Christianity is the religion centered on the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, a wandering Jewish teacher who lived in Palestine in the early first century. Early Christianity focused on Jesus' unique understanding of God and the Jewish historical faith. Eventually, the distinctions between traditional Judaism and the gospel, or "good news," of Jesus became so pronounced that a new religion was born. Although Roman emperors persecuted Christians for several generations, Christianity eventually came to be the reigning religion of the Roman Empire.
Christianity has been the dominant religious worldview of the Western world for nearly 2000 years, despite the Crusades, the Reformation, the Counter Reformation, and denominational fractures. Although other religions, like Islam, are challenging Christianity's dominance, it remains the largest religion in the world with nearly 2.5 billion adherents. Today there are three main divisions of Christianity—Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox.
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