Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts

The 16th century's protestant church ordinances originated against a backdrop of reformatory upheaval. They established regulatory structures by redefining church offices, liturgy, sermons and services according to new evangelical teaching. The North Rhine-Westphalia area represents a heterogeneous landscape when it comes to the introduction of the Reformation. It was not only strongly fragmented, but also confessionally diverse. In the 1530s, after numerous territorial lords and town magistrates had introduced the Reformation shaped by Luther, in the second half of the century, a number of princes initiated the shift to the reformed confession of faith leaning on John Calvin's theology.