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  • Lutheran Theology and the Shaping of Society: The Danish Monarchy as Example ed. by Bo Kristian Holm and Nina J. Koefoed
  • Jason Lavery
Lutheran Theology and the Shaping of Society: The Danish Monarchy as Example. Edited by Bo Kristian Holm and Nina J. Koefoed. Refo 500 Academic Studies 33. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2018. 365 pp.

For decades, scholars have discussed how social change helped precipitate the Lutheran Reformation. This collection of essays considers the opposite question: how did Lutheran teaching inform the development of society in the early modern period? The editors state, "At a concrete level, this book analyses the social dimensions of key Lutheran concepts and their translations into the doctrine of the three estates (church, household, and state). This is deepened by investigating the level of lived experiences of life within these three orders, especially within the household, which is so important in forming the ideal for both church and state" (23). To illuminate these experiences, the authors apply Charles Taylor's concept of social imaginary and Thomas Kaufmann's concept of confessional culture. Kaufmann himself contributes an article on the academic confessional culture in Germany.

This anthology's overall strength lies in how individual articles build upon one another. Theodor Dieter opens the work by considering the Ninety-Five Theses. Scrutinizing the economics of indulgences in the medieval church, Dieter outlines Luther's position that all believers held the church's riches. Lutheran rulers held this same position when taking the church's property. The late Vitor Westhelle [End Page 117] then examined the interaction of faith and love. For Westhelle, faith enacts love, which "can only move outwardly and be made visible there" (65). Similarly, Candace Kohli illuminates the dynamic between the inner person and that person's actions in the world in an examination of Luther's pneumatology. Many articles address tensions in Lutheran teaching. Hans-Martin Gutmann argues that Luther saw society as based on hierarchy, but functioning on intimacy in human relationships. Bo Kristian Holm delves into intimacies by examining how Lutheran thinkers used familial metaphors for conceiving the relationship between the believer and God. Luther cast the relationship in terms of a marriage in emphasizing the present relationship between the believer and Christ. Marriage raises the woman just as Christ raises the believer. Melanchthon understood the relationship as hierarchical, as between father and child. Melanchthon saw the relationship more in terms of the future in which the child will inherit from the father. Sasja Mathiasen Stopa investigates Luther's understanding of honor. Luther called on believers to honor God and earthly authorities while at the same time all believers are equal before God.

The remaining articles address the application of Lutheran teachings in Denmark. Mattias Skat Sommer and Svend Andersen focus on the sixteenth-century Danish reformer Niels Hemmingsen. From different perspectives and primary source bases, both authors demonstrate that reformers in Denmark and elsewhere in Scandinavia reinterpreted the writings of German Lutheran reformers for their own local conditions. Gorm Harste demonstrates how Luther's doctrine of three estates was used for the creation of absolute monarchy in Denmark in the 1660s. Rasmus Skovgaard Jakobsen outlines how the nobility became increasingly Lutheran by identifying with Luther's emphasis on the role of magistrates in society.

Many articles address the family. Laura Katrine Skinnebach examines the family as a locus for the growth of Lutheran devotional culture. Anges Arnósdóttir demonstrates, by looking at both Danish and Icelandic regulations, that the Lutheran Reformation, while it de-sacramentalized marriage, actually brought a new intensity to the importance of marriage. The sixteenth century witnessed [End Page 118] a plethora of laws and regulations addressing marriage, re-marriage, marital property, and the status of illegitimate children. Søren Feldtfos Thomsen discusses manuals on marriage and the household, designed for married couples. Nina Javette Koefeod examines questions of family law.

This book could serve several audiences. As a whole, it is of greatest use to scholars. The articles that more specifically address Denmark could be useful in undergraduate courses in religion or early modern Europe. The articles that focus on Luther could serve as a useful introduction to many basic aspects...

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