Evangelische Freiheit als Erbe – heute

The understanding of freedom from a Protestant point of view is out¬lined in Luther’s writing “On the Freedom of a Christian Man” from 1520. The debate about the “post-secular” relationship between political freedoms and religious freedom, which was initiated by Jürgen Habermas, provides the context for the contemporary impact of Luther’s notion of freedom. The “royal freedom” of the Christian person is profiled within this discussion about the current meaning of political liberalism. Examples of the political-ethical debate in the present-day Germany are being discussed. The “priestly freedom” of the Christian person is being dealt with in the view of the recent establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany and its constitution. Lastly, the current importance of Luther’s theology of the communion becomes obvious by introducing the Holy Communion as the place for “priestly freedom”.