Christianity. It is, therefore, of utmost importance that we
re-evaluate the reality of Christianity.
Followers of Jesus were “first called Christians in
Antioch” (Acts 11:26). Perhaps it was initially a label of
derision or derogation, but King Agrippa seems to have
used the term as a neutral designation of one believing in
Jesus Christ (Acts 26:28), and Peter employs it as an
accepted reference to those identified with the name of
Christ (I Peter 4:16). Immediately thereafter the over-all
phenomenon of persons identifying with Jesus Christ was
generalized as “Christianity.” Ignatius and Polycarp,
disciples of the apostle John, used the Greek word
christianismos in the late first or early second century, and
later writers used the Latin word christianitas.
Semantic variations of meaning have proliferated
through the centuries unto the present. The term
“Christianity” has been used to designate one of the
world’s religions. It is analyzed historically as the events of
its adherents and institutions through the centuries of
almost two millennia. “Christianity” is often used
synonymously with “Christendom,” although the latter
term is often used pejoratively of institutionalized Christian
religion. In his Attack on Christendom, Kierkegaard
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