Episcopal Polity

Episcopal polity is the church-polity form in which a body is governed by bishops. Wikipedia defines an episcopal polity, also known as episcopalianism, as a hierarchical form of church governance in which the chief local authorities are called bishops, and describes it as the structure used by many of the major Christian churches and denominations. This atlas records it as a governance form so that every denomination governed by bishops can be grouped and compared under it. In this atlas the entity stands for the governance form itself, so denominations, religious orders and societies governed this way can be grouped and compared under it, while each member entry keeps its own governance facts and sources.