Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Counsel And Conscience: Post-Reformation Lutheran Casuistry According To The Dedekenn-Gerhard Thesaurus Consiliorum Et Decisionum And Its Cases On Marriage And Divorce., Benjamin T. G. Mayes

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

In much literature on early modern casuistry and conscience, Lutheran casuistry is denied a place, under-researched, or ignored. Yet in Lutheran Germany of the post-Reformation era (ca. 1580–1750), there was a genre of pastoral/ethical writings consisting in casuistry and in topically or thematically related theological counsels, aimed at instructing and comforting the consciences of Christians. An extensive example from this genre is Georg Dedekenn and Johann Ernst Gerhard, eds., Thesaurus Consiliorum Et Decisionum, 4 vols. (Jena: Zacharias Hertel, 1671). Lutheran casuistry, related to but also distinct from Roman Catholic and Reformed counterparts, arose especially as pastors looked within Holy Scripture, …