UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH

(in Germany), the state church of Pru ia. It came into existence in 1817 at the behest of Frederick William II., and was a unio n of parts of the Luther an and Reformed churches. The sects joined without any doctrinal differences being settled, the aim being unity. Disputed points in scientific theology were left to be harmonized in the future. Harmony gradually developed in eastern parts of Pru ia by the Luther ans absorbing the Reformed elements, while in the western part the two sects finaily blended by slow amalgamation, In several other German states a similar union was effected, but the rest are either exclusively Luther an or Reformed for further union.