Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout CountryReports.

This glossary contains 1,144 terms used throughout CountryReports — political, economic, cultural, historical, and geographic terminology referenced in country profiles and articles. Terms are drawn from authoritative sources including the Library of Congress.

Evangelicals: Term used in Chile to refer to all non-Catholic Christian churches with the exception of the Orthodox (Greek, Persian, Serbian, Armenian) and the Mormons. Most Evangelicals are Pentecostal. Some would say ""Protestant"" refers to non-Pentecostal churches of the Reformation, but they themselves (i.e., the Methodists and Presbyterians) also identify with the term ""Evangelical."" The 1992 census used both ""Protestant"" and ""Evangelical"" to ask about religion, but the difference is meaningless. Pastors of all denominations urged people to say they were ""Evangelicals.""
Holy Roman Empire: Enduring from A.D. 800 to 1806, official successor under papal authority to the Roman Empire. The title king of the Romans, first given to Charlemagne, was borne by a long succession of German kings. Centered in Germany, the empire at its peak (thirteenth century to sixteenth century) extended from the Low Countries to Czechoslovakia and southward into Italy. Weakened by struggles with Roman Catholic Church and the Reformation, then scattered by the results of the Thirty Years’ War (q.v.), 1648.
Reformation: Sixteenth-century movement against dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, in favor of grace through faith, the authority of the Scriptures, and the direct relationship of believers with God. Met with resounding force by the established church, the Reformation influenced Christian practice to varying degrees in all European countries, resulting in a schism between the Roman Catholic church and Protestant reformers.