WORLD CHRISTIAN TRENDS AD 30-AD 2200

1 WORLD . CHRISTIAN TRENDS . AD 30-AD 2200 . Interpreting the annual CHRISTIAN megacensus David B. Barrett Todd M. Johnson Associate Editors: Christopher R. Guidry Peter F. Crossing WILLIAM CAREY LIBRARY. Pasadena, California 2001. Copyright 2001 by David B. Barrett All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission. For Rights and Permissions contact the Publisher: William Carey Library Box 40129. Pasadena, California 91114.

2 Phone (626) 798-0819. ISBN 0-87808-608-0. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data WORLD CHRISTIAN TRENDS , AD 30-AD 2200 : interpreting the annual CHRISTIAN megacensus /. David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson ; associate editors, Christopher Guidry, Peter Crossing. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87808-608-0 (alk. paper). 1. Church history. 2. CHRISTIAN sects. 3. Ecclesiastical geography. 4. Christianity Statistics. I. Barrett, David B. II. Johnson, Todd M. III. Guidry, Christopher. IV. Crossing, Peter. 270--dc21. 2001032550. 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper The demographics of CHRISTIAN martyrdom, AD 33-AD 2001.

3 AN OVERVIEW OF MARTYRDOM Graphic 4-1. Location of the 76 worst situations of mass martyrdom in CHRISTIAN history (all with over 100,000 martyrs each). This section of the survey presents the evidence for the startling conclusion that, over the 20 centuries of the CHRISTIAN faith, some 70 million Christians have been murdered for that faith and hence are called martyrs. And this number continues to grow in the new Millennium as over 400 new martyrs are being killed every day. The whole situation is summarized on a single sheet in Global Diagram 16 (in Part 1). Part of that diagram is shown here in Graphic 4-1 to the right.

4 CHRISTIAN vs. non- CHRISTIAN martyrs All religions have their own lists of martyrs. In their cases the term means members of our religion who have been killed for it'. A survey of human history reveals a large number of such martyrdom situations where hundreds, thousands, or on numerous occa- sions, millions of individuals have been killed be- . cause of their religion. Examples from the 20th cen- .. tury include the Jewish holocaust in Germany, the Muslim-Hindu wars since India's Partition in 1947, current Hindu-Sikh fighting in northern India, and .. the torture and murder of Confucianists under Com.

5 Munist Chinese rule. Throughout history, ethnic re- . ligionists have also suffered martyrdom' under the .. invasion of foreign peoples.. Martyrdom is even desired under certain circum- stances. The role of Japanese kamikazes in WORLD War . II served this purpose, and certain fundamentalist . Muslims deliberately fought to their deaths in the . Iran/Iraq Persian Gulf War in the early 1980s.. A brief summary table of all such martyrdoms is . given below in Table 4 1. The rest of this survey will . then focus on CHRISTIAN martyrdom.. Table 4 1. Martyrdom in WORLD religions . since each's origin.

6 Islam Muslim martyrs 80 million Christianity CHRISTIAN martyrs 70 million . Hinduism Hindu martyrs 20 million . Buddhism Buddhist martyrs 10 million . Judaism Jewish martyrs 9 million Ethnoreligions Ethnic martyrs 6 million . Sikhism Sikh martyrs 2 million Baha'i Baha'i martyrs 1 million Other religions Other religious martyrs 5 million . All religions Total religious martyrs 203 million .. Origin of the word martyr'. The English word martyr' is derived from the Greek . martys, which carries the meaning witness' in Eng- lish. In New Testament usage, it meant a witness to . the resurrection of Christ'.

7 This witness resulted so frequently in death that by the end of the first cen- Key Keytoto56. 76worst worst martyrdom situations martyrdom situations tury martys had come to mean a CHRISTIAN who wit- nessed to Christ by his or her death. This enlarged = over 100,000 martyrs each meaning has become the accepted norm throughout = over 500,000 martyrs each church history. = over 1,000,000 martyrs each Definition of terms For the purposes of this volume's primarily quanti- tative analysis of martyrdom, CHRISTIAN martyrs are defined as believers in Christ who have lost their lives prematurely, in situations of witness, as a result of human hostility.

8 ' This definition has 5 essential and indeed indispensable elements which can be stated as follows: 1. Believers in Christ'. These individuals include the TOTAL PERSONS, AD 33-2000 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW, AD 33-2000. entire CHRISTIAN community including professing All persons born since AD 33: 36,673 million 600 major martyrdom situations over 20 centuries Christians, crypto-Christians, affiliated Christians, All persons evangelized since AD 33: 12,105 million (33% of human race) 76 with over 100,000 martyrs each and unaffiliated Christians. In AD 2000, some bil- All Christians since AD 33: 8,344 million (23% of human race) 27 with over 500,000 martyrs each All martyrs killed since AD 33: 69,420,000 15 with over 1 million martyrs each lion individuals match this description, and since the Martyrs as % all Christians ever: Average martyrs per martyrdom situation: 115,000.

9 Time of Christ over billion have believed in Christ. Martyrs among all Christians leaders ever: Martyrdom loci: in 220 countries Ecclesiastical traditions involved: all 300. 2. Lost their lives'. Our definition is restricted to Chris- Denominations with own martyrs: 4,000. tians actually put to death, for whatever reason. MARTYROLOGY 229. The first CHRISTIAN document to have martyrdom Table 4 2. Martyrdoms of The Twelve Apostles and of 12 other New Testament apostles. as its exclusive subject was the letter written by the The New Testament records the selection and subsequent of the Twelve; (b) the 7 others named apostolos in the NT Christians of Smyrna describing the martyrdom of ministries of the Twelve Apostles.

10 Strong traditions exist that whose fate is partly known; and (c) the 5 others named apos- their bishop Polycarp. One key concept in this letter, all were subsequently martyred for Christ, though the NT only tolos in the NT about whose subsequent fate nothing what- important to our understanding of martyrdom, is the records this for James son of Zebedee (Acts 12:2). The table ever is known. fact that Polycarp's death validated his discipleship . below records what is known of the most likely fate of (a) each he followed his master unto death. Ref. Name in Mark's Gospel Other names Martyred How died Place Country Justin Martyr took the subject of martyrdom fur- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ther, portraying the martyr as the holder of truth, will- ing to die because of its value.