1.4 Christianity within the Abrahamic Tradition and the Global Church

Christianity belongs to the family of religions that trace important parts of their sacred history back to Abraham, an ancient patriarch described in the Bible.

Religions that trace significant parts of their sacred history back to Abraham are often called Abrahamic traditions. These traditions include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In Judaism, Abraham is important because God’s covenant promises continue through his son Isaac and then through Jacob, whose descendants become the people of Israel.

In Christianity, Abraham is important because he is seen as a major example of faith and as part of the covenant story that Christians believe leads forward to Jesus Christ and the inclusion of the nations.

In Islam, Abraham is important because he is honored as a prophet of pure monotheism and, through his son Ishmael, is connected to Arab sacred history and the lineage traditionally associated with Muhammad.

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Christianity began within a Jewish setting. Jesus, his mother Mary, the apostles, and the earliest Christians were Jewish. They read the Hebrew Scriptures, worshiped the God of Israel, and understood their faith through the language of covenant, prophecy, Messiah, kingdom, sacrifice, repentance, judgment, and restoration.

The Gospel of Matthew, the first book in the traditional New Testament order, opens by identifying Jesus as the son of David and the son of Abraham. It then traces His genealogy through Israel’s covenant line, showing that the story of Jesus is being presented in connection with the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David.

For this reason, Christians believe the story of Jesus cannot be understood apart from the earlier story of Israel. The New Testament constantly refers back to the Hebrew Scriptures, including the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the promises connected to Abraham, Moses, David, and the people of Israel.

Abraham is also important in Christianity because the New Testament presents him as a major example of faith. Christian writers such as the apostle Paul refer to Abraham when explaining faith, promise, covenant, and the inclusion of the nations. Paul also writes that those who have faith in Christ are children of Abraham and heirs of God’s promise, meaning Gentile believers can be included in the promises associated with Abraham through faith without first becoming Jews under the Mosaic Law. In this way, Christianity sees itself as connected to God’s earlier work through Abraham and Israel.

Christianity eventually spread beyond its original Jewish environment. As the message of Jesus moved into the wider Roman world, many non-Jewish people, called Gentiles, began joining the Christian movement. This raised major questions for the early church: Did Gentile believers need to follow the full requirements of the Jewish Law? How should Jewish and Gentile believers worship together? What did it mean for people from many nations to be included in the people of God?

These questions shaped some of the earliest Christian debates. The New Testament book of Acts and several of Paul’s letters show the early church wrestling with the relationship between Jewish identity, Gentile inclusion, faith in Christ, and the promises of God.

This background matters because Christianity cannot be understood properly if it is cut off from its Jewish roots. Many Christian beliefs, practices, titles, and images come from the world of ancient Israel. Words such as Messiah, covenant, Scripture, sin, sacrifice, priesthood, kingdom, prophecy, repentance, holiness, and redemption all carry deep meaning from the Hebrew Bible.

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At the same time, Christianity did not remain only one small movement within the first-century Jewish world. It became a church-forming and global faith. Christians gathered into communities for worship, teaching, prayer, baptism, Communion/the Eucharist, service, discipline, and mission. Christianity was not only a private belief system. It created visible communities with shared practices, leaders, teachings, and forms of worship.

As Christianity spread across different regions, languages, empires, and cultures, it became more than a religion practiced by individuals. It also became a major force in civilization and world history. Christianity influenced art, music, architecture, education, law, politics, philosophy, charity, family life, holidays, literature, and moral debates. Sometimes this influence produced beauty, learning, mercy, courage, and reform. At other times, Christian language and institutions were tied to power, conflict, coercion, corruption, or violence.

Christianity is now a global religion. It began in the Middle East, developed across the Roman world, spread throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, and later became deeply influential in the Americas and beyond. Today, Christianity exists in many cultural forms across the world.

This global spread also helps explain why Christianity is internally diverse. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Anglicans, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, non-denominational Christians, and many other groups all identify as Christian, but they do not agree on every issue. They may differ on church authority, sacraments, worship style, biblical interpretation, saints, Mary, icons, clergy, spiritual gifts, salvation, and the relationship between church and state.

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This raises an important question:

What counts as “Christian”?

The answer depends partly on how the question is being asked. Historically, “Christian” can refer to people, churches, cultures, or movements that identify with Jesus Christ and developed in connection with the Christian tradition. Sociologically, it can refer to individuals or communities that self-identify as Christian, participate in Christian practices, or belong to Christian institutions. Personally, many people use the word Christian to describe their own faith, their specific church doctrine, their family background, their cultural identity, or their individual relationship to Jesus.

Theologically, many Christians use the word more specifically. In this sense, “Christian” does not simply mean any person or group that uses the name of Jesus. It refers to faith in the God revealed through Jesus Christ and to core beliefs historically associated with Christianity, such as the reality of God, the centrality of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, the need for salvation, the authority of Scripture, baptism, and the hope of resurrection and judgment. Many Christian traditions also look to early creeds, such as the Apostles’ Creed or Nicene Creed, as summaries of historic Christian belief.

Because of this, there can be disagreement over whether certain groups, movements, or individuals should be considered Christian in a theological sense. This course will not treat every claim to Christianity as identical, but it also will not settle every boundary dispute. Instead, it will explain Christianity as a broad historical and global tradition while also noting when major Christian traditions disagree about doctrine, authority, practice, or the boundaries of historic Christian faith.

For this course, Christianity will be treated as a broad religious tradition centered on Jesus Christ, rooted in the Bible, connected to the church, and expressed through many historical communities. When important differences exist between Christian traditions, those differences will attempt to be mentioned.

This gives us the basic framework for the rest of the course. Christianity is rooted in Abraham and Israel, centered on Jesus Christ, shaped by Scripture, practiced by churches, spread across the world, and internally diverse. But to understand Christianity at a deeper level, we need to begin with its view of God.

In Module 2, we will look at the Christians view of God.