What is the relationship between Christianity and Catholicism?

Answer 1

Catholic Answer

They are the same thing, although used in widely different manners by different people.

Christianity is the religion of, the body of faith and morals taught by, the Catholic Church of Christ. The word may be properly extended to include the religious systems of the dissident Eastern churches and of some Protestant bodies (see Christian below). The current popular use of the word [Christianity] in an ethical, subjective sense, is to be deplored: it is stripping it of all objective or historical connotations.

Christian. A name first given to the followers of our Lord at Antioch (Acts xi, 26). Since the rise of Protestantism the name has been used in so many different senses as to have become almost meaningless: it may indicate a Catholic or a Unitarian, or even be applied to an infidel who displays some virtue which is associated with Christ. It may reasonably be applied to the members of all the ancient churches, whether in communion with the Holy See or not, and to those Protestants who profess, explicitly or implicitly, the Nicene creed in its traditional interpretation. the Church puts no definite official meaning on the word, as she does on Catholic.

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Catholic. It’s original meaning of “general†or “universal†has taken on a variety of applications in the course of Christian history. First used by St. Ignatius of Antioch (A.D. 35-107) ( Letter to the Smyrneans, 8, 2), it is now mainly used in five recognized senses: 1. The Catholic Church as distinct from Christian ecclesiastical bodies that do not recognize the papal primacy; 2. The Catholic faith as the belief of the universal body of the faithful, namely, that which is believed “everywhere, always , and by all†(Vincentian Canon); 3. Orthodoxy as distinguished from what is heretical or schismatical; 4. The undivided Church before the Eastern Schism of 1054; thereafter the Eastern Church has called itself orthodox, in contrast with those Christian bodies which did not accept the definitions of Ephesus and Chalcedon on the divinity of Christ.

In general, today the term “Catholic†refers to those Christians who profess a continued tradition of faith and worship and who hold to the Apostolic succession of bishops and priest since the time of Christ. (Etym. Latin catholicus, universal; Greek katholikos, universal.)

Answer 2

Islam comes from Abraham's separation with Ishmael, Hagar's and Abraham's son, Hagar being the slave fill in for the barren Sarah. Ishmael rebelled against Abraham because Isaac, the youngest, was given the inheritance, and thus Mohammedanism or Islam was born. Read below:

The way C.S. Lewis puts it in Faith Christianity and the Church, essay being CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS:

Christianity and Hinduism are the two most pure religions- Islam is a Christian heresy, Buddhism is a Hindu heresy and the best of Judaism and Platonism survives in Christianity. Real paganism is dead. The only difference- "Hinduism fulfils purity imperfectly, so thus, there is little purity at all. The religion of the Brahmin hermit in the jungle and the religion of the worshipper in the Temple go on side by side. The brahmin hermitdoesn't bother about the temple prostitution and immorality and the worshipper doesn't care about the hermit's metaphysic. But Christianity really breaks down the middle wall of the partition. It takes convert from Central Africa and tells him to obey an enlightened command and universalist ethic, then taking a ... " read on in CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS. It is thoroughly interesting.

Any way, God Bless.

Answer 3

All Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholic. A Christian is a follower of Christ. About half of the world Christians are Catholic, the others Protestant