Iustitia Dei

Very few books have been written on the history of the Christian doctrine of Justification. Most of them were written by protestant apologists in order to defend the Reformation innovations and these ignored the actual history of how this doctrine was actually understood in historical context. Dr. McGrath's book was the first truly scholarly work that tried to tell the truth about this history with no apologetic bias. When I was stationed in England I met with him in is office at Oxford University and had him sign my first edition copies of that 2 volume work. We had a wonderful chat over a couple of hours about the book and other works he recommended.Since then he has written second and third editions with minor tinkering.Now Alister has published a fourth edition and it is significantly revised taking into account the scholarship in the ensuing 30 years and giving the most comprehensive and well documented study of its kind EVER. I cannot praise this book any higher.As a Catholic, it has always been a sore point that the real theology of the Greek Fathers, the patristic period, and the Scholastics has been maligned and misrepresented by protestant so-called scholars as if Luther, Calvin, and their scions had "rediscovered" a lost understanding of how Christians are found right with God which these pundits alleged was present in St. Paul's works and the faith of the apostolic church. Furthermore, it has been alleged that the Medieval Church had descended into Pelagianism and/or Semi-Pelagianism. Dr. McGrath puts these false claims to rest once and for all. From the very beginning, in the New Testament and the subsequent teachings in the Fathers and from the teaching Church in Councils and doctrinal pronouncements, there is no hint of a purely external "forensic declaration" of righteousness in the Christian faith, but a recognition that the grace of God transforms us IN FACT into righteous persons before God.Anyone wanting to know the truth of what the Early Church taught and how the "reformers" and their scions have misrepresented the true meaning of the Gospel needs to read this book. It contains a lot of historical detail and technical theological language, but is nonetheless accessible to the interested lay reader.Reading this book along with N. T. Wright's 'Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision' will demonstrate what the real teaching of St. Paul was on this matter that was so central to the protestant apostasy of the 16th Century. From this point forward , we can finally open up an honest dialog on the issues that divide us.

McGrath is obviously a learned scholar, but his work here is quite deficient. For one, he gives the history of the first and second century interpretation of Paul's doctrine while completely ignoring and failing to mention 1 Clement, which explicitly understands Paul as discussing "good works" and human achievement/merit in general, and not just issues of Judaism. Perhaps here he has been influenced by Matthew Thomas, whose work he cites; unfortunately, Thomas explicitly and intentionally ignored every 2nd century reference to Paul's doctrine that did not occur in context of a discussion of Judaism. Alas, we can only hope that those interested in this discussion will do the research for themselves rather than rely on secondary sources like McGrath and Thomas. It is also frustrating when men like McGrath say that "Judaism" was never understood to teach righteousness by human achievement. While it is true that Judaism never taught that, nevertheless, the OT is replete with instances of God having to rebuke the Jews themselves for thinking that: "do not say in your heart, 'it is because of our righteousness that God has done these things for us", etc (Deut. 9:4). Yes - Paul was indeed intentionally and explicitly rebuking such ideas when he says "to the one who works wages are not a gift but what one has earned." Rom. 4:4-5. In all, I wouldnt advise anyone read McGrath unless they have already read the sources for themselves. And as the headline of this review says - this isnt coming from a Protestant. If this suprises you, read St. Augustine's "Spirit and Letter," or Fr. Joseph Fitzmyer's commentary on Romans. The faith v. works antithesis has always been recognized and affirmed by our greatest scholars and saints.