Law and Protestantism

John Witte, Jr. is the Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Ethics, Director of the Law and Religion Program, and Director of the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion at Emory University, Atlanta. A specialist in legal history and religious liberty, he has published 100 professional articles, and 12 books, including Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective, 2 vols. (1996); From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition (1997); Proselytism and Orthodoxy in Russia (1999) and Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment (2000). Professor Witte's writings have appeared in German, French, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, and Romanian translations. He has lectured throughout North America, Western Europe, Israel, and South Africa.

'This book breaks new ground … succeeds in mastering the daunting task of tracing the link between law and theology in the Lutheran Reformation … The task is accomplished with solid scholarship, presented in an engaging literary style.' Theology Today

• Foreword Martin E. Marty; Introduction; 1. Canon law and civil law on the eve of the Reformation; 2. Loving thine enemy's law: the evangelical conversion of Catholic canon law; 3. A mighty fortress: Luther and the two-kingdoms framework; 4. Perhaps jurists are good Christians after all: Lutheran theories of law, politics, and society; 5. From gospel to law: the Lutheran reformation laws; 6. The mother of all earthly laws: the reformation of marriage law; 7. The civic seminary: the reformation of education law; Concluding reflections.