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Articles on Churches
Historically, the word church in Christianity, can be said to contain two
different definitions. Church can refer to a group of people who have the same core
beliefs in terms of spirituality and religion. The word church or more specifically
churches, can also refer to the actual physical building where the previously
mentioned church meets or congregates, hence the term congregation in
relation to churches.
Linguistically, the word church comes from the Greek word kuriakon.
Kuriakon literally means The Lord.
In the early time of Christianity, there were not vast arrays of churches to choose
from as we have today. There was just one central church. When
someone spoke the word church, everyone knew they were talking about all
Christians. As time passed, a division came about between the Church in western Europe
and the Church in eastern Europe and western Asia. The latter churches eventually
became known as the Eastern Orthodox Churches.
In the 1500's, the Reformation caused the church to split and gave birth to the term
churches. Western Christianity was divided into the Roman Catholic Church
and Protestantism. The Protestants then began to establish many of the churches we
are familiar with today including the Anglican, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist,
and Presbyterian churches.
In those early days, buildings for churches were rare. This was mostly due to the fact
that the churches feared persecution from the Romans. Christians didn't begin building
churches until the 300's. That's when the Roman emperor Constantine the Great put
an end to the persecution. Since that time, most churches can be seen to reflect the
architecture of their historical period. Today, modern churches still try to combine those
traditional architectures with modern styles.
Data for this article was researched from the Department of Religious
Studies, University of Missouri, Columbia and papers by Jill Raitt, Ph.D., Professor Emerita.
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