마틴 루터에 대한 윤리적 비판 재고찰: 농민전쟁을 중심으로

In the mid-1520’s the uprising of farmers happened mainly in the southern Germany. M. Luther expressed his position about the war of farmer. He ordered the feudal princes to their aggressive response against the situation of war that was destructive and revolutionary. As a result,one says up to this day that Luther was a conservative who rejected the new transition and disregarded the farmers as second-class citizen. But one doesn’t have to criticize Luther’s attitude about the war of farmer on account of his superficial and formal phenomenon. He had never been set up farmers as the target of reform, and his firm demand for the suppression against the destructive action of the farmers can be understood as ‘the right of resistance’ in the frame of theology of Luther. Therefore the purpose of this article is to plead the ethical critic about Luther who was raised cursorily in connection with the war of farmer, and to reveal his theological action that was based on the understanding of the right of resistance. Luther prohibited the resistance for the government on account of the theological reasons. For him the government is the order that God established. The world certainly needs the government. Monarch is a sovereign for the maintenance of law and order. Thus the disobedience against the government and the sovereign is the evil action against God. The violent accident and the war of farmers were the resistance against the order which God established. The government is a institution for the peace, and to keep the peace is a primary cause for the existence of the government. Therefore to criticize Luther on basis on the ethical dimension and the ideological social common notion should be modified. Because Luther’s action is theological action.