Published 2017-12-01
“…It is argued that the Protestant principle established in the European consciousness is not so much in the theological theory of justification (sola Gratia, sola Fide, sola Scriptura) as in the philosophical and political affirmation of free personal will, where the determining event was the statement by Luther at the
Diet of Worms. But the very profound character of freedom and the destiny of infinite interpretation given to it by Luther are also at the origin of the uneasy consciousness and existence from which the malaise that led to the rise of totalitarianism.In support of the stated thesis, the article is structured according to four main lines: 1) Discussion on the fundamentally anti-humanist character of Protestantism; 2) discussion about the remarkable humanistic effects historically produced by the Protestant Reform; 3) discussion about the possible relationship between the ground prepared by the German society Reform and the rise of the national socialist ideology; 4) final considerations on the dialectic of human freedom.…”
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