Christianity is the most widely followed religion on earth, with some 2.4 billion adherents. It grew from Judaism around the person of Jesus, and its inner, first-person path is the special study of the sibling What Did Jesus Mean project.
The tradition in brief
At its centre is the gospel — "good news" — that in Jesus, God entered human life, died, and rose, opening the way to reconciliation and eternal life. Christians hold Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and read the New Testament as the record of his teaching and its aftermath. The faith spans three great branches — Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant — and thousands of expressions within them.
Its place in the map
Beneath the institutions runs the mystical, contemplative Christianity — the prayer "that they may be one," the inward path — that connects the tradition to the layer's themes of direct connection to the Creator and Gnostic and mystical traditions. The map describes the faith as Christians understand it, and honours it accordingly.
Christianity has shaped more of the world than perhaps any single framework; the map describes it faithfully and holds both its public and its contemplative faces with respect.