DACB-Wiki is a project intended to supplement and expand the DICTIONARY OF AFRICAN CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY's online database of biographies of the important figures of the church in Africa. Below is a short overview of the geographical, chronological, and ecclesiastical contours of the DACB and, by extension, of the DACB-Wiki Project. 
 
The Contours of the Dictionary

Chronologically, the Dictionary spans twenty centuries of Christian faith on the African continent, thus counteracting the notion that Christianity in Africa is little more than the religious accretion of 19th and 20th century European influence. "Christianity in Africa," Fr. John Baur aptly reminds his readers, "is not a recent happening, nor it is a by-product of colonialism--its roots go back to the very time of the Apostles." A significant proportion of the database features subjects who lived and died prior to the 13th century. Some 378 names have been associated with the "Ancient Church" section of the database, while some 160 of the over 500 subjects associated with "Ethiopia" lived prior to the twelfth century, as did a majority of the 226 Coptic subjects identified as Egyptian.

Ecclesiastically, likewise, since Christian expression in Africa does not readily lend itself to standard Euro-American tests of orthodoxy, the Dictionary aims at inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness. As is customarily the case with encyclopedic works of any kind, exclusion is the prerogative of the user. Thus, for example, key figures associated with such heterodox organizations as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, as well as those in sometimes highly-controversial African-initiated churches, are included on the basis of their self-definition as Christians.

Inclusion criteria are as broad and as flexible as possible. In general, those persons deemed at local, regional, national or denominational levels to have made a significant contribution to African Christianity, and whose stories are indispensable to an understanding of the church as it is, will be included. While main entries are generally restricted to subjects who are African either by birth or by immigration, non-African subjects such as foreign missionaries, whose contributions to African church history are regarded by Africans themselves to have been significant, are also included. Similarly, while a majority of the subjects will be confessed Christians, some non-Christians are included, if they are deemed to have played a direct and significant role in the regional or national development of Christianity.

Linguistically, dictionary entries now appear in English, with some in French, Portuguese, and Swahili. The plan is for the database to be freely available in the four languages most broadly understood in those parts of Africa where the Christian presence is most notable. Since the material is non-proprietary, there is nothing to prevent a research institute, academic department or enterprising individual from translating the stories into any language, but the intention is to receive stories in any one of these four working languages, and to have each story translated into the other three languages.

A data collection template has been designed to ensure a measure of uniformity in the cognitive fields around which the details of each subject's life are arranged. Insofar as such data as birth dates are actually available, these are included. Otherwise, an attempt is made to link the birth of a subject to a particular period or an auspicious event. Wherever possible, published as well as oral sources of information are utilized. While documentation can pose a serious challenge, the standards commonly employed by those working in the field of oral history are utilized.
 
To read the full text of the DACB vision, please see http://www.dacb.org/xnmaps.html.