Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation

John Witte

Cambridge University Press, May 16, 2002 - Religion - 337 pages

The Lutheran Reformation of the early sixteenth century brought about immense and far-reaching change in the structures of both church and state, and in both religious and secular ideas. This book investigates the relationship between the law and religious ideology in Luther's Germany, showing how they developed in response to the momentum of Lutheran teachings and influence. Profound changes in the areas of education, politics and marriage were to have long-lasting effects on the Protestant world, inscribed in the legal systems inherited from that period. John Witte, Jr. argues that it is not enough to understand the Reformation either in theological or in legal terms alone but that a perspective is required which takes proper account of both. His book should be essential reading for scholars and students of church history, legal history, Reformation history, and in adjacent areas such as theology, ethics, the law, and history of ideas.

Contents

• CANON LAW AND CIVIL LAW ON THE EVE OF THE REFORMATION: 33
• CANON LAW: 35
• CIVIL LAW: 42
• CANON LAW AND CIVIL LAW: 46
• CONCLUSIONS: 49
• LOVING THINE ENEMYS LAW THE EVANGELICAL CONVERSATION OF CATHOLIC CANON LAW: 53
• CRISIS AND CRITICISM: 65
• THE EVANGELICAL CONVERSION OF THE CANON LAW: 70
• SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: 83
• A MIGHTY FORTRESS LUTHER AND THE TWOKINGDOMS FRAMEWORK: 87
• A WILDERNESS OF CASUISTRY: 88
• THEORY OF BEING: 89
• THEORY OF THE PERSON: 94
• THEORY OF THE CHURCH: 97
• THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE: 99
• THEORY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: 101
• IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORIES OF LAW POLITICS AND SOCIETY: 105
• SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: 115
• PERHAPS JURISTS ARE GOOD CHRISTIANS AFTER ALL LUTHERAN THEORIES OF LAW POLITICS AND SOCIETY: 119
• THE LEGAL PHILOSOPHY OF PHILIP MELANCHTHON: 121
• JOHANNES EISERMANN ON LAW AND THE COMMON GOOD: 140
• JOHANN OLDENDORP ON LAW AND EQUITY: 154
• SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: 168
• FROM GOSPEL TO LAW THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION LAWS: 177
• THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION LAWS: 182
• THE MOTHER OF ALL EARTHLY LAWS THE REFORMATION OF MARRIAGE LAW: 199
• THE INHERITANCE: 202
• THE NEW EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY OF MARRIAGE: 214
• THE NEW CIVIL LAW OF MARRIAGE: 232
• SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: 252
• THE CIVIC SEMINARY THE REFORMATION OF EDUCATION LAW: 257
• THE INHERITANCE: 259
• THE NEW LUTHERAN THEOLOGY OF EDUCATION: 262
• THE NEW CIVIL LAW OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: 277
• SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: 290
• CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS: 293
• THE LEGAL LEGACY OF THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION: 295
• THE THEOLOGICAL LEGACY OF THE LUTHERAN REFORMATION: 298
• BIBLIOGRAPHY: 304
• INDEX: 331

About the author

John Witte, Jr. is the Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Ethics, Director of the Law and Religion Program, and Director of the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion at Emory University, Atlanta. A specialist in legal history and religious liberty, he has published 100 professional articles, and 12 books, including Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective, 2 vols. (1996); From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition (1997); Proselytism and Orthodoxy in Russia (1999) and Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment (2000). Professor Witte's writings have appeared in German, French, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, and Romanian translations. He has lectured throughout North America, Western Europe, Israel, and South Africa.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation
• Author: John Witte
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0521012996, 9780521012997
• Length: 337 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Christian Theology / General; Religion / Theology