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Born in the 1st century on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Christianity grew from a small Jewish sect into the largest religion on Earth, shaping art, law, language and entire continents along the way. Its scriptures gather the Hebrew Bible inherited from Judaism and a New Testament of four Gospels, letters from Paul of Tarsus, and the visionary book of Revelation — all written in koine Greek and still read today by more than two billion believers.
Over two millennia, the faith has splintered and reformed countless times. The Great Schism of 1054 divided Latin West from Greek East, giving birth to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, while the 16th-century Reformation led by Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII opened the way to Protestantism and its many branches — Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal. Each tradition has its own reading of the sacraments, its own relationship to the Virgin Mary and the saints, its own liturgical languages and architectural signatures, from Byzantine icons to Gothic cathedrals to plain chapels on the American frontier.
Behind the stained glass stand the great figures that shaped Western thought: Augustine of Hippo defining grace and free will, Thomas Aquinas reconciling faith and reason, Francis of Assisi preaching to birds, Teresa of Ávila writing mystic poetry. Whether you were raised in this tradition, left it, or simply want to decode the references that fill museums, novels and history books, exploring Christianity means exploring a huge part of what the world has inherited.
