Law and Religion: The Legal Teachings of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations

Wim Decock collects contributions by internationally renowned experts in law, history and religion on the impact of the Reformations on law, jurisprudence and moral theology. The overall impression conveyed by the essays is that on the level of substantive doctrine (the legal teachings) there seems to be more continuity between Protestant and Catholic, or, for that matter, between medieval and early modern jurisprudence and theology than usually expected. As it is illustrated with regards to topics ranging from just war doctrine over business ethics to marriage law, at the very least there appears to have been an on-going conversation between jurists and theologians across the confessional divide. This does not prevent some contributions from highlighting that on the institutional level, for instance in university politics, radical tensions between Reformers and Counter-Reformers played a paramount role. This book also offers approaches to the relationship between Church(es) and State(s) in the early modern period and to the practical as well as doctrinal use of natural law in both Protestant and Catholic lands.

Jordan J. Ballor, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, and serves as Executive Editor. Wim Decock is LOEWE Research Group Leader at the MPI for European Legal History and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, KU Leuven. Michael Germann is Professor of Public Law, State and Church Law, and Ecclesiastical Law at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Laurent L.J.M. Waelkens is Full Professor of Roman law and Legal History at the Law Faculty of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven).