Western

Christianity

Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity

being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and
Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic Church,
Independent Catholicism and Restorationism.

Jesus represented as the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), a common practice in Western Christianity[1]
St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the largest church building in the world today.[2]

Timeline of the evolution of the church, beginning with early Christianity

The large majority of the world's 2.3 billion Christians are Western Christians (about
2 billion – 1.2 billion Latin Catholic and 800 million Protestant). The original and still
major component, the Latin Church, developed under the bishop of Rome. Out of the
Latin Church emerged a wide variety of independent Protestant denominations,
including Lutheranism and Anglicanism, starting from the Protestant Reformation in
the 16th century, as did Independent Catholicism in the 19th century. Thus, the term
"Western Christianity" does not describe a single communion or religious denomination,
but is applied to distinguish all these denominations collectively from Eastern
Christianity.

The establishment of the distinct Latin Church, a particular church sui iuris of the
Catholic Church, coincided with the consolidation of the Holy See in Rome, which
claimed primacy since Antiquity. The Latin Church is distinct from the Eastern Catholic
Churches, also in full communion with the Pope in Rome, and from the Eastern
Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Churches, which are not in communion with
Rome. These other churches are part of Eastern Christianity. The terms "Western" and
"Eastern" in this regard originated with geographical divisions mirroring the cultural
divide between the Hellenistic east and Latin West, and the political divide between
the Western and Eastern Roman empires. During the Middle Ages adherents of the
Latin Church, irrespective of ethnicity, commonly referred to themselves as "Latins"
to distinguish themselves from Eastern Christians.[3]

Western Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western

civilization.[4][5][6][7] With the expansion of European colonialism from the Early Modern
era, the Latin Church, in time along with its Protestant secessions, spread throughout
the Americas, much of the Philippines, Southern Africa, pockets of West Africa, and
throughout Australia, and New Zealand. Thus, when used for historical periods after
the 16th century, the term "Western Christianity" does not refer to a particular
geographical area, but is rather used as a collective term for all these.

Today, the geographical distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is not
nearly as absolute as in Antiquity or the Middle Ages, due to the spread of Christian
missionaries, migrations, and globalisation. As such, the adjectives "Western
Christianity" and "Eastern Christianity" are typically used to refer to historical origins
and differences in theology and liturgy, rather than present geographical locations.

While the Latin Church maintains the use of the Latin liturgical rites, Protestant
denominations and Independent Catholicism use a wide variety of liturgical practices.

History

Title page of the Lutheran Swedish Gustav Vasa Bible, translated by the Petri brothers, along with
Laurentius Andreae.

Jesuit scholars in China. Top: Matteo Ricci, Adam Schaal and Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–88); Bottom: Paul
Siu (Xu Guangqi), Colao or Prime Minister of State, and his granddaughter Candide Hiu

For most of its history the church in Europe has been culturally divided between the
Latin-speaking west, whose centre was Rome, and the Greek-speaking east, whose
centre was Constantinople. Cultural differences and political rivalry created tensions
between the two churches, leading to disagreement over doctrine and ecclesiology
and ultimately to schism.[8]

Like Eastern Christianity, Western Christianity traces its roots directly to the apostles
and other early preachers of the religion. In Western Christianity's original area Latin
was the principal language. Christian writers in Latin had more influence there than
those who wrote in Greek, Syriac, or other Eastern languages. Though the first
Christians in the West used Greek (such as Clement of Rome), by the fourth century
Latin had superseded it even in the cosmopolitan city of Rome, while there is evidence
of a Latin translation of the Bible in the 2nd century (see also Vetus Latina) in
southern Gaul and the Roman province of Africa.[9]

With the decline of the Roman Empire, distinctions appeared also in organization, since
the bishops in the West were not dependent on the Emperor in Constantinople and did
not come under the influence of the Caesaropapism in the Eastern Church. While the
see of Constantinople became dominant throughout the Emperor's lands, the West
looked exclusively to the see of Rome, which in the East was seen as that of one of
the five patriarchs of the Pentarchy, "the proposed government of universal
Christendom by five patriarchal sees under the auspices of a single universal empire.
Formulated in the legislation of the emperor Justinian I (527–565), especially in his
Novella 131, the theory received formal ecclesiastical sanction at the Council in Trullo
(692), which ranked the five sees as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and
Jerusalem."[10]

Over the centuries, disagreements separated Western Christianity from the various
forms of Eastern Christianity: first from East Syriac Christianity after the Council of
Ephesus (431), then from that of Oriental Orthodoxy after the Council of Chalcedon
(451), and then from Eastern Orthodoxy with the East-West Schism of 1054. With the
last-named form of Eastern Christianity, reunion agreements were signed at the
Second Council of Lyon (1274) and the Council of Florence (1439), but these proved
ineffective.

Historian Paul Legutko of Stanford University said the Catholic Church is "at the center
of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which
constitute what we call Western civilization".[11] The rise of Protestantism led to major
divisions within Western Christianity, which still persist, and wars—for example, the
Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604 had religious as well as economic causes.

In and after the Age of Discovery, Europeans spread Western Christianity to the New
World and elsewhere. Roman Catholicism came to the Americas (especially South
America), Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Protestantism, including Anglicanism,
came to North America, Australia-Pacific and some African locales.

Today, the geographical distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is now
much less absolute, due to the great migrations of Europeans across the globe, as
well as the work of missionaries worldwide over the past five centuries.

Features
Map of Europe showing the largest religions by region. Eastern Christianity is represented in blue, Islam in
green, and the other colors represent branches of Western Christianity.

Saint Thomas Aquinas was one of the great Western scholars of the Medieval period.

Original sin

Original sin, also called ancestral sin,[12][13][14][15] is a Christian belief in a state of sin in
which humanity has existed since the fall of man, stemming from Adam and Eve's
rebellion in the Garden of Eden, namely the sin of disobedience in consuming the
forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.[16] Theologians have
characterized this condition in many ways, seeing it as ranging from something as
insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective
guilt, referred to as a "sin nature", to something as drastic as total depravity or
automatic guilt of all humans through collective guilt.[17]
Filioque clause

Most Western Christians use a version of the Nicene Creed that states that the Holy
Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son", where the original text as adopted by
the First Council of Constantinople had "proceeds from the Father" without the addition
of either "and the Son" or "alone". This Western version also has the additional phrase
"God from God" (in Latin Deum de Deo), which was in the Creed as adopted by the
First Council of Nicaea, but which was dropped by the First Council of Constantinople.

Date of Easter

The date of Easter usually differs between Eastern and Western Christianity, because
the calculations are based on the Julian calendar and Gregorian calendar respectively.
However, before the Council of Nicea, various dates including Jewish Passover were
observed. Nicea "Romanized" the date for Easter and anathematized a "Judaized" (i.e.
Passover date for) Easter. The date of observance of Easter has only differed in
modern times since the promulgation of the Gregorian calendar in 1582; and further,
the Western Church did not universally adopt the Gregorian calendar at once, so that
for some time the dates of Easter differed as between the Eastern Church and the
Roman Catholic Church, but not necessarily as between the Eastern Church and the
Western Protestant churches. For example, the Church of England continued to
observe Easter on the same date as the Eastern Church until 1753.

Even the dates of other Christian holidays differ between Eastern and Western
Christianity.

Lack of essence-energies distinction

Western denominations

Today, Western Christianity makes up close to 90% of Christians worldwide with the
Catholic Church accounting for over half and various Protestant denominations making
up another 40%.

Hussite movements of 15th century Bohemia preceded the main Protestant uprising
by 100 years and evolved into several small Protestant churches, such as the
Moravian Church. Waldensians survived also, but blended into the Reformed tradition.
Major branches and movements within Protestantism.

Major figures

Bishop of Rome or the pope

Relevant figures:

Clement of Rome (fl. c. 96), one of the apostolic fathers of the church.

Pope Leo I

Gregory the Great

The Reformers

Relevant figures:

Martin Luther (1483–1546), the most famous reformer and theologian in the
Reformation and in the 15th century.

Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415), one of the most relevant theologian in the 14th century.

John Calvin (1509–1564)

 John Knox (1514–1572)

Hans Tausen, Bishop of Ribe (1494–1561), leading theologian of the Reformation in

Denmark and Holstein.

Laurentius Petri, Archbishop of Uppsala and all Sweden (1499–1573), along with his
brother Olaus Petri were regarded as the main Lutheran reformers of Sweden,
together with the king Gustav I of Sweden

Primož Trubar (1508–1586), mostly known as the author of the first Slovene language
printed book,[18] the founder and the first superintendent of the Protestant Church of
the Duchy of Carniola, and for consolidating the Slovenian language

Jiří Třanovský, sometimes called the father of Slovak hymnody and the "Luther of the
Slavs"

Mikael Agricola bishop of Turku (1554–1557), he became the de facto founder of

literary Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden,
including Finland, which was a Swedish territory at the time. He is often called the
"father of literary Finnish".

Archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England

Relevant figures:

Augustine of Canterbury (597–604)

Thomas Cranmer (1533–1555), one of the major reformers in England

Matthew Parker (1504–1575),(Parker was one of the primary architects of the Thirty-
nine Articles)

Archbishop of Lyon and primate of the Gauls

Relevant figures:

Irenaeus of Lyon (died c. 202)

Patriarch of Aquileia

Relevant figures:

Chromatius of Aquilea

See also

Aristotelianism
 Augustinianism

Bohemian Reformation

Calvinism

Latin Church Fathers

Ecclesiastical differences between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox
Church

Holy Roman Empire

List of Christian denominations

Neoplatonism

Radical Reformation

Scholasticism

Swiss Reformation

Theological differences between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox
Church

Thomism

Western culture

Western religions

References

1. Hugh Henry, "Agnus Dei (in Liturgy)" (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01221a.htm) in

Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907)

2. UNESCO World Heritage: Vatican City (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/286)

3. "Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans" (http://www.orbilat.com/General_Survey/Terms-

-Latins_and_Romans.html) . Orbis Latinus.

4. Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, James Jacob, Margaret Jacob, Theodore H. Von Laue (1 January
2012). Western Civilization: Since 1400 (https://books.google.com/books?id=N6jytVCocwMC) .
Cengage Learning. p. XXIX. ISBN 978-1-111-83169-1.

5. Roman Catholicism (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/507284/Roman-Catholicis

m) , "Roman Catholicism, Christian church that has been the decisive spiritual force in the
history of Western civilization". Encyclopædia Britannica
6. Caltron J.H Hayas, Christianity and Western Civilization (1953), Stanford University Press, p. 2:
That certain distinctive features of our Western civilization—the civilization of western Europe
and of America—have been shaped chiefly by Judaeo – Graeco – Christianity, Catholic and
Protestant.

7. Jose Orlandis, 1993, "A Short History of the Catholic Church," 2nd edn. (Michael Adams, Trans.),
Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 1851821252, preface, see [1] (https://books.google.com/books?id
=KYdbpwAACAAJ) , accessed 8 December 2014. p. (preface)

8. "General Essay on Western Christianity" (http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/christ/west/w

estessay.html) , Overview Of World Religions. Division of Religion and Philosophy, University of
Cumbria. © 1998/9 ELMAR Project. Accessed 1 April 2012.

9. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-
280290-3), article "Latin"

10. Encyclopædia Britannica: Pentarchy (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9059117/pentarc

hy)

11. "Review of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas Woods, Jr" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20060822150152/http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/BookPage.asp?
prod_cd=c6664) . National Review Book Service. Archived from the original (http://www.nrbo
okservice.com/products/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=c6664) on 22 August 2006. Retrieved
16 September 2006.

12. Golitzin, Alexander (1995). On the Mystical Life: The Ethical Discourses (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=SUjKOoQsCyUC&pg=PA119) . St Vladimir's Seminary Press. pp. 119–. ISBN 978-0-
88141-144-7.

13. Tate, Adam L. (2005). Conservatism and Southern Intellectuals, 1789–1861: Liberty, Tradition,
and the Good Society (https://archive.org/details/conservatismsout00tate_0/page/190) .
University of Missouri Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-8262-1567-3.

14. Bartolo-Abela, Marcelle (2011). God's Gift to Humanity: The Relationship Between Phinehas and
Consecration to God the Father (https://books.google.com/books?id=6ePZFD9BOB4C&pg=PA
32) . Apostolate-The Divine Heart. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-0-9833480-1-6.

15. Hassan, Ann (2012). Annotations to Geoffrey Hill's Speech! Speech! (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=N0e9guRLMVEC&pg=PA62) . punctum. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-1-4681-2984-7.

16. Cross 1966, p. 994.

17. Brodd, Jeffrey (2003). World Religions. Winona, MN: Saint Mary's Press. ISBN 978-0-88489-725-5.

18. "Trubar Primož" (https://web.archive.org/web/20131104121353/http://nl.ijs.si:8080/fedora/get/s

bl:3985/VIEW/) . Slovenian Biographical Lexicon. Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Archived from the original (http://nl.ijs.si:8080/fedora/get/sbl:3985/VIEW/) on 4 November
2013. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
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