The Salvation Controversy

Jimmy (aka. James) Akin's strongest quality, in addition to his knowledge and high intellectual capacity, is his ability to write clearly and succinctly. As a former Protestant, he understands both the Protestant (especially Calvinist) viewpoints quite well, and articulates them in juxtaposition with the Catholic notion (especially as expounded by Thomas Aquinas). Although he does not diminish the differences, he explains that many points of contention are misunderstandings often resulting from the failure to define terms properly. Akin clarifies these terms and returns to the most debated Bible verses. He then defends the Catholic position using Scripture, history, logic, and common sense. He also explains how some common sense notions such as "middle salvation" (eg: one man's preaching leads to another's salvation) and "temporal atonement" (eg: returning what was stolen) have been left out of the Protestant vocabulary. The result is that instances in Scripture that refer to these types of salvation are often mistaken for eternal salvation, thus creating more confusion. Other topics he writes about are penance, indulgences, TULIP, boasting, and ecumenism. My only disappointment is that he only briefly touched on the belief of "eternal security" or "once saved always saved." I would have liked to have seen a whole chapter dedicated to that. Nevertheless, I believe the book still deserves 5 stars.

How much different are Catholic and Protestant views on the doctrines concerning salvation? As Mr. Akin clearly points out well, it really depends on how we define the terms. Perhaps the greatest roadblock between the two has been the misunderstandings about the meanings that each side places in the words they speak with regard to these doctrines. Mr. Akin describes where we are alike, no easy task since many Protestants seem to differ with one another as much as they do with Catholics, and where we are not alike. The first and overarching distinction is the distinction between temporal and eternal salvation and how that understanding can affect what we believe is taught in particular scriptures. Without that understanding that distinction, we are left to assumptions leading to all sorts of misunderstandings about other salvation-related topics. Mr. Akin then gently guides us into the difficult subject of indulgences and shows us the scriptural and logical basis for indulgences. Contrary to popular belief, the reformers were not opposed to indulgences - they were opposed to the abuse associated with indulgences at the time. A proper understanding of indulgences (on the part of both Catholic and Protestant believers) will go a long way to heal that misunderstanding. One chapter I found most helpful was his description of the Calvinist acronym, TULIP. Many Protestants and Catholics alike have misunderstood or misrepresented these "doctrines of grace" as they are often called by Calvinists. Mr. Akin seems to have a very clear and concise understanding of these doctrines. And, it is refreshing that he did not choose to throw it out in entirety but instead chose to compare it with the rich study of Thomas Aquinas' works touching on these doctrines. In the end, he does not offer a replacement for TULIP but instead only a refined form of "Thomist" TULIP. All of this is done in a gracious manner without attempts to belittle or humiliate Calvinists. If you are a Calvinist trying to decipher what the Catholic church really believes on these doctrines, you will want this book for this chapter alone. Many Catholics will find this chapter helpful as well. As Mr. Akin assets in the beginning of the chapter that since scripture uses the word predestination, all Christians must have a doctrine of what predestination is. As a former Calvinist, I found this chapter to be the best and most concise I have seen on this topic and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Following the brief foray into Calvinist Protestantism, Mr. Akin takes us back to the more general topics of faith, good works, and boasting. This is, perhaps, the most difficult topic for most Protestants and Catholics to understand one another. Nowhere do they seem to suffer the symptoms of dueling-definitions worse than on these topics. Mr. Akin does a good job of making the Catholic views quite understandable and clear to the point where one wonders how an

If you want a thorough exercise in the issue of salvation here it is! I've not read a better explanation and analysis of this very central to Christianity topic. Mr. Aiken challenges-forces-the reader to think. If you can refute his analysis, you thoroughly know your material. This kind of book is a great advanced text for small group study.

This book jumped right into the topic at the get-go; when you read it, you're gonna hit the ground running. Yet, if you don't know much about the topics of salvation, justification, santification, redemption, and many related topics to salvation, the book won't be 'over your head', so to speak. Akin's most powerful tool, other than the intense Bible studies he's done to write this book and his command of logic, is his ability to make analogies that make the topic easier to understand. His many analogies are always on-time, too, as in he always brought one up at about the time I thought he'd lost me. And even with these methods for making it simple, it's still useful for advanced readers. He dives deep into salvation; first pointing out the controversy that comes from all the points of view, discussing all of them and their relation to the Bible (without being confrontational), their relation to each other, their relation to other facets of salvation, and, of course, making a strong case for the Catholic perspective. Overall, this book is well worth reading. And, even though it can be read by anybody, it is hard to absorb after just reading once. There is much information in here, but, given the book's readability, it's not torture to read it more than once.

This is perhaps the most clear and most charitable explanation of the Catholic view on Salvation. It is easy enough for the layman, and even the veteran Catholic scholar will walk away with some new insight into the Church. Akin does a great job of highlighting the key distinctions between Catholics and Protesants, especially Calvinists (he was a Catholic convert from Calvinism), yet does not resort to religious indiffrentism as so many other scholars do today.Although I might disagree with his views on Paul and the Law, just about everything else is a great explanation of the Catholic faith. Highly recommended!