Christendom

Christendom or the Christian world, in the widest sense, means Christianity as a territorial phenomenon. That means: those countries where most people are Christian and because of that are part of Christendom.

This T-and-O map shows the known world of 1472 in form of a cross inscribed within an orb. It remakes geography in the service of Christian iconography. More detailed versions place Jerusalem at the centre of the world.

People have used the term Christendom for the medieval and Renaissance understanding of the Christian world as one single Body of Christ with Christ as the head. With the rise of modern secularism and the Reformation during the early 16th century the understanding changed to a modern idea of a tolerant and diverse society that consists of many different communities.

Related pages

• Caliphate (an Islamic analog to the Medieval political concept)
• Muslim World and Ummah

Other websites

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Christendom