Christian culture

Christian culture refers to the wide range of customs and traditions that have grown up around the Christian faith. These practices vary depending on the region, as Christian beliefs are applied differently across cultures. Over time, Christianity has both shaped and absorbed elements from Middle Eastern, Greco-Roman, Byzantine, Western, Slavic, and Caucasian traditions. From the early Roman Empire onward, the Christian world split along the lines of the existing Greek East and Latin West, leading to distinct Christian cultures with their own rituals and customs. This divide between Western and Eastern Christianity continues to be a source of cultural diversity.

Christianity has been a major force in shaping Western civilization, especially through the Catholic Church and Protestantism. For much of its history, Western culture has been nearly synonymous with Christian culture. Beyond the West, Christianity has also left its mark on regions like Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Christians have made notable contributions to many fields, both in the past and today, including science, technology, medicine, fine arts, architecture, politics, literature, music, philanthropy, philosophy, ethics, humanism, theater, and business.

The Bible has deeply influenced Western civilization and cultures worldwide, helping to shape law, art, literature, and education. With a literary tradition spanning two thousand years, it is one of the most influential works ever written. Its impact extends to personal hygiene, philosophy, ethics, politics, law, war, peace, sexual morals, marriage, family life, toilet etiquette, learning, the arts, economics, social justice, and medical care. The Gutenberg Bible was the first book printed in Europe using movable type.

As Christianity spread from the Levant to Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Europe, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa during the early Roman Empire, the Christian world divided into the Greek East and Latin West. Different Christian cultures emerged, centered on cities like Rome and Carthage (Western or Latin Christendom) and Constantinople, Antioch, Kerala, and Alexandria (Eastern or Oriental Christendom). The Byzantine Empire represents a high point in Christian history and civilization. From the 11th to the 13th centuries, Latin Christendom became central to the Western world and its culture.

Outside the West, Christianity has influenced cultures in Africa, the Near East, the Middle East, Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Scholars note that Christians in the Middle East have made significant contributions to Arab and Islamic civilization since Islam’s arrival, shaping the culture of the Mashriq, Turkey, and Iran. Eastern Christian scientists and scholars in the medieval Islamic world—particularly Jacobite and Nestorian Christians—translated Greek philosophical works into Syriac and then Arabic during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, and also excelled in philosophy, science, theology, and medicine.

Historian Paul Legutko of Stanford University has stated that the Catholic Church is central to the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions that define Western civilization. The Eastern Orthodox Church has played a key role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Near East. The Oriental Orthodox Churches have been influential in Armenia, Egypt, Turkey, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and parts of the Middle East and India. Protestants have developed a unique culture that has made major contributions to education, the humanities, sciences, political and social order, the economy, the arts, and many other fields.

Christianity was central to the development of Western civilization, particularly through the Catholic Church and Protestantism. For most of its history, Western culture has been nearly identical to Christian culture, and much of the Western hemisphere’s population could be described as cultural Christians. The idea of Europe and the Western world is closely tied to Christianity and Christendom; many see Christianity as the unifying force behind a shared European identity, even though some progress—like the Renaissance and Romanticism—began with an interest in the pagan world of antiquity.

Although Western culture once included several polytheistic religions under the Greek and Roman Empires, the Catholic Church became the only consistent force in Western Europe as Roman power declined. Until the Enlightenment, Christian culture guided philosophy, literature, art, music, and science. Christian disciplines in these areas developed into Christian philosophy, Christian art, Christian music, and Christian literature. Art, literature, law, education, and politics were preserved by the Church’s teachings in an environment where they might otherwise have been lost. The Church founded many cathedrals, universities, monasteries, and seminaries, some of which still exist today.