Consolation in Sixteenth Century Evangelical Church Ordinances

This article considers how church ordinances provided comfort and consolation to the laity in sixteenth century Germany. The turmoil that could accompany religious change demonstrated that reforms needed to be approached sensitively and implemented in ways that supported the laity as they adjusted to new confessional realities, the loss of past certainties, and changed ritual experiences. Existing literature explores how reformers comforted parishioners through their ministry, sermons, consolatory works and other practices but church orders traditionally have not been seen as belonging to this broader framework of consolation. This article presents four ways in which consolation can be detected in the ordinances and situates them within the wider landscape of consolatory literature.