Luther's Revolution: The Political Dimensions of Martin Luther's Universal Priesthood

by Nathan Montover

Overview

Luther's universal priesthood is, in part, a political doctrine that constitutes a revolutionary strain in Luther's thinking--a strain that can only be described as radical. Luther's political understanding of the universal priesthood posed a challenge to the concrete structures of his day, which were built upon a cosmological foundation that came under attack as a result of the Protestant Reformation. Thus, Luther's universal priesthood was not simply another evangelical concept that dealt with the office of ministry. It also served as the means for reordering the concept of temporal authority and the temporal order. Understood in this way, the universal priesthood had a political dimension that must be acknowledged if it is to be fully understood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630877088
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	06/03/2011
Series:	Princeton Theological Monograph Series , #161
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Nathan Montover serves as Pastor at St. James Lutheran Church in Bettendorf, Iowa. He also teaches Religion at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and is an Adjunct Instructor of Reformation Studies at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 Historiographical Assumptions 7

2 Biographical Appraisals of the Political Dimensions of Luther's Universal Priesthood 15

3 A Consideration of Luther's Body of Work on the Topic of the Universal Priesthood 37

4 The Social and Political Context of Papal Claims of Temporal Authority 66

5 Luther's Response to Claims of Papal Authority in "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation" 102

6 Conclusions and Trajectories for Further Studies 138

Bibliography 151