Melanchthon und die Ethik

Philip Melanchthon made repeated attempts to develop a system of Christian ethics that could cope with the Reformation-induced upheavals in theology and the church. In order to trace this developmental process, it is necessary to analyse the extensive, but currently not completely tapped, source materials of biblical and classical commentaries as well as theological and systematic representations. Once Melanchthon had thoroughly clarified the relation between reason and revelation and come up with a scientific method, he developed Christian ethics in theological and philosophical perspectives. This moral teaching was based on a thematic parallel structure of theological and philosophical works combined with varying accentuation (coram Deo/coram mundo) through which Melanchthon attempted to differentiate both areas without separating one from the other.