Christians are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. 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." It does not have a meaning of 'of Christ' or 'related or pertaining to Christ'.
According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue.
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. About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. 280 million Christians live as a minority.
The Greek word Χριστιανός (Christianos), meaning "follower of Christ", comes from Χριστός (Christos), 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 (Mašíaḥ, messiah), 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 (and similarly-formed other parts of speech) 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.
Christianity is India's third-largest religion after Hinduism and Islam, with approximately 28 million followers, constituting 2.3 percent of India's population (2011 census). According to Indian tradition, the Christian faith was introduced to India by Thomas the Apostle, who supposedly reached the Malabar Coast (Kerala) in 52 AD, although no written work seems to have survived from this period. According to another tradition Bartholomew the Apostle is credited with simultaneously introducing Christianity along the Konkan Coast. There is a general scholarly consensus that Christian communities were firmly established in India by the 6th century AD, including some communities who used Syriac liturgies.
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." It does not have a meaning of 'of Christ' or 'related or pertaining to Christ'.
According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue.
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. About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. 280 million Christians live as a minority.
The Greek word Χριστιανός (Christianos), meaning "follower of Christ", comes from Χριστός (Christos), 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 (Mašíaḥ, messiah), 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 (and similarly-formed other parts of speech) 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.
Christianity is India's third-largest religion after Hinduism and Islam, with approximately 28 million followers, constituting 2.3 percent of India's population (2011 census). According to Indian tradition, the Christian faith was introduced to India by Thomas the Apostle, who supposedly reached the Malabar Coast (Kerala) in 52 AD, although no written work seems to have survived from this period. According to another tradition Bartholomew the Apostle is credited with simultaneously introducing Christianity along the Konkan Coast. There is a general scholarly consensus that Christian communities were firmly established in India by the 6th century AD, including some communities who used Syriac liturgies.
Christians in India are members of different church denominations though some are also non-denominational. The state of Kerala is home to the Saint Thomas Christian community, an ancient body of Christians who according to tradition trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are now divided into several different churches and traditions. There are East Syriac Rite denominations: the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Chaldean Syrian Church. There are West Syriac Rite denominations: the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church , the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and the Malabar Independent Syrian Church. Saint Thomas Anglicans are in the Anglican tradition and are members of the Church of South India (C.S.I.). Roman Rite Catholicism was introduced to India by the Portuguese, Italian and Irish Jesuits in the 16th century under the influence of its allied empires. Most Christian schools, hospitals and primary care centres originated through the Roman Catholic missions brought by the trade of these countries.
Traditional Anglicanism was established by the British missions under British Empire which shares a common sacred traditions with Catholicism. Reformed Protestantism was later spread to India by the efforts of North American, British, German, and independent missionaries to preach the gospel to Indians and evangelize them, of which many, suffered militant persecution and were martyred. Major denominations include non-conformist reformed churches like the Pentecostals, the Baptists, the Evangelicals, Methodist, the Presbyterians, Mennonites and Lutherans. Traditionalist churches like Church of South India, (ECI), the Church of North India, Traditional Anglicans and other groups of CSI synod have presence. There is also rising presence of Charismatic and neo-charismatic movement across the nation.
During the 18th century, Protestant Christian missions, had a political effect in India, notably by campaigning for the abolition of Sati (ritual self-immolation of widows), suppressing human sacrifices (tribal offerings to deities), taking measures in passing the Prevention Act, 1870 against female infanticide, introducing a modern and formal educational system and establishing the first all girls education schools in India. Under British Indian empire, they had a key influence in drafting certain aspects of the Indian penal code by imposing specific Biblical prohibitions with offences related to marriages, adultery (which was at variance with Indian polygamous society of that time), as well as the controversial sodomy laws. They produced early translations of the Bible in Indian languages (including Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi, Urdu and others).
Even though Christians are a visible minority, they form a major religious group in three states of India - Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland with plural majority in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh and other states with significant Christian population include Coastal Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Kanara, and the south shore. Christianity in India to a larger extent has been very traditional (old) in its practices for a long time but since the 20th century has witnessed growth in Indigenous revivalism and recently contemporary local Church-planting movements have started to flourish. Moreover, a significant number of Indians profess personal Christian faith outside the domain of traditional and institutionalized Christianity and do not associate with any Church or its conventional code of belief.
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