This article explores how sin and trust as fundamental notions of Luther’s relational anthropology determine his understanding of social relations unfolding in the hierarchies of the earthly realm. Against scholastic works righteousness, Luther maintains that humans are absolute sinners incapable of justifying themselves through good works and receive faith as a gift of unconditional trust in God. This reformulation of the human relation to God has profound consequences for Luther’s understanding of interpersonal relations. Luther understands the justifying relation to God as a precondition for fruitful and trusting social relations in a world infused by sin. Moreover, Luther patterns his understanding of the hierarchic relations between subjects and their earthly authorities on the trusting relation between God and human beings. However, because of sin individuals need to subject themselves to superiors. In this way, Luther’s understanding of the human being as both righteous and sinful seems to be the reason behind the apparent paradox of hierarchy and equality permeating his conception of society.

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Scandinavians place more trust in each other, public authorities, and state institutions than anyone else in the world. In recent years, the high levels of social and institutional trust among Scandinavians have attracted great international awareness since trust-based communities have high degrees of social coherence, stronger economies and happier citizens. Scholars have shown how trust and mutual obligation are central elements in the formation of

In recent years, the high level of trust among Scandinavians in general and Danes in particular has attracted considerable international interest. The article unearths the rooting of Danish trust culture in Lutheran soil arguing for the influence of Lutheran theology and social teaching on Danish society from the Reformation onwards as a key to understanding its historical background. It identifies central social imaginaries of trust in Luther's work and trace their impact on eighteenth‐ and nineteenth‐century Danish Lutheran confessional culture by analyzing texts written by the influential theologians Erik Pontoppidan (1698–1764) and Niels Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783–1872).

This article offers a theological analysis of Martin Luther's complex view on women and their role in society, focusing on his exposition of the narratives of creation and fall in the Lectures on Genesis. Luther's understanding of women is defined by an ostensible paradox. On the one hand, Luther claims that all women are equal to men in relation to God and hold the power to rule over the earth, which they execute as leaders of the household. On the other hand, Luther passes on a traditional view of women being of a weaker nature and argues that wives have to subordinate to their husbands. I interpret this understanding of women as an outcome of Luther's theological anthropology based on his doctrine of justification. Men and women are equal as priests and kings in relation to God and authorized to manage their relationship with him, to teach and pray for others, and to disobey authority that interferes with this faith relation. As sinners, though, they must submit to authority to suppress sin. Both men and women exercise authority through their gender-specific callings in the earthly hierarchies, which constitute God's created order. However, women have to subordinate to their husbands in order to suppress sin. The article discusses whether this complex view on women promoted patriarchal social structures or whether the freedom and equality of the spiritual realm over time filtered through to the role of women in society, paving the way for their liberation.

Litteratur laeser, der søger overblikket, kunne have ønsket sig en efterstillet bibliografi til hver introducerende tekst, der oplistede de 5-10 vigtigste vaerker inden for området-isaer da, når nu vaerket ledsages af to bind, det ene på knap 1000 sider, det andet 650, som grundigt kommenterer kildegrundlaget, de tekstkritiske varianter og receptionen af de enkelte tekster i Konkordievaerket. Disse to bind er uundvaerlige for den, der arbejder med aspekter af ikke blot den begyndende lutherske ortodoksis kirkehistorie, men også for den, der beskaeftiger sig med dogmeudviklingens historie. For den, der ikke har disse interesser, kan tekstbindet for en lavere pris købes separat. Realkommenteringen af de enkelte tekster i Konkordievaerket udgør en guldgrube af oplysninger, som denne anmelder ikke ville have vaeret foruden. Kommenteringen er inddelt i tre: tekstkritik, receptionshistorie og indholdskritik. Her er henvisninger til tekstvarianter, bibelsteder, årstal, personer, vaesentlige intertekstuelle referencer, kanonisk ret, kirkelig praksis osv. Alt sammen opdateret til den nuvaerende forskningssituation. Det er centralt for det videnskabelige arbejde med teksten og beviser en nyudgivelse af Konkordievaerkets nødvendighed. Det verserende reformationsjubilaeum afstedkommer et vaeld af udgivelser i ind-og udland. Mange af dem braendes på erindringens alter. Die Bekenntnisschriften der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche bør det ikke gå sådan.

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