I Confessionalization & Institutionalization

Confessionalization & Institutionalization (ca. 1530s-ca. 1730s) analyzes the influence of Melanchthon and other theologians during the secular take-over of all legal powers, related also to church matters. In a short-term perspective, the Reformation led to the re-introduction of religious laws (Mosaic Law and aspects of Canon Law), but in the long-term perspective we see the emergence of a more general secularization of the understanding of law through particular interpretations of the Lutheran concept of ‘the two regiments’ and its associate concepts.