This volume presents in English the official Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, confirmed by the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church in Augsburg, Germany, in October 1999. The result of decades of Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue, this primary document represents an ecumenical event of historical significance. Included in the volume are the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and the Official Common Statement with its Annex. These texts are recommended for careful study in seminaries and parishes and for reading by individual Christians. It is hoped that the Joint Declaration will deepen understanding of the biblical message of justification and also serve to further reflection within the wider ecumenical movement.

Catholics and Lutherans signed the Joint Declaration on Justification in 1999. This ecumenical agreement claims to resolve all church-dividing differences on justification without requiring doctrinal revision, a claim that Engrafted into Christ challenges with a twofold thesis. First, the historic disagreement over justification was substantial; thus, doctrinal revision is a sine qua non condition of rapprochement. Second, portions of the Declaration appear irreconcilable with Catholicism. A concluding series of original reflections illustrates the intelligibility of Catholic teaching, identifies a self-destructive element in «sola fide», and challenges structural elements of Lutheran theology. Experts as well as educated laypersons will be interested in this book.

"Investigates the biblical foundations of the doctrine of justification, an official document of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Foundation, and represents a new level of ecumenical relations since it expresses the official position of the churches involved"--Publisher's website.

"The document ... is a declaration of the consensus achieved by Lutherans and Catholics on the topics of church, ministry, and eucharist as the result of ecumenical dialogue between the two communions since 1965. It is a consensus 'on the way, ' because dialogue has not yet resolved all the church-dividing differences on these topics."--Preface.

Many factors contributed to the Protestant Reformation, but one of the most significant was the debate over the doctrine of justification by faith alone. In fact, Martin Luther argued that justification is the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. This comprehensive volume of 26 essays from a host of scholars explores the doctrine of justification from the lenses of history, the Bible, theology, and pastoral practice—revealing the enduring significance of this pillar of Protestant theology.

When lobbyist Faith Lockhart stumbles upon a corruption scheme at the highest levels of government, she becomes a dangerous witness who the most powerful men in the world will go to any lengths to silence in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller. In a secluded house not far from Washington, D.C., the FBI is interviewing one of the most important witnesses it has ever had: a young woman named Faith Lockhart. For Faith has done too much, knows too much, and will tell too much. Feared by some of the most powerful men in the world, Faith has been targeted to die. But when a private investigator walks into the middle of the assassination attempt, the shooting suddenly goes wrong, and an FBI agent is killed. Now Faith Lockhart must flee for her life--with her story, her deadly secret, and an unknown man she's forced to trust...

In this significant book Mark C. Mattes critically evaluates the role of justification in the theologies of five leading Protestant thinkers -- Eberhard Jungel, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Jurgen Moltmann, Robert W. Jenson, and Oswald Bayer -- pointing out their respective strengths and weaknesses and showing how each matches up with Luther's own views. Offering both an excellent review of recent trends in Christian theology and a powerful analysis of these trends, Mattes points readers to the various ways in which the doctrine of justification has been applied today. Despite the greatness of their thought, Jungel, Pannenberg, and Moltmann each accommodate the doctrine of justification to goals aligned with secular modernity. Both Jenson and Bayer, on the other hand, construe the doctrine of justification in a nonaccommodating way, thus challenging the secularity of the modern academy. In the end, Mattes argues that Bayer's position is to be preferred as closest to Luther's own, and he shows why it offers the greatest potential for confronting current attempts at self-justification before God.

In this addition to the successful Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS) series, Scott Hahn, a bestselling author and a leading Catholic interpreter of Scripture, examines Romans from within the living tradition of the Church for pastoral ministers, lay readers, and students alike. The CCSS relates Scripture to Christian life today, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry. Supported by leading Catholic scholars as well as popular Bible teachers, the series offers a unique level of commentary for Catholic students of the Bible. Its attractive packaging and accessible writing style make it a series to own--and to read! Drawn from the best of contemporary scholarship, series volumes are keyed to the liturgical year and include an index of pastoral subjects.

In this assessment of the recent Catholic-Protestant dialogue concerning the doctrine of justification, Anthony Lane begins by discussing traditional Protestant doctrine with close reference to Calvin, and traditional Catholic doctrine with close reference to the Council of Trent. He goes on to examine eight key documents, from Hans Kung's Justification (1957) to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999). Fifteen key theological issues are then explored. These include the status of theological language used by Catholics and Evangelicals, the definition of justification, the grounds on which a person is accounted righteous, the question of sin remaining in the Christian, whether faith alone can save, the relationship between law and gospel, the question of merit and reward, the assurance of salvation and finally, a discussion on the Roman Magisterium and current Evangelical responses to recent changes in Catholic theology. In conclusion, Anthony Lane discusses the extent to which any agreement or convergence of thinking has been achieved, and its future significance.

This book uses the insights of cognitive linguistics to argue for the possibility of differentiated consensus between separated churches. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, signed by the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church in 1999, represents the high water mark of the twentieth-century ecumenical movement. It declares that the sixteenth-century condemnations related to justification do not condemn the teachings of the partner church. Some critics reject the agreement, arguing that a consensus that is differentiated is not actually a consensus. In this book, Jakob Karl Rinderknecht shows that mapping the "cognitive blends" that structure meaning can reveal underlying agreement within apparent theological contradictions. He traces Lutheran and Catholic positions on sin in the baptized, especially the Lutheran simul iustus et peccator and the Catholic insistence that concupiscence in the baptized is not sin. He demonstrates that the JDDJ reconciles these positions, and therefore that a truly differentiated consensus is possible.