Talk: Christian
From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.
I have moved the following here. I have never heard of this absurd claim before:
Note: The term Christian was originally a derogatory statement made by those of either Roman decent or popular Roman influence (See: Roman Conquest) during the early A.D. periods between the Birth of Christ and the eventual fall of Rome at the hands of the Germanics. Consequently, many educated followers of Jesus Christ refuse to associate themselves with this label; more times than one, they'll simply refer to themselves as Followers of Jesus or a Follower of The Way.
Likewise, the way the paragraph was written reveals a great deal of ignorance regarding the history of Christianity in the Empire. The "persecution period" did NOT last all the way up to the "fall of rome".
Please give a reputable citation to the effect that "Christian" was a derogatory term.
--
I'm the original writer of that paragraph - I suppose I didn't cite enough information about all of that. My apologies.
The Greek plural is Christianoi, the suffix is a diminutive, hence "little Christs". If you wanted to use a Germanic suffix, "Christlings" might have a similar sense. Whether or not this is derogatory is open to debate.
However, the most common reason for a Chrisitan preferring to identify themselves by some other term is that since there is a great breadth of opinion, and very subtle shades of opinion, among Christians on what is necessary to be Christian, some avoid the phrase "I am a Christian" because it could mean a great number of things, some of which were certainly not intended, to the hearer.
is this article kinda stubbish or what?
I looked at Jew and Muslim recently. Jew is real comprehensive and Muslim is quite good. 'Christian' has essentially nothing. Does anyone find this weird?? I'm gonna look at christianity but wow. still. If anyone knows anyone who might wann help hook this article up, please pass the word along. it needs it. I'm not qualified. Kzzl
Disambiguation
I think we should move this to Christian (disambiguation), redirect this page to Christianity and add a link to the former disambig page on top of the latter. The Christianity meaning is the primary one, and the links seem to indicate that as well. --Joy [shallot] 17:29, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)
I agree. How many links are there to the given name Christian? --Henrygb 16:58, 15 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I agree, but on the other hand, why don't we have an article for "Christian" like there are for Muslim and Jew for example? Those religions have their own pages, as well - Islam and Judaism. Change the content of this page and add an disambiguation page to the names list... plus that would allow us to move the "Christianity today" section from the Christianity page to this one, helping that article with its length problems. Spangineer 21:53, Nov 18, 2004 (UTC)
