Christianity in Jordan - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Christians
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

have resided in the territory constituting the modern state of Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

since shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, early in the 1st century AD. Jordanian Christians now number at about 400,000 people, or 6% of the population of approximately 6,500,000, which is lower than the near 20% in the early 20th century. This is largely due to lower birth rates in comparison with Muslims and to a strong influx of Muslim immigrants from neighboring countries. Also, a larger percent of Christians compared to Muslims emigrate to western countries, resulting in a large Jordanian Christian diaspora.

Denominations and societies

Among the recognized denominations the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic (Latin), Melkite Greek Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Maronite Catholic, Anglican, and Assyrian

Syriac Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....

churches make up the majority of Jordan's Christian population. Also the Lutheran, Coptic Orthodox, Seventh-day Adventist, United Pentecostal, Latter-day Saints, and Presbyterian churches are recognized denominations while they make up a much smaller proportion of the Christian population.

In addition to the recognized denominations there are religious societies that are allowed to meet freely, but are not recognized as churches by the government. The recognized religious societies are the Evangelical Free Church, the Church of the Nazarene

Church of the Nazarene

The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness movement in North America with its members colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest Wesleyan-holiness denomination in the world. At the end of 2010, the Church of the...

, the Assembly of God, the Baptist Church, and the Christian and Missionary Alliance

Christian and Missionary Alliance

The Christian and Missionary Alliance is an evangelical Protestant denomination within Christianity.Founded by Rev. Albert Benjamin Simpson in 1887, the Christian & Missionary Alliance did not start off as a denomination, but rather began as two distinct parachurch organizations: The Christian...

Christians in Jordanian Society

There are now a large but unknown number of Iraqi Christians—such as Chaldeans and Assyrians—in Jordan.

Christians are well integrated in the Jordanian society and have a high level of freedom. They form a significant part of the kingdom's political and economic elite.
Christians enjoy high economic and social opportunities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan compared to the position of their co-religionists in the rest of the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. Christians are allotted 8 out of a total of 110 seats in the Jordanian parliament

Parliament of Jordan

The Parliament of Jordan is the bicameral Jordanian National Assembly: "Majlis al-Umma". Established by the 1952 Constitution, the legislature consists of two houses: the Assembly of Senators and the Chamber of Deputies .The Assembly of Senators has 60 members, all of whom are directly appointed...

, and also hold important ministerial portfolios, ambassadorial appointments, and positions of high military rank. A survey by a Western embassy found that half of Jordan's prominent business families were Christians.

Jordanian Christians are allowed by the public and private sectors to leave their work to attend mass on Sundays. All Christian religious ceremonies are publicly celebrated in Jordan. Christians have established good relations with the royal family and the various Jordanian government officials, and they have their own ecclesiastical court

Ecclesiastical court

An ecclesiastical court is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages in many areas of Europe these courts had much wider powers than before the development of nation states...

s for matters of personal status.

The government of Jordan has contributed to restoring pilgrimages to the baptism

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

al site of Jesus Christ.

Schools

There are many Christian schools in Jordan that educate students from both Christian and Muslim families. Some members of the royal family have attended a Christian school for a portion of their education.

The Rosary Sister's School is run by the Catholic Church.

The National Orthodox School

National Orthodox School

The National Orthodox School is a school in Amman, Jordan.The National Orthodox School started as a kindergarten in a rented building in Jebel Amman in 1960. Then it was moved to its current premises in Shmeisani in 1965...

is run by the Orthodox Church in Jordan and has received The Cambridge Queen Rania Award multiple times.

The Ahliyyah School for Girls, the Bishop's School for Boys, and the Schneller School are run by the Anglican Church in Amman. There are also a school for the blind, a school for the deaf, and a school for physically handicapped students run by the Anglican church.

The Baptist School of Amman is administered by the Baptist church in Jordan and enrolls students of both genders. The Baptist School band has played at many official government occasions.

Also De La Salle College one of the most prestigious schools in Amman founded in 1950. An institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools founded by baptist de la Salle.
Lady of Nazareth college and Terra Santa college are examples too.

Hospitals

The first Hospital built in Jordan was the 'Evangelical Hospital

Hospital

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

' built in As-Salt by the Church Missionary Society.

The Italian Hospital in Amman

Amman

Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

and in Kerak

Kerak

Kerak Castle is a large crusader castle located in Kerak in Jordan. It is one of the largest crusader castles in the Levant.Construction of the castle began in the 1140s, under Pagan, the butler of Fulk of Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it Crac des Moabites or "Karak in Moab", as it is frequently...

were started by a Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

surgeon and is entrusted to the Comboni Missionary Sisters. The Catholic Church also runs a maternity hospital and a general hospital in Irbid

Irbid

Irbid , known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela , is the capital and largest city of the Irbid Governorate. It also has the second largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a population of around 660,000, and is located about 70 km north of Amman on the northern ridge of...

in northern Jordan.

The Government Hospital in Ajloun

Ajloun

Ajloun also written Ajlun is the capital town of the Ajloun Governorate . A hilly town in the north of Jordan, located 76 kilometers north west of Amman. It is noted for its impressive ruins the 12th century castle which known nowadays as Ajlun Castle...

was originally run by Baptists.

The Annoor Sanatorium which treats tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

and other lung diseases was founded by a Christian doctor. The Annoor Sanatorium is located outside of Mafraq

Mafraq

Mafraq is the capital city of Mafraq Governorate, Jordan, located 80 Km to the north from the Jordanian capital Amman in crossroad to Syria to the north and Iraq to the east. It has 58,954 inhabitants...

in northern Jordan.

Several Mission

Mission (station)

A religious mission or mission station is a location for missionary work.While primarily a Christian term, the concept of the religious "mission" is also used prominently by the Church of Scientology and their Scientology Missions International....

Clinics were also founded across Jordan.

Biblical sites

Portions of the Biblical narrative took place in the towns and the country side that now makes up Jordan.

Bethany Beyond the Jordan where John the Baptist

John the Baptist

John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...

preached and where Jesus Christ was baptized is located on the Jordan side of the Jordan river.

Also, Mount Nebo

Mount Nebo (Jordan)

Mount Nebo is an elevated ridge that is approximately 817 meters above sea level, in what is now western Jordan. The view from the summit provides a panorama of the Holy Land and, to the north, a more limited one of the valley of the River Jordan...

where Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

viewed the Land of Canaan

Canaan

Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...

is located in western Jordan.

In northern Jordan there is a small creek where an angel

Angel

Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

met and wrestled with the patriarch Jacob

Jacob

Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...

.

The rock struck by Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

to bring forth water and the patriarch Aaron

Aaron

In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...

's tomb are both in southern Jordan.

The ruins of the fortress of the Ammonites are on a mountain overlooking downtown Amman. This is the site where King David had Bathsheba

Bathsheba

According to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She is most known for the Bible story in which King David seduced her....

's husband Uriah the Hittite

Uriah the Hittite

Uriah the Hittite was a soldier in King David’s army mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He was the husband of Bathsheba, and was murdered by order of David by having the soldiers retreat from him in battle. Uriah's wife was pregnant by King David through an adulterous affair...

killed.

Christian Historical sites

Jordan also contains many sites of historical importance to Christianity. Madaba

Madaba

Madaba , is the capital city of Madaba Governorate of Jordan, which has a population of about 60,000. Madaba is the fifth most populous town in Jordan. It is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especially a large Byzantine-era mosaic map of The Holy Land...

, a city south of Amman

Amman

, is the site of a large ancient church with detailed mosaic tile work. There have been many excavations in Madaba that have un-earthed ancient Christian artifacts.

There are many Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

and Frankish

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

castles from the period of the Crusades in Jordan. The most famous of which is Ajlun castle

Ajlun Castle

Ajloun Castle ; transliterated: Qal'at Ajloun; transliterated: is an Ayyubid castle that stands atop Jabal Auf, near Ajloun, in northern Jordan. -History :...

located in the Ajloun

Ajloun

district in northern Jordan. Other castles include Montreal (Crusader castle)

Montreal (Crusader castle)

Montreal is a Crusader castle on the eastern side of the Arabah, perched on the side of a rocky, conical mountain, looking out over fruit trees below...

and Kerak