What Is the History of the Organized Church?

Some people use the word "church" for other religious organizations and the country has the "separation of church and state," we will also look at the history of organized religion as a whole.

Beginnings of the Organized Church

Presumably, if you are asking about the organized Church, you already know who Jesus Christ is. After Christ ascended into Heaven, the apostles led the Church. Saint Paul, who is responsible for Corinthians, is frequently read at Mass. He spoke to the crowds, and urged them to follow in the ways of Christ. Other apostles carried out this work as well.

Once this period, known as the Apostolic phase ended, the post-Apostolic phase was ushered in. During this time period, Christians faced a great deal of persecution and forming an organized religion as we know it today was difficult for them. Under the reign of Constantine the Great, the Roman persecution of Christians ended in the year 313.

Moving Forward

After the persecution ended, great steps were taken to preserve the integrity and role of religion in society. Before this time period, individuals such as Iraneus and Justin Martyr had established a system of bishops, apostolic succession, and interpretations of the Bible.

Roman Catholicism, the religion with the most followers in the world, began to form. The two Councils of Nicea, held in 325 and 328, established the Nicene Creed, which is still recited in churches throughout the world today. There are many different forms of Christianity today because councils split over decisions made in earlier times. For example, at the Council of Ephesus, the Assyrian Church of the East broke away from Roman Catholicism, and at the Council of Chalcedon, the Oriental Orthodox Church spilt.

On February 27, 380, the Roman State adopted Trinitarian Christianity as its official religion.

Protestant Reformation

Many, many events occurred between the times of the adoption of Trinitarian Christianity in the Roman state and the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther and some others were the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation movement. Originally, they called themselves evangelicals, and they wanted to get back to the true meanings of the Gospel. In simple terms, Protestants read the Bible as more literal than Catholics do.

Protestant groups vary in their beliefs, and some groups that were once considered part of this movement, now call themselves Catholic. Major differences though in the Protestant religion at the time included getting rid of the sale of indulgences and teaching belief in the idea of sola scriptura, meaning that the Bible alone is the source of truth regarding salvation.

Church in the United States

Although this country has no "official" religion, most people do recognize that it was built upon Judeo-Christian ideals. Puritans living in England came over to the United States in order to escape the religious persecution that they were facing in their home country.

As time went on, the Puritans began to flock to other areas of the country in order to find more religious freedom. Various colonies were established based on the principles of different religions. Furthermore, as European settlers came over to the United States, they brought their religions over with them.

Polls regarding religion in the US generally tend to report that 80 to 90% of the United States is Christian.

History of Organized Religion

What Is "Organized?"

Organized religion could refer to a regular, weekly service held in some sort of private establishment. However, it could also refer to a group of people gathering to express their religious convictions together.

Beginning of Organized Religion

It's hard to say exactly when organized religion first came into play. Some archaeologists say that religion began around 300,000 years ago because of the ways in which people buried their dead. Furthermore, they have also found certain religious artifacts. The exact purpose of these artifacts and burial methods is at least somewhat up for debate, so people are not exactly sure that these were part of the origin of organized religion.

From approximately 13,000 to 50,000 years ago, there is fairly solid evidence that there was religion. There are Venus figurines, the lion man, and paintings in caves representing the polytheistic religions of these ancient peoples.

One of the oldest known religious texts in the world dates back to Egypt in the 2400 to 2300 B.C. range. Religion and writing are very connected, since writing down the studies of a religion allows the beliefs to remain more unchanged than does simply repeating the tales.

Bridge to Religion Today

So how did people get from the ancient polytheistic worship to religion today? Well, remember, there are still some pagans and those who worship ancient gods and goddesses living in the world now. Studying the development and changes though is an important part of the history. Monotheism, particularly Christianity, is the major movement at the present time. Some have traced monotheistic practices back to the Late Bronze Age in Egypt.

There has been some disagreement as to the exact date of the start of Judaism; however, most scholars agree that Abraham lived around 1812 to 1637 B.C. Abraham was the earthly founder of the Abrahamic religions, which have survived until today.