System of Christian Ethics

At a time when Immanuel Kant’s deontology was at the center of much ethical discourse in Europe, Harless argued for a uniquely Christian ethic that draws upon Christ’s person and work, along with the central Reformation doctrine of justification by faith. This book, perhaps Harless’s most influential, is the product of decades of reading and lecturing on the subject.

In ASystem of Christian Ethics, Harless discusses ethics from the perspectives of both nature and grace. He explores humanity’s natural state, the benefits of salvation in Christ, and Christian virtue. This book includes both an exposition of individual character, and of a properly ordered society.

Gottlied Christoph Adolf von Harless (1806-1879) was one of the most influential Lutheran theologians in nineteenth century Germany. Though a disciple of Hegel’s philosophy in his early years, Harless’ developed thought arose from a consistent reading of the Lutheran Confessions. He was a professor of New Testamen at the university of Erlangen, where he promoted a rigorous Lutheran confessionalism in contradistinction to the liberalizing tendencies of the nineteenth century. Alone with his friend Wilhelm Lohe, Harless attempted to bring the state church back to its confessional roots, being influential in bringing a confessionally consistent Lutheran hymn-book to the state church.