Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| Holy Land | Palestine; those areas of Israel and Jordan in which Christ lived and worked while on earth. |
| holy orders | Ordination; the state of being ordained. |
| Holy See | The supreme organ of the Catholic Church, an international juridical entity, a sovereign state centered in Vatican City. |
| Holy Spirit | The Third Person of the Trinity. |
| holy synod | The governing body in an autocephalous church, composed of bishops and primate. |
| holy war | See jihad, Crusades. |
| holy water | Water blessed by a priest and used as a purifying sacramental in church and home; especially by Catholics and African indigenous churches. |
| holy writing | See spirit writing. |
| Holy Year | A jubilee year observed at Rome when proclaimed by the Holy See, in principle every 25 years. Total Holy Year pilgrims to Rome: (first Holy Year, in AD 1300) 200,000 (1950) 2.5 million (1975) 8,370,000, (2000) 15 million. |
| home missionaries | Full-time Christian workers sent by their churches to missionary areas within their own countries. |
| home missionary | A full-time missionary worker assigned to work in the country where he or she is a citizen. |
| home missions and societies | Bodies significant at nationwide or wider levels number over 500. |
| homiletics | A branch of theology that deals with homilies or sermons; the art of preaching. |
| Homo Sapiens | The entire human race; mankind sentient, conscious, thinking man. |
| homogeneous | Of the same kind or nature; alike, similar, congruous; of uniform nature or character throughout. |
| homogeneous unit | A population group, stratum society or segment of society within which a number of characteristics or interests or customs (geographical, ethnic, linguistic, social, educational, cultural, vocational, economic, etc.) are held in common by all members, with a common self-consciousness; a culture, sub-culture, people group, ethnolinguistic group. |
| hospitals | See medical centers. |
| hours | In Jehovah’s Witnesses’ statistics, the total number of hours devoted by its publishers to preaching and house-tohouse literature distribution each year. |
| house church | A group of Christians meeting as a worship center in a private house for regular Sunday worship. |
| household | A socioeconomic unit, consisting of individuals who live together sharing living quarters and principal meals. |
| household size | The average size of a household in a country or area, i.e. number of persons sharing the same unit, whether private or collective or institutional. Household size is slightly larger than average family size because it includes servants, maids, and lodgers, as well as hospitals, homes and other institutions where people live. |
| household size | Standard size, for statistical purposes, of a family, composed of 2 spouses, 2 children (under 15), and one adult (15 or over). |
| hovercraft | Land-water craft supported by cushion of air; used by Missionary Aviation Fellowship and other mission bodies. |
| Huguenots | A historical name, since 1560, for French Calvinists. |
| human network | The linking together of people as nodes horizontally (as equals, without hierarchy or executive authority); the linking of numbers of individuals or organizations to address common interests or problems. |
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.