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188-423: An expectation of Jewish restoration among Christians is rooted in 17th-century English Puritan thought. Contemporary Israeli historian Anita Shapira suggests that England's Zionist Evangelical Protestants "passed this notion on to Jewish circles" around the 1840s, while Jewish nationalism in the early 19th century was largely met with hostility from British Jews . Christian pro-Zionist ideals emerged among

376-411: A "new" evangelicalism led by figures like Billy Graham emerged from Protestantism and came to cultural prominence. It was among these new evangelicals that the contemporary movement that most commonly associated with the term "Christian Zionism" originated. Many new evangelicals adhered to dispensationalism or at least, they adhered to beliefs which were inspired by it—most especially, they adhered to

564-593: A 2012 Pew Research Center survey, if current trends continue, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion by 2050. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. While Muslims have an average of 3.1 children per woman—the highest rate of all religious groups—Christians are second, with 2.7 children per woman. High birth rates and conversion were cited as the reason for Christian population growth . A 2015 study found that approximately 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity . Christianity

752-426: A Christian could never be reduced to simple "intellectual acknowledgment" of the truth of Christianity. Puritans agreed "that the effectual call of each elect saint of God would always come as an individuated personal encounter with God's promises". The process by which the elect are brought from spiritual death to spiritual life ( regeneration ) was described as conversion . Early on, Puritans did not consider

940-740: A Christian supporter of Israel and Zionism. The government of Israel has given official encouragement to Christian Zionism, allowing the establishment of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem in 1980. The embassy has raised funds to help finance Jewish immigration to Israel from the former Soviet Union , and has assisted Zionist groups in establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank . The Third International Christian Zionist Congress, held in Jerusalem in February 1996, issued

1128-751: A Jewish return to their homeland, Charles Spurgeon , both Horatius and Andrew Bonar , Robert Murray M'Chyene , and J. C. Ryle were among a number of proponents of both the importance and significance of a Jewish return to Israel. However Spurgeon averred of dispensationalism: "It is a mercy that these absurdities are revealed one at a time, in order that we may be able to endure their stupidity without dying of amazement". In 1864, Spurgeon wrote: We look forward, then, for these two things. I am not going to theorize upon which of them will come first — whether they shall be restored first, and converted afterwards — or converted first and then restored. They are to be restored and they are to be converted, too. The crumbling of

1316-598: A Reformed branch of Christianity that gave rise to the Congregationalist denomination. While Edward VI of England was the Tudor child-monarch of England , a Calvinist-leaning Regency de facto ruled. This allowed Continental Protestants such as Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr Vermigli to teach at the prestigious universities of Cambridge and Oxford. These two men forwarded a biblical exegesis which included an important role for

1504-464: A congregation of "visible saints" (meaning those who had experienced conversion). Members would be required to abide by a church covenant , in which they "pledged to join in the proper worship of God and to nourish each other in the search for further religious truth". Such churches were regarded as complete within themselves, with full authority to determine their own membership, administer their own discipline and ordain their own ministers. Furthermore,

1692-408: 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

1880-736: A dispensationalist end-time narrative. In The Late Great Planet Earth , for example, Lindsey anticipated that, per Ezekiel 39:6–8 , Jews would fight off a " Russian " invasion before realizing their miraculous deliverance and converting to Christianity. Their lives would be spared the great fire that God will put upon Russia and people of the "coastlands." And, per Zechariah 13:8–9 , one third of Jews alive who have converted will be spared. Lindsay has been critiqued for highly specific, failed predictions even by those who share his eschatology, like John MacArthur . Examples of Protestant leaders who combined political conservatism with Christian Zionism are Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson , leading figures on

2068-575: A diverse religious reform movement in Britain committed to the Continental Reformed tradition. While Puritans did not agree on all doctrinal points, most shared similar views on the nature of God , human sinfulness , and the relationship between God and mankind. They believed that all of their beliefs should be based on the Bible , which they considered to be divinely inspired . The concept of covenant

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2256-560: A future return of Jews to their homeland. In 1808, Asa McFarland, a Presbyterian, voiced the opinion of many that the fall of the Ottoman Empire was imminent and would bring about Jewish restoration. One David Austin of New Haven spent his fortune building docks and inns from which the Jews could embark to the Holy Land. In 1825, Mordecai Manuel Noah , a Jew who wanted to found a national home for

2444-700: A hymn dedicated to it. The Baptist, John Gill , who moved in similar circles to the Wesleys, authored works expressing similar views. By 1771, the Evangelical minister, John Eyre , founder of the Evangelical Magazine and among the original members of the London Missionary Society was promoting a more developed version of these views with his Observations upon Prophecies Relating to the Restoration of

2632-591: A mission to report on the condition of the Jews in Palestine. Their report was widely published. They traveled through France, Greece, and Egypt, and from Egypt, overland to Gaza . On the way home they visited Syria , the Austrian Empire and some of the German states. They sought out Jewish communities and inquired about their readiness to accept Christ, and separately, their preparedness to return to Israel as prophesied in

2820-597: A new English national church. By the late 1630s, Puritans were in alliance with the growing commercial world, with the parliamentary opposition to the royal prerogative , and with the Scottish Presbyterians with whom they had much in common. Consequently, they became a major political force in England and came to power as a result of the First English Civil War (1642–1646). Almost all Puritan clergy left

3008-606: A number of other scholars as well." In the decades leading up to the establishment of Israel in 1948, the most prominent and politically active American Christian supporters of Zionism were liberal and mainline Protestants whose support for the movement was often unrelated to their interpretation of the Bible. These Christian supporters of Zionism viewed Palestine as a needed safe haven for Jews who were fleeing from intensifying persecution in Europe and they frequently believed that their support of

3196-1097: A number of these Puritans and Presbyterians spent some time in Geneva in the 1560s under Calvin's successor Theodore Beza and developed a translation of the Bible called the Geneva Bible , which contained footnotes in reference to the Book of Romans , specifically claiming that the Jews would be converted to Christianity in the end times and reorientating attention to Palestine as a central theatre. This view came to be taken up strongly by English Puritans (such as Francis Kett , Edmund Bunny , Thomas Draxe , Thomas Brightman , Joseph Mede , William Perkins , Richard Sibbes , Thomas Goodwin , William Strong , William Bridge , Henry Finch , John Owen and Giles Fletcher ), Lowland Scots Presbyterians (such as George Gillespie , Robert Baillie and Samuel Rutherford ), and even some Continental Protestants (such as Oliger Paulli , Isaac Vossius , Hugo Grotius , Gerhard Vossius and David Blondel ). During

3384-452: A political context, is Ṣalībī ( صليبي ' Crusader ' ) from ṣalīb ( صليب ' cross ' ), 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 ( الفرنج ) and Firinjīyah ( الفرنجيّة ) in Arabic. This word comes from the name of

3572-552: A proclamation which said: God the Father, Almighty, chose the ancient nation and people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to reveal His plan of redemption for the world. They remain elect of God, and without the Jewish nation His redemptive purposes for the world will not be completed. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and has promised to return to Jerusalem, to Israel and to

3760-669: A reformed episcopacy , presbyterianism , congregationalism , and Erastianism . The membership of the Assembly was strongly weighted towards the Presbyterians, but Oliver Cromwell was a Puritan and an independent Congregationalist Separatist who imposed his doctrines upon them. The Church of England of the Interregnum (1649–60) was run along Presbyterian lines but never became a national Presbyterian church, such as existed in Scotland. England

3948-690: A refuge, and preferred Palestine for sentimental reasons. In 1818, President John Adams wrote, "I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation", and believed that they would gradually become Unitarian Christians. In 1844, George Bush , a professor of Hebrew at New York University and the cousin of an ancestor of the Presidents Bush, published a book titled The Valley of Vision; or, The Dry Bones of Israel Revived . In it he denounced "the thralldom and oppression which has so long ground them (the Jews) to

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4136-503: A religious underground was slowly growing from the 1730s which would eventually spout a second wave of Protestant Zionism and with it the birth of Evangelical Protestantism . This was precipitated in Germany by Philipp Spener 's Pietism , a mystical and often millennialist take on Lutheranism, which prophesied the "conversion of the Jews and the fall of the Papacy as the prelude of the triumph of

4324-767: A report commissioned by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to investigate global persecution of Christians found religious persecution has increased, and is highest in the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, North Korea, and Latin America, among others, and that it is global and not limited to Islamic states. This investigation found that approximately 80% of persecuted believers worldwide are Christians. Etymology Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in

4512-612: A result, Puritans were among the most literate societies in the world. By the time of the American Revolution there were 40 newspapers in the United States (at a time when there were only two cities—New York and Philadelphia—with as many as 20,000 people in them). The Puritans also set up a college (now Harvard University ) only six years after arriving in Boston. Christianity • Protestantism Puritanism broadly refers to

4700-492: A review of the Nobel Prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference. In 2017, Open Doors , a human rights NGO , estimated approximately 260 million Christians are subjected annually to "high, very high, or extreme persecution", with North Korea considered the most hazardous nation for Christians. In 2019,

4888-519: A series of 11 evening lectures in Geneva in 1840. His lectures were immediately published in French ( L'Attente Actuelle de l'Eglise ), English (1841), German and Dutch (1847) and so his teachings began their global journey. Some dispensationalists, like Arno Gabelein, whilst philo-semitic , opposed Zionism as a movement born in self-confidence and unbelief. While dispensationalism had considerable influence through

5076-481: A sign of God's fidelity. Political Zionism , which " came down like the wolf on the fold ", has also been anathematized by eminent Protestants: [I]t is the conviction of most biblical scholars that the Old Testament contains no description of the restoration of Israel to its ancient homeland which can apply to the Jewish people of the present age. Political Zionism and Christian Zionism are biblically anathema to

5264-434: A specific conversion experience normative or necessary, but many gained assurance of salvation from such experiences. Over time, however, Puritan theologians developed a framework for authentic religious experience based on their own experiences as well as those of their parishioners. Eventually, Puritans came to regard a specific conversion experience as an essential mark of one's election. The Puritan conversion experience

5452-528: A splendid demonstration upon all kindreds and tongues of the truth." Herman Melville expressed the idea in a poem, "Clarel; A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land": the Hebrew seers announce in time the return of Judah to her prime; Some Christians deemed it then at hand Here was an object. Up and On. With seed and tillage help renew – Help reinstate the Holy Land The tycoon William Eugene Blackstone

5640-559: A step on the path to their eventual return to Palestine (all tied up within a millennialist eschatology, which would hasten the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and thus the final judgement ). Johanna and Ebenezer Cartwright, two Baptists who had spent time in Amsterdam , held the same view and issued the original petition to Thomas Fairfax 's Council of War in January 1649 for Jewish readmission:

5828-701: A theological basis for Zionism outright, a major concern for the Holy See was the fate of the Holy Places which were associated with Jesus Christ if they should ever fall under the governance of such a state. By the mid-19th century, relations between the Vatican and Istanbul were fairly collegial; by that time, the Muslim Ottomans permitted the Vatican to work among the Arab Catholics in Palestine and they also permitted

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6016-525: A third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world. Christians have composed about 33 percent of the world's population for around 100 years. The largest Christian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church , with 1.3 billion adherents, representing half of all Christians. Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western World , where 70% are Christians. According to

6204-482: A uniform reform of the established church was called for to create a godly nation, while others advocated separation from, or the end of, any established state church entirely in favour of autonomous gathered churches , called-out from the world. These Separatist and Independents became more prominent in the 1640s, when the supporters of a presbyterian polity in the Westminster Assembly were unable to forge

6392-411: 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 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, up from about 600 million in 1910. Today, about 37% of all Christians live in

6580-670: A unique significance." Michael Martin evaluated three historical Christian creeds (the Apostles' Creed , the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed ) 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. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah

6768-514: A university degree in institutions of higher education (67%), followed by the Christians of Israel (63%), and the Christians of Georgia (57%). According to the study, Christians in North America , Europe , Middle East , North Africa and Asia Pacific regions are highly educated since many of the world's universities were built by the historic Christian denominations , in addition to

6956-710: 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 ( Χριστός ), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach ( מָשִׁיחַ ) (usually rendered as messiah in English). While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has

7144-513: Is generally understood to be derived from Nazarenes , believers of Jesus of Nazareth through Syriac (Aramaic); Masīḥī ( مسيحي ) 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

7332-515: Is growing in Africa , Asia, Eastern Europe , Latin America , the Muslim world , and Oceania . According to a study from 2015, Christians hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed by Muslims (5.8%), Hindus (3.3%) and Jews (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification Irreligion or other religions hold about 34.8% of

7520-573: Is not accepted by Judaism. The term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוֹצְרִי ( Notzri ' Nazarene ' ), 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 ( Yehudim Meshihi'im ' Messianic Jews ' ). In Arabic-speaking cultures , two words are commonly used for Christians: Naṣrānī ( نصراني ), plural Naṣārā ( نصارى )

7708-426: Is of one Essence   —   and with the venerable Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church —the largest branch of Christians in the world—does not endorse the theological premises underlying millennialist Restorationism as propounded by dispensationalists and it has generally inveighed against the prospect of Jewish governance over Holy Places in Palestine which it deems of importance to Christianity. Theodor Herzl ,

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7896-452: Is that around 2,400 Puritan clergy left the Church in the " Great Ejection " of 1662. At this point, the term " Dissenter " came to include "Puritan", but more accurately described those (clergy or lay) who "dissented" from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer . The Dissenters divided themselves from all other Christians in the Church of England and established their own Separatist congregations in

8084-474: Is why neither Eastern Orthodox Christians nor traditional Catholic Christians did consider Zionism in any political form: "[T]he Eastern Orthodox Church [...] upheld a historic lack of emphasis on pilgrimage, insisting that the land of promise was not Palestine but the Kingdom of God. Thus, Patriarch Ignatius IV , head of the church in the Middle East, reiterated that the people were his concern in Jerusalem, not

8272-599: The Book of Common Prayer , traditional clerical vestments , and episcopal polity . Many English Protestants — especially those former Marian exiles returning to England to work as clergy and bishops — considered the settlement merely the first step in reforming England's church. The years of exile during the Marian Restoration had exposed them to the practices of the Continental Reformed churches . The most impatient clergy began introducing reforms within their local parishes. The initial conflict between Puritans and

8460-693: 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 (37%). Orthodox communions comprise 12% of

8648-667: The Balfour Declaration , famously stated that "His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." As noted by Philip Alexander, "A crucial ingredient in Balfour's Zionism [may have been] his Christian belief or, to put it a little more subtly, his Christian formation. The most persuasive advocate of this thesis is the Canadian historian Donald Lewis in his 2010 monograph, The Origins of Christian Zionism , but it has been espoused by

8836-467: The Brownists , would split from the established church and become known as Separatists. Other Separatists embraced more radical positions on separation of church and state and believer's baptism , becoming early Baptists . Based on Biblical portrayals of Adam and Eve , Puritans believed that marriage was rooted in procreation, love, and, most importantly, salvation. Husbands were the spiritual heads of

9024-868: The Catholic Church , but later he harshly denounced Jews . Like the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church , the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church saw the Christian Church as being the "spiritual Israel" and since Jesus Christ , the covenant with God as being with faithful Christians exclusively as the " people of God ", with no special privileges or role based on ancestral descent (in later times this has been called supersessionism ). The Protestant focus on sola scriptura and

9212-639: The Catholic Church in the United States , because the United States had become Zionism's most powerful endorser). The State of Israel and the Holy See only established full diplomatic relations in 1993 and this was a recognition of political and civic reality, not a theological statement. In the 20th and 21st centuries, certain Catholic theologians such as André Villeneuve, Gary Anderson and Gavin D'Costa , have written in support of Christian Zionism, holding it to be

9400-422: The Christian Right in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1981, Falwell said: "To stand against Israel is to stand against God. We believe that history and scripture prove that God deals with nations in relation to how they deal with Israel." They cite part of the blessing of Isaac at Genesis 27:29 , "Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed." Martin Luther King Jr. has also been cited as

9588-402: The Commonwealth of England between 1649 and 1660. The Philo-Semitic millennialist undercurrent came to have a direct influence on politics. A number of Cromwell's close advisors, such as John Dury , John Sadler and Hugh Peter , came into contact with Dutch-based Jews such as Menasseh ben Israel and advocated Jewish resettlement in England (they had been banned from the country since

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9776-474: 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 near the end of the 1st century. In the Annals he relates that "by vulgar appellation [they were] commonly called Christians" and identifies Christians as Nero 's scapegoats for

9964-469: The Franks and can be seen in the Arab history text Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh by Ali ibn al-Athir . The most common Persian word is Masīhī ( مسیحی ), from Arabic . Other words are Nasrānī ( نصرانی ), from Syriac for ' Nazarene ' , and Tarsā ( ترسا ), from the Middle Persian word Tarsāg , also meaning ' Christian ' , derived from tars , meaning ' fear, respect ' . An old Kurdish word for Christian frequently in usage

10152-447: The Great Fire of Rome . 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 ( Against Marcion 4:8), who records

10340-421: The Greek Septuagint , christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ ( Mašíaḥ , ' messiah '), meaning "[one who is] 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

10528-444: The Hanoverians to power in Britain and the ascent of the Enlightenment, much of the 18th century mainstream elite adopted Philhellenism , looking back to the culture and philosophies of the classical world for inspiration for the Georgian age , rather than entertaining millennialist fantasies based on the Hebrew Old Testament (though Jews themselves enjoyed significant toleration in the British Empire ). Although marginal at first,

10716-493: The Jacobin -government, engaged in revolutionary activities against the British and served in the French Army. In February 1790, he authored a letter to the French Directory , then under the leadership of Napoleon's patron Paul Barras . In the letter he stated "I recommend you, Napoleon, to call on the Jewish people to join your conquest in the East, to your mission to conquer the land of Israel" saying, "Their riches do not console them for their hardships. They await with impatience

10904-455: The Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries. While supporting a mass Jewish return to the Land of Israel , Christian Zionism asserts a parallel idea that the returnees ought to be encouraged to reject Judaism and adopt Christianity as a means of fulfilling biblical prophecies . Polling and academic research have suggested a trend of widespread distrust among Jews towards the motives of Evangelical Protestants, who have been promoting support for

11092-425: The Reformation of the Church of England but remained within it, advocating for further reform; they disagreed among themselves about how much further reformation was possible or even necessary. Others, who were later termed " Nonconformists ", " Separatists ", or "separating Puritans", thought the Church of England was so corrupt that true Christians should separate from it altogether. In its widest historical sense,

11280-419: The Scofield Reference Bible , Christian lobbying for the restoration of the Jews preceded the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible (first published by OUP, 1909) by over a century, and many Christian Zionists and Christian Zionist organizations such as the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem do not subscribe to dispensationalism . Many non-dispensationalist Protestants were also strong advocates of

11468-408: The State of Israel and evangelizing the Jews at the same time. The first wave of Protestant leaders, including Martin Luther and John Calvin , did not mention any special eschatological views which included a return of the Jews to Palestine (converted to Christianity or otherwise). More generally, Luther had hoped that the Jews would convert to his brand of Christianity once he had broken with

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11656-407: The University of Cambridge inherited his scientific papers, they refused to take these private ones. Many of these, collected by Abraham Yahuda , now rest in the National Library of Israel since 1967. Spinoza for his part, although Jewish himself, moved in circles in the Netherlands which included Petrus Serrarius, Henry Oldenburg and was even directly influenced by La Peyrère. With the rise of

11844-437: The apocalyptic end times. For most Christians the City of God ( Psalm 46:4 ( Septuagint : ΜΕ:5 ): "ἡ πόλις τοῦ Θεοῦ" , romanized:  "hē pólis toũ theoũ" , lit.   'the city of God') has nothing to do with Jewish immigration to Israel and the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict ; instead, it predicts the sack of Rome (410) and it is cited in the teaching of Saint Augustine of Hippo . That

12032-483: The education of women , which led to the eradication of illiteracy among females in Protestant communities. Christian culture describes the cultural practices common to Christian peoples. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions. Christian culture has influenced and assimilated much from the Greco-Roman , Byzantine , Western culture , Middle Eastern , Slavic , Caucasian , and Indian cultures . Since

12220-463: The evangelical Protestants of the 18th century. While evangelical views on conversion were heavily influenced by Puritan theology, the Puritans believed that assurance of one's salvation was "rare, late and the fruit of struggle in the experience of believers", whereas evangelicals believed that assurance was normative for all the truly converted. While most Puritans were members of the Church of England, they were critical of its worship practices. In

12408-414: The prelatical party) were conservatives who supported retaining bishops if those leaders supported reform and agreed to share power with local churches. They also supported the idea of having a Book of Common Prayer , but they were against demanding strict conformity or having too much ceremony. In addition, these Puritans called for a renewal of preaching, pastoral care and Christian discipline within

12596-431: The revised Book of Common Prayer . The Puritan movement of Jacobean times became distinctive by adaptation and compromise, with the emergence of "semi-separatism", "moderate puritanism", the writings of William Bradshaw (who adopted the term "Puritan" for himself), and the beginnings of Congregationalism . Most Puritans of this period were non-separating and remained within the Church of England; Separatists who left

12784-427: The veneration of saints as idolatry and placed more focus on the biblical patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament , often naming their children Abraham, Cain, Jeremiah, Zachary, Daniel, Sampson, and the like. The anticipation of Jews returning to Palestine and making it their national homeland was first heard among self-identified Christian groups in the 1580s, particularly those aligned with Puritanism ,

12972-413: The vestments controversy , church authorities attempted and failed to enforce the use of clerical vestments. While never a mass movement, the Puritans had the support and protection of powerful patrons in the aristocracy. In the 1570s, the primary dispute between Puritans and the authorities was over the appropriate form of church government. Many Puritans believed that the Church of England should follow

13160-415: The 13th century). Sadler, Cromwell's secretary, even argued that the British were one of the Lost Tribes of Israel in his pamphlet The Rights of the Kingdom (1649) and thus kindred to the Jews, initiating British Israelism . Other Puritans such as Jeremiah Burroughs , Peter Bulkley , John Fenwicke and John Cotton , some of whom lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony , saw Jewish re-entry to England as

13348-457: The 1660s and 1670s. An estimated 1,800 of the ejected clergy continued in some fashion as ministers of religion, according to Richard Baxter . The government initially attempted to suppress these schismatic organisations by using the Clarendon Code . There followed a period in which schemes of "comprehension" were proposed, under which Presbyterians could be brought back into the Church of England, but nothing resulted from them. The Whigs opposed

13536-698: 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 ( Kirisuto-kyōto ) or the English-derived term クリスチャン ( kurisuchan ). Korean still uses 기독교도 ( RR : Gidokkyodo ) for ' Christian ' , though the Portuguese loanword 그리스도 (RR: Geuriseudo ) now replaced the old Sino-Korean 기독 (RR: Gidok ), which refers to Christ himself. In Thailand,

13724-645: The 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. Puritanism played a significant role in English and early American history, especially in the Protectorate in Great Britain, and the earlier settlement of New England . Puritans were dissatisfied with

13912-605: The 17th century, Sunday worship in the established church took the form of the Morning Prayer service in the Book of Common Prayer . This may include a sermon, but Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper was only occasionally observed. Officially, lay people were only required to receive communion three times a year, but most people only received communion once a year at Easter. Puritans were concerned about biblical errors and Catholic remnants within

14100-645: 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. The first recorded use of the term (or its cognates in other languages) is in the New Testament , in Acts 11 after Barnabas brought Saul (Paul) to Antioch where they taught the disciples for about a year. The text says that "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" ( Acts 11:26 ). The second mention of

14288-461: The ACPC, at times publishing their materials in his periodical, The Fundamentalist . In the decades since the establishment of Israel, and especially since the 1967 Six-Day War , the most prominent American Christian supporters of Israel have come from the evangelical wing of American Protestantism . American evangelicalism itself underwent significant changes in the years surrounding Israel's birth, as

14476-455: The Bible. Alexander Keith recounted the journey in his 1844 book The Land of Israel According to the Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob . It was also in that book that Keith used the slogan that became popular with other Christian Restorationists, a land without a people for a people without a land . In 1844 he revisited Palestine with his son, George Skene Keith (1819–1910), who

14664-612: The Catholic veneration of virginity (associated with the Virgin Mary), citing Edward Taylor and John Cotton . One Puritan settlement in western Massachusetts banished a husband because he refused to fulfill his sexual duties to his wife. Puritanism had a historical importance over a period of a century, followed by fifty years of development in New England. It changed character and emphasis nearly decade by decade over that time. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559 established

14852-625: The Christian faith. [...] [T]rue Israel today is neither Jews nor Israelis, but believers in the Messiah, even if they are gentiles. In the United States, the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches in November 2007 approved a resolution for further study which stated that the "theological stance of Christian Zionism adversely affects: Christians A Christian ( / ˈ k r ɪ s tʃ ən , - t i ə n / )

15040-608: The Church of England after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the Act of Uniformity 1662 . Many continued to practise their faith in nonconformist denominations, especially in Congregationalist and Presbyterian churches. The nature of the Puritan movement in England changed radically. In New England, it retained its character for a longer period . Puritanism was never a formally defined religious division within Protestantism, and

15228-402: The Church of England altogether were numerically much fewer. The Puritan movement in England was riven over decades by emigration and inconsistent interpretations of Scripture, as well as some political differences that surfaced at that time. The Fifth Monarchy Men , a radical millenarian wing of Puritanism, aided by strident, popular clergy like Vavasor Powell , agitated from the right wing of

15416-476: The Church of England as a Protestant church and brought the English Reformation to a close. During the reign of Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603), the Church of England was widely considered a Reformed church, and Calvinists held the best bishoprics and deaneries . Nevertheless, it preserved certain characteristics of medieval Catholicism , such as cathedrals, church choirs , a formal liturgy contained in

15604-436: The Church of England for allowing unrepentant sinners to receive communion. Puritans wanted better spiritual preparation (such as clergy home visits and testing people on their knowledge of the catechism) for communion and better church discipline to ensure that the unworthy were kept from the sacrament. Puritans did not believe confirmation was necessary and thought candidates were poorly prepared since bishops did not have

15792-409: The Church of England. Like the episcopalians, the presbyterians agreed that there should be a national church but one structured on the model of the Church of Scotland . They wanted to replace bishops with a system of elective and representative governing bodies of clergy and laity (local sessions , presbyteries , synods , and ultimately a national general assembly ). During the Interregnum ,

15980-666: The Church." One of Spener's followers, Nicolaus Zinzendorf , spread this into the Moravian Church , linking the theory to Palestine, changing the Moravian liturgy to include a prayer "to restore the tribe of Judah in its time and bless its first fruits among us." John and Charles Wesley , early leaders in Methodism ; inspired by the Pietists and Zinzendorf's Moravians; also promoted a Jewish return to Palestine with Charles Wesley even authoring

16168-781: The Civil War period, such as when an axe was taken to the organ of Worcester Cathedral in 1642. While the Puritans were united in their goal of furthering the English Reformation, they were always divided over issues of ecclesiology and church polity, specifically questions relating to the manner of organizing congregations, how individual congregations should relate with one another and whether established national churches were scriptural. On these questions, Puritans divided between supporters of episcopal polity , presbyterian polity and congregational polity . The episcopalians (known as

16356-689: The Hebraic roots of their faith and to actively assist and participate in the plan of God for the Ingathering of the Jewish People and the Restoration of the nation of Israel in our day. Popular interest in Christian Zionism was given a boost around the year 2000 in the form of the Left Behind series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins . The novels are built around the prophetic role of Israel in

16544-666: The Holocaust , American Jewish Zionists helped coordinate the establishment of two non-Jewish Zionist organizations, the American Palestine Committee and the Christian Council on Palestine, which were later merged into the American Christian Palestine Committee (ACPC). The ACPC, which was composed largely of liberal and mainline Protestants, became the leading American Christian lobby in support of

16732-813: The Jews . By the end of the 18th century, in the aftermath of the French Revolution and the National Assembly decreeing in December 1789 that non-Catholics were eligible for all civil and military positions, the Revolutionary government in France made a play for the allegiance of Jews , in competition with Britain. During the Egypt–Syria campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars , Bonaparte invited "all

16920-456: The Jews of Asia and Africa to gather under his flag in order to re-establish the ancient Jerusalem." Although Bonaparte himself was secular and the idea an early example of pragmatic Political Zionism , the Jacobin idea itself may have originated from Thomas Corbet (1773–1804), an Anglo-Irish Protestant émigrée who, as a member of the liberal-republican Society of United Irishmen , was an ally of

17108-456: The Jews on Grand Island in New York as a way station on the way to the Holy Land, won widespread Christian backing for his project. Likewise, restorationist theology was among the inspirations for the first American missionary activity in the Middle East and for mapping the Holy Land. Most early-19th-century British Restorationists, like Charles Simeon , were postmillennial in eschatology. With

17296-618: The Jews themselves, for whose hard measure I fear the nations and England have yet a score to pay." Some important 17th-century philosophers who acted a bridge between the millennialist sectarians of their day and the approaching Age of the Enlightenment with its scientific revolution either held views associated with premillennial restorationists, or moved closely in their circles: this applies particularly to Sir Isaac Newton and Baruch Spinoza . Newton especially, who held Radical Reformation views in terms of religion and also dabbled in

17484-577: The Jews, converted to Christianity, in the end times . Early versions of the Bible endorsed by the English monarchy and the Anglican Church included the Great Bible and the Bishops' Bible . However, a number of English Puritans and Lowland Scots Presbyterians viewed these (along with Episcopalianism and the establishment " Protestantism of the princes "), in general, as too " Romanist ." In response,

17672-470: The Jews; they were shaped in part by a variety of Protestant beliefs, or by a streak of philo-Semitism among the classically educated British elite. At the urging of Lord Shaftesbury , Britain established a consulate in Jerusalem in 1838, the first diplomatic appointment to Palestine. In 1839, the Church of Scotland sent Andrew Bonar , Robert Murray M'Cheyne , Alexander Black and Alexander Keith on

17860-463: The New England colonies (around 700,000 by 1790) was almost entirely due to the high birth rate and lower death rate per year. They had formed families more rapidly than did the southern colonies. Puritan hegemony lasted for at least a century. That century can be broken down into three parts: the generation of John Cotton and Richard Mather , 1630–62 from the founding to the Restoration, years of virtual independence and nearly autonomous development;

18048-568: The Ottoman Empire made some in the west consider the potential of a Jewish state in the Holy Land. A number of important figures within the British government advocated such a plan, including Charles Henry Churchill . Again during the lead-up to the Crimean War (1854), there was an opportunity for political rearrangements in the Near East. In July 1853, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury , who

18236-650: The Ottoman Empire threatened the British route to India via the Suez Canal as well as sundry French, German and American economic interests. In 1831 the Ottomans were driven from the region of Syria (including Palestine) by an expansionist Egypt, in the First Turko-Egyptian War . Although Britain forced Muhammad Ali to withdraw to Egypt, the Levant was left for a brief time without a government. The ongoing weakness of

18424-439: The Puritans "liberated men from the treadmill of indulgences and penances , but cast them on the iron couch of introspection". It was expected that conversion would be followed by sanctification —"the progressive growth in the saint's ability to better perceive and seek God's will, and thus to lead a holy life". Some Puritans attempted to find assurance of their faith by keeping detailed records of their behavior and looking for

18612-452: The Puritans stressed "that Christ comes down to us in the sacrament by His Word and Spirit, offering Himself as our spiritual food and drink". They criticised the prayer book service for being too similar to the Catholic mass. For example, the requirement that people kneel to receive communion implied adoration of the Eucharist , a practice linked to transubstantiation. Puritans also criticised

18800-520: The Russian term крестьяне ( khrest'yane ) acquired the meaning ' peasants of Christian faith ' and later ' peasants ' (the main part of the population of the region), while the term Russian : христиане ( khristiane ) retained its religious meaning and the term Russian : русские ( russkie ) began to mean representatives of the heterogeneous Russian nation formed on the basis of common Christian faith and language, which strongly influenced

18988-576: The Turks and given to their natural owners. Does not Palestine as rightfully belong to the Jews?" Ideas favoring the restoration of the Jews in Palestine or the Land of Israel entered the British public discourse in the 1830s, though British Reformationists had written about the restoration of the Jews as early as the 16th century, and the idea had strong support among Puritans. Not all such attitudes were favorable towards

19176-793: The US Chief Justice, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and several other congressmen, Rockefeller, Morgan and famous industrialists. It read, in part: "Why shall not the powers which under the treaty of Berlin, in 1878, gave Bulgaria to the Bulgarians and Servia to the Servians now give Palestine back to the Jews? ... These provinces, as well as Romania, Montenegro, and Greece, were wrested from

19364-500: The United States was not descended from all of the original colonists, since many returned to England shortly after arriving on the continent, but it produced more than 16 million descendants. This so-called "Great Migration" is not so named because of sheer numbers, which were much less than the number of English citizens who immigrated to Virginia and the Caribbean during this time, many as indentured servants. The rapid growth of

19552-649: The Vatican to access the Holy Places quite freely so the status quo was already workable for them. Following the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine , the Vatican advocated the position that Jerusalem should be treated as a separate " international city ", as laid out in the encyclical Redemptoris nostri cruciatus . Until the Second Vatican Council , the Catholic Church was forthright in its international lobbying against Zionism (including

19740-601: The Western world, Christians has had an influence and contributed on various cultures, such as in Africa, the Near East, Middle East, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Christians have made noted contributions to a range of fields, including philosophy, science and technology , medicine , fine arts and architecture , politics , literatures , music , and business . According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes

19928-511: The Zionist movement as at least a partial fulfillment of biblical prophecy or they viewed it as a modern fulfillment of God's covenantal promises to the Jewish people. In the 1930s, Southern Baptist missionary Jacob Gartenhaus, himself a convert from Judaism, argued that "Zionism is going to win whether anybody likes it or not...To oppose it is to oppose God's plan." But for the most part, such beliefs did not translate into political action on behalf of

20116-491: The authorities included instances of nonconformity, such as omitting parts of the liturgy to allow more time for the sermon and singing of metrical psalms . Some Puritans refused to bow on hearing the name of Jesus, or to make the sign of the cross in baptism, or to use wedding rings or the organ. Yet, the main complaint Puritans had was the requirement that clergy wear the white surplice and clerical cap . Puritan clergymen preferred to wear black academic attire . During

20304-556: The basis for the development of Christian Zionism as a movement. Such activism, it should be noted, was in many ways distinct from the prophetic speculation about the State of Israel that exploded after the 1967 Six-Day War (even as it had somewhat common theological and hermeneutical antecedents). This activism includes the wildly popular writings of the American dispensationalist evangelical writer Hal Lindsey , which sought to fit Israel into

20492-641: The building of these relationships was a motivated coterie of American evangelicals who resided in Israel, most notably, the founder of the American Institute of Holy Land Studies, G. Douglas Young. Through his institute, Young worked to convince American Christians that it was their biblical duty to support the Jewish people and the Jewish state. He also worked as a go-between for Jewish organizations and Israeli government agencies which were seeking to build relationships with American evangelicals. Such activism provided

20680-529: The central role of the Western world and Western culture . Western culture, throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, and a large portion of the population of the Western Hemisphere can be described as practicing or nominal Christians. The notion of "Europe" and the "Western World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom". Outside

20868-702: The church government to be God's agency in social life. The Puritans in the Colonies wanted their children to be able to read and interpret the Bible themselves, rather than have to rely on the clergy for interpretation. In 1635, they established the Boston Latin School to educate their sons, the first and oldest formal education institution in the English-speaking New World. They also set up what were called dame schools for their daughters, and in other cases taught their daughters at home how to read. As

21056-515: The country's rich history of early Christianity during the Spanish colonial era . Some Protestants in the Philippines use the term Kristiyano (before the term born again became popular) to differentiate themselves from Catholics ( Katoliko ). 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

21244-575: The court religious policies and argued that the Dissenters should be allowed to worship separately from the established Church. This position ultimately prevailed when the Toleration Act was passed in the wake of the Glorious Revolution in 1689. This permitted the licensing of Dissenting ministers and the building of chapels. The term " Nonconformist " generally replaced the term "Dissenter" from

21432-514: The creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, the ACPC continued its lobbying efforts. For instance, it coordinated opposition to the United Nations' efforts to internationalize the city of Jerusalem, which was divided between Israel and Transjordan in the 1948 War. During these years, dispensational premillennialism grew in popularity among conservative American Protestants. Many dispensationalists viewed

21620-466: The cross made possible the covenant of grace, by which those selected by God could be saved. Puritans believed in unconditional election and irresistible grace —God's grace was given freely without condition to the elect and could not be refused. Covenant theology made individual salvation deeply personal. It held that God's predestination was not "impersonal and mechanical" but was a "covenant of grace" that one entered into by faith . Therefore, being

21808-463: The dispensationalist understanding that Jews remained in a special covenantal relationship with God. Most important to the development of Christian Zionism as a movement, though, was the fact that American evangelical leaders began to build relationships with American and Israeli Jews and they also began to build institutional connections with Jewish organizations and the Israeli government itself. Crucial to

21996-518: The doctrines of the Church of England , mother Church of the Anglican Communion . In the 17th century, the word Puritan was a term applied not to just one group but to many. Historians still debate a precise definition of Puritanism. Originally, Puritan was a pejorative term characterizing certain Protestant groups as extremist. Thomas Fuller , in his Church History , dates the first use of

22184-402: The dust," and called for "elevating" the Jews "to a rank of honorable repute among the nations of the earth" by allowing restoring the Jews to the land of Israel where the bulk would be converted to Christianity . This, according to Bush, would benefit not only the Jews, but all of mankind, forming a "link of communication" between humanity and God. "It will blaze in notoriety ...". "It will flash

22372-567: The early Presidents of Harvard College was a strong proponent of the restoration of the Jews to Palestine. An author of numerous works, his most notable in this regard was The Mystery of Israel's Salvation (1669). Roger Williams , the Puritan proponent of religious liberty (including for Jews) in the Colony of Rhode Island that he founded has been citied as a proto-Zionist in speeches by later Jewish Zionist leaders such as Stephen S. Wise , due to his comment that "I have longed after some trading with

22560-406: The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord; and that this personal and premillennial advent is the blessed hope set before us in the Gospel for which we should be constantly looking. The dispensationalist theology of John Nelson Darby is often claimed to be a significant awakener of American Christian Zionism. He first distinguished the hopes of the Jews and that of the church and gentiles in

22748-410: The effect of baptism was disputed. Puritans objected to the prayer book's assertion of baptismal regeneration . In Puritan theology, infant baptism was understood in terms of covenant theology—baptism replaced circumcision as a sign of the covenant and marked a child's admission into the visible church . It could not be assumed that baptism produces regeneration. The Westminster Confession states that

22936-460: The epoch of their re-establishment as a nation." Dr. Milka Levy-Rubin, a curator at the National Library of Israel, has attributed Corbet's motivation to a Protestant Zionism based on premillennialist themes. In New England during the 18th century, Ezra Stiles , president of Yale College was a supporter of Jewish restoration and befriended Rabbi Raphael Chaim Yitzchak Karigal of Hebron in 1773 during his visit. Jonathan Edwards also anticipated

23124-760: The evidence of salvation in their lives. Puritan clergy wrote many spiritual guides to help their parishioners pursue personal piety and sanctification. These included Arthur Dent's The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven (1601), Richard Rogers's Seven Treatises (1603), Henry Scudder's Christian's Daily Walk (1627) and Richard Sibbes's The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax (1630). Too much emphasis on one's good works could be criticized for being too close to Arminianism , and too much emphasis on subjective religious experience could be criticized as Antinomianism . Many Puritans relied on both personal religious experience and self-examination to assess their spiritual condition. Puritanism's experiential piety would be inherited by

23312-526: The example of Reformed churches in other parts of Europe and adopt presbyterian polity , under which government by bishops would be replaced with government by elders . But all attempts to enact further reforms through Parliament were blocked by the Queen. Despite such setbacks, Puritan leaders such as John Field and Thomas Cartwright continued to promote presbyterianism through the formation of unofficial clerical conferences that allowed Puritan clergymen to organise and network. This covert Puritan network

23500-735: 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 (301 AD) and Georgia (337 AD), later Bulgaria ( c. 864) and Kyivan Rus ( c. 988 AD). In some areas, people came to denote themselves as Christians ( Russian : христиане, крестьяне ; Ukrainian : християни , romanized :  khrystyiany ) and as Russians ( Russian : русские ), Ruthenians ( Old East Slavic : русини, руснаки , romanized:  rusyny, rusnaky ), or Ukrainians ( Ukrainian : українці , romanized :  ukraintsi ). In time

23688-424: The founder of modern Christian Zionism. When it came to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of Herzl's death, it was noted by the editors of the English-language memorial volume that William Hechler would prove "not only the first, but the most constant and the most indefatigable of Herzl's followers". On 2 November 1917, UK Home Secretary Arthur Balfour sent a letter to Lord Walter Rothschild . This letter, known as

23876-438: The generation of Increase Mather , 1662–89 from the Restoration and the Halfway Covenant to the Glorious Revolution, years of struggle with the British crown; and the generation of Cotton Mather , 1689–1728 from the overthrow of Edmund Andros (in which Cotton Mather played a part) and the new charter, mediated by Increase Mather, to the death of Cotton Mather. Puritan leaders were political thinkers and writers who considered

24064-559: The grace of baptism is only effective for those who are among the elect, and its effects lie dormant until one experiences conversion later in life. Puritans wanted to do away with godparents , who made baptismal vows on behalf of infants, and give that responsibility to the child's father. Puritans also objected to priests making the sign of the cross in baptism. Private baptisms were opposed because Puritans believed that preaching should always accompany sacraments. Some Puritan clergy even refused to baptise dying infants because that implied

24252-432: The highest numbers of years of schooling among Christians were found in Germany (13.6), New Zealand (13.5) and Estonia (13.1). Christians were also found to have the second highest number of graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita while in absolute numbers ranked in the first place (220 million). Between the various Christian communities , Singapore outranks other nations in terms of Christians who obtain

24440-405: The historical evidence that "Christian monks built libraries and, in the days before printing presses, preserved important earlier writings produced in Latin, Greek and Arabic". According to the same study, Christians have a significant amount of gender equality in educational attainment, and the study suggests that one of the reasons is the encouragement of the Protestant Reformers in promoting

24628-494: The history and development of the region. In the region, the term Orthodox faith ( Russian : православная вера , pravoslavnaia vera ) or Russian faith ( Russian : русская вера , russkaia vera ) from the earliest times became almost as common as the original Christian faith ( Russian : христианская, крестьянская вера khristianskaia, krestianskaia ). Also in some contexts the term cossack ( Old East Slavic : козак, казак , romanized:  kozak, kazak )

24816-439: The importance of the theories, showing an early interplay between 17th century Jewish and Protestant proto-Zionism. Other Continental Protestant millennialists enthused by La Peyrère's theories were the Germans Abraham von Franckenberg (a student of the Kabbalah ) and Paul Felgenhauer. Menasseh Ben Israel himself would author The Hope of Israel in 1652. Serrarius ended up being the main supporter among Protestants in Amsterdam of

25004-526: The larger category as Christian. Most Baptists and fundamentalists ( Christian Fundamentalism ), for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian. In fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. 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

25192-534: The late Tudor and early Stuart period, these Puritans remained outsiders in England and bitterly opposed the Laudian -dominated Anglican Church (though the Presbyterians, who held very similar views, had established the Church of Scotland as the largest " Kirk " in Scotland). With the English Civil War , the Puritans filled the ranks of the Parliamentarians and the New Model Army . Under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell they were victorious, executed Charles I of England and gained complete state power, establishing

25380-568: The limited extent of the English Reformation and with the Church of England's toleration of certain practices associated with the Roman Catholic Church. They formed and identified with various religious groups advocating greater purity of worship and doctrine , as well as personal and corporate piety . Puritans adopted a covenant theology , and in that sense they were Calvinists (as were many of their earlier opponents). In church polity, Puritans were divided between supporters of episcopal , presbyterian , and congregational polities. Some believed

25568-405: The liturgy to allow more time for preaching. Puritan churchgoers attended two sermons on Sundays and as many weekday sermons and lectures they could find, often traveling for miles. Puritans were distinct for their adherence to Sabbatarianism . Puritans taught that there were two sacraments : baptism and the Lord's Supper. Puritans agreed with the church's practice of infant baptism . However,

25756-432: The message that Sabbatai Zevi was the Messiah , as proclaimed by Nathan of Gaza (his followers, the Sabbateans , were based in the Ottoman Empire but he had significant support throughout the Jewish diaspora ). Although removed from power in England itself, the millennialist Puritans who had moved to New England continued to have a deeper cultural legacy in society. As well as John Cotton, Increase Mather , one of

25944-427: The middle of the 18th century. Some Puritans left for New England , particularly from 1629 to 1640 (the Eleven Years' Tyranny under King Charles I ), supporting the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and other settlements among the northern colonies. The large-scale Puritan migration to New England ceased by 1641, with around 21,000 persons having moved across the Atlantic. This English-speaking population in

26132-531: The most common terms are คนคริสต์ ( RTGS : khon khrit ) or ชาวคริสต์ (RTGS: chao khrit ) which literally means ' Christ person/people ' or ' Jesus person/people ' . The Thai word คริสต์ (RTGS: khrit ) is derived from Christ . In the Philippines , the most common terms are Kristiyano (for ' Christian ' ) and {{lang[fil|Kristiyanismo}} (for ' Christianity ' ) in most Philippine languages ; both derive from Spanish cristiano and cristianismo (also used in Chavacano ) due to

26320-518: The most powerful role in world governance: all working towards the Second Coming. La Peyrère closely followed the developments of Oliver Cromwell's Dissenter regime and dreamed of overthrowing Louis XIV of France and replacing him with the Prince of Condé (who he worked for as a secretary) as part of a millennialist proto-Zionist messianic project. After the publication of La Peyrère's book the Amsterdam-based Menasseh Ben Israel informed his friend, Petrus Serrarius (a close associate of John Dury), about

26508-464: The movement in this era. One slight exception was J. Frank Norris, a fundamentalist Baptist who split time between pulpits in Fort Worth, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan. While Norris did not organize lobbying efforts in the way that the ACPC did, he did preach to his followers that it was their Christian duty to support the Zionist cause and wrote President Truman in support of Zionist claims to Palestine in 1947 and 1948. Norris also loosely coordinated with

26696-465: The movement was part of a broader effort at interfaith rapprochement . The Pro-Palestine Federation, a Christian pro-Zionist organization which was founded in 1930, called for the promotion of "goodwill and esteem between Jews and non-Jews" and it also called for the British government to adhere to the terms of its Mandate for Palestine, which pledged support for the establishment of a Jewish national home. Amidst World War II and their growing awareness of

26884-419: The movement, even as sectarian groups like the Ranters , Levellers , and Quakers pulled from the left. The fragmentation created a collapse of the centre and, ultimately, sealed a political failure, while depositing an enduring spiritual legacy that would remain and grow in English-speaking Christianity. The Westminster Assembly was called in 1643, assembling clergy of the Church of England. The Assembly

27072-403: The occult (including the Kabbalah) predicted a Jewish return to Palestine, with the rebuilding of Jerusalem in the late 19th century and the erection of the Third Temple in the 20th or 21st century, leading to the end of the world no later than 2060. Much of these private writings were embarrassing to his supporters who sought to uphold him as a man of reason and science against Leibniz and while

27260-426: The oppressed Jews living in Russia were passed, but Blackstone was convinced that such resolutions—even though passed by prominent men—were insufficient. He advocated strongly for the resettlement of Jewish people in Palestine. In 1891 he lobbied President Benjamin Harrison for the restoration of the Jews, in a petition signed by 413 prominent Americans, that became known as the Blackstone Memorial . The names included

27448-449: The past, the Malays used to call Christians in Malay by the Portuguese loanword Serani (from Arabic Naṣrānī ), 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 基督 徒 ( jīdū tú ), literally ' Christ follower ' . The name Christ was originally phonetically written in Chinese as 基利斯督 , which

27636-469: The petition hoped, "That this Nation of England, with the inhabitants of the Netherlands, shall be the first and the readiest to transport Israel's sons and daughters on their ships to the land promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for an everlasting inheritance." Their de facto toleration in England was informally achieved by 1655 to 1656 and was not rolled back after the Restoration . A prominent French-born figure Isaac La Peyrère , who

27824-418: The phrase "the Jews call us Nazarenes." While 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. A wide range of beliefs and practices are found across

28012-420: The prayer book. Puritans objected to bowing at the name of Jesus, the requirement that priests wear the surplice , and the use of written, set prayers in place of improvised prayers. The sermon was central to Puritan piety. It was not only a means of religious education; Puritans believed it was the most common way that God prepared a sinner's heart for conversion. On Sundays, Puritan ministers often shortened

28200-416: The presbyterians had limited success at reorganizing the Church of England. The Westminster Assembly proposed the creation of a presbyterian system, but the Long Parliament left implementation to local authorities. As a result, the Church of England never developed a complete presbyterian hierarchy. Congregationalists or Independents believed in the autonomy of the local church, which ideally would be

28388-420: The rise of James Frere , James Haldane Stewart and Edward Irving a major shift in the 1820s towards premillennialism occurred, with a similar focus on advocacy for the restoration of the Jews to Israel. As the demise of the Ottoman Empire appeared to be approaching, the advocacy of restorationism increased. At the same time, the visit of John Nelson Darby to the United States catalyzed a new movement. Darby

28576-422: The sacrament contributed to salvation. Puritans rejected both Roman Catholic ( transubstantiation ) and Lutheran ( sacramental union ) teachings that Christ is physically present in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. Instead, Puritans embraced the Reformed doctrine of real spiritual presence , believing that in the Lord's Supper the faithful receive Christ spiritually. In agreement with Thomas Cranmer ,

28764-471: The sacraments would only be administered to those in the church covenant. Most congregational Puritans remained within the Church of England, hoping to reform it according to their own views. The New England Congregationalists were also adamant that they were not separating from the Church of England. However, some Puritans equated the Church of England with the Roman Catholic Church, and therefore considered it no Christian church at all. These groups, such as

28952-435: The secular Jewish founder of modern political Zionism, had an audience in the Vatican with Pope Pius X in 1904, arranged by the Austrian Count Berthold Dominik Lippay, seeking out the position of the Catholic Church on Herzl's prospective project for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. Pope Pius X stated "We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem—but we could never sanction it. The soil of Jerusalem, if it

29140-407: The spread of Christianity from the Levant to Europe and North Africa and Horn of Africa during the early Roman Empire , Christendom has been divided in the pre-existing Greek East and Latin West . Consequently, different versions of the Christian cultures arose with their own rites and practices, centered around the cities such as Rome ( Western Christianity ) and Carthage , whose communities

29328-417: The stones." Not a worldly kingdom, not an earthly Jerusalem is sought after, but the focus is on the heavenly Jerusalem , the kingdom of the triune God : At first you will see prayer as a ladder, then as a book which you read, and finally, as you advance further and further, you will see it as the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the King of Hosts, Who is together with His Father   —   with Whom He

29516-427: The teachings of four prominent Puritan leaders, including Laurence Chaderton , but largely sided with his bishops. He was well informed on theological matters by his education and Scottish upbringing, and he dealt shortly with the peevish legacy of Elizabethan Puritanism, pursuing an eirenic religious policy, in which he was arbiter. Many of James's episcopal appointments were Calvinists, notably James Montague , who

29704-510: The term Puritan includes both groups. Puritans should not be confused with other radical Protestant groups of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Quakers , Seekers , and Familists , who believed that individuals could be directly guided by the Holy Spirit . The latter denominations give precedence to direct revelation over the Bible . In current English, puritan often means "against pleasure". In such usage, hedonism and puritanism are antonyms . William Shakespeare described

29892-454: The term Puritan itself was rarely used after the turn of the 18th century. The Congregationalist Churches , widely considered to be a part of the Reformed tradition of Christianity, are descended from the Puritans. Moreover, Puritan beliefs are enshrined in the Savoy Declaration , the confession of faith held by the Congregationalist churches. Some Puritan ideals, including the formal rejection of Roman Catholicism, were incorporated into

30080-494: 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." ( Acts 26:28 ). The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4 , which exhorts believers: "Yet if [any man suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." ( 1 Peter 4:16 ). Kenneth Samuel Wuest holds that all three original New Testament verses' usages reflect

30268-477: The time to examine them properly. The marriage service was criticised for using a wedding ring (which implied that marriage was a sacrament) and having the groom vow to his bride "with my body I thee worship", which Puritans considered blasphemous . In the funeral service, the priest committed the body to the ground "in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Puritans objected to this phrase because they did not believe it

30456-410: The total global wealth. A study done by the nonpartisan wealth research firm New World Wealth found that 56.2% of the 13.1 million millionaires in the world were Christians. A Pew Center study about religion and education around the world in 2016, found that Christians ranked as the second most educated religious group around in the world after Jews with an average of 9.3 years of schooling, and

30644-458: The vain, pompous killjoy Malvolio in Twelfth Night as "a kind of Puritan". H. L. Mencken defined Puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." Puritans embraced sexuality but placed it in the context of marriage. Peter Gay writes that the Puritans' standard reputation for "dour prudery" was a "misreading that went unquestioned in the nineteenth century". He said they were in favour of married sexuality, and opposed

30832-425: The wider distribution of the Bible across Europe in the vernacular languages, however, allowed various radical protestants to interpret the scriptures in their own ways, in a manner which was not entirely reflective of either medieval Catholic tradition , or, the views of the Magisterial Protestant leaders themselves. Coupled with this was a general cultural Hebraising among more radical Protestants, as they saw

31020-509: The word to 1564. Archbishop Matthew Parker of that time used it and precisian with a sense similar to the modern stickler . Puritans, then, were distinguished for being "more intensely protestant than their protestant neighbors or even the Church of England". As a term of abuse, Puritan was not used by Puritans themselves. Those referred to as Puritan called themselves terms such as "the godly", "saints", "professors", or "God's children". "Non-separating Puritans" were dissatisfied with

31208-444: 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: Although all of them have their historical roots in Christian theology and tradition, and although most would identify themselves as Christian, many would not identify others within

31396-713: The world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. 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. In recent history, Christians have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in the Middle-East , North Africa, East Asia , and South Asia . 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

31584-469: The world. It is reprehensible that generations of Jewish peoples have been killed and persecuted in the name of our Lord, and we challenge the Church to repent of any sins of commission or omission against them. The modern Ingathering of the Jewish People to Eretz Israel and the rebirth of the nation of Israel are in fulfilment of biblical prophecies, as written in both Old and New Testaments. Christian believers are instructed by Scripture to acknowledge

31772-451: Was felle ( فەڵە ), coming from the root word meaning ' to be saved, attain salvation ' . The Syriac term Nasrani ( ' Nazarene ' ) has also been attached to the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala , India. In northern India and Pakistan , Christians are referred to ʿĪsāʾī ( Hindi : ईसाई , Urdu : عیسائی ). Masīhī ( Hindi : मसीही , Urdu : مسیحی ) is a term Christians use to refer to themselves as well. In

31960-472: Was President of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews , wrote to Prime Minister Aberdeen urging Jewish restoration as a means of stabilizing the region. Late-19th-century non-messianic restorationism was largely driven by concern over the fate of the Jews of the Russian Empire, beset by poverty and by deadly, government-inspired pogroms. It was widely accepted that western nations did not wish to receive Jewish immigrants. Restorationism

32148-418: Was a way for charitable individuals to assist oppressed Jews without actually accepting them as neighbors and fellow-citizens. In this, Restorationism was not unlike the efforts of the American Colonization Society to send blacks to Liberia and the efforts of British abolitionists to create Sierra Leone . Winston Churchill endorsed Restoration because he recognized that Jews fleeing Russian pogroms required

32336-485: Was able to agree to the Westminster Confession of Faith doctrinally, a consistent Reformed theological position. The Directory of Public Worship was made official in 1645, and the larger framework (now called the Westminster Standards ) was adopted by the Church of Scotland . In England, the Standards were contested by Independents up to 1660. The Westminster Divines , on the other hand, were divided over questions of church polity and split into factions supporting

32524-498: Was an influential courtier. Puritans still opposed much of the Roman Catholic summation in the Church of England, notably the Book of Common Prayer , but also the use of non-secular vestments (cap and gown) during services, the sign of the Cross in baptism, and kneeling to receive Holy Communion. Some of the bishops under both Elizabeth and James tried to suppress Puritanism, though other bishops were more tolerant. In many places, individual ministers were able to omit disliked portions of

32712-413: Was called Western or Latin Christendom , and Constantinople ( Eastern Christianity ), Antioch ( Syriac Christianity ), Kerala ( Indian Christianity ) and Alexandria , among others, whose communities were called Eastern or Oriental Christendom. The Byzantine Empire was one of the peaks in Christian history and Christian civilization . From the 11th to 13th centuries, Latin Christendom rose to

32900-426: Was commonly described as occurring in discrete phases. It began with a preparatory phase designed to produce contrition for sin through introspection, Bible study and listening to preaching . This was followed by humiliation, when the sinner realized that he or she was helpless to break free from sin and that their good works could never earn forgiveness. It was after reaching this point—the realization that salvation

33088-439: Was discovered and dismantled during the Marprelate controversy of the 1580s. For the remainder of Elizabeth's reign, Puritans ceased to agitate for further reform. The accession of James I to the English throne brought the Millenary Petition , a Puritan manifesto of 1603 for reform of the English church, but James wanted a religious settlement along different lines. He called the Hampton Court Conference in 1604, and heard

33276-533: Was extremely important to Puritans, and covenant theology was central to their beliefs. With roots in the writings of Reformed theologians John Calvin and Heinrich Bullinger , covenant theology was further developed by Puritan theologians Dudley Fenner , William Perkins , John Preston , Richard Sibbes , William Ames and, most fully by Ames's Dutch student, Johannes Cocceius . Covenant theology asserts that when God created Adam and Eve he promised them eternal life in return for perfect obedience; this promise

33464-412: Was inspired by the conference to publish the book Jesus is Coming , which took up the restorationist cause. His book was translated and published in Yiddish . On November 24–25, 1890, Blackstone organized the Conference on the Past, Present and Future of Israel at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago where participants included leaders of many Christian communities. Resolutions of sympathy for

33652-464: 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 (written in Edo period documents 吉利支丹 , 切支丹 , and in modern Japanese histories as キリシタン ), from Portuguese cristão , referred to Roman Catholics in

33840-399: Was nominally a Huguenot Calvinist, but came from a Portuguese New Christian (converted Sephardic Jewish ) family was also a significant 17th century progenitor, with influence on both sides of the English Channel . La Peyrère in his millennialist work Du rappel des juifs (1643) wrote about a Jewish return to Palestine, predicted the building of the Third Temple and Jerusalem playing

34028-490: Was not always sacred, has been sanctified by the life of Jesus Christ . As the head of the Church I cannot tell you anything different. The Jews have not recognized our Lord , therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people." After Herzl explained that his reasoning behind the project for the creation of a Jewish state was not a religious statement, but interest in secular land for national independence, Pope Pius X replied "Does it have to be Gerusalemme ?" While it rejected

34216-459: Was not the theocratic state which leading Puritans had called for as "godly rule". At the time of the English Restoration in 1660, the Savoy Conference was called to determine a new religious settlement for England and Wales. Under the Act of Uniformity 1662 , the Church of England was restored to its pre- Civil War constitution with only minor changes, and the Puritans found themselves sidelined. A traditional estimate of historian Calamy

34404-442: Was possible only because of divine mercy —that the person would experience justification , when the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the elect and their minds and hearts are regenerated. For some Puritans, this was a dramatic experience and they referred to it as being born again . Confirming that such a conversion had actually happened often required prolonged and continual introspection. Historian Perry Miller wrote that

34592-587: Was termed the covenant of works . After the fall of man , human nature was corrupted by original sin and unable to fulfill the covenant of works, since each person inevitably violated God's law as expressed in the Ten Commandments . As sinners, every person deserved damnation . Puritans shared with other Calvinists a belief in double predestination , that some people (the elect ) were destined by God to receive grace and salvation while others were destined for Hell . No one, however, could merit salvation. According to covenant theology, Christ's sacrifice on

34780-423: Was the first person to photograph the land. An important, though often neglected, figure in British support of the restoration of the Jews was William Hechler (1845–1931), an English clergyman of German descent who was Chaplain of the British Embassy in Vienna and became a close friend of Theodor Herzl . Hechler was instrumental in aiding Herzl through his diplomatic activities, and may, in that sense, be called

34968-427: Was the founder of a theological framework known as dispensationalism . This was expressed at the Niagara Bible Conference in 1878, which issued a 14-point proclamation (relying on Luke 12:35–40, 17:26–30, 18:8 Acts 15:14–17, 2 Thessalonians 2:3–8, 2 Timothy 3:1–5, and Titus 1:11–15), including: that the Lord Jesus will come in person to introduce the millennial age, when Israel shall be restored to their own land, and

35156-452: Was true for everyone. They suggested it be rewritten as "we commit his body [etc.] believing a resurrection of the just and unjust, some to joy, and some to punishment." Puritans eliminated choral music and musical instruments in their religious services because these were associated with Roman Catholicism; however, singing the Psalms was considered appropriate (see Exclusive psalmody ). Church organs were commonly damaged or destroyed in

35344-543: Was used to denote "free" Christians of steppe origin and East Slavic language. Nominally "Christian" societies made "Christian" a default label for citizenship or for "people like us". In this context, religious or ethnic minorities can use "Christians" or "you Christians" loosely as a shorthand term for mainstream members of society who do not belong to their group – even in a thoroughly secular (though formerly Christian) society. As of 2020, Christianity has approximately 2.4 billion adherents. The faith represents about

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