The Essence and Identity of Christianity

Fundamentally, Christianity is a tradition of faith that focuses on the person of Jesus Christ. In this context, "faith" refers to both the act of believing and the content of what is believed. As a tradition, Christianity is not merely a system of religious beliefs. It is also a culture—a set of ideas and a way of life—comprising practices and works of art that have been passed down through generations ever since Jesus first became the object of faith. Thus, Christianity is both a living tradition of faith and a culture that carries that faith forward.

The representative of Christianity is the Church—a community of believers who are a part of the faithful. Saying that Christianity is "centered" on Jesus Christ means that its faith, practices, and other traditions are all somehow unified around a historical figure. However, very few Christians are content with referring to Jesus only as a historical person. While their tradition is historical—meaning they believe that divine interaction does not happen only in timeless ideas but through human experiences across ages—most Christians center their faith on Jesus Christ as a living reality. They may include many other references in their tradition, such as talking about “God” and “human nature,” or “the Church” and “the world,” but if they do not ultimately focus on Jesus Christ, they would not be considered Christian.

While the focus on Jesus as the central figure involves some straightforward ideas, there are also deep complexities. These complexities are expressed in the thousands of separate churches, denominations, and communities that form modern Christian tradition. These diverse groups, shaped by their different cultural and historical backgrounds around the world, reveal a bewildering variety. Imagine people expressing their loyalty to this tradition through their prayer lives and church buildings, their silent worship, or their intense efforts to transform the world—this too indicates the vast diversity.

Because of such complexity, it is natural that throughout Christian history, efforts have been made to simplify and clarify the tradition. There are two ways to do this: one is by focusing on the "essence" of the faith and its inseparable concepts; the other is by examining the "identity" of the tradition and the boundaries of its historical experience.

Modern scholars have identified the core of this faith tradition within the context of monotheism. Christianity addresses the historical person of Jesus Christ within the experience of one God and simultaneously strives to remain faithful to that one God. It has consistently rejected both polytheism and atheism.

The second essential element of Christian belief—barring rare exceptions—is the plan of salvation or redemption. That is, believers in the Church see themselves as being in a situation of distress from which they need to be saved. For one reason or another, they have strayed from God and are in need of redemption. Christianity is built upon a specific experience or plan aimed at salvation—bringing God’s creatures back to their divine source or "purchasing" them, which is part of the meaning of redemption. The agent of this salvation is Jesus Christ.

It is possible that the vast majority of believers throughout the centuries never used the term “essence” to describe the core of their faith. The word itself is of Greek origin and thus represents a part of the tradition, one of the many conceptual tools used in forming Christianity. “Essence” refers to those qualities that define something’s identity and distinguish it from everything else. To Greek philosophers, it meant something intrinsic and essential to a thing or a class of things that gives it its character and separates it from everything of a different nature. Therefore, Jesus Christ is part of Christianity's essential character and gives it its unique identity.

Even if most people are not concerned with defining the essence of Christianity, in practice they must agree with the meaning behind the word. Whether they are engaged in receiving salvation or reflecting and speaking about it, its agent, and its meaning, they are focusing on the essence of their experience. Those who reflect from within the tradition also help define its identity. It is impossible to speak about the essence of a historical tradition without mentioning how its ideal qualities have been discussed over time. Still, the concepts of essence and identity can be considered separately, as long as we remain aware of how they are interconnected.