Ten Signatories, a Hundred Communities: Pluralization Without Consolidation in Slovenian Protestantism

Authors

• Katja Brkič Golob, University Center for Protestant Theology Matthias Flacius Illyricus in ZagrebFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

ORCID: 0009-0008-3174-018X

Abstract

This article examines why contemporary Slovenian Protestantism exhibits a dual structure: a low‑variance Lutheran core (the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession - ECAC) and a high‑variance neo‑Protestant field (mainly Pentecostal, Charismatic, Evangelical, and some Baptist communities). Using the public Register of Churches and Other Religious Communities as an administrative tracer of organizational volatility (first registrations, renamings, deletions), and situating findings in census/survey context, the study shows that post‑1991 legal liberalization enabled rapid formalization without automatic consolidation. A four‑lens framework—historico‑legal, sociological (church–sect–mysticism; religious‑economy), ecclesiological (order vs. movement), and psychological (charisma and its routinization; risks of authoritarian patterns)—explains why tensions in small religious markets more often resolve in organizational differentiation than in absorption by umbrella structures. A brief comparison with Croatia indicates a parallel postsocialist pattern. The article concludes with pragmatic recommendations: standardized ministerial formation, teaching/discipline mechanisms, regular supervision, and mediation protocols, plus clearer registry labeling to distinguish administrative change from schism.

Recommended Citation

Brkič Golob, Katja (2026) "Ten Signatories, a Hundred Communities: Pluralization Without Consolidation in Slovenian Protestantism," Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 46 : Iss. 5 , Article 5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2229.2797
Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol46/iss5/5