Reformation - Staat - Religion

The relationship between state and religion is a key theme in state and constitutional theory. Peter Unruh analyses the fundamental distinction that was made between the divine and the secular by the Reformation's most important protagonists (Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli and Calvin), whilst also scrutinising the further development of this two-kingdoms doctrine following the peace settlements of 1555 and 1648 up until the end of state church rule in 1918. Furthermore, the author examines the significance of the distinction for constitutional religious law within basic law as well as current state and constitutional theory. Alongside the intellectual history and historical-constitutional reconstruction comes the insight that the Reformation's distinction between the divine and the secular is of prevailing and lasting importance for defining the relationship between state and religion.