Christians
A Christian is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words Christ and Christian derive from the Koine Greek title Christós, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach . While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian used as an adjective is descriptive of anything associated with Christianity or Christian churches, or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like."
According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.3 billion Christians around the world, up from about 600 million in 1910. Today, about 37% of all Christians live in the Americas, about 26% live in Europe, 24% live in sub-Saharan Africa, about 13% live in Asia and the Pacific, and 1% live in the Middle East and North Africa. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. 280 million Christians live as a minority. About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant. Eastern Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Church of the East, comprise 12% of the world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion due to overall total fertility rate according to Pew Research Center. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue. In recent history, Christians have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in the Middle-East, North Africa, East Asia, and South Asia.
Etymology
The Greek word Χριστιανός, meaning, comes from Χριστός, meaning 'anointed one', with an adjectival ending borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership. In the Greek Septuagint, christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ, meaning " anointed". In other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as chrétien in French and cristiano in Spanish.The abbreviations Xian and Xtian have been used since at least the 17th century: Oxford English Dictionary shows a 1634 use of Xtianity and Xian is seen in a 1634–38 diary. The word Xmas uses a similar contraction.
Early usage
The first recorded use of the term is in the New Testament, in Acts 11 after Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch where they taught the disciples for about a year. The text says that "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch". The second mention of the term follows in Acts 26, where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle, "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.". The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4, which exhorts believers: "Yet if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.".Kenneth Samuel Wuest holds that all three original New Testament verses' usages reflect a derisive element in the term Christian to refer to followers of Christ who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians, had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames. However Peter's apparent endorsement of the term led to its being preferred over "Nazarenes" and the term Christianoi from 1 Peter becomes the standard term in the Early Church Fathers from Ignatius and Polycarp onwards.
The earliest occurrences of the term in non-Christian literature include Josephus, referring to "the tribe of Christians, so named from him;" Pliny the Younger in correspondence with Trajan; and Tacitus, writing at the beginning of the 2nd century. In the Annals he relates that "by vulgar appellation commonly called Christians" and identifies Christians as Nero's scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome.
Nazarenes
Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes. Jesus is named as a Nazarene in Matthew 2:23, while Paul is said to be Nazarene in Acts 24:5. The latter verse makes it clear that Nazarene also referred to the name of a sect or heresy, as well as the town called Nazareth.The term Nazarene was also used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus, who records the phrase "the Jews call us Nazarenes". Furthermore, around 331 AD Eusebius records that Christ was called a Nazoraean from the name Nazareth, and that in earlier centuries "Christians" were once called "Nazarenes". The Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes, Notzrim, occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian.
Modern usage
Definition
A wide range of beliefs and practices are found across the world among those who call themselves Christian. Denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of "Christianity". For example, Timothy Beal notes the disparity of beliefs among those who identify as Christians in the United States as follows:Linda Woodhead attempts to provide a common belief thread for Christians by noting that "Whatever else they might disagree about, Christians are at least united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance." Michael Martin evaluated three historical Christian creeds to establish a set of basic Christian assumptions which include belief in theism, the historicity of Jesus, the Incarnation, salvation through faith in Jesus, and Jesus as an ethical role model.
Hebrew terms
The identification of Jesus as the Messiah is not accepted by Judaism. The term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוֹצְרִי, a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מְשִׁיחִיִּים.Arabic terms
In Arabic-speaking cultures, two words are commonly used for Christians: Naṣrānī, plural Naṣārā is generally understood to be derived from Nazarenes, believers of Jesus of Nazareth through Syriac ; Masīḥī means followers of the Messiah. Where there is a distinction, Naṣrānī refers to people from a Christian culture and Masīḥī is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Naṣrānī tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners.Another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Ṣalībī from ṣalīb, which refers to Crusaders and may have negative connotations. However, Ṣalībī is a modern term; historically, Muslim writers described European Christian Crusaders as al-Faranj or Alfranj and Firinjīyah in Arabic. This word comes from the name of the Franks and can be seen in the Arab history text Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh by Ali ibn al-Athir.
In the Maltese language, a Semitic European language related to Arabic written in the Latin alphabet, Christians are referred to as Nsara, singular masculine Nisrani. The Romance-borrowed Kristjan may also be used.
Asian terms
The most common Persian word is Masīhī, from Arabic. Other words are Nasrānī, from Syriac for, and Tarsā, from the Middle Persian word Tarsāg, also meaning, derived from tars, meaning.An old Kurdish word for Christian frequently in usage was felle, coming from the root word meaning.
The Syriac term Nasrani has also been attached to the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, India. In northern India and Pakistan, Christians are referred to ʿĪsāʾī. Masīhī is a term Christians use to refer to themselves as well.
In the past, the Malays used to call Christians in Malay by the Portuguese loanword Serani, but the term now refers to the modern Kristang creoles of Malaysia. In the Indonesian language, the term Nasrani is also used alongside Kristen.
The Chinese word is , literally. The name Christ was originally phonetically written in Chinese as 基利斯督, which was later abbreviated as 基督. The term is Kî-tuk in the southern Hakka dialect; the two characters are pronounced Jīdū in Mandarin Chinese. In Vietnam, the same two characters read Cơ đốc, and a "follower of Christianity" is a tín đồ Cơ đốc giáo.
In Japan, the term kirishitan, from Portuguese cristão, referred to Roman Catholics in the 16th and 17th centuries before the religion was banned by the Tokugawa shogunate. Today, Christians are referred to in Standard Japanese as キリスト教徒 or the English-derived term クリスチャン.
Korean still uses 기독교도 for, though the Portuguese loanword 그리스도 now replaced the old Sino-Korean 기독, which refers to Christ himself.
In Thailand, the most common terms are คนคริสต์ or ชาวคริสต์ which literally means or. The Thai word คริสต์ is derived from Christ.
In the Philippines, the most common terms are Kristiyano and Kristiyanismo in most Philippine languages; both derive from Spanish cristiano and cristianismo due to the country's rich history of early Christianity during the Spanish colonial era. Some Protestants in the Philippines use the term Kristiyano to differentiate themselves from Catholics.
Eastern European terms
The region of modern Eastern Europe and Central Eurasia has a long history of Christianity and Christian communities on its lands. In ancient times, in the first centuries after the birth of Christ, when this region was called Scythia, the geographical area of Scythians – Christians already lived there. Later the region saw the first states to adopt Christianity officially – initially Armenia and Georgia, later Bulgaria and Kyivan Rus.In some areas, people came to denote themselves as Christians and as Russians, Ruthenians, or Ukrainians.
In time the Russian term крестьяне acquired the meaning and later , while the term retained its religious meaning and the term began to mean representatives of the heterogeneous Russian nation formed on the basis of common Christian faith and language, which strongly influenced the history and development of the region. In the region, the term Orthodox faith or Russian faith from the earliest times became almost as common as the original Christian faith.
Also in some contexts the term cossack was used to denote "free" Christians of steppe origin and East Slavic language.