Before the last quarter of the eighteenth century there was a remarkably uniform pattern of church-state relationships across Europe. In the course of the nineteenth century this firm alliance broke down. Religious pluralism developed everywhere, requiring church and state to reach fresh solutions.

Political and Legal Perspectives highlights the impact of political change, or \"democratization,\" on religious reform in Northern Europe. Competing political parties expressed contrasting views about whether the state should be neutral or whether it should give particular support to one church or another. It is hardly surprising that there was no one solution. The focus of this book is historical, but how the state deals with the church (and the church with the state) continues to be a live public issue in a multiconfessional and multifaith European Union.

Contributors: Jay Brown, University of Edinburgh; Heinrich de Wall, Friedrich-Alexander-Universit t, Erlangen-Nurnberg; Andreas Gestrich, German Historical Institute London; Anders Jarlert, Lund University; James Kennedy, University of Amsterdam; Emiel Lamberts, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Liselotte Malmgart, Aarhus University; Keith Robbins, University of Wales, Trinity/St. David