ABSTRACT
In the wake of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, when Western Christendom split into rival confessions, mixed marriage raised in the most intimate, concrete terms the question how people of different faiths could live together harmoniously. Every mixed marriage presented the competing confessions with both opportunities and perils. One of the earliest Dutch Reformed synods, held in Dordrecht in 1574, advised consistories to handle cases 'according to the circumstances of the matter, either with a confession of guilt before the consistory or publicly, or by keeping them from the Lord's Supper for a while. The possibility of losing them for Christ was the ultimate, and oldest, argument against marrying non-believers: 'For they will turn away thy sons from following the author, that they may serve other Gods'. While in theory every mixed marriage brought the potential for gain, in practice the churches came to regard mixed marriage more as a threat than an opportunity.
