Christianity is a monotheistic faith centered on the life and teachings of Jesus. Christianity originated as a religious movement within Judaism, with the first Christians being Jewish followers of Jesus, but Christianity officially split from Jewish religious tradition around the second century (New York University Press, 2002).
Like Judaism and Islam, Christianity exists as a monotheistic religion, meaning that followers of these traditions believe in the existence of a single God. However, Christian theology differs from Islam and Judaism through the belief in one God that exists as the Trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible, composed of the Old and New Testaments, is Christianity's sacred text. Today, Christian traditions are experienced through the lens of three major denominations: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Browse the Christian artifacts box on this page to learn more about the items in the display that represent the Christian faith, specifically the traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.
References
New York University Press. (2002). Christianity. In The New Encyclopedia of Judaism.
The image in the display is believed to be a replica of the famous icon Our Lady of Perpetual Help, which is of uncertain origin but is important in both Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions. In Christian traditions, an “icon” is a painted image of a religious figure or event, which can be used to decorate a church or for personal devotion. Today, the original Our Lady of Perpetual icon is housed in the Church of Saint Alphonsus of Liguori in Rome, Italy.
In this icon, Mary, mother of Jesus, holds her child (who is more like a miniature man than an infant) while flanked by two angels (believed to be Michael the Archangel on the left and Gabriel the Archangel on the right) carrying instruments of Jesus’s future crucifixion. The Greek letters around Mary are abbreviations for her Latin title “Mater Theo,” or “Mother of God,” and the Greek letters next to the infant Jesus are abbreviations for his Latinized name, “Iesius Christos.”
Mary of Nazareth (mother of Jesus)
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