Witte on "We Must Obey God Rather Than Men": Lutheran Resistance Against Pope and Emperor In the Reformation Era @EmoryLaw

John Witte, Emory University School of Law, has published “We Must Obey God Rather Than Men”: Lutheran Resistance Against Pope and Emperor in the Reformation Era in Uncivil Disobedience: Theological Perspectives 75-92 (David Gides, ed., Minneapolis: Lexington Books, 2023). Here is the abstract.

The Bible commands people of faith both to “obey God rather than men” and to “honor the authorities” who serve as vice-regents of God. The perennial question facing jurists and theologians over the centuries is how to balance these two biblical commands when human authorities defy God’s law, violated God’s people’s rights, and/or become tyrants. This chapter first rehearses Martin Luther’s original teachings after 1517 on resisting the spiritual tyranny of the papacy and the church’s canon law. It then works through the arguments of the 1550 Magdeburg Confession on resisting the spiritual tyranny of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.