Lutheran Theology and Secular Law ― The Work of the Modern State

This collection brings together lawyers and theologians in the U.S. and Europe to reflect on Lutheran understandings of the political use of the law by secular governments. The book furthers the intellectual conversation about how Lutheran insights can be used to develop jurisprudence and specific solutions to legal issues in which there is strong conflict. It presents the basic theological and interpretive assumptions of the Lutheran tradition as they may inform the creation of legislation and judicial interpretation at local, national and international levels. The authors explore Luther’s conception of the foundations of modern secular law and understanding of vocation. The work discusses the application of Lutheran theological principles to contemporary issues such as the war on terror, native land rights, property law, family law, church and state, medical experimentation, and the criminal law of rape, providing ethical insights for lawyers and lawmakers.

Marie A. Failinger is a Professor of Law at Mitchell Hamline University School of Law. She was editor in chief of the Journal of Law and Religion from 1988 to 2013, and has published dozens of law review and other articles, including several on Lutheran theology and law. She is also a co-editor of Feminism, Law and Religion (2013), On Secular Governance (2016); and The Poverty Law Canon (2016).

Dr. Ronald W. Duty served Assistant Director of Studies at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Among his published works are chapters in Testing the Spirits (Eerdmans, ed. Patrick Keifert 2009) and On Secular Governance (Eerdmans, eds. Ronald W. Duty and Marie A. Failinger, 2016) and articles in The Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, dialog, The Journal of Lutheran Ethics, and Word & World.