This website is dedicated to churches that were shared between two or more Christian religions – Catholic, Lutheran, or Reformed. The oldest were established in the mid-1500s; eventually, their number grew to nearly 1,000; some 120 still exist today. Together, the shared churches of Europe open a window on the lives of ordinary people in pre-modern times, their beliefs and religious identities, and how they experienced diversity and toleration in everyday life – its rituals and celebrations, but also its conflicts and politicking. As such, the “Shared Churches of Europe” offers a prehistory of religious pluralism and coexistence, the conditions that made them possible, and the everyday practices that sustained them for generations, even centuries.
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