44 Lutheran Midwives and the Doctrine of Vocation

The Journal of Lutheran Ethics Vol. 4, no.2, February 2004, has a fascinating article on Lutheran midwives in the 16th century, and their specific responsibilities which included praying for the women and children in their charge, providing services regardless of ability to pay, emergency baptism, hearing confession if the mother were on her deathbed, and absolution.

"The case of midwives in early Lutheran Germany thus illustrates the spread of Lutheran theology from the pulpit into the laws and institutions of early modern society, preserving early Protestant claims about lay prerogatives even in the midst of the institutional forms of the later sixteenth century. To the debated question of the effect of the Reformation on women for good or ill, the study of Lutheran preaching and law about midwives encourages a positive answer. In the face of countervailing trends in early modern educated society and gender relations, the doctrine of vocation was used by Lutheran pastors and councilmen to defend and define midwives' work as a praiseworthy Christian calling of service to the neighbor."