Shared Churches in Early Modern Europe, 1500–1800

FAIN: RZ-286848-22

Arizona Board of Regents (Tucson, AZ 85721-0073)
Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer (Project Director: November 2021 to present)

Preparation of an interactive map and searchable database on the history of shared devotional spaces in early modern Europe (1500-1800). 

We are applying for an NEH Collaborative Research Grant (digital scholarly project) to develop an interactive map and searchable web-based database revealing the widespread phenomenon of parish churches shared by multiple denominations or congregations in early modern Europe. Between 1500 and 1800, sharing any devotional, ritual, and sacred spaces added complexities to social, political, and economic relationships in Europe and beyond and heralded the rise of mutually exclusive, denominational religious groups. This research project investigates the local spatial arrangements made for sharing sacred spaces in select shared parish churches in central Europe to draw broader conclusions about the abilities and limitations of the human capacity to accommodate religious differences. The Shared Churches Project shows how diverse understandings of holiness could—and could not—coexist under a single roof and how that space functioned to unify and separate diverse faith groups.