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A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words Christ and Christian derive from the Koine Greek title Christós (italic=no), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach (rtl=yes) (usually rendered as messiah in English).Bickerman (1949) p. 145, "The Christians got their appellation from 'Christus,' that is, 'the Anointed,' the Messiah." While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian used as an adjective is descriptive of anything associated with Christianity or Christian churches, or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like."
According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.3 billion Christians around the world, up from about 600 million in 1910. Today, about 37% of all Christians live in the Americas, about 26% live in Europe, 24% live in sub-Saharan Africa, about 13% live in Asia and the Pacific, and 1% live in the Middle East and North Africa. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. 280 million Christians live as a Minority group. About half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant (37%). Eastern Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Church of the East, comprise 12% of the world's Christians. Other Christian groups make up the remainder. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion due to overall total fertility rate according to Pew Research Center. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion in 2050, if current trends continue. In recent history, Christians have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in the Middle-East, North Africa, East Asia, and South Asia. "Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'". BBC News. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019. Kay, Barbara. "Our politicians may not care, but Christians are under siege across the world". National Post. 8 May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019. Wintour, Patrick. "Persecution of Christians coming close to genocide' in Middle East – report". The Guardian. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
The abbreviations Xian and Xtian (and similarly formed other parts of speech) have been used since at least the 17th century: Oxford English Dictionary shows a 1634 use of Xtianity and Xian is seen in a 1634–38 diary. The word Xmas uses a similar contraction.
Kenneth Samuel Wuest holds that all three original New Testament verses' usages reflect a derisive element in the term Christian to refer to followers of Christ who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome.#Wuest-1973 p. 19. "The word is used three times in the New Testament, and each time as a term of reproach or derision. Here in Antioch, the name Christianos was coined to distinguish the worshippers of the Christ from the Kaisarianos, the worshippers of Caesar." The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians, had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames.#Wuest-1973 p. 19. "The city of Antioch in Syria had a reputation for coining nicknames." However Peter's apparent endorsement of the term led to its being preferred over "Nazarenes" and the term Christianoi from 1 Peter becomes the standard term in the Early Church Fathers from Ignatius and Polycarp onwards.Christine Trevett Christian Women and the Time of the Apostolic Fathers 2006 Christians' (christianoi) was a term first coined in Syrian Antioch () and which appeared next in Christian sources in Ignatius, Eph 11.2; Rom 3.2; Pol 7.3. Cf. too Did 12.4; MPol 3.1; 10.1; 12.1–2; EpDiog 1.1; 4.6; 5.1;"
The earliest occurrences of the term in non-Christian literature include Josephus, referring to "the tribe of Christians, so named from him;" Pliny the Younger in correspondence with Trajan; and Tacitus, writing at the beginning of the 2nd century. In the Annals he relates that "by vulgar appellation they commonly called Christians" and identifies Christians as Nero's scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome.
The term Nazarene was also used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus ( Against Marcion 4:8), who records the phrase "the Jews call us Nazarenes". Furthermore, around 331 AD Eusebius records that Christ was called a Nazoraean from the name Nazareth, and that in earlier centuries "Christians" were once called "Nazarenes". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies: Volume 65, Issue 1 University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies – 2002 "around 331, Eusebius says of the place name Nazareth that 'from this name the Christ was called a Nazoraean, and in ancient times we, who are now called Christians, were once called Nazarenes';6 thus he attributes this designation" The Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes, Notzrim, occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian.
Linda Woodhead attempts to provide a common belief thread for Christians by noting that "Whatever else they might disagree about, Christians are at least united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance." Michael Martin evaluated three historical Christian creeds (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed) to establish a set of basic Christian assumptions which include belief in theism, the historicity of Jesus, the Incarnation, salvation through faith in Jesus, and Jesus as an ethical role model.
Another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Ṣalībī (rtl=yes ) from ṣalīb (rtl=yes ), which refers to Crusades and may have negative connotations.Akbar S. Ahmed, Islam, Globalization, and Postmodernity, p 110. However, Ṣalībī is a modern term; historically, Muslim writers described European Christian Crusaders as al-Faranj or Alfranj (rtl=yes) and Firinjīyah (rtl=yes) in Arabic.Rashid al-din Fazl Allâh, quoted in Karl Jahn (ed.) Histoire Universelle de Rasid al-Din Fadl Allah Abul=Khair: I. Histoire des Francs (Texte Persan avec traduction et annotations), Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1951. (Source: M. Ashtiany) This word comes from the name of the Franks and can be seen in the Arab history text Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh by Ali ibn al-Athir.rtl=yes"Account of al-Faranj seizing Antioch" Year 491AH, The Complete History
In the Maltese language, a Semitic European language related to Arabic written in the Latin alphabet, Christians are referred to as Nsara, singular masculine Nisrani. The Romance-borrowed Kristjan may also be used.
An old Kurdish word for Christian frequently in usage was felle (rtl=yes), coming from the root word meaning .Hazhar Mukriyani, (1990) Hanbanaborina Kurdish-Persian Dictionary Tehran, Soroush press p.527.
The Syriac term Nasrani () has also been attached to the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, India. In North India and Pakistan, Christians are referred to ʿĪsāʾī (, ). (2020). 9781532697227, Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781532697227 Masīhī (, ) is a term Christians use to refer to themselves as well. (2004). 9781645085621, William Carey Publishing. ISBN 9781645085621
In the past, the Malays used to call Christians in Malay language by the Portuguese loanword Serani (from Arabic Naṣrānī), but the term now refers to the modern Kristang people creoles of Malaysia. In the Indonesian language, the term Nasrani is also used alongside Kristen.
The Chinese word is (), literally . The name Christ was originally phonetically written in Chinese as 基利斯督, which was later abbreviated as 基督. The term is Kî-tuk in the southern Hakka dialect; the two characters are pronounced Jīdū in Mandarin Chinese. In Vietnam, the same two characters read Cơ đốc, and a "follower of Christianity" is a tín đồ Cơ đốc giáo.
In Japan, the term kirishitan (written in Edo period documents 吉利支丹, 切支丹, and in modern Japanese histories as キリシタン), from Portuguese cristão, referred to Roman Catholics in the 16th and 17th centuries before the religion was banned by the Tokugawa shogunate. Today, Christians are referred to in Standard Japanese as キリスト教徒 () or the English-derived term クリスチャン ().
Korean still uses 기독교도 (RR: ) for , though the Portuguese loanword 그리스도 (RR: ) now replaced the old Sino-Korean 기독 (RR: ), which refers to Christ himself.
In Thailand, the most common terms are คนคริสต์ (RTGS: ) or ชาวคริสต์ (RTGS: ) which literally means or . The Thai word คริสต์ (RTGS: ) is derived from Christ.
In the Philippines, the most common terms are Kristiyano (for ) and Kristiyanismo (for ) in most Philippine languages; both derive from Spanish cristiano and cristianismo (also used in Chavacano) due to the country's rich history of early Christianity during the Spanish colonial era. Some Protestants in the Philippines use the term Kristiyano (before the term born again became popular) to differentiate themselves from Catholics (Katoliko).
In some areas, people came to denote themselves as Christians (; ) and as Russians (), Ruthenians (), or Ukrainians ().
In time the Russian term крестьяне () acquired the meaning and later (the main part of the population of the region), while the term () retained its religious meaning and the term () began to mean representatives of the heterogeneous Russian nation formed on the basis of common Christian faith and language, which strongly influenced the history and development of the region. In the region, the term Orthodox faith (, ) or Russian faith (, ) from the earliest times became almost as common as the original Christian faith ( ).
Also in some contexts the term cossack () was used to denote "free" Christians of steppe origin and East Slavic language.
Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western World, where 70% are Christians. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey, if current trends continue, Christianity will remain the world's largest religion by 2050. By 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. While Muslims have an average of 3.1 children per woman—the highest rate of all religious groups—Christians are second, with 2.7 children per woman. High birth rates and conversion were cited as the reason for Christian population growth. A 2015 study found that approximately 10.2 million converted to Christianity. Christianity is growing in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Muslim world, and Oceania.The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press. 2002. 270 pp.
| + Christians (self-described) by region | +(Pew Research Center, 2011) | |
| Europe | 558,260,000 | 75.2 |
| Latin America–Caribbean | 531,280,000 | 90.0 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 517,340,000 | 62.9 |
| Asia Pacific | 286,950,000 | 7.1 |
| North America | 266,630,000 | 77.4 |
| Middle East–North Africa | 12,710,000 | 3.7 |
A Pew Center study about religion and education around the world in 2016, found that Christians ranked as the second most educated religious group around in the world after Jews with an average of 9.3 years of schooling, and the highest numbers of years of schooling among Christians were found in Germany (13.6), New Zealand (13.5) and Estonia (13.1). Christians were also found to have the second highest number of Academic degree and post-graduate degrees per capita while in absolute numbers ranked in the first place (220 million). Between the various Christian communities, Singapore outranks other nations in terms of Christians who obtain a university degree in institutions of higher education (67%), followed by the Christians of Israel (63%), and the Christians of Georgia (57%).
According to the study, Christians in North America, Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Asia Pacific regions are highly educated since many of the world's universities were built by the historic Christian denominations, in addition to the historical evidence that "Christian monks built libraries and, in the days before printing presses, preserved important earlier writings produced in Latin, Greek and Arabic". According to the same study, Christians have a significant amount of gender equality in educational attainment, and the study suggests that one of the reasons is the encouragement of the Protestant Reformers in promoting the education of women, which led to the eradication of illiteracy among females in Protestant communities.
Since the spread of Christianity from the Levant to Europe and North Africa and Horn of Africa during the early Roman Empire, Christendom has been divided in the pre-existing Greek East and Latin West. Consequently, different versions of the Christian cultures arose with their own rites and practices, centered around the cities such as Rome (Western Christianity) and Carthage, whose communities was called Western or Latin Christendom, and Constantinople (Eastern Christianity), Antioch (Syriac Christianity), Kerala (Indian Christianity) and Alexandria, among others, whose communities were called Eastern or Oriental Christendom.Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "christendom. §1.3 Scheidingen". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum. The Byzantine Empire was one of the peaks in Christian history and Christian civilization. From the 11th to 13th centuries, Latin Christendom rose to the central role of the Western world and Western culture. (1961). 9780813216836, CUA Press. ISBN 9780813216836
Western culture, throughout most of its history, has been nearly equivalent to Christian culture, and a large portion of the population of the Western Hemisphere can be described as practicing or nominal Christians. The notion of "Europe" and the "Western World" has been intimately connected with the concept of "Christianity and Christendom". Outside the Western world, Christians has had an influence and contributed on various cultures, such as in Africa, the Near East, Middle East, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
Christians have made noted contributions to a range of fields, including philosophy, science and technology, (2025). 9780521814560, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521814560 Many well-known historical figures who influenced Western science considered themselves Christian such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin and James Clerk Maxwell. medicine, fine arts and architecture, politics, literatures, Christian Music, and business. According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of the Nobel Prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.Baruch A. Shalev, 100 Years of Nobel Prizes (2003), Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, p. 57: "between 1901 and 2000 reveals that 654 Laureates belong to 28 different religions. Most (65.4%) have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference.".
In 2019, a report Mounstephen, Philip. "Interim report". Bishop of Truro's Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for Persecuted Christians. April 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019. commissioned by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to investigate global persecution of Christians found religious persecution has increased, and is highest in the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, North Korea, and Latin America, among others, and that it is global and not limited to Islamic states. Mounstephen, Philip. "Final Report and Recommendations". Bishop of Truro's Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for Persecuted Christians. July 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019. This investigation found that approximately 80% of persecuted believers worldwide are Christians.
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