Have any of you read Iustitua Dei, Alister McGrath’s History of the Doctrine ofJustification, 4th Edition? If so, can you recommend?
I have read bits from the 3rd edition and it was a pretty serious underwhelment He seems to completely buy into the Roman Catholic claims that their understanding of justification has been the default view of the Church until the Reformation
Did any of the church fathers believe in the modern Protestant doctrine of justification? I don’t think many did, not even the EO or OO believe this. But I haven’t looked into it at all, so I hope I’m wrong. I think it has been hard for the churches to reconcile James and Paul on justification and that’s why you don’t see forensic imputation by faith alone until the reformation
I’m talking about the basic facts of justification… is it a one-time event or is it a process? The RC’s affirm that it’s a process and McGrath sides with them although in my research 70-80% of the fathers have asserted it is a one-time event
Interestingly enough many modern Lutherans say justification is an ongoing process. Like you were justified yesterday, you are justified today, and you continue to be justified. Which doesn’t mean you grow in justification like the RC teaches, just that you are justified every day as long as you have faith in Christ. The RCC teaches that initial justification is a one time event as well, they just have different names for different “types” of it. Of course what they currently teach as justification wasn’t taught during the reformation, like many post Vatican 2 teachings.
Continue to be justified is the same thing as once-justified The RC doctrine, by contrast, is that we grow in our justification, by the works we do
If you happen to have at your fingertips any specific citations of early church writings on this specific matter, I hope you'll share them. I'd like to make note of them for future reference (and future conversations with RC relatives).
i'm afraid it has been some time, but Clement of Rome is an early and notable example Here is a podcast with James White and Stephen Boyce on Clement with the direct analysis of his text in the original greek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5r8P4iujI
I have not read McGrath’s book specifically, but I think the ‘gold standard’ in this area of research remains E.P. Sanders’ Paul and Palestinian Judaism. I would read Sanders first, then Wright and McGrath.