the whole”. “Kata” means “ac-
     – reverence and respect paid to God.                                            cording to”. The two words are combined into the adjectival form “katholikos”,
                                                                                     meaning “universal”.
                           The Christian View of Life
     Although we have described Christianity as a religion of Semitic origin,                                   Philosophy and theology
this is only partly true. Christianity has two roots. One is the Jewish world of          As it became the religion of the European peoples, Christianity inherited
ethical monotheism; the other is the classical world of the Roman Empire.            the European tradition of philosophical inquiry. The use of philosophical meth-
     Christianity began as a reform movement within Jewish religion, a move-         ods to understand and explain religious belief is called theology. This theologi-
ment aiming to call the Jewish people away from inessentials and back to what
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