Justification: A Guide for the Perplexed

This volume provides an upper-level introduction to the doctrine of justification—the doctrine so central to the Apostle Paul in the first century, Augustine in the fourth century, the Reformers in the sixteenth century, and which continues to be of utmost importance in the contemporary church. The core of the book is a historical survey of the doctrine of justification as it has developed within the Western church. The focus is on a number of principal theologians with reference also made to their peers and followers. After the historical theological survey, Spence offers a clear examination of the Pauline texts on justification. The conclusion considers what part the doctrine of justification can have within a modern worldview in which the concept of divine judgment has generally been marginalized.