Parents, Authorities, and Disobedience in Sixteenth-Century Lutheran Sermons

The Lutheran Reformation is often portrayed as being slavishly obedient to secular rulers. This article examines printed Lutheran postil sermons on the Fourth Commandment, which was the Lutheran justification for obedience to secular rulers, between the momentous years 1530 and 1580. Postil sermons...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lutheran quarterly
Main Author: Haemig, Mary Jane (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: The Johns Hopkins University Press [2019]
In: Lutheran quarterly
Year: 2019, Volume: 33, Issue: 4, Pages: 386-398
IxTheo Classification:CG Christianity and Politics
KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance
KDD Protestant Church
NCB Personal ethics
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:The Lutheran Reformation is often portrayed as being slavishly obedient to secular rulers. This article examines printed Lutheran postil sermons on the Fourth Commandment, which was the Lutheran justification for obedience to secular rulers, between the momentous years 1530 and 1580. Postil sermons were model sermons intended to guide pastors in their creation of sermons and were also often read outright both in Lutheran pulpits and during worship services in the home. This article shows that these sermons universally commanded a conditional obedience to rulers and many even demanded disobedience in certain situations. Furthermore, obedience to rulers was a secondary matter after obedience to parents. Rulers were parents' helpers, not vice versa.
ISSN:2470-5616
Contains:Enthalten in: Lutheran quarterly
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/lut.2019.0078