Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| American Indian | One of the 13 ethnic regions of mankind, speaking 1,970 languages. |
| Amerindian indigenous churches | Churches indigenous to Amerindian peoples. |
| amillennialists | Protestants who hold that the millennial reign of Christ will not be literal but occurs now in the hearts of believers. |
| amplitude modulation | (AM). Broadcasting termed (in Europe) medium-wave or (in USA) standard broadcasting (employing 540-1600 kilohertz). |
| Anabaptists | (from Greek: re-baptizers). Various groups in Continental Europe in the 16th century collectively termed the Left-Wing Reformation who refused to allow their children to be baptized and reinstituted the baptism of adult believers; represented today by Mennonites and Hutterites. |
| ancestor-veneration | A rite or cult in traditional African and other animistic religion, also in Confucianism, invoking the aid of departed ancestors; also termed ancestor-worship, and reverence for or remembrance of the living dead. |
| anchorite | One who renounces the world to live in seclusion for religious reasons; a hermit, recluse. |
| Ancient Church of the East | Also called Assyrians, Nestorians, Aramaean Christians, or East Syrians (Messihaye); Chaldean (Syriac)-speaking; the original Church of Mesopotamia, famed for its missionary expansion to 250 dioceses with 15 million adherents before its near extinction by Tamerlane around 1360. |
| Anglican Communion | A worldwide family of 25 autonomous Churches and 6 other bodies in communion with the See of Canterbury and with each other, all of whom recognize the archbishop of Canterbury as the focus of unity within the Communion. |
| Anglican Consultative Council | (ACC). The major advisory body of the Anglican Communion, created by the Lambeth Conference in 1969. |
| Anglican Evangelicals | Evangelicals (qv) of Anglican persuasion both within and outside the Anglican Communion; sometimes termed either Conciliar or Conservative Evangelicals, and usually including all whose churchmanship is described as either Evangelical, Conservative Evangelical or Low Church, as distinct from High Church or sacramentalist persuasion, or Central or Broad Church. |
| Anglican pentecostals | Anglicans in the organized charismatic renewal, expressed in healings, tongues, prophesyings, etc. |
| Anglican religious orders | See religious orders in Anglicanism. |
| Anglicanism | The system of doctrine and practice upheld by those Christians in communion with the See of Canterbury. |
| Anglicans | Christians related to the Anglican Communion, tracing their origin back to the ancient British (Celtic) and English churches; including Anglican dissidents or schismatics in the Western world. |
| anglicized | Spelt or written in a characteristically or recognizably English spelling and form. |
| Anglo-Catholics | Formerly called Tractarians or High Churchmen, that section of Anglicanism which emphasizes the dogmatic and sacramental aspects of the Catholic Faith. |
| Anglo-Romans | Adherents of recent schisms out of Anglicanism in a Catholic direction, rejecting Anglican orders for some variant Roman succession. |
| animator | In Catholic usage, an activist stimulating discussion or action groups. |
| animism | (animatism). The attribution of consciousness and personality to such natural phenomena as thunder and fire, and to objects such as rocks and trees. |
| animists | Adherents of animism; sometimes termed pagans, fetishists, traditional religionists, tribal religionists (qv). |
| Anno Domini | (AD ‘In the Year of the Lord’). System of dating years after the birth of Christ |
| annual attenders | Practicing Christians who attend services of public worship only once a year (usually at Christmas or Easter). |
| annual baptisms | The total number of persons baptized in any year in a given diocese, denomination or country. |
| annual conference | In Methodism, the annual convocation of the church, and its basic governing body. |
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.