Simultaneum

A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th-century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in the German-speaking lands of Europe in the wake of the Protestant Reformation.[1] The different Christian denominations (such as Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, or United, etc.), share the same church building, although they worship at different times and with different clergy. It is thus a form of religious toleration.[1]

Simultaneum as a policy was particularly attractive to rulers who ruled over populations which contained considerable numbers of both Catholics and Protestants. It was often the opposite of cuius regio, eius religio and used in situations where a ruler was of a different religion than the majority of the people, and not strong enough to impose his religion on the population.[1]

Examples

Following the compromise between the Reformed Aniconism and Lutheran Adiaphora in Ringstedt's Reformed-Lutheran simultaneum of St. Fabian there is a Lutheran altar, but it shows no crucifix, but only candles.
Map of all simultaneum churches in Germany
Lutheran and Catholic altars in St. M. Kozal church in Gniezno, Poland
Triple in New York

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe, Harvard University Press, 2007, Chapter 8, pp. 198. ff..
  2. ↑ Simultaneum in Boos (Nahe)
  3. ↑ Boos (Nahe), photos of the simultaneum