Abstract

The antinomian question, which asks about the potential repercussions of sin when one is justified through faith apart from works, appears with considerable regularity in the history of Lutheranism. This book seeks to elucidate how Lutherans have responded to this question since the time of Martin Luther by discussing how they answered those who would use Christian liberty as an excuse for sin. Beginning with Luther and continuing with Philipp Melanchthon, Philipp Jakob Spener, Søren Kierkegaard, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the theological contributions of these figures are evaluated on the basis of their strength, originality, and orthodoxy in responding to the antinomian question.