Foreword by Samuel Wells ix Stations on the Way to Freedom xv PART ONE 1 I THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE DECAY OF THE WORLD 3 The World of Conflicts 3 Shame 5 Shame and Conscience 8 The World of Recovered Unity 10 The Pharisee 10 Proving 18 Doing 22 Love 26 II THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD 31 The Total and Exclusive Claim of Christ 32 Christ and Good People 34 III ETHICS AS FORMATION 38 The Theoretical Ethicist and Reality 38 Ecce Homo! 42 The Despiser of Men 43 The Successful Man 46 The Idolization of Death 48 Conformation 49 The Concrete Place 53 inheritance and decay 56 guilt, justification and renewal 71 The Confession of Guilt 71 Justification and the Healing of the Wound 76 IV THE LAST THINGS AND THE THINGS BEFORE THE LAST 79 Justification as the Last Word 79 The Penultimate 83 The Preparing of the Way 89 the natural 96 Natural Life 100 Suum cuique 102 The Right to Bodily Life 105 Suicide 112 Reproduction and Nascent Life 117 The Freedom of Bodily Life 125 The Natural Rights of the Life of the Mind 127 V CHRIST, REALITY AND GOOD 129 (Christ, the Church and the World) The Concept of Reality 129 Thinking in Terms of Two Spheres 134 The Four Mandates 143 VI HISTORY AND GOOD 148 Good and Life 148 the structure of responsible life 155 Deputyship 155 Correspondence with Reality 157 The World of Things – Pertinence – Statecraft 163 The Acceptance of Guilt 167 Conscience 168 Freedom 173 the place of responsibility 177 Vocation 177 VII THE ‘ETHICAL’ AND THE ‘CHRISTIAN’ AS A THEME 184 The Warrant for Ethical Discourse 184 The Commandment of God 194 the concrete commandment and the divine mandates 200 The Concept of the Mandate 202 The Commandment of God in the Church 205 PART TWO 213 I THE DOCTRINE OF THE PRIMUS USUS LEGIS ACCORDING TO THE LUTHERAN SYMBOLIC WRITINGS 215 1. The Concept and its Usefulness 215 2. The Theological Justification for the Doctrine 216 3. Interest in the Concept 217 4. Definition 217 5. Contents 218 6. Its Purpose 219 7. Means of Execution 220 8. The Proclaimer 221 9. The Hearer 221 10. The Primus Usus and the Gospel 221 11. Some Deductions and Questions 223 12. Critique of the Doctrine of Usus in the Lutheran Symbolic Writings 226 II ‘PERSONAL’ AND ‘REAL’ ETHOS 228 1. Personal or Real Ethos? 228 2. The New Testament 22 3. The Symbolic Writings 232 4. Some Criticisms of Dilschneider’s Thesis 232 5. Systematic Considerations Concerning the Assertions Which Christian Ethics May Make With Regard to Secular Institutions 233 III STATE AND CHURCH 237 1. The Concepts Involved 237 2. The Basis of Government 238 A. In the Nature of Man 238 B. In Sin 239 C. In Christ 240 3. The Divine Character of Government 242 A. In its Being 242 B. In its Task 243 C. In its Claim 245 4. Government and the Divine Institutions in the World 246 5. Government and Church 247 A. Government’s Claim on the Church 248 B. The Church’s Claim on Government 248 C. The Ecclesiastical Responsibility of Government 249 D. The Political Responsibility of the Church 250 E. Conclusions 251 6. The Church and the Form of the State 252 IV ON THE POSSIBILITY OF THE WORD OF THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD 254 V WHAT IS MEANT BY ‘TELLING THE TRUTH’? 261 INDEXES Names 271 Subjects 273 Biblical References 277 References to the Lutheran Symbolic Writings 281