Rights of love and the dynamics of social benevolence: interpreting Martin Luther’s thoughts on social rights

Abstract

A constructive interpretation of Martin Luther’s teaching on social rights reveals that human rights are not the institutions or instruments of evil that some Christian viewpoints take them to be. On the contrary, natural rights are gifts of God, inscribed on humankind’s heart in the kingdom of creation for serving God and one’s neighbour through love. Human rights are fundamentally rights of love, to be maintained for the glory of God. In the social sphere both private and public social rights are of fundamental importance in steering humanity towards attaining peace and justice in society