Embodying Confident Agency: Luther's “Three Estates” as a Resource for Virtue Theory
Martin Luther's social writings (volumes 44-47 in the American edition) provide a robust account of human agency that might help Lutheran social ethics address contemporary crises of confidence. When Luther addresses concrete moral issues, he enriches his two-kingdoms frame with a focus on part...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2017]
|
In: |
Dialog
Year: 2017, Volume: 56, Issue: 4, Pages: 428-440 |
IxTheo Classification: | CH Christianity and Society KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KDD Protestant Church NBE Anthropology NCC Social ethics |
Further subjects: | B
Virtue Theory
B Human Agency B Martin Luther B three estates B Moral Agency B Reformation ethics |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | Martin Luther's social writings (volumes 44-47 in the American edition) provide a robust account of human agency that might help Lutheran social ethics address contemporary crises of confidence. When Luther addresses concrete moral issues, he enriches his two-kingdoms frame with a focus on particular social roles such as ruler, merchant, soldier, parent, etc. This (often tacit) “three-estates” approach creates room for a distinctly Lutheran contribution to contemporary virtue theory by focusing on the functions served by particular social roles more than on individual self-chosen pathways of moral improvement. It also supports a prophetic affirmation of vocation against the contemporary breakdown of expectations and confidence in social roles. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1540-6385 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Dialog
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/dial.12362 |