[Michael Chui]

You fail to mention Josephus, who, as I recall, is the only historical account we have of Jesus, especially outside the Bible. You also don't talk about the Gnostics or Ebionites (pre-Catholic sects of Christianity), the Councils of Nicaea and Trent (highly pivotal), the influence of the apostle Paul, and less importantly, the many schisms in church history, the irony of the fourth Crusade, and the Roman occupation of Israel before the birth of Christ, which culminated in the destruction of the Jersusalem temple in 70 AD.

Also remarkable is the perspective that Christianity was a feminist religion. The belief begins based on the concept that Jesus was married to Mary Magdelena, carries across to the idea that there were 12 women disciples, is supported by the extraordinary female presence in the New Testament (count up all the names of non-significant characters, that is to say, no apostles or authors or such; then note how many are female), which in turn connotes that popularity among women was a large reason why Christianity was successful, and winds up as some speculation that Peter, or some church patriarch, disliked Magdelena's uppitiness and did his best to erase her from the Bible and only succeeded in reducing her to a mere prostitute kissing Jesus' feet.

First person to whisper "Da Vinci Code" gets strangled.

Originally Posted by Adam

Jesus of Nazerus was born. Due to the conflicting accounts of his history, the bare minimum that could be said is that he was a very wise man who taught love for your fellow man and forgiveness (which is naturally a foreign concept for people who have been living under a god of war) until he was hung on a tree.

Which accounts? As far as I'm aware, there is only one historical account and a small number of "spiritual" accounts. I do not believe they conflict. Of interest to some people may be the similarity to the Poetic Edda, wherein Odin hangs himself from a tree, his side pierced by a spear. It is less probable that there was significant contact between the Scandinavians and the Israelites, though; it's actually more likely that the Scandinavians got it from the Gospel itself.

Originally Posted by Adam

Christianity springs from people's interpretations of other people's interpretations of Jesus' words and deeds.

Close. Christianity springs from people's interpretations of what they think are other people's interpretations of Jesus' words and deeds.

Originally Posted by Adam

In the 400's, Christianity became the official religion of Rome, following a Caeser's victory in battle after praying to Jehova.

Specifically, Emperor Constantinople was shown a vision, which converted him to Christianity (possibly at the urging of his scribe), and proceeded to achieve victory over Rome. This is marked as the moment of history when Christianity ceased to be a cult and became a major religion. (My pastor once told me that Christianity held no weight in Roman circles because they refused to say they were based on Judaism, and "new" religions were scorned.)

Originally Posted by Adam

During the Renaisance, Martin Luther formed the first successful protestant church, which led to many other protestant churches springing up as well. The original Christian church became known as the Catholic church, because of their use of the word 'catholic' when gaining converts, which used to mean 'open to all.'

Catholic means "universal", and the church was established because of the widely differing views being preached to pagans across Europe. It was formed as an attempt to unite Christianity into a single, cohesive religion with one voice. The papal one. See: Catholic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Adam

Despite its polytheistic roots, it is very much a monotheistic religion today.

The Jehovah's Witnesses sect (or religion, depending on who you ask) states that the Trinity, or Godhead, is in fact a polytheistic concept. (Note: I got that out of a pamphlet about 9 years ago, but from what I know of the Witness religion, there's really no expectation of change.) You would have to accept the Nicene Creed, or some substitute, in order to argue for monotheism.

Originally Posted by Nneka

We don't think of Jesus as the only begotten son, but as an example of God in full expression that is achievable by all.

I like that.

Originally Posted by Adam

The first interpretations come from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which were written after Jesus' death.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are considered the Synoptic Gospels due to their remarkable similarity. Further, Luke has not been confirmed as ever having met or seen Jesus in person; he wrote both the Gospel of Luke as well as Acts of the Apostles.

Originally Posted by Radical

Do you agree that democracy in America is turning into more of a theocracy?

No. I have not seen any religious leaders explicitly supporting one party member or another, and happen to know a number of Christian democrats personally, and am fairly certain there is a sizable contingent of them in America. Just as a large contingent of Muslims argue that the terrorism practiced primarily in the Middle East is radical and heretical, so does a contingent of Christians believe that the decisions being made by the American government are against their teachings.

It is still, ultimately, a democracy, where the people are both religious and secular. President Bush's declamations aren't terribly indicative, unless you listen to La Rouche, which I wouldn't recommend. Focusing on specific people is not the right tactic in a democracy; you have to convince the majority.

I get the impression, though I've never looked into what they teach at seminary schools, that most modern Christian sects are flat-out unaware of their actual roots. Joseph Campbell notes that there were four phases of Christianity: "(1) a period of literally following the master, Jesus, by renouncing the world as he did (Primitive Christianity); (2) a period of meditating on Christ Crucified as the dvinity within the heart, meanwhile leading one's life in the world as the servant of this god (Early and Medieval Christianity); (3) a rejection of most of the instruments supporting meditation, meanwhile, however, continuing to lead one's life in the world as the servant or vehicle of the god whom one has ceased to visualize (Protestant Christianity); (4) an attempt to interpret Jesus as a model human being, but without accepting his ascetic path (Liberal Christianity)" (Campbell, Hero of a Thouand Faces, p319, fn 4) Campbell additionally notes the similarity of this history to the interpretation of the Buddha.

Oh, and the Jewish folks are peeved that Jesus is actually a conflation of the Suffering Servant and the Messiah, who are supposed to be two separate people. But they could be wrong, like all the Christians (*cough*Mel Gibson*cough* ) say.

And after all of this, I have to say that I don't actually know very much about the history of Christianity. There's so much of it.

Lastly, I've got to mention this:

Originally Posted by Adam

(that's Before Current Era, also abreviated as BC, meaning Before Christ)

Again, Wikipedia says it better than I would: Common Era - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia