About the Atlas

The Atlas of Christianity is a reference work, not an advocate for any church. It aims to describe each tradition, saint and order fairly — including where Christians disagree — and to show the evidence behind what it says.

This edition

Version 0.2 (a release candidate under review) contains 19 traditions, 20 saints and 12 orders. It is built from a starting dataset (a spreadsheet compiled for the project), which every entry cites by sheet and row. That dataset is a starting point, not an authority: where the Atlas departs from it, the entry’s Sources tab says why.

Entries are editorial drafts under review. Version 0.2 adds a research layer for the traditions: historical relationships, ecumenical agreements, sourced positions on core beliefs and dated follower figures. Each statement in that layer is linked to thesource register, which says whether the source was actually read. Saints and orders are unchanged from 0.1.

Comparing traditions

Any two traditions can be compared. The Atlas shows the common ground first, then explains differences, history and present relations, and lets the reader judge. It does not score, rank or declare traditions equivalent. Twelve pairings have researched comparisons; the rest are assembled from each tradition’s sourced records, and where a position has not been recorded the page says so rather than guessing.

Follower figures

Churches count in different ways: baptised members, members of record, people who identify with a tradition, or active participants. Each figure gives its date, source and method, and figures for overlapping bodies, such as the Eastern Catholic churches within the Catholic Church, must never be added together.

How dates are shown

The Atlas gives the date as precisely as the evidence allows and no more: an exact year, an approximate year (c.), a range, a century, or a relative date such as “around age 16”. A century is never silently turned into a year.

Evidence labels

Documented

Supported by contemporary or near-contemporary evidence. Not labelled in timelines.

Own account

Known from the person’s own writing — valuable, but one voice.

New Testament account

Reported in the New Testament; described as the text’s account.

Traditional

A long-standing tradition with limited early evidence.

Approximate

The event happened, but its date or details are approximate.

Disputed

Historians disagree materially.

Church-recognised

Formally recognised by a church (for example in a canonisation). This is a church’s judgement, not a historical one.

Legend

A later legend or miracle story.

Unverified

A claim from the starting dataset that has not been traced to a source.

Images and symbols

No portrait is shown where no authentic likeness survives, and no scene is invented. Crosses are drawn only where a form is historically associated with an entry, and none is presented as an official emblem unless verified. Elsewhere the Atlas uses an editorial initial, which can later be replaced by an authentic, attributed image.