Abstract

The author argues that Luther 's two-kingdoms doctrine rests upon a limited conception of law: "criminal" law, to use the terminology of British legal philosopher H. L. A. Hart. In contrast, "contract" law is the potent means through which networks of political, economic, and social relations have been built up since Luther 's day. Using the 1523 Leisnig experiment in social governance as an example, the author suggests that Lutheran ethicists need to pay more attention to "cooperative self- obligation " as the basic device through which social covenants are established and sustained. The essay concludes with four emphases that Lutheran ethicists might bring to such a rethinking of law as an ethical concept.