LUTHERANS

Lutherans: translation

Followers of the German reformerMartin Luther(1483–1546). Lutherans, as well as Anabaptists and Calvinists, were persecuted in the Netherlands, especially once the Roman Catholic Inquisition grew active in the 1540s against the “heretics.” The Calvinistic Dutch Republic tolerated the Luther ans, who remained a relatively small group with adherents mainly among German immigrants. They held their first synod there in 1605, in the city that remained their administrative center, Ams terdam. Since 1791, a separate “Restored” Evangelical-Lutheran Church has existed, which merged in 1952 again with the tradi tional Evangelical-Lutheran Church. Women have been entitled to hold the office of minister in that church since 1931. In 2003, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church merged into the Protestantse Kerk in Nederland (PKN).