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Those who can accredit themselves, or who have letters of accreditation, can command legitimation. In this sense legitimation means justification before others or institutions by appeal to an authority that is recognized on both sides (Law and Legal Theory). In a narrower sense the term denotes the justification of a social order, especially of a legal type. In the modern period this focus has given rise to the problem that classic ideals of legitimation have lost their obvious cogency. As long …

Enmity is a basic experience of individual and collective life. Confronting this basic experience is the extreme form that Jesus gives to the command of love of neighbor when, in the Sermon on the Mount, he includes in it love of one’s enemies. Theology, however, has typically devoted very little discussion to the concept and problem of the enemy. 1. Concept An enemy is one who hates and pursues us. A sense of threat always goes hand in hand with the term. As seen most clearly in Greek tragedy, however, the experience of enmity is a necessary stage in hum…

[English Version] Tödt, Heinz Eduard (4.5.1918 Bordelum, Nordfriesland – 25.5.1991 Hannover), studierte nach Arbeitsdienst, Kriegsdienst und Kriegsgefangenschaft seit 1951 Theol. und wurde 1957 über den »Menschensohn in der synopt. Überlieferung« promoviert. Nach Mitarbeit im Ev. Studienwerk Villigst und in der Forschungsstätte der Ev. Studiengemeinschaft (FEST) übernahm er 1964 den neu geschaffenen Heidelberger Lehrstuhl für Sozialethik. Er verband die krit. Analyse der Gegenwart mit einem theol. V…

[German Version] (May 4, 1918, Bordelum, North Frisia – May 25, 1991, Hanover). Following labor service, military service, and a period as a prisoner of war, Tödt began to study theology in 1951; in 1957 he received his doctorate for a thesis on the Son of Man in the Synoptic tradition. After working for the Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst and the Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research, in 1964 he was appointed to the newly created chair of social ethics at Heidelberg. He combined …

[German Version] Through Luther, the freedom of a Christian became a key concept of the Reformation. For him, freedom was not a natural human capacity, but a gift bestowed upon the human being in the process of justification: “a Christian is the most free lord of all, and subject to none” ( Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen, 1520, II, 265, 6f.). This gift leads to love, for the sake of which freedom may even be surrendered of one's own free will: “a Christian is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to everyone” ( op. cit. 265, 8f.). The freedom of a Christian is without preco…

[German Version] I. Terminology and Concept The term social ethics ( Sozialethik) was first used in German Protestant theology in 1868 by A. v. Oettingen; in the following year, the English theologian F.D. Maurice spoke of “social morality.” Since then the term social ethics has also become accepted in the English-speaking world. It was Oettingen’s intent to treat theological ethics in its entirety as social ethics. As the mirror image to his approach, there have been repeated attempts to understand theological ethics totally as individ…

1. In Philosophy 1.1. Definition and Terminology “Conscience” (from Lat. conscientia; see also Lat. synderesis and Gk. syneidēsis) means (1) the faculty of human personality that decides the moral worth of actions, and (2) the making of such a judgment by comparing specific actions to general norms. According to whether these norms are set by the self or by others, conscience is autonomous or authoritarian. According to the verdict, we have a good conscience or a bad conscience. 1.2. Conscience in the History of Philosophy Plato (427–347 b.c.) and Aristotle (384–322 b.c.) di…

1. Legal Aspects From the standpoint of modern constitutional states, the problem of church and state is part of the broader problem of organized religion and the state. For historical reasons, the issue is normally discussed as that of “church and state.” The problem arises only where, at least conceptually, a distinction may be made between political government and the religious order and thus between political and religious organization. The Christian church first made possible a “duality of ord…

1. Sociological Aspects 1.1. Term Viewed from the perspective of its etymology (Lat. posse, potestas), power involves ability, possibility, and capacity. It is the potency inhering in all doing or making (Action Theory) and relates to motive and the use of means. Action is inconceivable without means, that is, the command of resources and potential. This statement applies equally to the natural, physical, cultural, symbolic, individual, and social aspects of action. In all these areas there is a tendency to …

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff und juristisch Eine allg. akzeptierte Definition des R. existiert nicht. Einigkeit besteht allenfalls darüber, daß das R. im Kern die staatl. institutionalisierte Ordnung menschlicher Beziehungen ist, wobei die Einhaltung der aus ihr fließenden (generellen) Regeln – Befolgung oder aber Sanktionierung von Verstößen – durch legitime physische Gewalt (Staat), jedenfalls aber durch einen durch Zuständigkeits- und Verfahrensnormen organisierten Sanktionsapparat garantiert i…

[German Version] I. Concept and Legal Definition – II. History of Religion – III. Ancient Near East and Old Testament – IV. Greco-Roman Antiquity – V. New Testament – VI. Dogmatics – VII. Ethics of Law – VIII. Sociology of Law I. Concept and Legal Definition There is no generally accepted definition of law. At most, there is a consensus that law is basically to be understood as the politically institutionalized order of human relations. The observance of the (general) rules (i.e. compliance or sanctioning of transgressions) emanatin…