How old is Christianity?

Answer 1

Depends on what you mean by the age. the actual practice came from Judaism. But Jesus had followers that changed Judaism and made it a new religion. So around 2011 years.

Paul (also known as Saul) started Christianity as we know it. He claims he was converted on the road to Damascus, probably around 50AD. This is about 15 years after Christians believe Jesus died.

The Gospels were written later, and probably based on Paul's teachings. So Christianity can be dated back to around 50AD, when Paul started preaching and writing. People were already practising Christianity at the time of Paul's conversion, but they left no written records that I know of.

Answer 2 Christianity as Jesus taught it was Old Testament. So to be accurate Jesus taught Judaism, but corrected those (Jews) who tried to interject what they thought or said that God wanted or expected others to believe or practice. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17 that the Old Testament is "the Law" God's Law or Torah, and that it would never become obsolete. So to accurately date the Christian religion one must include its core, Judaism. Judaism started around 2000BC. So that would make Christianity around 4000 years old.

Note: Many people would regard Answer 2 as incorrect. While Jesus did come to fulfil the Jewish (Old Testament) scripture, and Christians look at this to prove the legitimacy of Christ, Christianity begins with the preaching of Jesus (when he was aged about 30) and comes into being with his public resurrection from the dead. Christ's death and resurrection are the start of Christianity - think about it - if those events did indeed happen they are the most important human event ever.

Answer 2

just under 2000 years