ahh then it sounds like the best translation into english might be
german lutheran bishoprics
& coextensive former states if you like
more below
--- In
BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "anorak222"
<listen@w...> wrote:
> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "acroorca2002"
<orc@o...> wrote:
> > --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "chris schulz"
>
> > depends on what it is
>
> "Landeskirchen" are the regional subdivisions of the Lutheran
churches. Eac=
> h "Landeskirche" has a bishop. I think this applies to Germany
only. How Lut=
> heran episcopal territories are organised in other countries I
don't know.
>
> Lutheran protestants are about 50% of Germany's Christians.
The other 50 ar=
> e Roman Catholics. The Roman church AFAIK has a
worldwide system of "Bistums=
> " and "Diözese" (whatever these are called in other
languages). Other Christ=
> ian denominations are negligible.
>
> > are these political boundaries
> > or ecclesiastical boundaries
>
> Just ecclesiastic, but based on political boundaries of the
pre-WW2 "Länder=
> " (states), hence the name. Since the territories remained
unchanged, there =
> were bishops who had both East and West German parishes
under them. The same=
> is true for the Roman Catholic church, who continued their
pre-WW2 territor=
> ies unchanged as well.
>
>
> > perhaps parishes in that case
>
> Not if by "parish" you mean the territory of one single church
and its prie=
> st.
not necessarily
i was only thinking of how this word
which originally indicated an ecclesiastical subdivision
of various types in various places & on various scales
has subsequently been applied to political subdivisions
in places like louisiana & canada
& many of the british west indies
etc
but the german development appears to have taken exactly the
opposite direction
migrating from state to church rather than from church to state
so i think parish must be the wrong word for that reason