Study of Christianity: Beliefs, Teachings and Practices

What Christians do flows from what they believe

This component has two halves that look separate: what Christians BELIEVE, and what Christians DO. It is easy to revise them as two lists. They are really one idea. The practices are the beliefs lived out, and seeing that link is what turns a list into understanding. ⭐⭐ Christians believe in one God, understood as three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which is called the Trinity. They believe God made the world: the Bible opens with the words In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). They believe God became human in Jesus, an idea called the incarnation, and that Jesus died and rose again, which is the resurrection. Now watch how the doing follows from the believing. Christians celebrate Christmas because they believe in the incarnation. They celebrate Easter because they believe in the resurrection. They baptise, pray and share communion because of what they believe about God and about Jesus. ⭐ And here is the second key. Christianity is not one uniform thing. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians share the central beliefs, but they worship, and understand some practices, differently. So where Christians differ, they usually differ in HOW they live a shared belief, not in whether they hold it. ⚠️ Two habits for the whole module. Always say Christians BELIEVE, not that something simply is; a belief is being described, not a fact asserted. And when Christians disagree, explain the views fairly and never say which is right. Carry one question through everything: for any practice, which belief does it express, and where do Christians differ in how they live it?

Belief, practice, and difference

Read each column as attributed to Christians, not as a statement of fact. The first is what most Christians share, the second how it is lived, the third where traditions differ.

Tap the two that are beliefs

Tap the TWO statements that describe a BELIEF (a teaching) rather than a PRACTICE (something Christians do).

• Christians believe God is one being in three persons, the Trinity.
• Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.
• Some Christians travel on pilgrimage to a holy place such as Jerusalem.
• Christians gather to celebrate Christmas each year.

One God in three persons

When Christians speak of the Trinity, what do they mean?

• One God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
• Three separate gods who work together
• One God who changes into a different form at different times
• Three famous humans that Christians honour

Words for the study of Christianity

Six terms this component turns on. Each names a belief or an idea Christians use, and each should be attributed to Christian teaching when you write.

Match each practice to the belief it expresses

Two ways Christians differ

Select the TWO statements that correctly describe a difference WITHIN Christianity.

• Catholics recognise seven sacraments, while many Protestants recognise two
• Catholics believe the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, while many Protestants understand communion as a memorial
• Some Christian denominations reject the Trinity while others accept it
• Some Christians have no festivals at all, while others do

Attribute, and never rule it right

A few habits separate a strong Christianity answer from a weak one. ⭐ ATTRIBUTE everything. Write Christians believe, the Bible teaches, Catholics hold, many Protestants argue. A bare statement such as God is three persons reads as your own claim; the same idea, attributed, shows you know you are describing a belief. ⭐⭐ SHOW that you know Christians differ. The strongest answers name a difference between traditions, for example on the sacraments or on communion, and explain both fairly. What they never do is decide which tradition is correct. That is not your job in this subject, and doing it loses marks as well as respect. SUPPORT a point with a source. A short, accurate reference to the Bible, given with its book and chapter, strengthens a point: that God is love (1 John 4:8) supports a claim about the Christian view of God, and that the Word was made flesh (John 1:14) supports the incarnation. And keep the belief and the practice joined. If a question asks about a practice, say which belief it expresses; if it asks about a belief, you can show how it is lived. That link is exactly what the systematic study of a religion is for. ⚠️ When an evaluation question asks whether something is true, or whether one view is better, weigh the views on each side fairly and reach a measured conclusion. You may give a reasoned view, but present the other side honestly first, and never flatten a belief you disagree with. Keep the one-line test to hand: which belief does this practice express, and where do Christians differ in how they live it?

Bread and wine, understood two ways

Two churches both share bread and wine at communion, but understand it differently. How should this best be described?

• Both keep the practice; Catholics believe the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, while many Protestants understand it as a memorial of the death of Jesus
• The Catholic understanding is the correct one and the Protestant understanding is mistaken
• The Protestant understanding is the correct one and the Catholic understanding is mistaken
• They cannot really both be Christian if they disagree about this

Order what Christians remember at Easter

Christians remember these events over Holy Week and Easter. Put them in the order the tradition tells them.

• Jesus enters Jerusalem and is welcomed by crowds
• Jesus shares a last meal with his followers
• Jesus is arrested and put to death on a cross
• Jesus dies and is buried in a tomb
• Christians believe Jesus rises from the dead on the third day

Build the belief behind the practice

Assemble the sentence that links a Christian festival to the belief it expresses.

The Christianity run

Five quick decisions about Christian beliefs and practices. Three lives.

One recipe, many kitchens

Leave the study of religion aside for a screen. Picture a much-loved dish that has been passed down a large family for generations, from one shared, handwritten recipe. Every household makes the same dish. It is unmistakably the family recipe, and everyone agrees on what it is and where it came from. ⭐ And yet no two kitchens make it quite the same. One adds a little more spice, one bakes it longer, one serves it on a feast day and one every week. If you asked, each cook would tell you their way is the proper way their own grandmother taught them, and they would mean it sincerely. ⭐⭐ Here is the point. It would be silly for a visitor to declare which kitchen makes the correct version. They are all making the same family dish; they simply live the shared recipe out in their own way. To understand the family, you would describe the one recipe they share AND the different ways the households cook it, fairly, without picking a winner. And notice that the differences are not disagreements about whether it is the family dish. They agree completely on that. They differ only in how it is made and served. ⚠️ Hold that picture, and hold it respectfully. A shared story lived out in many sincere ways, described fairly and without a visitor ruling which household is right, is exactly how this subject asks you to write about the traditions within a faith.

Complete the Christian belief facts

Christians believe in one God in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which is called the _____. The belief that God became human in Jesus is the _____. The belief that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day is the _____. An outward sign of inward grace, such as baptism, is a _____. A distinct tradition within Christianity, such as Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, is a _____.

Explain two Christian views fairly

A student is preparing answers about the Study of Christianity and wants to handle differences between traditions well.

• The student is describing two churches that worship very differently, one with set forms and one informally, and is unsure how to present them.
• The student has written that God is three persons in one, as a plain statement, and asks whether that is fine.
• An evaluation question asks whether Jesus really rose from the dead, and the student wants to answer well.

Explain a belief and how it is lived

Explain one central Christian belief and a practice that expresses it, showing that you know Christians can share a belief yet live it in different ways. Attribute the beliefs to Christians throughout.

• State one central Christian belief and attribute it clearly to Christians
• You may support it with a short, accurate reference to the Bible, giving the book
• Explain a Christian practice that expresses that belief
• Give one way Christians differ in how they hold the belief or the practice
• Describe that difference fairly, without saying which tradition is right
• Finish by drawing the belief and the practice together in one sentence