Ubi Deus Dixit
Where God Has Spoken: The Lutheran Doctrine of Two Kingdoms
- Theology
- Publisher: Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
The Lutheran Doctrine of Two Kingdoms commends a promising political theology. The doctrine challenged the extremes of religion/government fusion and absolute separation then, as it can with the crises of both Christian nationalism and ideological secularism now. But major changes in philosophy's understanding of natural law and human sovereignty left the doctrine little in the temporal realm to which the values of the spiritual realm could relate, a relationship necessary for the doctrine's viability. This severance was punctuated by the Nazi fusion of church and state. Another, though unrecognized, crisis was that Christian theology itself lost its eschatological mind, which had framed the doctrine. Now philosophy and theology have rediscovered eschatology and apocalyptic. When so read, the Doctrine of Two Kingdoms holds great promise for faith and politics, freed from the flatly chronological eschatology that holds popular culture in thrall today. In this early volume of a new series of postmodern reclamations of doctrine in the Lutheran tradition, Duane Larson offers a theological vision for our politics informed by philosophy and law that enlarges our understanding of St. Paul's counsel to "obey the governing authorities."
Endorsements (4)
“Not every theologian is conversant in multiple disciplines. But Duane Larson explores science, law, scripture, philosophy, and even economics to reclaim a right understanding of the well-known but often misunderstood Doctrine of Two Kingdoms.”
“Duane Larson’s rehabilitation of Luther’s insight on the Two Kingdoms is timely, subtle, useful, and sprightly. Eschewing (all-too-common) extremes of theocratic ambition and political passivity, Larson shows us how political theology belongs in the murky middle. Agamben, Žižek, and other unlikely interlocutors with Martin Luther stimulate insight and upend bromides. Its nuanced readings of Scripture, engagement with natural law, and attention to secular realities make this book a must-read for anyone interested in the urgent question of the Christian’s political existence today.”
“Rev. Dr. Larson speaks powerfully to the urgencies the Christian religion faces in the current fractious times. Drawing from the wisdom found in philosophy, honest consideration of the Lutheran experiences vis-à-vis power and church, and with deep appreciation of the Lutheran eschatological imagination, Larson unfolds the promise of Luther’s doctrine of the two kingdoms as a hopeful apocalyptic vision with roots in the proclamation of the Apostle Paul. This engagingly-written work with original theological analysis and arguments both educates and empowers its readers.”
“Lutheran political theology must retrieve and reinterpret the foundational insights of Luther’s Two Kingdoms. Duane Larson brilliantly overcomes misunderstandings in a constructive project that restores to its central place the living word of God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ contends with the principalities and powers under a theology of the cross, on the right, and reimagined divine sovereignty under natural law, on the left. A tour de force!”
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