The following essay is adapted from the World Christian Encyclopedia, first edition, 1982 (pp. 45–56), which was later updated for World Christian Trends, 2001 (pp. 468–76). In 2013, a more comprehensive treatment was presented in The World’s Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography. This short text, adapted primarily from these three sources, is intended to give the reader of this Encyclopedia some ideas …