State and church originalists

We can no more put our faith blindly in Luther's theology than 21st century adults would voluntarily place themselves in the hands of a 16th century surgeon.

- Thomas Kaufmann in 'Luther's Jews: A journey into Anti-Semitism.

A great sentiment, which surely must apply across a wide spectrum of reality.

And that idea of giving a 'literal understanding' to things of the past is being spoken of in the US these days: 'oriaginalism' purports to be able to discern what the framers of the US constitution really meant in the 18th century and be able to apply this meaning quite literally today.

Ways of thinking that cause great division and rancour in State and church.