Editing Christendom (section)

==Terminology==
The [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]] term ''crīstendōm'' appears to have been coined in the 9th century by a scribe somewhere in southern England, possibly at the court of king [[Alfred the Great]] of [[Wessex]]. The scribe was translating [[Paulus Orosius]]' book ''History Against the Pagans'' ({{Circa|416}}) and in need for a term to express the concept of the universal culture focused on [[Jesus Christ]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacCulloch |first=Diarmaid |date=2010 |title=A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yaU-cpc8sWgC&pg=PT572 |location=London |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |page=572 |isbn=9781101189993 |access-date=26 January 2018}}</ref> It had the sense now taken by ''[[Christianity]]'' (as is still the case with the cognate Dutch ''christendom'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.interglot.com/dictionary/nl/en/translate/christendom|title = Translate christendom from Dutch to English}}</ref> where it denotes mostly the religion itself, just like the German ''Christentum'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.bab.la/dictionary/german-english/christentum|title = CHRISTENTUM - Translation in English - bab.la}}</ref>

The current sense of the word of "lands where Christianity is the dominant religion"<ref name="ixHall">{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Douglas John |author-link=Douglas John Hall |date=2002 |title=The End of Christendom and the Future of Christianity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RM1KAwAAQBAJ |location=Eugene, Oregon |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |page=ix |quote="Christendom" [...] means literally the dominion or sovereignty of the Christian religion. |isbn=9781579109844 |access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref> emerged in [[Late Middle English]] (by {{Circa|1400}}).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/christendom|title = Christendom &#124; Origin and meaning of christendom by Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref>

Canadian theology professor [[Douglas John Hall]] stated (1997) that "Christendom" [...] means literally the dominion or sovereignty of the Christian religion."<ref name="ixHall"/> [[Thomas John Curry]], Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles|Los Angeles]], defined (2001) Christendom as "the system dating from the fourth century by which governments upheld and promoted Christianity."<ref name="Curry12">{{Cite book |last=Curry |first=Thomas John |author-link=Thomas John Curry |date=2001 |title=Farewell to Christendom: The Future of Church and State in America |url=https://archive.org/details/farewelltochrist00curr_0 |url-access=registration |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/farewelltochrist00curr_0/page/12 12] |isbn=9780190287061 |access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref> Curry states that the end of Christendom came about because modern governments refused to "uphold the teachings, customs, ethos, and practice of Christianity."<ref name="Curry12"/> British [[church history|church historian]] [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] described (2010) Christendom as "the union between Christianity and secular power."<ref name="MacCulloch1024"/>

{{Blockquote|Christendom was originally a medieval concept which has steadily evolved since the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the gradual rise of the Papacy more in religio-temporal implications practically during and after the reign of Charlemagne; and the concept let itself be lulled in the minds of the staunch believers to the archetype of a holy religious space inhabited by Christians, blessed by God, the Heavenly Father, ruled by Christ through the Church and protected by the Spirit-body of Christ; no wonder, this concept, as included the whole of Europe and then the expanding Christian territories on earth, strengthened the roots of Romance of the greatness of Christianity in the world.<ref>{{cite book| last = Debnath| first = Sailen| title = Secularism: Western And Indian| year = 2010| publisher = Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Limited| isbn = 978-81-269-1366-4 }}</ref>}}

There is a common and nonliteral sense of the word that is much like the terms ''[[Western world]]'', ''[[history of geography|known world]]'' or ''[[Free World]]''. The notion of "Europe" and the "[[Western World]]" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom"; many even attribute Christianity for being the link that created a unified [[European identity]].<ref name="Dawson 1961 108">{{cite book|author-last1=Dawson|author-first1=Christopher|title=Crisis in Western Education|year=1961|isbn=9780813216836|edition=reprint|author-first2=Glenn |author-last2=Olsen|page=108|publisher=The Catholic University of America Press}}</ref>