• Karlfried Froehlich deposited Reflections on the Beginnings of Ecclesiastical Law on Humanities Commons 1 year, 4 months ago

    The problem signaled by the title is introduced by the description of the controversy over the organization of the Early Church between Adolf von Harnack and Rudolf Sohm in the early 20th century—organic development vs. regrettable deviation of a free-wheeling spiritual community to a legally constituted societal entity. If the nature of Law can be described as a dynamic movement from formulation through promulgation and testing to the final step of enforcement, one must conclude that ecclesiastical law as “law” is deficient because it is lacking the final element of earthly enforcement. It is eschatological law which remains dependent on God’s final action.