Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| mainline churches | Mainstream, orthodox Christianity as manifested in its major churches and denominations, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican. |
| mainstream Christianity | Denominations, churches, agencies, and Christians who adhere to and proclaim the central verities of the Christian faith: God the Creator, the Fall, original sin, historicity of Jesus, deity of Christ, deity of the Holy Spirit, the Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, Atonement, salvation, inspiration of the Bible, discipleship, sanctification, Second Advent of Christ. |
| Maitreya | (Sanskrit). In Buddhism, the Buddha who is to be the next to appear on earth; a bodhisattva. |
| major area | UN term used in statistical enumerations instead of the looser term ‘continent’. |
| major civil division (MCD) | United Nations’ term for the next level of administrative or political subdivision in a country immediately below nationwide level. |
| major orders | In Orthodox and Anglican usage: episcopate, priesthood, diaconate. In Catholic usage: priesthood, diaconate, subdiaconate. |
| major seminary | In Catholic usage, a college for the training of future priests. |
| majority church | In a specific country, the dominant denomination, or largest church established in law. |
| Malankara | See Syro-Malankarese. |
| Malikites | Followers of Malikiya, one of the 4 schools or rites of Sunni Muslim law. |
| mallam | In West Africa, a Muslim religious practitioner or cleric. |
| Maltese | Middle Eastern ethnolinguistic family. |
| Mandaeans | Gnostics (Mandaiia), followers of 2nd-century- AD syncretistic Jewish-Christian fertility religion (Christians of St John, Followers of John the Baptist, Dippers, Sabaeans, Nasoreans), regarding John the Baptist as the Messiah; found today only in Iraq and Iran. |
| mandala | (Sanskrit: circle). A sacred design that represents the universe as an aid to meditation. |
| mandate | (Latin: mandarum). An agreement whereby Propaganda in Rome grants a missionary institute the care and charge of a missionary diocese (begun in 1969). |
| Mandates | Seven basic commands, known collectively as the Great Commission, given by Christ to his disciples, namely the imperatives Receive! Go! Witness! Proclaim! Disciple! Baptize! Train! |
| mandylion | In Christian art, (1) the Mandylion of Edessa, or Icon of Christ, the only alleged actual portrait painted of Jesus; eventually lost in the Crusades (2) the robe of Christ in glory. |
| manifest church | A theological term (coined by P. Tillich) for the organized churches who assert that Jesus is the Christ, i.e. for all affiliated Christians (qv). |
| manse | The residence of a Presbyterian clergyman. |
| Mantrayana | The Tantrism school of Buddhists; Tantrayana (qv). |
| Maoism | The teachings of Mao Tse-tung regarded as a secular quasi-religion. |
| maphrian | (Syriac). The primate or catholicos of the Syrian Orthodox, or his vicar general. |
| marabout | In West Africa, a charismatic Muslim practitioner. |
| marginal Catholics | Followers of recent schisms or movements ex Church of Rome which have embraced marginal, non-christocentric or non-Christian dogmas. |
| marginal Christians | Followers of para-Christian or quasi- Christian Western movements or deviations out of mainline Christianity (including pseudo-Christian ‘New Age’ cults), not professing mainstream Christian christocentric doctrine but claiming a second or supplementary or ongoing source of divine revelation in addition to the Bible (a new Book, angels, visions), but nevertheless centered on Jesus, Christ, the Cross, and other Christian features. |
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.