Historically, the premise of justification by grace through faith has been debated according to Protestant and Catholic understandings. It has, therefore, been limited to the question of whether justi
Historically, the premise of justification by grace through faith has been debated according to Protestant and Catholic understandings. It has, therefore, been limited to the question of whether justification is the reception of forgiveness by faith along or the personal transformation that occurs as we cooperate with grace. Though some recent ecumenical discussions have sought to link to the two, the results have been largely imprecise.
Here Frank D. Macchia seeks not so much to link Protestant and Catholic views as to set them both within a larger framework ? the Spirit of Life as the realm of God?s favor. The resulting pneumatological theology of justification by faith is broadly Trinitarian, ecclesiological, and eschatological in orientation.
?It is a necessary and new perspective to see the justification of the sinner embraced by the life-giving Spirit. Frank Macchia?s book is a great step forward toward a full Trinitarian concept of salvation. . . . A rich book full of solutions to old theological problems.?
? Jürgen Moltmann
University of Tübingen
?Argues persuasively that Christian teaching about the Spirit (pneumatology) has much to offer to a correct understanding of justification. . . . We have here a book of singular consequence.?
? William G. Rusch
Yale Divinity School
?A noted systematician and ecumenist, Macchia gleans from his own Pentecostal tradition in his intriguing revisioning and reorientation of the major soteriological concept of justification by faith.?
? Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen
Fuller Theological Seminary
University of Helsinki
?With Macchia?s Justified in the Spirit Pentecostal systematic theology has come of age. . . . Catholics and Protestants will no longer be able to attribute a secondary role to the Spirit, while Pentecostals will discover the hidden treasures that their movement signifies.?
? Ralph Del Colle
Marquette University
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