REFORMISANA EPISKOPALNA NEOPROTESTANTSKA MISIJA U VOJVODINI U 19. VEKU
REFORMATION MINISTER’S NEO-PROTESTANT MISSION IN VOJVODINA IN THE 19TH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: The Reformation has mostly been present since the second half of the 18th century in Vojvodina. In this area, the history of the predominantly reformed settlements, their own communities, and their congregations has already been more or less researched. In Vojvodina, the Reformation does not live in a block, but in a relatively dispersed manner. In addition, among the reformed church districts in the Carpathian Basin, the Serbian Reformed Christian Church is still one of the smallest church communities with its twelve thousand souls approximately. This was the southern bastion of European Protestantism, where even the reformers had to fight a huge battle against the opponents of the Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines, especially against the Orthodox Church. Despite the difficulties, many reformed churches were established. However, about a hundred years later, in the second half of the 19th century, the reformed ministers of Vojvodina were already intolerant towards the members of the new Protestant religious movements. There were hardly any exceptions in their circles. The article aims to present the conditions of the time and the state of religious freedom in Vojvodina through the thoughts of a progressive 19th century reformed minister. He does this by pointing out the difficult situation of the historic Protestant churches, the role, importance and challenges of the internal mission in parallel with the spread of the rapidly spreading neo-Protestant trends. The question arises as to how a responsible pastor can maintain the basic theological teaching of his own church while being open to adopting the missionary methods of small religious communities classified as sects at the time. Can we discover a kind of early ecumenical approach in this openness, or is the situation different? The author tries to answer these questions with the help of numerous contemporary sources, archival materials, newspaper articles and minutes.

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