Written by leading scholars from many countries and cultural backgrounds, the more than 1,700 articles in the complete "EC" depict Christianity in its "global context." Separate articles for every continent and for over 170 countries examine both the history and the current situation of the Christian faith worldwide. The "EC" also portrays Christianity in its widest "ecumenical context." Major articles detail Christianity's rich spiritual and theological diversity in order to inform readers about religious traditions and perspectives beyond their own ecclesiastical frameworks.

In its portrayal of Christianity, the "EC" also takes into account the current "sociocultural context," including other world religions, secular philosophies, cultural trends, and modern political and economic forces. Covering such current topics as abortion, atheism, Islam, modernity, and psychoanalysis, these articles describe the multifarious settings in which the Christian church today must maintain a credible witness to the ancient gospel. Finally, the "EC" presentsChristianity in its rich "historical context," starting with the biblical tradition and showing how the apostolic tradition developed and how the church has sought throughout history to keep faith with its traditions while engaging the world around it.

Volume 3 of the "EC" contains 342 articles constituting the alphabetical entries J-O -- articles on significant topics ranging from Jesus, the kingdom of God, liberation theology, and Martin Luther to medical ethics, the Middle Ages, North American theology, and the Orthodox Church. Like each volume in the complete "EC," this book incorporates many enhancements of and additions to the third revised edition of the German "Evangelisches Kirchenlexikon: Internationale theologische EnzyklopC$die," on which the "EC" is based. Among the new features of this English work are the following: articles on all but the smallest countries of the world, including former communist states that have gained their independence since 1989; the latest, best statistical information, compiled by David B. Barrett, on the religious affiliation and ecclesiastical breakdown of each country and continent; the addition of over seventy biographical articles on prominent figures throughout church history; many expanded or entirely new articles that address topics of particular interest to English-speaking readers.

Unparalleled in scholarship and breadth of content, the "Encyclopedia of Christianity" will long serve as the standard reference work for the study of Christianity in the past and the present -- and its trajectory into the twenty-first century.