Researching Romans: Trent, Calvin, and Contemporary Commentaries
Well, the intensive phase of my summer independent study is done, and — after taking a week off because my brain went on strike — I have managed to get myself organized for the research paper for final stage. Since what I’m really interested in is how Paul is perceived and preached differently in different Christian traditions, I decided to pick out a few key passages in Romans (since the Reformed and Lutheran traditions, at least, hold Romans up as the jewel of the gospel, and it is the primary scriptural foundation for the understanding of justification by faith alone) that looked likely to be interpreted differently by Catholics and Protestants.
I first thought I’d compare citations to Romans in the Council of Trent’s Decree on Justification and the article on justification from the Augsburg Confession, since they seem to be documents of similar confessional weight. But Trent is far more detailed in its citations than Augsburg. So, following a footnote in Michael Horton’s View on justification, I turned to the sections of Calvin’s Institutes that treat the subject. I also checked out the Catholic Catechism and my notes from the reading I’ve been doing.
So here are the passages I’d like to look at:
BLT 