Women in Luther’s Life and Theology: Scholarship in Recent Years

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide a broad but comprehensive review of the current scholarship on Martin Luther and women. Luther’s thoughts and actions still play an important role as witnessed by the recent events commemorating the five-hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. However, after five-hundred years, it is surprising that there continues to be relatively little scholarship on Luther’s ideas about women, especially from a feminist perspective. Luther wrote much about women and related topics such as marriage, sexuality, and the family which can be found throughout nearly every type of his works. For example, Luther not only wrote extensively about women throughout his theological works, but also wrote personal correspondence to women. Yet, Luther’s theological attitudes towards women and his encounters with women need to be explored further. This review is significant because it highlights the major scholarly works that address Luther and women. This review not only provides a helpful framework for the readers of this Special Issue of Religions, but it also emphasizes the necessity for future scholarship to continue to explore Martin Luther’s complex relationship with women in his life and theology.

Keywords

• martin luther
• women
• theology
• history
• socio-historical method
• literature review