Christian Identity

Abstract

AbstractWhat makes an individual a Christian and what does it mean to be a Christian? Answers to these questions of Christian identity are not as simple as they might first appear to be. The concept of identity is a 20th century notion typically associated with modern individualism, and scholars tend to qualify its usage when speaking of the “emergence of Christian identity” in the first two centuries. Nevertheless, it is still possible to speak of “Christian identity” in constructing a sense of Christian continuity and common boundaries in relation to (or in terms of) otherness and differentiation; boundaries of Christian identity “involve selection out of both similarity and difference, and promote interchange as well as distancing” (Lieu 2002: 311). This identity is constructed in constant social interactions with the surrounding societies and cultures, “others,” and defines and redefines those “others,” such as Jews, pagans, heretics, etc. Therefore, as with other identities, Christian identity is “contextualized and contingent” (Lieu 2004: 18) in history, yet it also presents and projects Christian ideals and universal claims through the selective process of self‐definition (Rhee 2005: 7). Christians in the last two millennia have wrestled to define and live out their Christian identities in the changing contexts of culture, time, and space. In this age of globalization and postmodern world, the question of Christian identity is all the more poignant and complex. The following section offers not comprehensive but representative Christian identity markers throughout history that display both extensive diversity and manifestations of contextualization of Christianity and its universal ideals and claims in broad categories.