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History vocabulary · Social History

Confessionalization

Meaning in history, with examples

nounCommon term

In history, confessionalization means: The historical formation of distinct religious communities through doctrine, institutions and regulation of everyday practice.

In Turkish: mezhepselleşme, konfesyonelleşme

How it is used

Especially used in early modern European history; the relationship between religious change and state power is debated.

Example sentences

  1. School inspections supplied evidence for the study of confessionalization.

    Teaching practices help show how religious boundaries were reinforced.

  2. The village study challenged a model of confessionalization directed entirely from above.

    Local responses can complicate a model centred on institutional control.

Common collocations

  • the confessionalization thesis
  • processes of confessionalization
  • ReformationThe sixteenth-century religious movement in Western Europe that challenged the authority and practices of the Catholic Church and led to the founding of Protestant churches.
  • early modernRelating to the period of roughly 1500 to 1800, between the Middle Ages and the modern age, marked by printing, global exploration, new states and early capitalism.

More terms: Social History

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