Which Religion Came first? ?? Chrisitianity or Catholic ???

Question

Does anyone know which religion came first was it Christianity or the Catholic religion? I really would like to know to help me in a debate. Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

Catholic religion is the heart of Christianity. it is the first Christian religion.

Answer 2

Well, the question is a bit flawed. Christianity is the belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Catholics believe that, so Catholics ARE Christians.

Which came first, Catholics or Protestants? Which came first, Orthodox or Catholics? These are better questions.

As for those ignorant souls who don't believe Catholicism was around from the very beginning, St. Ignatius, a disciple of St. John the Apostle, clearly states in his letter to the Smyrnaeans, that "where the bishop is, there is Jesus Christ and where Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." (This was more than 200 years before Constantine, Nicea, et al).

Catholicism and Orthodoxy were united for over a millenia, and it would be about another half a millenia later before anything resembling Protestantism arose.

These are facts of history.

Answer 3

First came "The Way" then "The Nazarenes" and finally "Christians" in the bible, in the next two centuries - up to 200 AD - came Catholic as a name to distinguish the Apostolic faith from the many other varieties of religion that laid claim to Jesus Christ in some way or other. There were Gnostics and Marcionites, Manicheans and Ebionites, there were so many that the Christians who followed the Apostle's doctrine had to use a word to describe themselves and they chose Catholic because the Church that Christ founded is universal, it is united, it is apostolic, and it is also separated from the world by the call of God the Holy Spirit.

Answer 4

If you're using this for a debate, you should get your term straight.

Religion is the broadest category of belief systems: Christianity, Paganism, Judaism, Islam, etc

Religions are broken down into denominations: Catholicism, Mormonism, Evangelical, etc

Each denomination has one or more sects: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Community of Christ, the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), etc.

Since Catholicism is a Christian denomination (indeed, the oldest existing) it is fair to say that it is no older than Christianity itself.

Catholics will argue that their denomination is the same exact organization created by Christ when he called the Twelve Apostles. Most Protestants point to Constantine making Christianity the state religion as the start of the Catholic Church. It is a question of faith.

Answer 5

Wow, it seems pretty silly that everyone would come up with these elaborate responses to ensure that others become confused about the original Church. Anyway, the Catholic church is the original church, and yes it is Christian. I think what you meant is which came first in terms of Catholicism or Protestantism, right? Because Christianity and Catholicism are not two seperate religions. If you study history, you'll be able to find this answer for yourself--which is a great way to start (or end) the debate you need help with :)

Good luck!

Answer 6

The Roman Catholic church shared the same heritage as the Orthodox Church for the first thousand years of its history, since during the first millennium these two churches were one in the same. In 1054, the Pope of Rome broke away from the other four Apostolic Patriarchates (which include Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem).

Answer 7

The cracks and fissures in Christian unity which led to the Great Schism started to become evident as early as the fourth century. Although 1054 is the date usually given for the beginning of the Great Schism, there is, in fact, no specific date on which the schism occurred. What really happened was a complex chain of events whose climax culminated with the sacking of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

The once homogeneous unified world of the Mediterranean was fast vanishing. Communication between the Greek East and the Latin West by the 600s had become dangerous and practically ceased.

The churches of the East gave the Roman See, primacy but not supremacy. The Pope being the first among equals, but not infallible and not with absolute authority.

The other major irritant to Eastern Orthodoxy was the Western interpretation of the procession of the Holy Spirit. Like the primacy, this too developed gradually and entered the Creed in the West almost unnoticed. This theologically complex issue involved the addition by the West of the Latin phrase filioque ("and from the Son") to the Creed. The original Creed sanctioned by the councils and still used today by the Orthodox Church did not contain this phrase; the text simply states "the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father." Theologically, the Latin interpolation was unacceptable to Eastern Orthodoxy since it implied that the Spirit now had two sources of origin and procession, the Father and the Son, rather than the Father alone. In short, the balance between the three persons of the Trinity was altered and the understanding of the Trinity and God confused. The result, the Orthodox Church believed, then and now, was theologically indefensible. But in addition to the dogmatic issue raised by the filioque, the Byzantines argued that the phrase had been added unilaterally and, therefore, illegitimately, since the East had never been consulted. In the final analysis, only another ecumenical council could introduce such an alteration. Indeed the councils, which drew up the original Creed, had expressly forbidden any subtraction or addition to the text.

As western political unity dissolved, the linguistic divide of the Empire between Latin-speaking West and the Greek-speaking East intensified. By the Middle Ages distinct forms of Latin and Greek Christianity increasingly separated until cultural differences and disciplinary disputes finally resulted in the Great Schism (conventionally dated to 1054), which formally divided Christendom into the Catholic west and the Orthodox east.

Reconciliation

On November 27, 2004, in an attempt to "promote Christian unity", Pope John Paul II returned the relics of two sainted Archbishops of Constantinople, John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nazianzus to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). The Orthodox believe the relics were stolen from Constantinople in 1204 by participants in the Fourth Crusade, an interpretation that Vatican spokesman Dr Joaquin Navarro Valls declared to be "historically inaccurate".

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, together with Patriarchs and Archbishops of other Eastern Orthodox Churches, were present at the funeral of Pope John Paul II on 8 April 2005. Bartholomew sat in the first chair of honor. The special and increased role of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs in Pope John Paul's funeral along with the fact that this was the first time for many centuries that an Ecumenical Patriarch has attended the funeral of a Pope, was considered by many a serious sign that dialogue towards reconciliation might have started.

On May 29, 2005 in Bari, Italy, Pope Benedict XVI cited reconciliation as a commitment of his papacy, saying, "I want to repeat my willingness to assume as a fundamental commitment working to reconstitute the full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ, with all my energy." Pope Benedict XVI was invited to visit Turkey in November 2006 by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I

Answer 8

The bulk of the earliest Christian churches and institutions were in the Greek speaking part of the Roman empire. Rome, which spoke Latin, was where one of the main bishops was. There were four others -- in Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. For most of the early history of Christianity it was the Greek speaking part of the empire which was the more culturally advanced ... which is a major reason Constantine moved the capital of the empire to the east in the fourth century.

The Greek speakers were the ancestors of today's Orthodox Churches. The Latin speaking churches became Catholicism.

With the rise of the Islamic empire, many of the Greek churches were eclipsed in their influence, and the Roman Catholics became numerically dominant.

But it is rather shocking how many Western Europeans nowadays assume that just Catholics and Protestants are the only two divisions of Christians. The Orthodox have as much or more claim to being the original Christian establishment.

In short, yes, there very much was "Christianity" before there was Roman Catholicism as we know it today.
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Answer 9

Up until about 1054 when the Orthodox and Catholic Churches split, Christianity and Catholic meant the same thing.

The Church has referred to itself as the “Catholic Church” at least since 107 C.E. (about 10 years after the last book of the New Testament was written), when the Greek term "Katholikos" (meaning universal) appears in the Letter of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans:

"Wherever the bishop appear, there let the multitude be; even as wherever Christ Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church."

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-smyrnaeans-hoole.html

We do not know how long they had been using the term "Catholic" before it was included in this letter.

All of this was long before the Council of Nicea and the Nicene Creed from 325 C.E. which states, "We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church."

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07644a.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 10

Short answer is Catholic. First of all the word means "universal" but also Christ is on record as instituting a "church" not churches and giving the leadership role to Peter. All the rest that you usually hear is obfuscation.

Answer 11

Clover,
Acts 2:38 Peter baptized the believers at Pentecost. Later we are told, "The believers were called Christians first at Antioch." The Catholic Religion was MUCH LATER! CHRIST sent HIS Disciples out in Matthew 28:18-21 just prior to HIS Ascension (the GREAT COMMISSION). Have a wonderful evening and a glorious LORD'S DAY.
Thanks,
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