Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| Bible translations | World total among UBS-related societies (1999): complete Bibles in 378 languages, New Testaments alone in another 822 languages, portions in another 725 languages; total all languages with at least one book printed, 1925 |
| Bible-reading | Surveys and polls have been taken in various countries. Typical questions, with nationwide adult percentages answering ‘Yes’: ‘Do you own a Bible or NT?’ Brazil 75% of young students and workers, Spain 64% (though only 42% read it); (1973) UK 76%, (1976) UK 71%. ‘Have you a Bible in your home?’ (1976) UK 84%. ‘Have you read the Bible all the way through?’ (1939) USA 26%. ‘Have you read any part of the Bible at home within the last year?’ (1944) USA62% (10% every day); (1975) USA 63% (Protestants 75%, RCs 43%), UK 38% (7% every day, 16% every week, 24% every month). |
| Bibles in use | Number of Bibles in place in a country or population, allowing for the constant loss of copies due to wear and tear or other forms of attrition. |
| biblioglossonym | The name chosen by a Bible society by which a translation of the Bible, or part of it, is formally known; often the anglicized form (e.g. French, German, Russian), often the speakers’ own autoglossonym (français, deutsch, russki). |
| bibliography | A catalog of writing and publications. |
| bibliometrics | The science of measurement of books, libraries, cataloguing, publishing, use of books, analysis, future usage. |
| bilaterals, bilateral conversations | In ecumenical terminology, theological conversations undertaken by officiallyappointed representatives of 2 churches, 2 traditions, or 2 confessional families, with purposes ranging from promoting mutual understanding to achieving full fellowship or eventual organic union. |
| bilingual | Used of a person knowing or speaking 2 languages. |
| bilinguals | Persons speaking or understanding a second language in addition to their own mother tongue. |
| billion | In British usage, a million millions; in American usage, 1,000 millions; the American billion is termed milliard in British, French, and German usage. |
| billion | 1,000 millions (American usage; British, French, and German usage is a million millions). |
| billionaire | An individual (or occasionally a family) worth one billion USA dollars or over. |
| biological change | Demographic change in the population of a country or body due to natural causes properly so called, i.e. the annual net aggregate of births to members of the body minus deaths in it. |
| birth rate | The number of births per year in a population, expressed as a percentage or permillage of the total population. |
| bishop | A clergyman of the highest rank or order in the Christian churches, with administrative and other duties, overseer, shepherd. |
| bishop | Christian clergyman having authority over a wide geographic area. |
| bishop in parlibus infidelium | (Latin: bishop in heathen land). A titular bishop (qv). |
| bishop’s commissary | In Anglican usage, a clergyman appointed to represent his bishop in the latter’s temporary absence abroad, or appointed by a bishop serving abroad to serve him in his home country. |
| bishopric | (1) The office of a bishop. 2) The administrative area under the jurisdiction of a bishop; a diocese. |
| bishops, Catholic | (1996) 4,375. |
| bishops’ conferences | Episcopal conferences (qv). |
| bishops-at-large | (in Latin, episcopi vagantes). Bishops founding or leading minuscule unrecognized autocephalous episcopal churches, with disputed apostolic succession. 130 such churches are described here in the table Episcopal Churches with Disputed Apostolic Succession, which also lists documentation of 760 bishops-at-large. |
| bite-sized piece | Colloquial term for manageable population segments which, because of either their homogeneity or their moderate size, are capable of being monitored by a single nonresidential missionary or couple. |
| bivocational | Adjective describing a tentmaker or missionary with the dual vocation of (a) a secular profession in a restricted-access country, undertaken in order to exercise (b) part-time Christian witness or service or church planting. |
| black magic | Magic (qv) used for evil purposes, with malevolent intent. |
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.