Data source: Gina A. Zurlo, ed., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2025).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| Oneness Pentecostals | Also termed Unitarian Pentecostals or Jesus-Only Pentecostals, because of baptism in name of Jesus only rather than using the Trinitarian formula ‘in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost)’. |
| Oriental Orthodox | Christians of Pre-Chalcedonian/Non-Chalcedonian/Monophysite tradition, of five major types: Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Malabarese. |
| Orthodox | Four traditions: Eastern (Chalcedonian), Oriental (Pre-Chalcedonian, Non-Chalcedonian, Monophysite), Assyrian and non-historical Orthodox. |
| p.a. | Per annum, per year, each year, every year, annual, yearly, over the previous 12 months. |
| parachurch | An agency closely associated with the churches, often fulfilling a particular function on behalf of the churches. |
| patriarchate | The office, dignity, jurisdiction, province, or see of a patriarch. |
| Pentecostals | Followers of Pentecostalism, a major Christian movement originating around 1900; a renewal movement within Protestant and Independent Christianity that places emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts (e.g., speaking in tongues). |
| Pentecostals/Charismatics | Shorthand term for Pentecostal/Charismatic/Independent Charismatic. |
| people, people group | Grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity for one another because of their shared language, religion, ethnicity, residence, occupation, class or caste, situation or combination of these. |
| polytheists | Ethnic religionists (qv) who worship several or many gods and deities. |
| Portions | Copies of a complete Book of the Bible, usually one of the four Gospels. |
| postdenominationalism | Viewpoint rejecting close control of local churches or congregations by centralised denominations. |
| Presbyterian | See Reformed. |
| Protestants | Christians in churches originating in, or reformulated at the time of, or in communion with, the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In European languages usually called Evangéliques (French), Evangelische (German), Evangélicos (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish), though not usually Evangelicals (in English). |
| radio/TV believers | Persons (with their dependent adults and children, and other adherents) who derive their ongoing corporate Christian life primarily from isolated radio/TV churches (qv) or isolated Bible correspondence course student groupings. |
| Reformed | A major Protestant tradition originating in continental Europe, and including the term Presbyterian (originating in English-speaking countries). |
| religion | Grouping of persons with beliefs about God or gods, defined by its adherents’ loyalty to it, by their acceptance of it as unique and superior to all other religions, and by its relative autonomy. |
| religionists | Persons professing adherence to any religion, as contrasted with atheists or nonreligious persons. |
| religious liberty | Freedom to practice one’s religion with the full range of religious rights specified in the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. |
| Restoration Movement | (1) The Churches of Christ, or Disciples (qv); (2) An Independent charismatic para-denomination splitting in 1974 from the Charismatic Renewal within mainline Protestant churches in the UK and USA. |
| Roman Catholics | All Christians in communion with the Church of Rome. Affiliated Roman Catholics are defined in this Encyclopedia as baptised Roman Catholics plus catechumens. |
| Salvationists | Soldiers or officers of the Salvation Army, a Protestant tradition founded by Methodists (qv) in Britain in 1865. |
| Scripture | (with capital ‘S’) Holy Scripture, the Christian Scriptures, the Bible. |
| Shaivites | Saivites. Worshippers of Shiva (Siva) in several schools, including Pasupata, Kashmiri, Siddha, Gorakhnatha, Vira. |
| Shaktas | Saktists. Worshippers of Shakti/Devi (Hindu Divine Mother) who is also depicted as Kali, Durga and Parvati (consort of Shiva). |
Data on 18 categories of religion, including non-religious, by country, province, and people.
Data on all religions, Christian activities, and trends.
Membership data, year begun, and rates of change.
Population and religion data on all major cities & provinces.
Detailed information covering religion, culture, and geography.
A repository of historical data, including a chronology of Christianity from the 1st to 21st centuries.