"Fire is Hot, and Women Give Birth": Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon on Women, Gender, and Sex

This dissertation investigates the relationships Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) had with women and the way that these relationships influenced their theology; it also provides a historical comparison of their respective theological anthropologies with respect to gender. The comparison between Luther and Melanchthon exploits the differences in their respective temperaments, backgrounds, and interests. This dissertation considers the whole Luther, from the beginning to the end of his career, and the whole Melanchthon. It argues that both Luther and Melanchthon espoused views about women and gender that are riddled with ambiguity and paradox. It offers various explanations for this tension, including the Bible itself, their pluralistic medieval inheritance, and the distinctiveness of Lutheran theology. Furthermore, it argues that their respective theologies cannot be divorced from their construction of gender ideology. In particular, the concepts of theologia crucis and libertas christiana often led them to break from tradition, or to side with one strand of tradition over another.