Updates

The World Christian Database is content-rich and while this quarter has also seen significant improvements to the data, it is the website redesign that will be most striking to returning users.

Technically the data still reside in SQL Server tables, but the software getting the data from the database to the user has been completely rewritten over these past several years by Breuer & Co. and its implementation now enables a host of new user features.

Adding or removing fields, and changing criteria to get the specific data required is easier with enhancements to the query-design feature, and user changes can now be saved to a common organizational workspace.

So start with example queries and the country index on the main page, or click the rocket icon Launchpad to see all the main topics at a glance, or enter a search term and go from there.

As always, help is available from researchers at info@globalchristianity.org (or call +1 978-468-2750) and your feedback is most welcome.

Recent citations of the World Christian Database include many articles focussing on the Reformation including in-depth essays on Luther's legacy today in The Economist ("Protestantism shaped the development of the modern liberal West. What does its current revival mean for the developing world?") and in the Christian Science Monitor "Luther’s legacy- How people use the Bible today, 500 years after a monk sparked the Protestant Reformation".

Religious demographics from WCD are often key background information for understanding world events, for example in the Wall Street Journal 's article "Pope’s Support for Muslim Refugees Faces Resistance in Myanmar", or form the basis of more detailed analysis such as Pew Forum 's "Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century".

Links to a range of citations back to 2012 can be seen at the Center for the Study of Global Christianty's media page

Meanwhile, the major data update this quarter sees the denominations listings in many countries further streamlined by consolidating hundreds of smaller denominations (sometimes with single congregations acting autonomously while looking for international expansion) into the 'other Independent' or 'other Protestant' denominaitons. The denominations are still named, but are seen as sub-denominations of those 'other' categories.