"Applying a distinctively Lutheran understanding of vocation to the conflicts between the papacy and the churches of the Augsburg Confession, and between the emperor and the German princes, the Magdeburg Confession identified four levels of injustice and the appropriate remedies for each. What is forbidden, what is permissible, what is prudent, and what is obligatory for a person suffering the tyranny of pope or emperor must partly depend upon that person's stations across the three estates of family, church, and civil society." (pp. 12-13)
In this work, Rev. Dr. Christian Preus offers an exceptional translation of The Magdeburg Confession, a 1550 treatise on civil disobedience from Nikolaus von Amsdorf and other Lutheran pastors. The reader will discover a nuanced, Christian approach to resisting the government when faithfulness to true religion is jeopardized--an invaluable lesson for any Christian who interacts with the political sphere today. While more cursory translations have been done previously, Preus offers the most accurate and faithful translation to date.
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