Christian Church

Church ( Alemannic kilche, chile, Old High German chirihha, Middle Low German Kerke, borrowed from late Greek κυριακόν kyriakon, belonging to the Lord ') is a form of social organization of religions.

The term was brought ( by Heinrich Friedrich Jacobson ) by Celtic Christians of Britain from central Europe or during the times of Constantine in Christianity the Roman colonial cities (Metz, Trier, Cologne) was added. He finds since then mainly apply to religious communities of a Christian denomination. The Ekklesia, the faith community of Christians, is organized in different churches.

Theological Basics and History

The church is the "people of God " in continuity with the first-chosen covenant people Israel ( the Jewish-Christian dialogue in this regard has an eventful history behind it ). The appointment of the Apostles, Jesus Christ will gather Israel again; in the succession of these apostles to understand the Christian churches as the witnesses of the Gospel, who pass on the message of Christ and so the world not only proclaim salvation, but bear in mind by the Holy Spirit in her.

Classically, the church with the Creed to be " one, holy, catholic and apostolic " known (cf. notae ecclesiae ). More specifically says this: You come as the Church of Jesus Christ from him inviolable unity; it is sacred to all human sinfulness, because ordained to God and belonging to Him; it is known as a Catholic in the sense of all-embracing and world; and finally it is in historical continuity with the apostles and is therefore apostolic.

The Protestant theology sees the Church as a priority as creatura verbi, as a creature of the word, because the Church lives by the word of Christ - and this in the dual sense, on the one hand by the message that Jesus Christ proclaimed itself, on the other hand by the Embassy, announced by the Church after the New Testament testimonies of him. The Augsburg Confession (Art. VII ) is committed to fundamentally the "one holy catholic church [ ... ] that is the assembly of all believers in which the gospel is purely preached and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel. " Further goes the evangelical understanding of the church of a visible and an invisible church, the one of the "invisible " church of the elect that goes into one with the Church in heaven with the angels and saints of God, and which may not include all that are connected her to the outside; on the other of the visible Church on earth, with all its shortcomings and mistakes. The Protestant churches rely on the origins of Christianity in the New Testament and the Reformation impulses of the dawning modern age va by Martin Luther.

The Orthodox understanding of the Church sees the church first as theandrische (ie divine-human ) size, which is an interaction of divine and human activity and is created in the image of the Trinity in unity and multiplicity. She knows to the image of the church as the "body of Christ" ( cf. 1 Cor 12) committed and accentuates the action of the Holy Spirit as a continuation of the work of Christ. Important to her are, therefore, particularly the sacraments, primarily the Eucharist that it generally considers key to the understanding of the Church and of Christianity. Furthermore, the orthodoxy the connection to the heavenly Church and their community with the same are important. Here, the Orthodox churches rely primarily on the first Councils of Church History and the Church Fathers.

The Catholic Church has expressed at the Second Vatican Council for the first time in a comprehensive overview to their understanding of the church, emphasizing different aspects. Traditionally, the sacraments and ecclesiastical office you are particularly important. These premises are now included as a primordial sacrament in the name of the church, a view that defines the Church as a tool and symbol of salvation ( cf. LG 1 ). Then there is the so-called communio theology that considers the existence of the Church as communion between God and man, and between individuals and groups of people. An important point is V.A. the "Unit Office of Peter " - the papacy. The balance between the community of bishops on the one hand and the central position of the Pope on the other hand must be theologically has yet been found. Sources of understanding of the church of the Catholic Church are the Scriptures and the tradition of its own.

Financing

The financing of churches differs depending on the country. In Germany, recognized as a public- law corporations churches are entitled to collect the contributions of its members in the form of church tax. They are sorted by country church with 30-80 % the main source of financing national churches. The churches receive no subsidies within the meaning of the definition of subsidy recent report from the federal government, but compensation payments ( state benefits) because of property that was nationalized by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in the context of secularization; this property accounted for approximately 27 % of the area of the present Federal Republic and was largely founded in the Middle Ages by wealthy nobles and the Church. In addition, revenue from foundations and residual income from their own assets, as well as funding from the state based on the principle of subsidiarity play a role. This income is supplemented by further donations and voluntary community contributions.

The free churches, often public corporations, finance their work primarily from voluntary contributions of its members, which are tax-deductible up to a certain height.

Individual churches

Not every Christian denomination is the religion scientific sense and self-image after a church in the sense of an organization, and not every church in the organizational sense is a confession in the sense of a confession, yet the relationship between the church as an organization and confession as confession is significant.

Structure

The internal structure of the individual Christian churches partly deviates strongly from each other.