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Reformation the question of the ordering and constitution of the churches was urgent. The greatest confusion prevailed: the priests were often dissolute, the See also:

PEOPLE

people were ignorant, and meanwhile nobles were seizing the See also:

Church lands. See also:

LUTHER, MARTIN (1483-1546)

Luther and See also:

MELANCHTHON, FHILIPP (1497–155o)

Melanchthon would have preferred to retain the old episcopal See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control, and to have charged the bishops with the See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty of making the necessary alterations in the ecclesiastical constitution. For, while they taught that in spiritual See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers all ministers were equal, they recognized the propriety of allowing administrative distinctions. But the bishops were unwilling t o come to any terms with the Reformers, and it became necessary to appoint officers of some new See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind. The name of superintendent was then given to a class of men who discharged many of the functions of the older bishops, while bearing a See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character which in several respects was new. Only in See also:

Denmark was the name of bishops reserved for the new officers after the Lutheran model had been adopted and the older bishops had been deposed and imprisoned. It is still used there, though no claim is made that it is the sign of formal See also:

APOSTOLICAL

apostolical See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession. In See also:

Scotland the First See also:

BOOK

Book of Discipline provided not only for ministers, teachers, elders and deacons, but also for superintendents and readers. The superintendents (who were appointed because of the scarcity o5 See also:

PROTESTANT

Protestant pastors) took charge of districts corresponding in some degree with the episcopal dioceses, and made See also:

ANNUAL

annual reports to the generalassembly of the ecclesiastical and religious See also:

state of their provinces, in the churches of which they also preached.

The distinctive character See also:

BORNE, KARL LUDWIG (1786–1837)

borne by the. new officers was determined by the See also:

CARDINAL (Lat. cardinalis)

cardinal principles which Luther had laid down in his See also:

WORK

work regarding the religious functions of the state. He conceived of the See also:

SECULAR (Lat. saecularis, of or belonging to an age or generation, saeculum)

secular See also:

government as,an See also:

ordinance of See also:

God, and as being set to See also:

DIRECT

direct and control the. See also:

EXTERNAL

external fortunes of the Church. He hoped that righteous magistrates would at all times See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form a See also:

sound See also:

court of See also:

APPEAL

appeal in tirnes of ecclesiastical disorder, and that they would guard the interests of truth and See also:

JUSTICE (Lat. justitia)

justice more securely than had been done under papal See also:

jurisdiction. The superintendents who now had to undertake large administrative responsibilities in the Church were therefore to be appointed by the See also:

CIVIL

civil See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power and to be answerable,. to it,. They were to stand as intermediaries between the See also:

prince or magistrates on the one See also:

hand, and the ministers in their districts on the other. In his earlier writings Luther had laid his See also:

main emphasis on the spiritual priesthood of all believers. Every Sincere See also:

Christian was declared See also:

FREE

free, not only to preach, but also to administer the sacraments and to rebuke evil livers. The See also:

DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences in See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

office and See also:

FUNCTION

function between the members implied no difference in See also:

RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank, for the members of See also:

Christ's Church were all members of His See also:

BODY

body, and Luther believed that they would all be ruled into true See also:

order and charity by the Head. But he was shaken by the Peasants' See also:

War, and his faith in the virtues of the See also:

AVERAGE

average See also:

man never recovered itself. The result was seen in his later writings, where he expresses his conviction that men need to be directed and restrained from without, and he looks to the state to undertake this duty. In the last resort the civil magistrates must take control of the Church. His vindication for thus subordinating the ecclesiastical to the civil See also:

lay in his See also:

ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF

assumption that the rulers of a Christian See also:

LAND

land would themselves be Christian, and that it was the Christian duty of the Church to render obedience to those who had been ordained of God to See also:

bear See also:

RULE

rule.

He, and the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of the Reformers, were as See also:

FIRM

firm believers in a visible See also:

CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic Church as were any of those of whom he speaks as " the adherents of the old See also:

religion," and Luther, always conservative in feeling, clung to an See also:

ALLIANCE

alliance with the state and denied that the repudiation by the Reformers of papal authority had severed them from the visible Church. The character of the office and duties of . the superintendent were not everywhere the same. Luther shrank from imposing any stereotyped forms and asked that the See also:

SPECIAL

special circumstances of each See also:

SEPARATE

separate See also:

DISTRICT

district should be consulted. He hoped that as few changes as possible would be made, and trusted that the reformed doctrines would spread peacefully throughout the See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country. After the See also:

DIET

Diet of Speyer (1526) the civil authorities were invited to reorganize the Church in their respective dominions as they thought best. This was not,telt to See also:

PRESENT

present any See also:

GREAT

great difficulties in the free towns, for institutions of self-rule had there grown strong and schemes of ecclesiastical readjustment were speedily See also:

DRAWN

drawn up. See also:

Richter and Sehling' have published a number of these ordinances, and they show that as a rule one of the See also:

CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

city See also:

clergy was appointed superintendent by the city fathers and set in a position of administrative authority over all the churches within their jurisdiction. They were answerable to those fathers for their See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good order. Greater difficulties presented themselves in the territories of the See also:

German princes, and in the See also:

case of See also:

Saxony Luther proposed to the elector that his first step should be to send out a See also:

COMMISSION (from Lat. commissio, committere)

commission of visitation which should See also:

REPORT (O.Fr. report or raport, modern rapport, from O.Fr. reporter, mod. rap porter, Lat. reportare, to bring back, in poetical use only, of bringing back an account, news, &c.)

report on the moral and spiritual See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of his principality, district by district. His proposal was carried out, and Luther himself became one of the visitors (1527-1525). He found the people in a state of such religious indifference and See also:

IGNORANCE (Lat. ignorantia, from ignorare, not to know); want of knowledge, a state of mind which in law has important consequences. A well-known legal maxim runs: ignorantia juris non excusat ("ignorance of the law does not excuse")

ignorance, and the clergy living often in such grossness, that his faith in their fitness to govern themselves. ecclesiastically sank even See also:

LOWER

lower than before, and he resisted all schemes for self-government such as had been proposed by See also:

Francis See also:

Lambert. The church organization which he devised for Saxony provided t In their See also:

WORKS

works on See also:

Die evangelischen Kirchenordnung See also:

des eaten Jahrhunderts (See also:

WEIMAR

Weimar, 1846; and See also:

LEIPZIG

Leipzig, 1902-t904).

no See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place for democratic or representative elements: the grasp of the state must at all times be See also:

FELT (cognate with Ger. Filz, Du. vilt, Swed. and Dan. fill; the root is unknown; the word has given Med. Lat. filtrum, " filter ")

felt. The superintendent must speak at all times as a minister of the state, and the state must be represented in the See also:

synod to which he makes his first report, for upon the synod there must sit not only the pastors but also a delegate from every See also:

PARISH (Gr. irapouda, district, neighbourhood; 7r&poucos, one dwelling near or beside, from crap&, OtKOS, house; Lat. paroecur, Late Lat. parochia; cf. Fr. paroisse)

parish. If any appeal should be made from the decisions of the synod it must be heard in the court of the electoral prince, for he, as supreme civil ruler, possessed the See also:

jus episcopale, the right of oversight of the churches. Luther proposed that he should exercise this right by appointing a consistorial court composed in See also:

PART

part of theologians and in part of See also:

CANON

canon lawyers, and it was thus that in 1542 the See also:

WITTENBERG

Wittenberg ecclesiastical See also:

CONSISTORY (Lat. consistorium, literally, a standing place, hence meeting place, waiting or audience chamber)

consistory was formed. Other principalities adopted the model, so that the institution becarne See also:

COMMON

common throughout the Lutheran churches. In this See also:

SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

scheme the superintendent (or superattendant) was charged with such part of the duty of the older bishops as had been purely administrative. He must concern himself with the See also:

DISCHARGE (adapted from the O. Fr. discharge, modern decharge, from a med. Lat. discargare, to unload, dis- and earn care, to load, cf. " charge ")

discharge of their duties by the pastors of the churches, as well as with their character and demeanour. He must supervise their conduct of public See also:

WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

worship, as well as give them See also:

LICENCE (through the French from Lat. licentia, licere, to be lawful)

licence to preach. He must take See also:

COGNIZANCE (Lat. cognoscere, to know)

cognizance of their See also:

MINISTRY

ministry to the indigent in their parishes, and of their management of the See also:

SCHOOLS

schools. He must further direct the studies of candidates for the See also:

PASTORAL (from Lat. pastor, a shepherd)

pastoral office. He was answerable to the civil authorities to report all evil-living and false teaching, and those authorities had final power in the matters referred to them. If those matters, however, presented technical difficulties, they could be referred to the consistorial courts.

The earliest occasion of the See also:

APPOINTMENT, POWER OF

appointment of such a superintendent would seem to be found in the decisions of Prince See also:

John of Saxony about 1527. He assigns the duties of the office, and See also:

SUMMONS (Fr. semonce, from semonner or semondre, Lat. summonere, summonitio)

summons the newly appointed officer to give diligent heed to the conduct and teaching of the pastors under him, faithfully to warn them of all errors, and, in case they prove obstinate, to report them to the electoral court. He must further give See also:

close See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention to the due observance of the See also:

MARRIAGE

marriage See also:

LAWS

laws, for in this See also:

MATTER

matter the previously appointed visitors to the principality had reported See also:

GRAVE

grave laxity. The See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title of this office was not new, but was taken over from the later Scholastics, who had employed it as a suitable See also:

TRANSLATION

translation of the word krta,coroi, but Prince John made it clear that his superintendents were not to be bishops in the old sense of the term. For every pastor was declared in the reformed See also:

DOCTRINE

doctrine to be truly a See also:

bishop and to have the spiritual functions and authority of a bishop; but the older bishops had also claimed a large number of administrative powers, and these for the future must be retained in the hands of the secular power, which would See also:

EXPRESS (through the French from the past participle of the Lat. exprimere, to press out, by transference used of representing objects in painting or sculpture, or of thoughts, &c. in words)

express itself in the first instance through the state-appointed superintendent. In the few cases in which the old bishoprics were retained in Lutheran communities their tenants held office directly from the state. Some of the smaller principalities appointed but a single superintendent for their territory, who, instead of being answerable to a consistory, sat as spiritual member on the territorial See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council, whilst in towns the superintendent was summoned to the See also:

TOWN

town council whenever Church matters arose for discussion. In larger states there were various classes of superintendents with their respective duties severally assigned. In See also:

MODERN

modern times the functions of the superintendent have been somewhat confused in consequence of the introduction into Lutheran Church theory of inconsistent elements of Presbyterian and synodal type. See T. M. See also:

LINDSAY

Lindsay, See also:

HISTORY

History of the Reformation (1906), i.

400–416; and the articles " Kirchenordnung " and " Superintendent " in See also:

Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopadie See also:

FUR (connected with O. Fr. forre, a sheath or case; so " an outer covering ")

fur protestantische Theologie and Kirche. (E.

End of Article: SUPERINTENDENT

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