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Title: Iustitia Dei : A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification by Alister E. McGrath ISBN: 0-521-62481-9 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 29 October, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $32.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Fine Historical Theology
Comment: This is a fine piece of historical theology. McGrath begins with a linguistic analysis of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin terms for justification, the concepts to which they refer, and the attendant difficulties of translation. He then discusses the patristic understanding of justification, which while largely undeveloped (they were intensely focused on Christology at the time) established the parameters of discussion for the medievals. As McGrath insightfully points out in his final chapter of vol. 1, justification was universally recognized as an ontological transformation; the debates were over the mode of justification and were primarily dominated by Pelagianism vs. Augustinianism. On the surface, the latter seemed to have won hands down, but the reformers detected a creeping Pelagianism in the via moderna commonly called nominalism. Volume 1 sets the stage for the second volume, which covers the doctrine of justification from 1500 - the present. By and far, the most important chapter in the first volume is Section 12 - Predestination and Justification.
Vol. 2 begins with Luther's little Wittenburg revolution that took flight on anti-Pelagian wings and eventually built its nest in the tree of forensic solafideism. Next, McGrath examines the Reformed adoption of forensic justification and its integration with the covenant concept, all of which influenced the English Reformers and their Puritan countrymen. After a short chapter on John Henry Newman, the focus shifts to the German Enlightenment of Kant and Schleiermacher. The final two sections deal with Barth and with the contemporary development of the doctrine. I found both chapters insufficient. McGrath nowhere deals with Hans Kung's analysis of Barth, choosing instead to dismiss Barth as basically unconcerned with justification.
Overall, I was disappointed with the general lack of coherence in the work. It had no grand unifying theme, and seemed to leave the impression that the historic development of the doctrine was random and irrational.
Two warnings: first, your Latin had better be good before you attempt Vol. 1 and your German before vol.2; second, McGrath can sometimes be a real stylistic pain. I have rarely, if ever, encountered such an unbridled, prodigious and promiscuous use of the passive voice.
Rating: 4
Summary: Comphrensive presentation on the doctrine of justification
Comment: Combined from two volumes of the first edition, this second edition not only give you a comprehensive and continuous historical development of the Christian doctrine of justification, McGrath adds two more articles on his responses to "New Perspective on Paul" in recent Pauline scholarship and the recent agreement of Catholic church and Lutheran church on the understanding of "Justification" in this second edition. If you are interested in understanding more the rich meaning and implication of this crucial doctrine to Christian life both from the side of Catholics and Protestants, this book definitely meet your needs. It helps me a lot in making sound judgment on the issue whether there's really no fundamental difference between Karl Barth and the council of Trent (in general between Protestant tradition and Catholic Church) on the teaching of Christian doctrine of justification by faith, as Hans Kung had calimed that over thirty years ago.
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Title: The Doctrine of Justification by James Buchanan ISBN: 0851514405 Publisher: Banner of Truth Pub. Date: October, 1991 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: The Cross and Salvation: Foundations of Evangelical Theology: The Doctrine of Salvation by Bruce A. Demarest ISBN: 0891079378 Publisher: Crossway Books Pub. Date: May, 1997 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Salvation of Souls: Nine Previously Unpublished Sermons on the Call of Ministry and the Gospel by Jonathan Edwards by Jonathan Edwards, Richard A. Bailey, Gregory A. Wills ISBN: 1581344511 Publisher: Crossway Books Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Justification: The Article by Which the Church Stands or Falls by Carl E. Braaten ISBN: 0800624033 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: January, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.50 |
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Title: Three Treatises by Martin Luther ISBN: 0800616391 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: November, 1990 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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