I know what I believe, but it is clear that Christianity must be defined in a broader sense. Upon asking my mother what she believed Christianity to be, she replied "Well Clare, Christianity is seeing the way Jesus Christ lived his life and trying to live our own lives following Christ's example as a manifestation of God on earth in human form." This is more or less what I have always believed Christianity t

Salvation is an important theme in Christianity. There exist in Christianity many interpretations of the role of human effort in salvation. Peter Abelard rejected the idea that Christ's suffering pays off our debt to God. He preferred to think of Christ as the expression of God's love (145). Gottschalk believed that people could only do good by the grace of God. He says that none of us are able to use our free will to do good, but only to do evil. We do good only when God takes control of our wills. God has predestined some to salvation and others to damnation. Gottschalk said that Christ only died for some and there is nothing we can do about it. However, Hincmar declared that Christ died for all. Hincmar says that God has predestined the elect to salvation but does not predestine the condemned. Increasingly, people like Hincmar thought of grace most often as something that could be obtained through the sacraments.

o be, that is, before taking this class. There are far too many interpretations and versions of the life of Christ to give such a limited definition of what constitutes Christianity as a tradition. Differences between such Christianities as Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodoxy are vast and it is very often difficult to unite the three under the same heading: Christianity. But this fact alone is what constitutes Christianity as a denomination. Therefore it becomes necessary to define Christianity as: Diverse following in many different theologies and ideologies originating in the belief of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Diversity within the religion is what has ultimately constituted Christianity as a tradition.

Christianity is expressed in the relationship between reason and revelation. If Aquinas distinguished between truths known through reason and those known through revelation he did not think that reason and revelation could ever contradict each other because both come from God (153). Aquinas believed that some truths are available through reason and revelation. For example, Aquinas felt the question of the world's eternity couldn't be settled through reason. However Aquinas believed that Revelation, by telling us that God created the world does not contradict reason, but adds to it. The relationship between faith and reason therefore is that faith adds to reason. The knowledge and reason that we ha

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1580
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)