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A Study of Luther’s Two Kingdoms and the Modern State

Choi Hyung Mook 1

1한신대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Luther’s two kingdoms have been re-examined in a contemporary context of reinterpreting the relationship between the church and the nation and are subject to continued research. Although the study of Luther’s two kingdoms is actively conducted in the Korean theological community, its political-social implications are not sufficiently illuminated. This article focuses on the political and social implications of the two kingdoms in European society at the time of Luther. The attention to the political and social context of Luther is meaningful as an opportunity to break the medieval order characterized by the domination of the state by the Church. Luther’s two kingdoms have certain implications in relation to the emergence of a kingship state seeking to escape the dominance of the Catholic Church as a manifestation of the split of the medieval order, and are deeply related to a series of flows that later lead to the development of a sovereign state in European political societies. By paying attention to the significance of the two Luther‘s two kingdoms in a particular historical aspect of Europe, it is possible to avoid both extremes of the unilateral rejection or follow-up of the two kingdoms. Thus, this study will find important clues in seeking appropriate attitudes to the relationship between church and state and to the state power and its method of governance in the theological-ethical dimension.

Citation status

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