The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation

Albrecht Ritschl — The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation: The Positive Development of the Doctrine, English translation edited by H. R. Mackintosh and A. B. Macaulay (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1900).

The third and constructive volume of Ritschl’s Die christliche Lehre von der Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung (1870–1874), translated from the third German edition (1888). After an introduction on the place of the doctrine in theology and on the theory of knowledge it assumes, Ritschl defines justification as the forgiveness of sins by which God admits sinners into fellowship with Himself; sets out its relation to the Christian community and the Kingdom of God; treats in turn the doctrines of God, of sin, and of Christ’s person and life-work; argues for the necessity of forgiveness and for basing it on the work and suffering of Christ; and closes with the religious functions — faith in providence, humility, patience, prayer — that spring from reconciliation, and with the moral life of the Christian in his calling.

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Contents (12)

1. Editors’ Preface
2. Author’s Prefaces
3. Introduction
4. Chapter I. The Definition of Justification
5. Chapter II. The General Relations of Justification
6. Chapter III. The Subjective Side of Justification Considered in Detail
7. Chapter IV. The Doctrine of God
8. Chapter V. The Doctrine of Sin
9. Chapter VI. The Doctrine of Christ’s Person and Life-Work
10. Chapter VII. The Necessity of Forgiveness or Justification in General
11. Chapter VIII. The Necessity of Basing the Forgiveness of Sins on the Work and Suffering of Christ
12. Chapter IX. The Religious Functions Which Spring from Reconciliation with God, and the Religious Complexion of Moral Action