Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| DXers | Amateur practitioners of long-distance radio transmission. |
| dynamic equivalence church | A local church, or denomination that has an equivalent impact on or in its own society and culture to that of the original New Testament church, with particular reference to indigeneity, degree of foreign dominance, relevance, vitality, scriptural quality, decisionmaking patterns, self-image, community-held image, et alia. |
| dynamic equivalence translation | A translation of Scripture, as developed by the United Bible Societies, designed to be the closest natural equivalent to the source-language message, i.e. to discover what the text meant at the time of writing in order to communicate its full equivalent meaning today (e.g. in English, the NEB, JB, GNB Bibles, with the NIV halfway between formal correspondence and dynamic equivalent). By contrast, a formal correspondence translation is an exact or literal or word-for-word translation of the original. |
| Dyophysites | Eastern Orthodox, Chalcedonian. |
| E | A computed estimate of the percentage of persons in a particular population segment (world, country, people, city) who have become evangelized, by or at a particular date. |
| Early African | One of the 13 ethnic regions of mankind, speaking 57 languages. |
| Early Fathers | The Apostolic Fathers (qv). |
| East Syrians | Assyrians, Nestorians, Syro-Chaldeans. |
| Easter | Annual church celebration commemorating Christ’s resurrection. |
| Easter attender | A church member who attends church at Easter. |
| Easter communicant | A church member who receives communion at Easter. |
| Eastern Church | A collective term for Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian (Nestorian) Eastern-rite Catholic and other churches east of the Mediterranean. |
| Eastern Orthodox | Chalcedonian Christians, sometimes collectively referred to as Greek Orthodox and excluding Oriental Orthodox (qv). |
| Eastern rite | (Oriental-rite) Catholics. All Catholics or Catholics in communion with the Church of Rome who follow rites other than the Latin rite (totaling 28 rites and sub-rites). A full listing is given in Table 1-5. |
| Eastern Syrians | East Syrians (qv). |
| ecclesia | (NT Greek). A church; in particular, a local congregation of the Christadelphians. |
| ecclesial communion | In Catholic usage, collegiality or co-responsibility (qv). |
| ecclesial community | A basic community (qv). |
| ecclesiarch | A high church official or ruling prelate. |
| ecclesiastic | A person in holy orders or consecrated to the service of the church: a clergyman |
| ecclesiastical | Relating to the church as a formal and established institution. |
| ecclesiastical crime | Term relating especially to embezzlements of church funds by top custodians. Global total (in 2000): $16 billion per year. |
| ecclesiastical crime | Criminal activity on the part of church officials; restricted in scope here to embezzlements of church funds by their top custodians (treasurers, presidents, et alii). |
| ecclesiastical name | A new Christian name taken on election by popes, patriarchs and other high ecclesiastics, usually one in a series down the centuries. |
| ecclesiastical province | A group of dioceses territorially contiguous, forming an ecclesiastical unit; so termed because originally coincident with the Provinces of the Roman empire. (See under province). |
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.