Project

Atlas of Pentecostalism

Pentecostal Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is here and now. An estimated 35,000 people join the Pentecostal church each day. Of the world's two billion Christians a quarter are now Pentecostal—up from 6 percent in 1980.

The Atlas of Pentecostalism is a unique and dynamic online database, mapping an expanding global religion as it evolves.

The project uses global crowd-sourcing and big data to provide an independent perspective on Pentecostalism and offers various narrative pathways through the materials.

The database can also be ordered as an e-book or printed book, which freezes the dynamic data at the moment of ordering.

The project brings together four different ways of describing (or "mapping") Pentecostalism worldwide:

1) ICONOGRAPHY: photos of visual manifestations of Pentecostalism all over the world, from logos and signs to churches, bibles and uniforms. The photos are uploaded and tagged by contributors.

2) CARTOGRAPHY: graphic real-time maps based on dynamic "big data."

3) VIDEOGRAPHY: a 50-minute documentary (presented as 25 short web videos) on the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Lagos, Nigeria, the "new Mecca of Christianity."

4) INTERVIEWS: leading scholars on Pentecostalism offer audio guided walks through the database.

The Atlas of Pentecostalism is an experimental journalism and design project that aims to develop a reusable model for reporting on dynamic global trends and crises, incorporating networks, crowdsourcing, big data and visual information to generate a multi-layered informational environment. The project is being released with a Creative Commons license.

Explore the Atlas of Pentecostalism at: http://www.atlasofpentecostalism.net/

This Week: The Atlas of Pentecostalism

Each day, an estimated 35,000 people join a Pentecostal church. Of the world's two billion Christians, a quarter are now Pentecostals—up from just 6 percent in 1980.