Part of the series on Christianity

History of Christianity Jesus of Nazareth The Apostles Ecumenical councils Great Schism The Crusades Reformation Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the stories it teaches about the life, and actions of Jesus Christ according to the Christians book of faith, the New Testiment. ... image of a Latin cross. ... This article outlines the history of Christianity and provides links to relevant topics. ... Jesus, also known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene, is the central figure of Christianity, in which context he is known as Jesus Christ (from Greek Ιησούς Χριστός) with Christ being a title meaning Anointed One or Messiah. Christian viewpoints on Jesus (known as Christology) are both diverse and complex. ... For the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus, see Apostles See also London Arch (formerly London Bridge) Loch Ard Gorge The Gibson Steps The Grotto Categories: Australia geography stubs | Cliffs | Geography of Australia ... In Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, an ecumenical council or general council is a meeting of the bishops of the whole church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. ... Great Schism redirects here. ... This article is about the medieval crusades. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which emerged in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe. ...

The Trinity of God God the Father Christ the Son The Holy Spirit Within Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is a single Being who exists, simultaneously and eternally, as a communion of three persons (personae, prosoponoi): Father (the Source, the Eternal Majesty); the Son (the eternal Logos or Word, incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth); and the Holy Spirit. ... In many religions, the supreme God is given the title and attributions of Father. ... This page is about the title, for the Christian figure, see Jesus Christ is the English representation of the Greek word Χριστός (transliterated as Khristós), which means anointed. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Christian theology Christian Church Christian worship Grace Salvation Sermon on the Mount The Ten Commandments Christian theology practices theology from a Christian viewpoint or studies Christianity theologically. ... In Christian theology, One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is a phrase describing the nature of the Christian community and/or Christian Church, in the various meanings it has. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Divine grace is believed by Christians to be the sovereign favour of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have no merit in them. ... Salvation refers to deliverance from an undesirable state or condition. ... The Sermon on the Mount by Carl Heinrich Bloch. ... This article is about the list of religious and moral imperatives. ...

The Christian Bible Old Testament New Testament Apocrypha The Bible (sometimes The Book, Good Book, Word of God, The Word, or Scripture), from Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the classical name for the Hebrew Bible of Judaism or the combination of the Old Testament and New Testament of Christianity (The Bible actually refers to at least two... Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh, but not Old Testament, because it does not recognize the concept of a New Testament. ... // What is the New Testament? The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written after the birth of Jesus. ... Apocrypha is a Greek word (απόκρυφα, neuter plural of απόκρυφος), from αποκρυπτειν, to hide away. ...

Christian denominations Catholicism Orthodox Christianity Protestantism A denomination, in the Christian sense of the word, is an identifiable religious body, organization under a common name, structure, and/or doctrine. ... This article considers Catholicism in the broadest ecclesiastical sense. ... Orthodox Christianity is a generalized reference to the Eastern traditions of Christianity, as opposed to the Western traditions which descend from the Catholic Church. ... Protestantism is a movement within Christianity, representing a split from within the Roman Catholic Church during the mid-to-late Renaissance in Europe —a period known as the Protestant Reformation. ... Christian movements Christian movements are theological, political, or philosophical intepretations of Christianity that are not generally represented by a specific church, sect, or denomination. ...

Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating pacifism. The term historic peace churches refers to Church of the Brethren, Mennonites and Society of Friends. Most teach that Jesus was himself a pacifist who taught and practiced pacifism, and that his followers must do likewise. Some vary on whether physical force should ever be justified in self-defense or protecting another, as many adhere strictly to nonresistance when confronted by violence, but all would traditionally agree that violence on behalf of what is essentially an abstraction like a country or a government would not be permissible for Christians. Many peace church Christians see their religious body as having an historical antecedent from early Christianity. Pacifism was an issue of great import to Christians in the Roman empire, especially for soldiers who were converted from paganism. As a noun, Christian is an appellation and moniker deriving from the appellation Christ, which many people associate exclusively with Jesus of Nazareth. ... Pacifism is opposition to war. ... The Church of the Brethren was organized by Alexander Mack, a miller, in Schwarzenau, Germany, in 1708. ... The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations based on the teachings and tradition of Menno Simons. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... Jesus, also known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene, is the central figure of Christianity, in which context he is known as Jesus Christ (from Greek Ιησούς Χριστός) with Christ being a title meaning Anointed One or Messiah. Christian viewpoints on Jesus (known as Christology) are both diverse and complex. ... Self defense refers to actions taken by a person to defend onself, ones property or ones home. ... Nonresistance (or non-resistance) discourages physical resistance to an enemy and is a subdivision of nonviolence. ... The Early Christians is a term used to refer to the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth, before the emergence of established Christian orthodoxy. ... Paganism (from Latin paganus) and Heathenry are catch-all terms which have come to connote a broad set of spiritual/religious beliefs and practices of a natural religion, as opposed to the Abrahamic religions. ...

There has always been at least a faction of pacifism in all large Christian groups, but certain ones have always held it in predomination since their founding. Besides the historic peace churches, these include the Amish, Hutterites, and others in the Anabaptist tradition, Doukhobors, Molokans, Bruderhof Communities, Schwenkfelders, Moravians many groups of Brethren, and many groups within the Pentecostal movement. Several other smaller groups have been peace churches, including some now extinct or nearly so such as the Shakers. These groups often differ with each other, and among themselves, about the propriety of non-combatant military or other governmental service such as performing services as unarmed medical personnel. One faction states that Jesus would never have had any objection to helping those who were hurting and in fact did so himself, while the other states that those doing so, in a military context at least, free up a person who does not object to violence then to fill a direct combat role and hence indirectly are contributing to further violence. Some groups once containing a relatively large pacifist faction are now almost devoid of one, such as the Church of Christ. Amish couple in a horse-drawn buggy in rural Holmes County, Ohio, the site of one of the largest concentrations of Amish in the United States The Amish are a denomination of Anabaptists, found primarily in the United States and Canada, noted for their restrictions on the use of modern... Like the two best-known Anabaptist denominations, the Amish and the Mennonites, the Hutterites had their beginnings in the Radical Reformation of the 16th Century. ... Anabaptists (Greek ana+baptizo re-baptizers, German: Wiedertäufer) are Christians of the so-called radical wing of the Protestant Reformation. ... The Doukhobors (Russian Духоборы) are a Christian dissenting sect of Russian origin. ... The Molokans (Russian: ) are a Biblically-centered religious movement, among the Russian peasants, who broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1550s. ... The Bruderhof Communities (German: place of brothers) are Christian faith-based communities with branches in New York and Pennsylvania in the USA, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. ... The Schwenkfelder Church is a small but unique American Christian body rooted in the 16th century reformation teachings of Caspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig (1489-1561). ... A Moravian can be: an ethnic group a Christian denomination This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Brethren are any of several Christian denominations, most of which are Anabaptist-Pietist . ... The Pentecostal movement within Protestant Christianity places special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. ... The Shakers are an offshoot of the Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers) that originated in Manchester, England in the early 18th century. ... The Churches of Christ are autonomous Christian congregations. ...

Another group that deserves mention in the context of peace churches is the Jehovah's Witnesses. Even though this group does not consider itself to be a church and objects to the use of that term to describe it, it nonetheless shares the major viewpoint discussed here, as that Witnesses believe and teach that no one who follows God has any right to lay down his life on behalf of the state, and that to do so in fact constitutes idolatry. Idolatry is a term used by many religions to describe the worship of a false deity, which is an affront to their understanding of divinity. ...

At one point, active membership in and acceptance of the beliefs of one of the peace churches was a requisite for conscientious objector status in the United States and hence exemption from military conscription or, for those already in the military, honorable discharge as an objector. However, after a series of court rulings this requirement was later dropped in the United States and one can claim conscientious objection based on a personal belief system that was not necessarily Christian or even religiously-based. A conscientious objector is an individual whose personal beliefs are incompatible with military service, perhaps with any role in the armed forces or just with a particular war. ...

Peace churches, especially larger ones with greater financial resources, have traditionally attempted to heal the ravages of war without favoritism. This has often proven controversial in and of itself, as when the Quakers sent large shipments of foods and medicines to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and also to U.S.-embargoed Cuba. The American Friends Service Committee and Mennonite Central Committee are two of the denominational aid agencies set up by the Quakers and Mennonites respectively. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN), or less commonly, Vietnamese Democratic Republic (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa), also known as North Vietnam, was founded by Ho Chi Minh and was recognized by the Peoples Republic of China and the Soviet Union in 1950. ... The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN, or North Vietnam), allied with the Communist World, namely the Soviet Union and Red China against the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam), and its allies — notably the United States military in... This article is about the economic term. ... American Friends Service Committee logo The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) affiliated organization which works for social justice, peace and reconciliation, abolition of the death penalty, and human rights, and provides humanitarian relief. ... Mennonite Central Committee logo. ...

In the 1990s, the Quakers, Brethren in Christ and Mennonites came together to create Christian Peacemaker Teams, an international organization that works to reduce violence and systematic injustice in areas of conflict. The CPT is viewed by some as a response to criticisms that peace churches rely on states and militaries to protect them from forced dissolution. Christian Peacemaker Teams is an international organization set up to support teams of peace workers in conflict areas around the world. ...

See also

• Anti-war
• Christian anarchism
• Christian vegetarianism
• Nonviolence
• Simple living

Anti war protest in Melbourne, Australia, 2003 Anti_war is a name that is widely adopted by any social movement or person that seeks to end or oppose a future or current war. ... Christian anarchism (also known as Christian libertarianism) is the belief that the only source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable is God, embodied in the teachings of Jesus. ... Christian vegetarianism is the dietary practice of vegetarianism or veganism based on the belief that Jesus, the twelve apostles and the early Messianic Jewish followers of Jesus (the Ebionites) were vegetarians. ... Nonviolence (or non-violence) is a set of assumptions about morality, power and conflict that leads its proponents to reject the use of violence in efforts to attain social or political goals. ... Simple living (similar but not identical to voluntary simplicity or voluntary poverty) is a lifestyle individuals may pursue for a variety of motivations, such as spirituality, health, or ecology. ...

External links

• Every Church a Peace Church - organization working to create more peace churches
• Historic Peace Churches - article in Ecumenical Dictionary
• Who are the Historic Peace Churches (HPC)?
• Lost Religion of Jesus - Christian pacifism Yahoo! Group community
• Cascadia Publishing House - Anabaptist-related publisher of Historic Peace Church materials
• Historic Peace Churches article in Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia