Christians understand history from the perspective of the life of Jesus of Nazareth (c. 4 BCE–30 CE), whom they call the Christ. Christians believe that in Jesus Christ God became incarnate in human history and thereby provided the key to the character, validity, and significance of history. Salient events in Jesus' life in ancient Roman Palestine, as Christian understand them—notably his birth, his ministry, his death by crucifixion, and his resurrection to life—form the basis of the Christian religion. At the same time, the life of Jesus Christ provides the ultimate orientation for understanding the whole of history and the historical process, past, present, and future. To be Christian unavoidably entails bonding with an understanding of history, and over the ages the variety of Christian views has been considerable.

Christian views of history have in common that they encompass all peoples as well as all...