Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation

Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002) (Chinese translation by Ruihua Zhong, 2011; German translation by Dagmar Kelle, 2012; Italian translation by Andrea Pin, 2013)
Description

The Lutheran Reformation of the early sixteenth century brought about immense and far-reaching change in the structures of church and state, and in 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. John Witte, Jr. argues that it is not enough to understand the Reformation in either only theological or legal terms but that a perspective is required which takes proper account of both.

  • The first comprehensive analysis in English of the interaction of legal and theological ideas, institutions, and methods born of the Lutheran Reformation
  • Includes a comprehensive bibliography of primary and secondary literature, a good deal of which is unknown in the English-speaking world
  • Foreword by Martin E. Marty, the dean of church historians in North America
Table of Contents

  • ​Forward by Martin E. Marty, University of Chicago
  • Introduction
  1. Canon law and civil law on the eve of the Reformation
  2. Loving thine enemy's law: the evangelical conversion of Catholic canon law
  3. A mighty fortress: Luther and the two-kingdoms framework
  4. Perhaps jurists are good Christians after all: Lutheran theories of law, politics, and society
  5. From gospel to law: the Lutheran reformation laws
  6. The mother of all earthly laws: the reformation of marriage law
  7. The civic seminary: the reformation of education law
  • ​Concluding Reflections
Reviews

"[A] superb study..." 
-- Paul R. Hinlicky, Roanoke College, Sixteenth Century Journal

A Review of Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation by John Witte, Jr.
-- Mary Sommar, Journal of Lutheran Ethics

A Review of Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation
-- Mary D. Gaebler, Journal of Lutheran Ethics

A Review of Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation
-- Paul R. Hinlicky, Journal of Lutheran Ethics
​
Author Roundtable: Perspectives on Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation by John Witte, Jr.
-- Various, Journal of Lutheran Ethics
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Chinese Translation 2011
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German Translation 2012
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Italian Translation 2013