The Luther Decade on Reformation and Politics: Luthera??s Situational Pastoral Advice in the Treatise on Temporal Authority and Its Impact on the Pastoral Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ) in a Context of Political Violence

摘要

Luthera??s mission in the treatise on temporal authority (TA) was to give advice to his Christian princes on good governance. This treatise can be used as a guide on church and state relations. This article is motivated by the 2014 theme of the Luther Decade: a??The Reformation and Politics,a?? which offers opportunities for the study of the impact of the reformation on the politics of the then German in particular, Europe and the world in general. In this article, I retrieve and reread Martin Luthera??s treatise on TA, which is the basis of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwea??s (ELCZ) understanding of the role of the church in politics.