SOURCE: "The Principles of Lutheranism," in The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, Vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1978, pp. 3–19.

Here, Skinner describes how Luther's theological tenets ultimately required individual obedience to secular authority.

To begin the story of the Lutheran Reformation at the traditional starting-point is to begin in the middle. Luther's famous act of nailing up the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg on the Eve of All Saints in 1517 (which may not even have happened)¹ merely marks the culmination of a long spiritual journey on which he had been travelling at least since his appointment over six years before to the chair of Theology in the University of Wittenberg. One of the main achievements of Lutheran scholarship in the past generation has been to trace the course of Luther's intellectual development during this formative time. The basis for this reinterpretation has been provided...