Superintendent is the head of an administrative division of a Protestant church, largely historical but still in use in Germany. It replaced the title of bishop in Northern Germany and Scandinavia after the Protestant Reformation, since bishop was associated with Roman Catholicism. Later, the title was adopted to describe clerical positions in the hierarchy of Methodist churches.
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Sweden
Superintendents were created in Sweden after the Protestant Reformation. The office was similar to that of bishop, but instead of being ordained by the archbishop, the superintendent was appointed by the Crown. This new model of ecclesiastical polity was partly political, as the Roman Catholic bishops before the Reformation held considerable political power and often used it against the king. Superintendents' loyalty was supposed to lie with the head of the new Church of Sweden, the monarch. Some Lutheran theologians also considered the term less Catholic and therefore preferable to 'bishop'.
In Sweden proper, the following dioceses have been governed by a superintendent:
The diocese of Lund was equally administered by superintendents from 1537 to 1637, but was at that time part of Denmark.
Norway
Baltic States
The Church of Sweden's organisation in the Baltic provinces were created by similar provisions. Livonia came under a superintendent in 1622 and a superintendent-general from 1678. Superintendents were also appointed to Ingria in 1641 and to Saaremaa in 1650; a superintendent was also appointed to Estonia for a shorter period, probably 1622-1638, as well as to Riga and Reval.
German states
In 1652 the general government of Swedish Bremen-Verden introduced a Consistory, led by a General Superintendent, for this German territory of Imperial immediacy.
In 1535 the Estates of the Land of Hadeln introduced a consistory, led by a General Superintendent.
The Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover used to maintain several consistories until 1922, each led by a General Superintendent.
In the Electorate of Brandenburg the title General Superintendent was used until 1632. In the years since 1817 during the constitutional reforms of the Evangelical Church in Prussia, including the then March of Brandenburg provincial subsection, the title General Superintendent was reintroduced in 1828, with each general superintendency (German: Generalsuperintendentur) supervising a number of deaneries. The title superintendent referred to the head of a deanery.
In the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, a successor church body of the former, the term Superintendent refers to the head of a deanery (German: Kirchenkreis). The term General Superintendent refers to the each head of one of the three regions (German: Sprengel), each comprising several deaneries.
Methodist usage
The term "Superintendent" is used for several varying positions in Methodism worldwide. In the American sense, specifically within the United Methodist Church, the title is used not to refer to a minister who is equivalent to a bishop but to the supervisor of a district, which is a regional subdivision below an episocopal area (equivalent to a diocese). According to the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church,
In the British Methodist Church and its offshoots, a Superintendent is a minister who serves in a supervisory position over a Methodist Circuit (a small group of churches to which ministers are appointed).
The term Superintendent evolved in Britain before the death of Methodist founder John Wesley and was a description of the responsibilities of some of his Assistants (a role which later evolved into what is now known as ordained presbyteral ministry).