Interesting argument from _The Unintended Reformation_ by Brad S. Gregory: ---------------> Promoted from its traditional subordination to _caritas_ among the three theological virtues, faith was redefined by Lutheran and Reformed Protestant theologians as the all-or-nothing cornerstone of Christian life, the result of no human, merit, goodness, effort, or cooperation with God. ... Accordingly, and consistently with their coordinated concerns to secure political control as they promoted the Gospel, conscientious Protestant rulers oversaw ethical regimes that were dominated not by habituation in Christian virtues but by the following of moral rules. These rules were based on Gods biblically revealed laws, above all the Ten Commandments. ... The most important social virtue among early modern Lutherans and Reformed Protestants, at every social level from disciplined individuals through patriarchal households to well-ordered regimes as a whole was therefore not _caritas_ but obedience -- newly important given the sobering truth about human nature and the reality of a divided Christendom.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 21:13:13 +0000
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