Beerwolf

[2] In the context of resistance theory, the Beerwolf, "in contrast to a mere tyrant, not only broke the law, but overturned the entire moral order upon which it is based.

[3] The point was that Luther thought the Emperor and the Pope were just such apocalyptic tyrants, and that the present situation justified all efforts to resist them.

Despite this Luther continued to resist armed religious conflict against the Emperor and Pope, the Schmalkaldic War beginning a year after his death.

The concept of Beerwolf marked Luther's final, and most extreme, position on resistance theory, as it relied on natural law (specifically, in a similar manner to what would later be called Hobbes' right to self-preservation) instead of earlier and more limited rights to resistance that Luther had accepted as flowing from German constitutional law.

[5] The concept of just rebellion that the term Beerwolf introduced was subsequently developed by fellow Protestants who faced a similar situation in France, the Huguenot Monarchomachs.