''World Christian Encyclopedia'' is a reference work, with its third edition published by Edinburgh University Press in November 2019. The ''WCE'' is known for providing membership statistics for major world religions and Christian denominations including historical data and projections of future populations. The data incorporated into the ''World Christian Encyclopedia'' have been made available online at the World Christian Database (WCD).

Editions

1st - 1982

The first edition of the ''World Christian Encyclopedia'' (''WCE''), by David B. Barrett, was published in 1982 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

. Barrett was a trained aeronautical engineer who became a missionary with the Church Missionary Society (Anglican). He arrived in Nyanza Province in Western Kenya in 1957. Over the course of 14 years he traveled to 212 of 223 countries and corresponded with Christians all over the world in search of the most up-to-date statistics on Christianity and world religions. His research resulted in the first edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia in 1982.

2nd - 2001

Barrett moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1985 to work with the Southern Baptists on missionary strategy. He continued his research as an independent researcher, joined by Todd M. Johnson in 1988. With George Kurian, Barrett and Johnson produced the second edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia, in 2 volumes, in 2001 (Oxford University Press).

3rd - 2019

The third edition, written and edited by Todd M. Johnson and Gina A. Zurlo (Barrett died in 2011), was released in November 2019. Johnson and Zurlo are co-directors of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, MA, USA).

Reception

One study found that the WCD's data was "highly correlated with other sources that offer cross-national religious composition estimates" but the database "consistently gives a higher estimate for percent Christian in comparison to other cross-national data sets". Concern has also been raised about possible bias because the ''World Christian Encyclopedia'' was originally developed as a Christian missionary tool.

Margit Warburg Margit Warburg (born 15 February 1952 in Copenhagen) is a Danish sociologist of religion. Since 2004, she has been professor of Sociology of Religion in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen. She w ...

, a Danish researcher, has argued that the database contains numerical inaccuracies in its statistics on the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...

. She noted that figures given in WCE for some Western countries are highly exaggerated. For instance, the ''World Christian Encyclopedia'' reports an estimated 1,600 Baháʼís in Denmark in 1995 and 682,000 Baháʼís in the US in 1995. According to her, the Baháʼís themselves do not acknowledge such numbers; the number of registered Baháʼís in Denmark, in 1995, was about 240 and in the number in the USA was about 130,000.

References

External links

Edinburgh University Press: World Christian EncyclopediaWorld Christian DatabaseCenter for the Study of Global Christianity
{{Authority control 1982 non-fiction books 2001 non-fiction books Encyclopedias of religion Religious studies books Books on Christian missions Kenyan books American encyclopedias Oxford University Press reference books 21st-century encyclopedias World Christianity