How is conscience defined?
There is a vast amount of literature on this topic but we may take as our starting point Martin Luther’s most comprehensive definition: “For conscience is not the power to do works, but to judge them. The proper work of conscience (as Paul says in Romans 2 [:15]), is to accuse or excuse, to make guilty or guiltless, uncertain or certain. Its purpose is not to do, but to pass judgment on what has been done and what should be done…” (Judgment on Monastic Vows [Luther’s Works, 44: 298 ).
