- Christianity in the 21st century
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Trinity Church, Antarctica, a 15m-high siberian pine Russian Orthodox church that can accommodate up to 30 worshipers. It opened in 2004, and it is manned year-around by Orthodox hieromonk priests volunteering for the Antarctic assignment.
Christianity in the 21st century is characterized by the pursuit of Church unity and the continued resistance to secularization. Christian missions continue on a large scale but no longer originate predominantly from Europe which was the situation in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Contents
Catholic Church
Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI was elected pontiff in 2005With the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, the Church has so far seen largely a continuation of the policies of his predecessor, John Paul II, with some notable exceptions. Benedict decentralized beatifications and reverted the decision of his predecessor regarding papal elections.[1] In 2007, he set a Church record by approving the beatification of 498 Spanish Martyrs. His first encyclical Deus Caritas Est discussed love and sex in continued opposition to several other views on sexuality.
Roman Catholic attempts to improve ecumenical relations with the Eastern Orthodox Churches have been complicated by disputes over both doctrine and the recent history of the Orthodox Eastern Catholic Churches, involving the return of expropriatiated properties of the Eastern Catholic Churches, which the Orthodox Church took over after World War II at the request of Joseph Stalin.[citation needed]
Major lawsuits emerged in 2001 claiming that priests had sexually abused minors.[2]
Catholic-Orthodox dialogue
In June 2004, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I's visit to Rome for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June) afforded him the opportunity for another personal meeting with Pope John Paul II, for conversations with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and for taking part in the celebration for the feast day in St. Peter's Basilica.
The Patriarch's partial participation in the Eucharistic liturgy at which the Pope presided followed the program of the past visits of Patriarch Dimitrios (1987) and Patriarch Bartholomew I himself: full participation in the Liturgy of the Word, joint proclamation by the Pope and by the Patriarch of the profession of faith according to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in Greek and as the conclusion, the final Blessing imparted by both the Pope and the Patriarch at the Altar of the Confessio.[3] The Patriarch did not fully participate in the Liturgy of the Eucharist involving the consecration and distribution of the Eucharist itself.[4][5]
In accordance with the Roman Catholic Church's practice of including the clause when reciting the Creed in Latin,[6] but not when reciting the Creed in Greek,[7] Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have recited the Nicene Creed jointly with Patriarchs Demetrius I and Bartholomew I in Greek without the Filioque clause.[8][9] The action of these Patriarchs in reciting the Creed together with the Popes has been strongly criticized by some elements of Eastern Orthodoxy, such as the Metropolitan of Kalavryta, Greece, in November 2008[10]
The declaration of Ravenna in 2007 re-asserted these beliefs, and re-stated the notion that the bishop of Rome is indeed the protos, although future discussions are to be held on the concrete ecclesiological exercise of papal primacy.
Protestantism
There are churches established every day in Africa and Asia. These groups are largely Evangelical, Pentecostals, or Charismatics.
In February 2001, the United Methodist Church organized the Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery. It is a Methodist-Benedictine residential monastery for women in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Postmodern Christianity has influenced the emerging church movement. Critics[citation needed] allege, however, that this movement's understanding of faith has led many of its adherents outside the bounds of traditional Christianity.
21st century Timeline- 2001 - New Tribes Missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham are kidnapped in the Philippines by Muslim terrorist group; Baptist missionary Roni Bowers and her infant daughter are killed when a Peruvian Air Force jet fires on their small float-plane. Though severely wounded in both legs, missionary pilot Kevin Donaldson landed the burning plane on the Amazon River.
- 2001 The Way of the Master founded
- 2003 the Mission Province is established in Church of Sweden: new era for confessional Lutheranism in Scandinavia.
- 2003 - Publication of Back To Jerusalem Called to Complete the Great Commission - Three Chinese Church Leaders with Paul Hattaway brings Chinese and Korean mission movement to forefront; Coptic priest Fr. Zakaria Botros begins his television and internet mission to Muslims in North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and western countries, resulting in thousands of conversions.
- 2004 - Four Southern Baptist missionaries are killed by gunman in Iraq
- 2005 Death of Pope John Paul II, election of Pope Benedict XVI
- 2006, July 18 World Methodist Council voted unanimously to adopt the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification [1] [2]
- 2006 Gospel of Judas a 2nd century Gnostic account of Judas is shown on TV (discovered in the 1970s)
- 2006 - Abdul Rahman, an Afghan Christian convert, is forced out of Afghanistan by local Muslim leaders and exiled to Italy. Missionary Vijay Kumar is publicly stoned by Hindu extremists for Christian preaching.
- 2007 Kriol Bible completed, the first translation of the entire Bible into an Australian indigenous language [3]
- 2007 The Creation Museum opens in Kentucky USA.
- 2007-May 17 The Reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church after 80 years of a schism
- 2008 Conservative Anglicans indicate that they plan to split from liberal Anglicans in "The Jerusalem Declaration" [4]
See also
- History of Christianity
- History of Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 20th century
- History of Protestantism
- History of the Roman Catholic Church#Catholicism today
- History of Christian theology#Postmodern Christianity
- Timeline of Christianity#21st century
- Timeline of Christian missions#2000 to present
- Timeline of the Roman Catholic Church#21st century
References
- ^ Moto Proprio, De Aliquibus Mutationibus, June 11, 2007
- ^ Bruni, A Gospel of Shame (2002), p. 336
- ^ Report on Catholic-Orthodox Relations
- ^ Presentation of the Celebration
- ^ Common Declaration
- ^ Missale Romanum 2002 (Roman Missal in Latin), p. 513
- ^ Ρωμαϊκό Λειτουργικό 2006 (Roman Missal in Greek), vol. 1, p. 347
- ^ programme of the celebration
- ^ Video recording of joint recitation
- ^ The Metropolitan's own blog, reported also by this Religious News Agency and the Russian Orthodox
Further reading
- Farrell, Joseph P. God, History, & Dialectic: The Theological Foundations of the Two Europes and Their Cultural Consequences. Bound edition 1997. Electronic edition 2008.
- González, Justo L. (1985). The Story of Christianity, Vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present Day. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 0-06-063316-6.
- Hastings, Adrian (1999). A World History of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0802848753.
- Latorette, Kenneth Scott (1975). A History of Christianity, Volume 2. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 0-06-064953-4 (paperback).
- Nichols, Aidan. Rome and the Eastern Churches: a Study in Schism. 1992
- Shelley, Bruce L. (1996). Church History in Plain Language (2nd edition ed.). ISBN 0-8499-3861-9.
External links
- History of Christianity Reading Room: Extensive online resources for the study of global church history (Tyndale Seminary).
- Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Christianity in History
- Church History in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- Historical Christianity, A time line with references to the descendants of the early church.
History of Christianity: Modern Christianity Preceded by:
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- 21st-century Christianity
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