Editing Western Christianity

{{short description|Religious category of the Latin Church, Protestantism, and their derivatives}}
{{distinguish|Latin Church}}
{{Christianity}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
[[File:Glenbeigh St. James' Church Nave Triple Window Agnus Dei 2012 09 09.jpg|thumb|[[Jesus]] represented as the Lamb of God (''[[Agnus Dei]]''), a common practice in Western Christianity<ref>{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Agnus Dei (In Liturgy) |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01221a.htm |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>|250x250px]]
[[File:Petersdom von Engelsburg gesehen.jpg|thumb|250px|[[St. Peter's Basilica]] in [[Vatican City]], the largest church building in the world today<ref name="UNESCO Article">{{Cite web |last=Centre |first=UNESCO World Heritage |title=Vatican City |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/286/ |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}</ref>]]
[[File:BranchesofChristianity.svg|thumb|upright=2.0|Timeline of the evolution of the church, beginning with [[early Christianity]]]]
'''Western Christianity''' is one of two subdivisions of [[Christianity]] ([[Eastern Christianity]] being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the [[Latin Church]] and [[Protestantism|Western Protestantism]], together with their offshoots such as the [[Old Catholic Church]], [[Independent Catholicism]] and [[Restorationism]].

The large majority of the world's 2.3&nbsp;billion Christians are Western Christians (about 2&nbsp;billion: 1.2&nbsp;billion Latin Catholic and 1.17 billion Protestant).<ref name="gordonconwell.edu">{{cite web |url=https://www.gordonconwell.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2024/01/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2024.pdf |title=Status of Global Christianity, 2024, in the Context of 1900–2050 |publisher=Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary |access-date=23 May 2024|quote=Protestants: 625,606,000; Independents: 421,689,000; Unaffiliated Christians: 123,508,000}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |publisher=[[Pew Research Center]] |date=2011-12-19 |title=Global Christianity - A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/ |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |language=en-US}}</ref> One major component, the Latin Church, developed under the [[bishop of Rome]]. Out of the Latin Church emerged a wide variety of independent [[Protestant denominations]], including [[Lutheranism]] and [[Anglicanism]], starting from the [[Protestant Reformation]] in the 16th century, as did Independent Catholicism in the 19th century. Thus, the term "Western Christianity" does not describe a single [[Communion (Christian)|communion]] or [[religious denomination]] but is applied to distinguish all these denominations collectively from Eastern Christianity.

The establishment of the distinct Latin Church, a [[particular church]] ''[[sui iuris]]'' of the [[Catholic Church]], coincided with the consolidation of the [[Holy See]] in [[Rome]], which claimed [[papal primacy|primacy]] since Antiquity. The Latin Church is distinct from the [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], also in [[full communion]] with the [[Pope]] in [[Holy See|Rome]], and from the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]], which are not in communion with Rome. These other churches are part of [[Eastern Christianity]]. The terms "Western" and "Eastern" in this regard originated with geographical divisions mirroring the cultural divide between the [[Greek East and Latin West|Hellenistic East and Latin West]] and the political divide between the [[Western Roman Empire|Western]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman empires]]. During the [[Middle Ages]], adherents of the Latin Church, irrespective of ethnicity, commonly referred to themselves as "Latins" to distinguish themselves from [[Eastern Christians]] ("Greeks").<ref name="Orbilat">{{cite web |url=http://www.orbilat.com/General_Survey/Terms--Latins_and_Romans.html |title=Distinguishing the terms: Latins and Romans |website=[[Orbis Latinus]]}}</ref>

Western Christianity has [[Role of Christianity in civilization|played a prominent role]] in the shaping of [[Western culture|Western civilization]].<ref name="PerryChase2012">{{cite book |first1=Marvin |last1=Perry |first2=Myrna |last2=Chase |first3=James |last3=Jacob |first4=Margaret |last4=Jacob |first5=Theodore H. |last5=Von Laue |title=Western Civilization: Since 1400 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6jytVCocwMC |date=1 January 2012 |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]] |isbn=978-1-111-83169-1 |page=XXIX |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/507284/Roman-Catholicism |title=Roman Catholicism |quote=Roman Catholicism, Christian church that has been the decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|date=11 August 2023 }}</ref><ref name="Caltron J.H Hayas">{{cite book |first=Caltron J.H. |last=Hayas |title=Christianity and Western Civilization |date=1953 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |page=2 |quote=That certain distinctive features of our Western civilization—the civilization of western Europe and America—have been shaped chiefly by Judaeo – Graeco – Christianity, Catholic, and Protestant.}}</ref><ref name="Orlandis">{{Cite book |last=Orlandis |first=José |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KYdbpwAACAAJ |title=A Short History of the Catholic Church |date=1993 |publisher=Four Courts Press |language=en}}</ref> With the expansion of [[European colonialism]] from the [[Early Modern era]], the Latin Church, in time along with its Protestant secessions, spread throughout the [[Americas]], much of the [[Philippines]], [[Southern Africa]], pockets of [[West Africa]], and throughout [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]]. Thus, when used for historical periods after the 16th century, the term "Western Christianity" does not refer to a particular geographical area but is used as a collective term for all these.

Today, the geographical distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is not nearly as absolute as in Antiquity or the Middle Ages, due to the spread of [[Christian missionaries]], [[Human migration|migration]]s, and [[globalisation]]. As such, the adjectives "Western Christianity" and "Eastern Christianity" are typically used to refer to historical origins and differences in [[Christian theology|theology]] and [[Christian liturgy|liturgy]] rather than present geographical locations.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

While the Latin Church maintains the use of the [[Latin liturgical rites]], Protestant denominations and Independent Catholicism use various liturgical practices.

The earliest concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simply a geographic term) appeared during the [[Carolingian Renaissance]] of the 9th century, which included territories that practiced Western Christianity at the time.<ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Dr. Sanjay |author-last1=Kumar|title=A Handbook of Political Geography|publisher=K.K. Publications|year=2021|page=127|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGc9EAAAQBAJ}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of Western Christianity}}
[[File:Gustav Vasa Bible 1541.jpg|thumb|upright|Title page of the Lutheran Swedish [[Gustav Vasa Bible]], translated by the Petri brothers, along with [[Laurentius Andreae]]]]
[[File:Jesuites en chine.jpg|thumb|[[Jesuit China missions|Jesuit]] scholars in [[China]]. Top: [[Matteo Ricci]], [[Adam Schall von Bell|Adam Schaal]] and [[Ferdinand Verbiest]] (1623–88); Bottom: [[Xu Guangqi|Paul Siu (Xu Guangqi)]], ''Colao'' or Prime Minister of State, and his granddaughter Candide Hiu]]
For much of its history, the Christian church has been [[Greek East and Latin West|culturally divided]] between the Latin-speaking West, whose centre was [[Rome]], and the Greek-speaking East, whose centre was [[Constantinople]]. Cultural differences and political rivalry created tensions between the two churches, leading to disagreement over [[Eastern Orthodox – Roman Catholic theological differences|doctrine]] and [[Eastern Orthodox – Roman Catholic ecclesiastical differences|ecclesiology]] and ultimately to [[East-West schism|schism]].<ref name="west_christ">[http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/christ/west/westessay.html "General Essay on Western Christianity"], ''Overview Of World Religions''. Division of Religion and Philosophy, University of Cumbria. © 1998/9 ELMAR Project. Accessed 1 April 2012.</ref><!--old reference //<ref>{{cite web |url=http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/christ/west/westessay.html |title=Western Christianity |publisher=Philtar.ucsm.ac.uk |access-date=15 March 2012}}</ref>// -->

Like [[Eastern Christianity]], Western Christianity traces its roots directly to the [[Twelve Apostles|apostles]] and other early preachers of the religion. In Western Christianity's original area, [[Latin]] was the principal language. Christian writers in Latin had more influence there than those who wrote in [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], or other languages. Although the first Christians in the West used Greek (such as [[Clement of Rome]]), by the [[Christianity in the 4th century|fourth century]] Latin had superseded it even in the cosmopolitan city of [[Early centers of Christianity#Rome|Rome]], as well as in [[Early centers of Christianity#Southern Gaul|southern Gaul]] and the [[Early centers of Christianity#Carthage|Roman province of Africa]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |dictionary=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 |title=Latin}}</ref> There is evidence of a Latin translation of the [[Bible]] as early as the 2nd century (see also [[Vetus Latina]]).

With the [[decline of the Roman Empire]], distinctions appeared also in organization, since the bishops in the West were not dependent on the [[Byzantine Empire|Emperor in Constantinople]] and did not come under the influence of the [[Caesaropapism#Caesaropapism in the Eastern Church|Caesaropapism in the Eastern Church]]. While the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|see of Constantinople]] became dominant throughout the Emperor's lands, the West looked exclusively to the [[Holy See|see of Rome]], which in the East was seen as that of one of the five [[patriarch]]s of the [[Pentarchy (Christianity)|Pentarchy]], "the proposed government of universal [[Christendom]] by five [[patriarch]]al sees under the auspices of a single universal empire. Formulated in the legislation of the emperor [[Justinian I]] (527–565), especially in his [[Corpus Juris Civilis#Novellae|Novella]] 131, the theory received formal ecclesiastical sanction at the [[Quinisext Council|Council in Trullo]] (692), which ranked the five sees as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pentarchy {{!}} Byzantine Empire, Justinian I & Justinian Code {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/pentarchy |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=Britannica|language=en}}</ref>

Over the centuries, disagreements separated Western Christianity from the various forms of Eastern Christianity: first from [[Church of the East|East Syriac Christianity]] after the [[First Council of Ephesus|Council of Ephesus (431)]], then from that of [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] after the [[Council of Chalcedon]] (451), and then from [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] with the [[East-West Schism]] of 1054. With the last-named form of Eastern Christianity, reunion agreements were signed at the [[Second Council of Lyon]] (1274) and the [[Council of Florence]] (1439), but these proved ineffective.

Historian Paul Legutko of [[Stanford University]] said the [[Catholic Church]] is "at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call [[Western culture|Western civilization]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=Review of ''How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization''|author-first1=Thomas|author-last1=Woods, Jr. |url=http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/bookpage.asp?prod_cd=c6664 |work=National Review Book Service |access-date=16 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822150152/http://www.nrbookservice.com/products/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c6664 |archive-date=22 August 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The rise of [[Protestantism]] led to major divisions within Western Christianity, which still persist, and wars&mdash;for example, the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604]] had religious as well as economic causes.

In and after the [[Age of Discovery]], [[Europe]]ans spread Western Christianity to the [[New World]] and elsewhere. Roman Catholicism came to the Americas (especially South America), Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Protestantism, including Anglicanism, came to North America, Australia-Pacific and some African locales.

Today, the geographical distinction between Western and Eastern Christianity is much less absolute, due to the great migrations of Europeans across the globe, as well as the work of [[missionary|missionaries]] worldwide over the past five centuries. {{Christian culture}}

== Features ==
[[File:AtlEurRelig.jpg|thumb|left|Map of Europe showing the largest religions by region. Eastern Christianity is represented in blue, Islam in green, and the other colors represent branches of Western Christianity.]]
[[File:Benozzo Gozzoli 004a.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|[[Saint Thomas Aquinas]] was one of the great Western scholars of the Medieval period.]]

=== Original sin ===
[[Original sin]], also called [[ancestral sin]],<ref name="Golitzin1995">{{cite book |last=Golitzin |first=Alexander |title=On the Mystical Life: The Ethical Discourses |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SUjKOoQsCyUC&pg=PA119 |year=1995 |publisher=St Vladimir's Seminary Press |isbn=978-0-88141-144-7 |pages=119– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Tate2005">{{cite book |last=Tate |first=Adam L. |title=Conservatism and Southern Intellectuals, 1789–1861: Liberty, Tradition, and the Good Society |url=https://archive.org/details/conservatismsout00tate_0/page/190 |year=2005 |publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] |isbn=978-0-8262-1567-3 |page=190}}</ref><ref name="Bartolo-Abela2011">{{cite book |last=Bartolo-Abela |first=Marcelle |title=God's Gift to Humanity: The Relationship Between Phinehas and Consecration to God the Father |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ePZFD9BOB4C&pg=PA32|year=2011 |publisher=Apostolate-The Divine Heart |isbn=978-0-9833480-1-6 |pages=32– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Hassan2012">{{cite book |last=Hassan |first=Ann |title=Annotations to Geoffrey Hill's Speech! Speech! |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0e9guRLMVEC&pg=PA62 |date=2012 |publisher=punctum |isbn=978-1-4681-2984-7 |pages=62– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> is a [[Christianity|Christian]] belief in a [[state of sin]] in which humanity has existed since the [[fall of man]], stemming from [[Adam and Eve]]'s rebellion in the [[Garden of Eden]], namely the sin of disobedience in consuming the [[forbidden fruit]] from the [[tree of the knowledge of good and evil]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Cross|first=Frank Leslie|author-link=Frank Leslie Cross|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00cros/page/994/mode/2up/|year=1966|publisher=Oxford University Press|ol=5382229M|p=994}}</ref> Theologians have characterized this condition in many ways, seeing it as ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without [[Collective accountability|collective guilt]], referred to as a "sin nature", to something as drastic as [[total depravity]] or automatic guilt of all humans through collective guilt.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brodd |first=Jeffrey |title=World Religions |publisher=[[Saint Mary's Press]] |year=2003 |location=Winona, MN |isbn=978-0-88489-725-5}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>

=== Filioque clause ===
{{See also|Filioque}}
Most Western Christians use a version of the [[Nicene Creed]] that states that the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] "[[Filioque|proceeds from the Father and the Son]]", where the original text as adopted by the [[First Council of Constantinople]] had "proceeds from the Father" without the addition of either "and the Son" or "alone". This Western version also has the additional phrase "God from God" ({{langx|la|Deum de Deo}}), which was in the Creed as adopted by the [[First Council of Nicaea]], but which was dropped by the First Council of Constantinople.

=== Date of Easter ===
{{Main|Easter controversy}}
The [[Easter#Date|date of Easter]] usually differs between Eastern and Western Christianity, because the calculations are based on the [[Julian calendar]] and [[Gregorian calendar]] respectively. However, before the Council of Nicea, various dates including Jewish Passover were observed. Nicea "Romanized" the date for Easter and anathematized a "Judaized" (i.e. Passover date for) Easter. The date of observance of Easter has only differed in modern times since the promulgation of the Gregorian calendar in 1582; and further, the Western Church did not universally adopt the Gregorian calendar at once, so that for some time the dates of Easter differed between the Eastern Church and the Roman Catholic Church, but not necessarily as between the Eastern Church and the Western Protestant churches. For example, the Church of England continued to observe Easter on the same date as the Eastern Church until 1753.

Even the dates of other Christian holidays often differ between Eastern and Western Christianity.

=== Lack of essence–energies distinction ===
{{Further|Essence–energies distinction}}Eastern Christianity, and particularly the Eastern Orthodox Church, has traditionally held a distinction between God's essence, or that which He is, with God's energies, or that which He does. They hold that while God is unknowable in His essence, He can be known (i.e. experienced) in His energies. This is an extension of Eastern Christianity's [[apophatic theology]], while Western Christians tend to prefer a view of [[divine simplicity]], and claim that God's essence can be known by its attributes.

== Western denominations ==
{{see also|Western Rite Orthodoxy}}

Today, Western Christianity makes up close to 90% of [[Christianity by country|Christians worldwide]] with the Catholic Church accounting for over half and various Protestant denominations making up another 40%.

[[Hussites|Hussite]] movements of 15th century [[Bohemia]] preceded the main Protestant uprising by 100 years and evolved into several small Protestant churches, such as the [[Moravian Church]]. [[Waldensians]] survived also, but blended into the [[Reformed tradition]].

[[File:Protestant branches.svg|thumb|center|800px|Major branches and movements within Protestantism]]

== Major figures ==
=== Bishop of Rome or the pope ===
{{Further|Pope}}
Relevant figures:
* [[Pope Clement I|Clement of Rome]] (fl. {{circa|96}}), one of the apostolic fathers of the church.
* [[Pope Leo I]]
* [[Gregory the Great]]

=== The Reformers ===
{{Further|Protestant Reformers}}
Relevant figures:
* [[Jan Hus]] ({{circa|1369}}–1415), one of the most relevant theologians in the 14th century.
* [[Martin Luther]] (1483–1546), the most famous reformer and theologian in the Reformation and in the 15th century.
* [[Jan Łaski]] (1499-1560), known also as John à Lasco, leading Polish Calvinist reformer and a secretary of Polish King [[Sigismund II Augustus|Sigismund II]]
* [[Hans Tausen]], Bishop of [[Ribe]] (1494–1561), leading theologian of the [[Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein|Reformation in Denmark and Holstein]].
* [[Laurentius Petri]], [[List of archbishops of Uppsala|Archbishop of Uppsala and all Sweden]] (1499–1573), along with his brother [[Olaus Petri]] were regarded as the main Lutheran reformers of Sweden, together with the king [[Gustav I of Sweden]].
* [[Primož Trubar]] (1508–1586), mostly known as the author of the first [[Slovene language]] [[Printing press|printed]] book,<ref name="SBL">{{cite news |url=http://nl.ijs.si:8080/fedora/get/sbl:3985/VIEW/ |work=Slovenian Biographical Lexicon |title=Trubar Primož |publisher=[[Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts]] |access-date=25 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104121353/http://nl.ijs.si:8080/fedora/get/sbl:3985/VIEW/ |archive-date=4 November 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the founder and the first superintendent of the Protestant Church of the [[Duchy of Carniola]], and for consolidating the [[Slovenian language]].
* [[John Calvin]] (1509–1564)
* [[John Knox]] (1514–1572) 
* [[Ferenc Dávid]] (1520–1579) founder of the [[Unitarian Church of Transylvania]] who laid the foundation for what would become the [[Nontrinitarianism|nontrinitarian]] movement.
* [[Mikael Agricola]], [[Archdiocese of Turku|bishop of Turku]] (1554–1557), he became the de facto founder of literary Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden, including Finland, which was a Swedish territory at the time. He is often called the "father of literary Finnish".

=== Archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England ===
{{Further|Primacy of Canterbury}}
Relevant figures:
* [[Augustine of Canterbury]] (597–604)
* [[Thomas Cranmer]] (1533–1555), one of the major reformers in England
* [[Matthew Parker]] (1504–1575),(Parker was one of the primary architects of the Thirty-nine Articles)

=== Archbishop of Lyon and primate of the Gauls ===
{{Further|Primate of the Gauls}}
Relevant figures:
* [[Irenaeus|Irenaeus of Lyon]] (died {{circa|202}})

=== Patriarch of Aquileia ===
{{Further|Patriarch of Aquileia}}
Relevant figures:
* [[Chromatius|Chromatius of Aquilea]]

== See also ==
{{Portal|Christianity|Europe}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|
* [[Aristotelianism#Western Europe|Aristotelianism]]
* [[Augustinianism]]
* [[Bohemian Reformation]]
* [[Calvinism]]
* [[Church Fathers#Latin Fathers|Latin Church Fathers]]
* [[Ecclesiastical differences between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church]]
* [[Holy Roman Empire]]
* [[List of Christian denominations]]
* [[Neoplatonism]]
* [[Radical Reformation]]
* [[Scholasticism]]
* [[Swiss Reformation]]
* [[Theological differences between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church]]
* [[Thomism]]
* [[Western culture]]
* [[Western religions]]
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Filioque]]
[[Category:Western culture]]