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Justification: Five Views

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 20 ratings · 8 reviews

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 5:1). When Paul wrote these words he seemed confident he had made himself clear. But for centuries the Pauline doctrine of justification has been a classic point of interpretation and debate in Christian exegesis and theology. And while in recent decades there have...more

Paperback, 319 pages

Published October 18th 2011 by IVP Academic

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Four Views on the Book of Revelation by C. Marvin Pate

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Aug 23, 2012 Brian Collins rated it 4 of 5 stars

This multi-view book on justification begins with two historical essays followed by two Reformed views, a New Perspective view, a deification view, and a Roman Catholic view. The opening historical essays by Beilby and Eddy do a competent job of providing the historical background and outlining the terms of the debate. In a multiple views book, this introductory material is helpful, especially for those who are using the book as an introduction to this issue.

The essays by Michael Horton, James...more This multi-view book on justification begins with two historical essays followed by two Reformed views, a New Perspective view, a deification view, and a Roman Catholic view. The opening historical essays by Beilby and Eddy do a competent job of providing the historical background and outlining the terms of the debate. In a multiple views book, this introductory material is helpful, especially for those who are using the book as an introduction to this issue.

The essays by Michael Horton, James Dunn, and Oliver Rafferty make this book a worthy read. Rafferty provides a very helpful historical sketch of the doctrine of justification from Augustine through Trent. Though his scope is more limited than the opening historical essay, I found it to be more insightful. A reader would do well to read Rafferty first, though he appears in the final essay in the book. I found his co-author for the Roman Catholic view less satisfying. He gave his own personal journey of understanding justification. His essay would have been stronger if he had dealt biblically with the work of recent Catholic scholars such as Joseph Fitzmeyer and theologically with various ecumenical initiatives that the Roman church has undertaken with the Lutherans and evangelicals regarding justification.

James Dunn is one of the founding and leading proponents of the New Perspective and was therefore a good choice for presenting that view. Furthermore, N. T. Wright seems to get more interaction in the evangelical world, so including Dunn brings in another voice for that perspective.

It is hard to imagine a better representative for the "traditional reformed view" than Michael Horton. He is exegetically, historically, and theologically competent on this issue. His Covenant and Salvation had already provided perhaps the best theological response to the New Perspective yet published, and many of those insights reappeared here (e.g., the similarity of Sanders's covenantal nomism to the views that Luther and Calvin were combating, the importance of distinguishing between the types of OT covenants, etc.). Horton was also well prepared to respond to Kärkkäinen's deification view, having also addressed that issue at length in Covenant and Salvation.

Kärkkäinen seemed too motivated by ecumenical issues for me to be truly convinced that his (Finnish school) revisionist reading of Luther even approximated Luther's actual beliefs. His ecumenical quest also seemed to be something of a fool's errand. He may have gained something in reaching out the Russian Orthodox, but Rafferty was clear in his response that the deification proposal was not acceptable to Roman Catholics. Nor is Kärkkäinen going to convince the Lutheran orthodox. He may have redrawn the lines regarding who finds his beliefs acceptable, but I'm not convinced any real ecumenical progress was made.

Michael Bird's essay and responses were similarly unsatisfying. I did not find a clear statement of his position such as could be found in both Horton's and Dunn's essays. Furthermore, he seemed to be proclaiming the possibility of rapprochement while the principals of the debate clearly disagreed with one another. Horton, for instance, remained unconvinced that Dunn's position was in fact compatible with Reformation theology despite Dunn's recent insistence that the New Perspective stands not in opposition to the Reformation doctrine but as an addition and reorientation. For his part, Dunn seemed positively angry (I believe he used the term "miffed") in his response to Horton. In any event, in reading the positions and responses, I came away convinced of the real differences between the positions.

One last thought. Many of the contributors argued that Paul's soteriology cannot be reduced to the one metaphor of justification. I'm not convinced that justification is merely one metaphor among many—a metaphor that may be emphasized or de-emphasized as the theological situation demands it. Rather, I think justification is a reality that must be reckoned with as theologians seek to understand God's work of salvation.(less)

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Jan 06, 2012 Jeremy Bouma rated it 5 of 5 stars

Several weekends ago I received from IVP to review the much anticipated and recently talked aboutJustification: Five Views. This is a highly significant book and comes at a highly significant point in Christian theological discourse. For the past decade a conversation has been raging, one that actually had begun several decades beforehand—or several centuries in some ways (i.e. Reformation!). It has to do with the question "How do we become right with God," which is also about the doctrine of ju...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Chuck Bonadies rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is very good introduction to the modern debates on justification. Five authors present five different views:

* Traditional Reformed - Michael Horton
* Progressive Reformed - Michael Bird
* New Perspective - James Dunn
* Deification - Veli-Matti Karkkainen
* Roman Catholic - Gerald O' Collins and Oliver P. Rafferty

Without giving too much detail, here are my thoughts.

* Eddy and Beilby's (editors) introduction, "Justification in Historical Perspective," is worth the price of the book. This on...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Ben De Bono rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: theology

Although I found this book quite fascinating, I have to admit I'm also a bit embarrassed by its existence. In a line that resonates deeply with me, Karl Barth writes in Church Dogmatics that every schism in the Church is a scandal. If that's the case then it would appear that this book, along with the others in the "Five Views" series, offers a multiplicity of scandals.

There's a sense where Christians ought to be deeply ashamed that a book like this exists. I wonder, is there any verse more com...more Although I found this book quite fascinating, I have to admit I'm also a bit embarrassed by its existence. In a line that resonates deeply with me, Karl Barth writes in Church Dogmatics that every schism in the Church is a scandal. If that's the case then it would appear that this book, along with the others in the "Five Views" series, offers a multiplicity of scandals.

There's a sense where Christians ought to be deeply ashamed that a book like this exists. I wonder, is there any verse more completely ignored by the modern Church than 1 Corinthians 1:10?

Despite the cringe-worthy nature of this volume, I actually found much of this book to be encouraging in terms of ecumenical dialogue. The divided state of the Church may be shameful, but perhaps a somewhat embarrassing book like this can help us move toward the unity we're intended to have.

Of the five views represented here, four of them are actually relatively close to one another. The writers advocating the Progressive Reformed, New Perspective, Deification and Roman Catholic positions all seem to be talking about a similar concept of justification, albeit from very different angles and with plenty of distinctives, significant and minor, that prevent complete unity. The Traditional Reformed view, advocated here by Michael Horton but indicative of the perspective John Piper has taken in his dialogue with N.T. Wright, remains the most divided, due in large part to its inability to see law and Gospel as anything but antithetical.

Of the other positions, I knew the least about deification and as such found that essay the most interesting. It's author, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, takes a great deal from the Eastern Orthodox position and attempts to show the possibility of agreement between East and West on this pivotal issue. He brings an obvious passion for ecumenism into his writings. Because of that I found his essay perhaps the most encouraging. Unfortunately, it's also the most theologically problematic. In his desire to encourage ecumenism, he's too quick to provide easy answers to areas that require greater thought and ends his essay by seeming to suggest that the ecumenical vision should extend not only to uniting the Church but also toward uniting Christianity with other religions, a definite problem from a perspective of orthodoxy.

Overall, I found this volume encouraging and fairly helpful. If you're new to theology, this probably isn't the best place to start as it would like be more confusing than helpful. If you're familiar with theological writing, there will be a lot of ideas here that you've likely already encountered. Despite that, the interactions between the different authors make this one a worthwhile read. (less)

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Jan 28, 2013 Douglas Beaumont rated it 4 of 5 stars

Multi-view debate books have become a major publication genre, and, as many have noted, it is high time that one was released on the doctrine of justification. That such a publication is sorely needed today is indicated by at least two factors: the subject's importance, and the assortment of disagreements it generates. As to the former, John Calvin said that justification by faith was so important that "wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abo...more Multi-view debate books have become a major publication genre, and, as many have noted, it is high time that one was released on the doctrine of justification. That such a publication is sorely needed today is indicated by at least two factors: the subject's importance, and the assortment of disagreements it generates. As to the former, John Calvin said that justification by faith was so important that "wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abolished, the Church destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown," and many would agree today. Concerning the latter, while it may not surprise many readers that various views of justification exist (especially between Roman Catholics and protestants), the width of the range of disagreements and options may come as a shock (especially when one considers that four out of the five views expressed in this book are Protestant).

Overall, Justification: Five Views is not only a very welcome addition to the multi-view book genre, but an excellent example for future publications of its type. The introductory chapters are very helpful, little space is wasted in the position and response chapters, a loving spirit is exhibited by all writers, and helpful tools such as author, subject, and Scripture indices are included as well. Should another publisher deign to publish something similar a few suggestions might be helpful. First, the spectrum of views might be better represented by other positions. For example, a more traditional Lutheran view might be best to include (no Lutheran writers are included in this volume). The mediating view between the traditional Reformed and New Perspective views may not be as helpful as a third, more popular and representative view, as these two fairly represent the spectrum. Further, while including the deification view was very welcome, expressing it as a minority view of a single Lutheran school was probably not as strong as simply seeking representation from a traditional Eastern Orthodox scholar. Second, a stronger voice for Roman Catholicism would be appreciated. As interesting as a (second) history of interpretation by Rafferty, and the biographical details of O'Collins theological journey were, a more straightforward presentation of, and arguments for, current Catholic thinking on justification would better match the tenor of the book.

Full review here: http://souldevice.wordpress.com/2013/...(less)

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Sep 25, 2012 Andrew Canavan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: seminary, fall-2012

Thanks to some strong chapters (Traditional Reformed, Progressive Reformed, New Perspective), this book is a good overview of the major positions on justification within Protestantism today. Horton, Bird, and Dunn do an excellent job of arguing for their views exegetically and of actually interacting with one another in substantive ways.

The weakest chapters are those by the Roman Catholic and the Deification (Eastern Orthodox) proponents. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen argues that some interpretations of...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Daniel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gained an appreciation for the progressive reformed view through this book. All of the scholars are pretty friendly toward each other, but I could sense a consensus developing against the traditional reformed view.

Some of it is not very engaging or readable. It is interesting to contrast certain writing styles.

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May 04, 2012 Norm rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-own

With five distinct views on justification plus with each contributor commenting on the other four views this will be challenging but interesting read. I am finding the historical development of justification valuable as it shows the systemic changes in how justification was viewed from the first century through to today.

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