Todd Johnson | Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (original) (raw)

Books by Todd Johnson

The 2015 issue highlights both global and local realities in religious adherence, from the demogr... more The 2015 issue highlights both global and local realities in religious adherence, from the demographics of the world's atheists to the emigration of Christians from the Middle East. Other case studies include inter-religious marriage patterns in Austria, Muslim immigration to Australia, and methodological challenges in counting Hasidic Jews.

The Yearbook of International Religious Demography presents an annual snapshot of the state of re... more The Yearbook of International Religious Demography presents an annual snapshot of the state of religious statistics around the world. Every year large amounts of data are collected through censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and a host of other sources. These data are collated and analyzed by research centers and scholars around the world. Large amounts of data appear in analyzed form in the World Religion Database (Brill), aiming at a researcher’s audience. The Yearbook presents data in sets of tables and scholarly articles spanning social science, demography, history, and geography. Each issue offers findings, sources, methods, and implications surrounding international religious demography. Each year an assessment is made of new data made available since the previous issue of the yearbook.

Created by two of the field’s leading experts, this unique introduction to international religiou... more Created by two of the field’s leading experts, this unique introduction to international religious demography outlines the challenges in interpreting data on religious adherence, and presents a contemporary portrait of global religious belief.

Offers the first comprehensive overview of the field of international religious demography – detailing what we know about religious adherents around the world, and how we know it
Examines religious freedom and diversity, including agnostics and atheists, on a global scale, highlighting trends over the past 100 years and projecting estimates for the year 2050
Outlines the issues and challenges related to definitions, taxonomies, sources, analyses, and other techniques in interpreting data on religious adherence
Considers data from religious communities, censuses, surveys, and scholarly research, along with several in-depth case studies on the global Muslim population, religion in China, and the religious demography of recently created Sudan and South Sudan
Argues against the belief that the twentieth-century was a ‘secular’ period by putting forward new evidence to the contrary
Provides resources for measuring both qualitatively and quantitatively important data on the world's religious situation in the twenty-first century

Papers by Todd Johnson

International Bulletin of Mission Research, 2019

This article marks the thirty-fifth year of presenting statistical information on world Christian... more This article marks the thirty-fifth year of presenting statistical information on world Christianity and mission. This year, we report on three gaps in the literature, concerning women in world Christianity and mission, the status of short-term mission (STM), and missions and money. There are few quantitative studies on women in world Christianity; there remains a dearth in the literature on the magnitude and impact of STM (which is particularly US-centric); and Christian finance, now $60 trillion in personal income, is vastly under-researched in global studies.

Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy, 2014

The proportional decline of historic Christian communities in the Middle East is continuing. Chri... more The proportional decline of historic Christian communities in the
Middle East is continuing. Christians were 13.6 percent of the region’s
population in 1910 but only 4.2 percent in 2010; by 2025, they will
likely constitute 3.6 percent. While Christians in the Middle East
continue to suffer from war and conflict, the expansion of Christianity
to the Global South and the postcolonial break between notions of
“Western” and “Christian” are positive developments for communities
under siege in the region. Christians from the Middle East are now
present all over the world, and Christians from the Global South are
increasingly drawn to the Middle East. Some of the region’s most
pressing concerns can be addressed by advocating for freedom for
all religious minorities in countries experiencing high restrictions on
religion. Additionally, promoting interfaith dialogue where Middle
Eastern Christians are in diaspora can serve to strengthen their ties with
fellow religionists in their host countries and abroad.

The Review of Faith and International Affairs, 2015

Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, 2016

International Bulletin of Mission Research

Throughout 2017, Protestants around the world will celebrate five hundred years of history. Altho... more Throughout 2017, Protestants around the world will celebrate five hundred years of history. Although for several centuries the Protestant movement was based in Europe, then North America, from its Western homelands it eventually spread all over the world. In 2017 there are 560 million Protestants found in nearly all the world's 234 countries. Of these 560 million, only 16 percent are in Europe, with 41 percent in Africa, a figure projected to reach 53 percent by 2050. The article also presents the latest statistics related to global Christianity and its mission.

Society, 2014

Historians have undertaken the study of Christian martyrdomprimarily to understand its impact on ... more Historians have undertaken the study of Christian
martyrdomprimarily to understand its impact on the growth of
the religion since its inception. This article takes a different
perspective on the study of martyrdom, instead examining
how many Christians around the world have died in situations
of witness every year. Included is a comparative analysis of
twentieth- and twenty-first-century trends regarding the phenomenon,
highlighting both qualitative and quantitative differences
between the two periods. Measuring Christian martyrdom
is not without controversy, however. Here, the number
of martyrs per year is determined by a specific set of criteria
that takes into consideration historical, sociological, and theological
arguments. This article will present a definition of
martyrdom highlighting two important aspects: (1) the motivation
of the killed rather than the killer, and (2) the inclusion
of Christians who have died as a result of mass killings and
genocides. Drawing on historical and contemporary descriptions
of martyrdom situations, we argue that martyrdom is a
broad-based phenomenon not limited to state persecution that
is profoundly affecting thousands of Christians in the context
of civil war, genocide, and other conflicts.

Throughout 2017, Protestants around the world will celebrate five hundred years of history. Altho... more Throughout 2017, Protestants around the world will celebrate five hundred years of history. Although for several centuries the Protestant movement was based in Europe, then North America, from its Western homelands it eventually spread all over the world. In 2017 there are 560 million Protestants found in nearly all the world's 234 countries. Of these 560 million, only 16 percent are in Europe, with 41 percent in Africa, a figure projected to reach 53 percent by 2050. The article also presents the latest statistics related to global Christianity and its mission.

The mid-twentieth-century secularization theory – that an increase in modernity means a decrease ... more The mid-twentieth-century secularization theory – that an increase in modernity means a decrease in religion – has been largely debunked (see Berger 2014). Despite increased modernity the world has in fact become more religious; 80.8% of the global population self-identified with a religion in 1970, rising to 88.1% in 2010 and with a projected increase to 91.5% by 2050 (see table 2; Johnson and Grim 2015). At the same time, the boundaries between
religion and non-religion (atheism and agnosticism) are becoming increasingly blurred. As this paper discusses, many surveys have reported that individuals are leaving institutionalized religion and becoming part of what is known as the “unaffiliated”. But who exactly are the unaffiliated (also called the “nones”)? The category of the unaffiliated has become ubiquitous in both social scientific and popular language, yet the term suffers from a lack of clarity and nuance. In many studies, the term is conflated with the non-religious, leaving a serious gap in understanding of the religious leanings of the majority of the “nones”.1 In addition, the issue of international perspective is important – what “increased secularism” means is different in the United States than in, for example, Indonesia or Kenya. It can refer to, among other variables, a decrease in attendance at religious services, changes on particular ethical issues, or selidentifying as non-religious. The purpose of this paper is to nuance the category of the unaffiliated to interpret the whole in its various parts: atheists, agnostics, and – counterintuitively
– religionists.

The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 2015

Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy, 2014

The 2015 issue highlights both global and local realities in religious adherence, from the demogr... more The 2015 issue highlights both global and local realities in religious adherence, from the demographics of the world's atheists to the emigration of Christians from the Middle East. Other case studies include inter-religious marriage patterns in Austria, Muslim immigration to Australia, and methodological challenges in counting Hasidic Jews.

As of 2007 Brill is the publisher of the World Christian Database (WCD), which complements the Wo... more As of 2007 Brill is the publisher of the World Christian Database (WCD), which complements the World Religion Database. The WCD is updated quarterly. It includes detailed information on 9,000 Christian denominations and on religions in every country of the world. Extensive data are available on 238 countries and 13,000 ethno-linguistic peoples, as well as on 5,000 cities and 3,000 provinces. This extraordinary database is an invaluable reference tool for professionals, scholars, students, agencies, health organizations, and news media. Information is readily available on religious activities, growth rates, religious literature, worker activity, and demography. Additional secular data is included on population, health, education, languages, and communication. All this information makes the WCD an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Christian and religious demography and the history of Christianity. Thousands of sources are evaluated and reviewed on a weekly basis by a professional staff dedicated to expanding and updating the WCD. There is no other resource completely focused on providing global statistics on World Christianity today.

The 2015 issue highlights both global and local realities in religious adherence, from the demogr... more The 2015 issue highlights both global and local realities in religious adherence, from the demographics of the world's atheists to the emigration of Christians from the Middle East. Other case studies include inter-religious marriage patterns in Austria, Muslim immigration to Australia, and methodological challenges in counting Hasidic Jews.

The Yearbook of International Religious Demography presents an annual snapshot of the state of re... more The Yearbook of International Religious Demography presents an annual snapshot of the state of religious statistics around the world. Every year large amounts of data are collected through censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and a host of other sources. These data are collated and analyzed by research centers and scholars around the world. Large amounts of data appear in analyzed form in the World Religion Database (Brill), aiming at a researcher’s audience. The Yearbook presents data in sets of tables and scholarly articles spanning social science, demography, history, and geography. Each issue offers findings, sources, methods, and implications surrounding international religious demography. Each year an assessment is made of new data made available since the previous issue of the yearbook.

Created by two of the field’s leading experts, this unique introduction to international religiou... more Created by two of the field’s leading experts, this unique introduction to international religious demography outlines the challenges in interpreting data on religious adherence, and presents a contemporary portrait of global religious belief.

Offers the first comprehensive overview of the field of international religious demography – detailing what we know about religious adherents around the world, and how we know it
Examines religious freedom and diversity, including agnostics and atheists, on a global scale, highlighting trends over the past 100 years and projecting estimates for the year 2050
Outlines the issues and challenges related to definitions, taxonomies, sources, analyses, and other techniques in interpreting data on religious adherence
Considers data from religious communities, censuses, surveys, and scholarly research, along with several in-depth case studies on the global Muslim population, religion in China, and the religious demography of recently created Sudan and South Sudan
Argues against the belief that the twentieth-century was a ‘secular’ period by putting forward new evidence to the contrary
Provides resources for measuring both qualitatively and quantitatively important data on the world's religious situation in the twenty-first century

International Bulletin of Mission Research, 2019

This article marks the thirty-fifth year of presenting statistical information on world Christian... more This article marks the thirty-fifth year of presenting statistical information on world Christianity and mission. This year, we report on three gaps in the literature, concerning women in world Christianity and mission, the status of short-term mission (STM), and missions and money. There are few quantitative studies on women in world Christianity; there remains a dearth in the literature on the magnitude and impact of STM (which is particularly US-centric); and Christian finance, now $60 trillion in personal income, is vastly under-researched in global studies.

Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy, 2014

The proportional decline of historic Christian communities in the Middle East is continuing. Chri... more The proportional decline of historic Christian communities in the
Middle East is continuing. Christians were 13.6 percent of the region’s
population in 1910 but only 4.2 percent in 2010; by 2025, they will
likely constitute 3.6 percent. While Christians in the Middle East
continue to suffer from war and conflict, the expansion of Christianity
to the Global South and the postcolonial break between notions of
“Western” and “Christian” are positive developments for communities
under siege in the region. Christians from the Middle East are now
present all over the world, and Christians from the Global South are
increasingly drawn to the Middle East. Some of the region’s most
pressing concerns can be addressed by advocating for freedom for
all religious minorities in countries experiencing high restrictions on
religion. Additionally, promoting interfaith dialogue where Middle
Eastern Christians are in diaspora can serve to strengthen their ties with
fellow religionists in their host countries and abroad.

The Review of Faith and International Affairs, 2015

Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, 2016

International Bulletin of Mission Research

Throughout 2017, Protestants around the world will celebrate five hundred years of history. Altho... more Throughout 2017, Protestants around the world will celebrate five hundred years of history. Although for several centuries the Protestant movement was based in Europe, then North America, from its Western homelands it eventually spread all over the world. In 2017 there are 560 million Protestants found in nearly all the world's 234 countries. Of these 560 million, only 16 percent are in Europe, with 41 percent in Africa, a figure projected to reach 53 percent by 2050. The article also presents the latest statistics related to global Christianity and its mission.

Society, 2014

Historians have undertaken the study of Christian martyrdomprimarily to understand its impact on ... more Historians have undertaken the study of Christian
martyrdomprimarily to understand its impact on the growth of
the religion since its inception. This article takes a different
perspective on the study of martyrdom, instead examining
how many Christians around the world have died in situations
of witness every year. Included is a comparative analysis of
twentieth- and twenty-first-century trends regarding the phenomenon,
highlighting both qualitative and quantitative differences
between the two periods. Measuring Christian martyrdom
is not without controversy, however. Here, the number
of martyrs per year is determined by a specific set of criteria
that takes into consideration historical, sociological, and theological
arguments. This article will present a definition of
martyrdom highlighting two important aspects: (1) the motivation
of the killed rather than the killer, and (2) the inclusion
of Christians who have died as a result of mass killings and
genocides. Drawing on historical and contemporary descriptions
of martyrdom situations, we argue that martyrdom is a
broad-based phenomenon not limited to state persecution that
is profoundly affecting thousands of Christians in the context
of civil war, genocide, and other conflicts.

Throughout 2017, Protestants around the world will celebrate five hundred years of history. Altho... more Throughout 2017, Protestants around the world will celebrate five hundred years of history. Although for several centuries the Protestant movement was based in Europe, then North America, from its Western homelands it eventually spread all over the world. In 2017 there are 560 million Protestants found in nearly all the world's 234 countries. Of these 560 million, only 16 percent are in Europe, with 41 percent in Africa, a figure projected to reach 53 percent by 2050. The article also presents the latest statistics related to global Christianity and its mission.

The mid-twentieth-century secularization theory – that an increase in modernity means a decrease ... more The mid-twentieth-century secularization theory – that an increase in modernity means a decrease in religion – has been largely debunked (see Berger 2014). Despite increased modernity the world has in fact become more religious; 80.8% of the global population self-identified with a religion in 1970, rising to 88.1% in 2010 and with a projected increase to 91.5% by 2050 (see table 2; Johnson and Grim 2015). At the same time, the boundaries between
religion and non-religion (atheism and agnosticism) are becoming increasingly blurred. As this paper discusses, many surveys have reported that individuals are leaving institutionalized religion and becoming part of what is known as the “unaffiliated”. But who exactly are the unaffiliated (also called the “nones”)? The category of the unaffiliated has become ubiquitous in both social scientific and popular language, yet the term suffers from a lack of clarity and nuance. In many studies, the term is conflated with the non-religious, leaving a serious gap in understanding of the religious leanings of the majority of the “nones”.1 In addition, the issue of international perspective is important – what “increased secularism” means is different in the United States than in, for example, Indonesia or Kenya. It can refer to, among other variables, a decrease in attendance at religious services, changes on particular ethical issues, or selidentifying as non-religious. The purpose of this paper is to nuance the category of the unaffiliated to interpret the whole in its various parts: atheists, agnostics, and – counterintuitively
– religionists.

The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 2015

Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy, 2014

The 2015 issue highlights both global and local realities in religious adherence, from the demogr... more The 2015 issue highlights both global and local realities in religious adherence, from the demographics of the world's atheists to the emigration of Christians from the Middle East. Other case studies include inter-religious marriage patterns in Austria, Muslim immigration to Australia, and methodological challenges in counting Hasidic Jews.

As of 2007 Brill is the publisher of the World Christian Database (WCD), which complements the Wo... more As of 2007 Brill is the publisher of the World Christian Database (WCD), which complements the World Religion Database. The WCD is updated quarterly. It includes detailed information on 9,000 Christian denominations and on religions in every country of the world. Extensive data are available on 238 countries and 13,000 ethno-linguistic peoples, as well as on 5,000 cities and 3,000 provinces. This extraordinary database is an invaluable reference tool for professionals, scholars, students, agencies, health organizations, and news media. Information is readily available on religious activities, growth rates, religious literature, worker activity, and demography. Additional secular data is included on population, health, education, languages, and communication. All this information makes the WCD an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Christian and religious demography and the history of Christianity. Thousands of sources are evaluated and reviewed on a weekly basis by a professional staff dedicated to expanding and updating the WCD. There is no other resource completely focused on providing global statistics on World Christianity today.

The World Religion Database (WRD) contains detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every... more The World Religion Database (WRD) contains detailed statistics on religious affiliation for every country in the world. It is the major source to render a definitive picture of international religious demography. The WRD provides both current and historical data, as well as sophisticated forecasts of future developments. For each of the world’s religions, best estimates at multiple dates for the period 1900 to 2050 are given. The WRD also offers access to the sources which underlie the figures in the database, such as censuses and surveys. Through an interactive feedback mechanism users can leave comments on sources or methodology related to any figure reported in the WRD. The WRD is constantly updated with new sets of data as they become available, such as estimates of religious affiliation at the province level and religious freedom information for all countries in the world. No other database available today is as comprehensive.

International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 2015

In 2015, an estimated USD 50 billion will likely be stolen from money that Christians give to chu... more In 2015, an estimated USD 50 billion will
likely be stolen from money that Christians
give to churches, para-church organizations,
and secular organizations all over the world.
Understanding embezzlement in the global
Christian community requires three separate
areas of investigation: (1) the demographics of
global Christianity; (2) the income and giving of
Christians around the word; and (3) the
dynamics of embezzlement. This article presents
these three areas first separately, and then
integrated, to produce estimates of the amount of
money embezzled from funds given by Christians
around the world. Finally, the article offers
suggestions for reducing embezzlement from all
kinds of organizations, Christian or secular.

Single page summary of our annual update on Christianity published in another form in the Interna... more Single page summary of our annual update on Christianity published in another form in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.

Tracking the Emigration of Christians from the Middle East - Todd M. Johnson and Gina A. Zurlo