50 World Accomplishments of Christianity Throughout History

“You gave me life and showed me kindness,

    and in your providence watched over my spirit.” (Job 10:12)

1. Introduced the highest value of sanctity of life, true equality among people regardless of their birth or social status, and transformed countless people across millennia spiritually, physically, and mentally through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Roman Empire Transformation

2. Established the first experiment in complete religious freedom through Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 A.D, also known as the Edict of Tolerance.

3. Brought true equality of dignity, compassion, and responsibility to men and women in marriage.

4. Increased the average age of marriage for women from about 14 to age 19 in the Roman Empire.

5. Opposed and largely eliminated infanticide, forced abortions, child abandonment, and pederasty in the Roman Empire.

6. Opposed and eliminated the Roman gladiator games, in which men, women, slaves, and animals were slaughtered for entertainment.

7. Outlawed the branding of slaves, ordered speedy trials, and outlawed crucifixion during Constantine’s rule after his conversion to Christianity.

8. Saved abandoned children left to die in the Roman Empire through Callistus of Rome whom gave children to christian homes, Benignus of Dijon who nourished deformed abandoned children, and Afra of Augsburg (formerly a pagan) who developed a ministry for abandoned children. Church fathers Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Lactantius, all aggressively opposed child abandonment. 

Hospitals and Healthcare

9. Ordered the construction of a hospital for every cathedral town in the Roman Empire at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D to care for the poor, sick, widows, and strangers.

10. Created the first distinct hospital in history in 369 A.D. through St. Basil of Caesarea.

11. Established the first medical schools through the Nestorian Christians in the Levant.

12. Provided medical care for lepers through the Hospitallers of Saint Lazarus during the 12th century.

13. Created 37,000 Benedictine monasteries alone that cared for the sick by 1500 A.D. 

14. Established about 800 hospitals in Europe through the Hospitaller Order of Saint Anthony, taking long term care of cripples and lepers. The “Rule of the Holy Spirit” directed them to focus their care on newborns, orphans, children, elderly, abandoned, and pregnant girls. 

15. Established modern nursing in the 1900s due to the work of Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale.

16. Established the first hospital in the United States in 1751, the Pennsylvania Hospital, through the Christian Quaker Dr. Thomas Bond. 

The Abolition of Slavery

17. Established that slavery is against natural law, immoral, and sinful through the works of theologian Thomas Auquinas (1225-74 A.D.) St. Augustine saw slavery as sin and as contrary to Gods divine plan. St. Chrysostom in the 4th century stated that Christs arrival has done away with slavery, saying “in Christ Jesus there is no slave…therefore it is not necessary to have a slave….buy them, and after you have taught them some skill by which they can maintain themselves, set them free”. The church opposed slavery beginning in the 7th century and largely eliminated it by the 10th century due to extending church sacraments to slaves, initiating a ban on the enslavement of Christians and Jews, and often purchasing their freedom. Pope Callistus himself was a former slave. Slavery emerged again centuries later due to New World Colonization in which it would be eliminated again.

18. Denounced slavery in 1462, 1537, 1639, 1741, 1815, and 1839 through the Catholic Papacy.

19. Opposed slavery during Spanish colonization through papal bulls from Pope Eugen IV, Pius II, Sixtus  IV, and Paul III.

20. Advocated against and publicly opposed slavery through the christian William Wilberforce (1759-1833). As a member of parliament, he gave anti-slavery speeches for twenty years. In 1823 he presented a petition through his associate Thomas Buxton “as a resolution declaring slavery repugnant to Christianity and the Constitution.” This eventually led to the Abolition Act passed in 1833, that resulted in the freedom of 700,000 slaves in the West Indies Colonies.

Modern Science and Technology

21. Established the first modern empirical scientists such as Robert Grosseteste (1168-1253), Albertus Magnus (1200-1280), and Roger Bacon (1214-1294), whom is credited as pioneering the modern scientific method.

22. Prominent Christian and Catholic scientists include Andreas Vesalius, Gregor Johan Mendel, Nicolaus Copernicus, Father Roger Boscovich, Johannes Kepler, Issac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Alessandro Volta, Georg Simon Ohm, Andre Ampere, William Thompson Kelvin, Robert Boyle, and numerous Jesuit scientists.

23. Developed and shared technological advances in mechanization for industrial use throughout Europe and agricultural technology through the workshops of Cistercian monasteries. Monks are credited with numerous inventions such as eyeglasses, clocks, modern accounting, and distillation methods.

24. Described the geometry and physics of a flying vessel for the first time through Father Francesco Lana-Terzi.

Defense of Civilization

25. Preserved civilization in Europe through the Crusades in response to over 400 years of Islamic aggression. The Crusades did not begin until 1095 A.D. after which the Byzantine emperor Alexius implored the Pope for help defending his borders from the Muslim Seljuk Turks. At that point Islam had conquered 2/3 of Christian lands in the Middle East and Africa from 600-1000 A.D., including the city of Jerusalem. 

26. Turned back Islamic invasions in southern Europe at critical moments such as the Battle of Tours in 732 A.D. and the Battle of Vienna in 1683 A.D. in which the Islamic Ottomen Empire had invaded Southern Europe. 

27. Preserved civilization through the Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries in the midst of the chaos of Viking and Islamic invasions. 

Modern Education

28. Established the first academic universities in the 11th century which include Oxford University, Cambridge, Bologna, Paris, and Toulouse.

29. Provided education for common people concerning crops, industry, irrigation, and farming production methods through the Benedictine monasteries.

30. Preserved literacy, ancient Latin literature, and libraries of knowledge by monks copying manuscripts in the midst of entire libraries being burned by Viking and Germanic invasions.

31. Established the first monastic schools and education for common people through Emperor Charlemagne. 

32. Birthed the modern economic theory of money through early economists Jean Buridan (1300-1358), Nicolas Oresme (1325-1382), and Saint Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444).

33. Developed the fundamentals of modern musical notation and polyphony through the monasteries and the Benedictine monk Ubaldus Hucbald (840-930 A.D.)

34. Originated the term “scholasticism” which refers to Christian monks whom were the first scholastics.

Charity and Humanitarianism

35. Created The Salvation Army, founded in 1865 by William Booth, providing medical care in impoverished inner city areas and homes for women who had been induced into prostitution.

36. Created the store chain Goodwill through Christian minister Edgar J. Helms of the Morgan Methodist Chapel in Boston in 1902.

37. Created the International Red Cross, through Henry Dunant, which provides humanitarian relief effort to wounded and sick civilians world-wide.

38. Founded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1824 through the efforts of William Wilberforce and several other reformers such as christian abolitionist Fowell Buxton, Rev. George Bonner, and Rev. George Avery Hatch. This was the first animal welfare charity in history and remains the largest to this day.

39. Pioneered world-wide medical missions through David Livingstone, Albert Schweitzer, Albert Cook, William Wanless, Ida ,Hudson Taylor, and Paul Brand.

40. Ended the cruel Chinese practice of “foot-binding” of women, made illegal in 1921, through  the influence of Christian missionaries visiting China, credited by Lin Yutang.

41. Ended the Hindu practice of forced widow’s-burning in India, made illegal in 1829, through the influence of Christian missionaries.

42. Saved about 860,000 Jews during WWII through the efforts of Pope Pius XII, credited by Isreali diplomats and Jewish historians. The Pope openly condemned and fought against Hitler- a New York Times headline in 1939 reads “Pope condemns dictators, treaty violators, racism”. Hitler even criticized Pope Pius XII as the “pro-jewish” pope in 1942. The Vatican assisted many Jews to escape and even used the Pope’s summer home Castel Gandolfo to shelter thousands of Jews.

Religious Freedom

43. Birthed the concept of religious freedom during early Christianity beginning with the writings of the Church Fathers whom inspired the Edict of Milan by Emperor Constantine, which was the first instance of church and state separation. Church father Tertullian is credited with the first to use the phrase of “freedom of religion” in the history of Western Civilization. 

44. Established the Magna Carta in 1215 through a coalition of nobles, clergy, and the master of the Knights Templar.

45. Pioneered equality among people in the “Rule of Saint Benedict”, in which all were considered “one in Christ”.

46. Established the first instance of modern international law through the Laws of Burgos (1512) and Valladolid (1513), pioneered by Father Francisco de Vitoria.

47. Vigorously fought against communism in Poland and the Eastern Bloc through Pope John Paul II , in which Christians under Marxist state-atheism such as Richard Wurmbrand were jailed and tortured. Governments under communistic rule have systematically killed approximately 100 million people worldwide.

48. Created the Spanish Inquisition which (contrary to anti-catholic pop-history) was created to “inquire” concerning due process rights through a court of law for one accused, containing Roman rules of evidence, to end the witch hunts. Less than 1% of people tried by the Spanish inquisition were condemned to death. The court was considered lenient and torture devices associated with the inquisition were fabricated by secularists during the enlightenment period to create perceptions of anti-catholic barbarism. Places like Japan during the Shimabara Rebellion, an uprising of Christian samurai, developed no such court mechanism and 40,000 christians were subsequently killed during the 17th century.

49. Originated the concept of Humanism within Christianity through Petrarch, a devout catholic who is considered the “Father of Humanism” and the Renaissance. 

50. Founded the USA through Christian enlightenment ideas and thinkers such as John Locke, Isaac Newton, and James Madison, among others, the stage being previously set by Martin Luther, who wrote “On the Freedom of the Christian”, and the subsequent 30 Years War. The document that predated the Constitution as a template was the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1638) which established a government specifically crediting the God of the Bible. Before these things took place the pilgrims arrived in North America and credited God in the Mayflower Compact, “for the glory of God and the advancement of the christian faith.” The Declaration of Independence credits our inalienable rights as given by God, the Creator, and is signed “The Year of Our Lord”. 

Book and Lecture Resources:

1. “How Christianity Changed the World” by Dr. Alvin J. Schmidt, PhD

2. “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization” by Dr. Thomas E. Woods, PhD

3. “How Christianity Saved Civilization” by Mike Aquilina and Dr. James Papandrea, PhD

4. “Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History” by Dr. Rodney Stark, PhD 

5. “How Christianity Made the Modern World” by Paul Backholer

6. “The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success” by Dr. Rodney Stark, PhD

7. “America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists” by Dr. Rodney Stark, PhD

8. “The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization” by Vishal Mangalwadi, M.A.

9. “The Modern Scholar: From Jesus to Christianity: A History of the Early Church”, recorded lecture series, by Dr. Thomas Madden, PhD

10. “The Modern Scholar: The Lost Warriors of God”, recorded lecture series, by Dr. Thomas Madden, PhD

11. “The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression” by Jean-Louis Panné, Andrzej Paczkowski, and Karel Bartosek