Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| quasi-continent | Partly a continent; used of the Caribbean, Middle East and other regions. |
| quasi-parish | In Catholic usage, partly or virtually a parish although not yet formally or canonically established. |
| quasipentecostal | Nonpentecostal or noncharismatic church members or churches which nevertheless are apparently/seemingly/largely pentecostal or semipentecostal in practice; especially strong in Third-World countries;not usually counted in Renewal enumerations. |
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.