Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| protest, movements of | See prophet movement, secession, schism. |
| Protestants | Christians in churches originating in, or reformulated at the time of, or in communion with, the Western world’s 16th-century Protestant Reformation in European languages usually called Evangéliques (French), Evangelische (German), Evangélicos (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish), though not usually Evangelicals (in English). Includes many traditions such as Anglicans, Lutherans and Baptists (any of whom may be Charismatic) and denominational Pentecostals, but not Independent traditions such as Independent Baptists nor independent Charismatics. |
| province | In Catholic usage, any of the principal ecclesiastical divisions of a country forming the jurisdiction of an archbishop or a metropolitan; a territorial division of a religious order. In Anglican usage, the term has 7 different meanings, including autonomous church, internal province within an autonomous church, or a group of dioceses which for some purposes act in association under a common constitution. Whilst provinces retain their full meaning in contemporary Anglicanism, in contemporary Catholicism they have ceased to have meaning since the meaningful unit is now the nation-wide (local) church, or (in large nations) the newer apostolic regions. |
| provincial | A religious superior directing houses in a religious province. |
| provisional annual conference | A regional jurisdiction in North American Methodism. |
| provost | The head of a cathedral or cathedral chapter; in German Protestantism, a clergyman in charge of the chief church of a region. |
| pseudo-religions | See quasi-religions. |
| psychology of religion | The science of mind or of mental phenomena and activities with regard to religion: the psychology of religious phenomena. |
| psychoneurotics | Sufferers from psychoneuroses. |
| psychotics | The mentally ill, or mentally abnormal; sufferers from severe mental disorders (psychoses). |
| public profession | (of religion). See professing Christians. |
| publishers | In Jehovah’s Witnesses’ terminology, ordinary members of congregations, who are expected to average 10- 15 hours per month preaching, talking and in house-tohouse visiting. |
| publishing houses | Organizations producing Christian literature member over 2,000. |
| puja, pooja | (Sanskrit). AHindu rite, religious festival, or act of worship or propitiation. |
| pupil | A child or young person in school. |
| Pygmy | An Early African ethnolinguistic family; Negrillo. |
| Qadianis | Majority party among Ahmadis (qv). |
| Qaraism | See Karaites. |
| Qarmatians, Karmatians | A name for Muslims who are Shia Ismailis. |
| Quakers | Friends (qv). |
| quality of life | The effectiveness of social services in a country, measured by the HDI (human development index). |
| quantification | Measuring an item’s quantity or number, or transforming qualitative data into quantitative. |
| quasi-Christian | Seemingly, partly, almost, in some sense, a Christian. |
| Quasi-Christians | Seemingly, partly, almost in some sense, to be Christians. |
| quasi-confessions | Non-confessional international denominational bodies (qv), which are partly or entirely de facto world confessional families, or world communions. |
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.