Issue 130 (2016)

P. Kotliarov, PhD in History, Associate Professor

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2016.130.3.09

THE RIGHT OF THE ARMED RESISTANCE IN PHILIP MELANCHTON'S THEOLOGY AND HOME DIPLOMACY

In this article, we intent analyze the interpretation of the right to armed resistance in theology and domestic diplomacy of the one of the leaders of the Reformation – Рhilip Melanchthon (1497 – 1560). The question of the legality of armed protection of religious beliefs and military resistance to opponents, including the emperor, was one of the most painful in the reform movement. For Рhilip Melanchthon question of the right to armed resistance consisted of three issues: first, the use of weapons by legitimate authority to maintain the order within its territories; secondly, the right of subjects to revolt against the existing government; thirdly, the use of weapons by evangelical princes against their sovereign. If theological justification of rightness of the first case and inadmissibility of the second type ofresistance did not cause controversy, the third case became the point where Melanchthon's views differed from those of other reformers – of N. Amsdorf and J. Bugenhagen: Melanchthon was convinced that the protection of faith should be made only by means of diplomacy. Though it seems to be a kind of conservative postion its influence on the early modern diplomacy cannot be denied as it shaped the protestant diplomacy for several decades ahead.

Keywords: P. Melanchthon, Reformation, resistance, diplomacy, theology.