Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| telephone ministries | Christian organizations in this area, significant at the national or wider levels, number over 200. |
| teleporting | The transmission of very large quantities of digitized data by telecommunication round through teleports (specialized ground stations handling huge volumes daily). |
| television | (TV). See under radio, broadcasting. |
| temple | An edifice dedicated to the worship of a deity in non- Christian religions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism; occasionally used of Christian buildings as in Mormon usage. |
| tent-making ministry | Aself-supporting ministry in which a Christian worker, often an ordained minister earns his livelihood in some secular occupation. |
| tent-making missionary | A self-supporting foreign missionary who is not supported by a foreign missionary society or local church. |
| terminology, religious | The technical or special terms or expressions used in the descriptive study of religion. |
| territory | In Salvationist usage, a country or region in which Salvation Army work is organized under a territorial commander. |
| testimony | A brief personal account or narrative by an individual Christian concerning how Christ has worked in his life. |
| thaumaturgic | Connected with or dependent on thaumaturgy (performing of miracles or magic). |
| thaumaturgicalist, thaumaturgist | A performer of miracles, a magician. |
| theatre, religious | See religious drama. |
| theist | A believer in theism, belief in the existence of one God transcendent and immanent. |
| theocracy | Government of a state by allegedly the immediate direction or administration of God. |
| theological college associations | Associations at national or wider levels number over 80. |
| theological colleges | See seminaries. |
| theological education | An intensive and structured preparation of men and women for their participation in the ministry of Christ in the world. |
| theological education by extension | (TEE). Organization specializing in this area number over 200 worldwide. |
| theology | The study of God and his relation to man and the world: apologetics, dogmatic theology, natural theology, practical theology, systematic theology, et alia. |
| theophany | A physical presentation or personal manifestation of a deity to an individual. |
| Theosophists | Persons and bodies holding to Theosophy, or synthesist views combining philosophy and religions. A small number, including Liberal Catholics (qv), are specifically Christian. |
| Theosophy | A syncretistic system following chiefly Hindu philosophies originating in the USA in 1875. |
| Theravadins | (Theraveda). The Teaching of the Elders or the Hinayana school of Buddhists (qv), or Southern Buddhism (in Sri Lanka, India, Burma Thailand, Cambodia, Laos). |
| thesis | Usually, a paper or essay submitted for a master’s degree at a university. |
| Third Rome | Moscow; after the sack of Rome and the end of the Roman empire in the West in AD 476, Constantinople became known as the Second Rome but after its fall in 1453 its claim to be the capital of the Christian world passed to Moscow with its claim to be the Third Rome. |
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.