English 233: Introduction to Western Humanities --"Baroque and Enlightenment"

Glossary:

Justification in traditional Christianity

[Please see the note of acknowledgement.]

The Problem

• Since the Fall (the first sin of Adam and Eve), mankind has been naturally wicked (i.e., evil by birth, crippled by an inherent inclination to sin).

• Divine law demands that sin be punished.

Hence: how can a sinner ever be acceptable to God?

The Solution

• Divine law's demand that sin must be punished is totally satisfied by Jesus' self-sacrifice on the cross.

Admission to heaven is now possible.  [NB:  This does not mean it is accomplished. The question arises:  how does man avail himself of this possibility.]

Inherent inclination to sin -- "concupiscence  -- remains.

But this can be overcome because individual sins will be forgiven and cleansing grace dispensed through the sacraments.

The sacraments are divinely instituted rituals in which God (in the form of the Holy Spirit) enters into history in such a way as to transform a human being's condition. In medieval Christianity, there were 7 sacraments: baptism, confirmation, the mass (eucharist, or communion), penance, marriage, ordination, and extreme unction (or last rites).

• Of most central importance for justification were

  BAPTISM, by which the recipient becomes free from all sin, original or actual, spritually regenerate, and capable of receiving the other sacraments in due course.

It was baptism that assured parents that newborn children would not be sent to hell if they were to die before confirmation.

THE MASS, which commemorates and re-enacts the crucifixion.

In the mass, the bread and wine, while retaining their sensible properties as bread and wine (their "accidents"), were transformed in their underlying essential nature (their "substance") into the actual body and blood of Christ. (This interpretation of what happens in the mass is known as "the doctrine of transubstantiation.") This food is the antidote for the "poison" of the forbidden fruit taken in by the First Parents and passed on to their progeny. In the words of Cardinal Cajetan (1509), the mass "invokes the sufferings of Our Lord and applies them to fallen man, bought at great price from the clutches of Satan, for healing and redemption. By it, He nourishes us from his wounded breast."

PENANCE, which consists of repentance or contrition for sin, confession to a priest, satisfaction as imposed by the confessor, and absolution.

[Luther's Ninety-five Theses concern, among other things, what the Church should teach regarding issues connected with penance.]

Justification - the medieval dispute

The Problem

• Do people have to do anything to be justified? Can they prepare themselves, co-operate in the process, even initiate it?

• The two basic schools of thought that emerged in the 15th-century debate differed primarily over:

(a) the relationship between God's gifts of grace and human free will;

(b) the state of mankind after the Fall.

• It is essential to keep in mind that shades of opinion between these extremes were many and common.

The solution

Notes

[1] JUSTIFICATION, in the particular theological sense in which we are using the term here, is not to be confused with the idea of "defending an accused against an accusation that he has done something wrong." It means, in accordance with its literal etymology, "making a person just." Indeed, the assumption is that the person who thus gets justified is originally, and in his own right, sinful, i.e., in the condition of having offended God's justice. That is, justification in the present sense is something done for the unrighteous rather than for the righteous, who would not need it in the first place.   Return.

[2] This memo is heavily indebted to Martin D. W. Jones, The Counter Reformation: Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 10�11, 18�19. The first page-and-a-half is an elaboration of Jones' Table I on p. 11. The remainder (on the medieval dispute over justification) is taken nearly verbatim from Table II on p. 18.   Return.

[3] The term "ORIGINAL SIN" handily refers at once to these two distinct but connected features: the first sin in history (i.e., that of the First Parents), and the fact that (ever since) everyone comes into history (i.e., originates) in a sinful state.   Return.

[4] CONCUPISCENCE derives from Latin concupiscere, a special form of the verb concupere, meaning "to long for." (The English verb to covet comes from the same root, cupere.) It refers to ardent desire in general, but especially desire for that which is agreeable to the senses. Pre-eminintly, however, it designates sexual lust.   Return.

[5] GRACE was understood as a divine power, infused into individual persons by God, that forgave sin, cleansed the soul, and created habits of good living,. The net effect was to "sancitfy" them, i.e., make them holy, thus in principle capable of living "in imitation of Christ in his virtue" (Cardinal d-Ailly, 1416). And holiness was the necessary condition for being allowed to enter heaven. It was conceived of as freely given by God, rather than being compelled under justice by the merits of the recipient. God's chosen means of distributing grace was via the sacraments administered by the Church. Doctrines concerning grace - its various kinds and effects - proliferated over time: we hear of prevenient grace, illuminating grace, and a host of others.   Return.

[Views on the operations of grace and on the evidence (if any) that an individual had received it, were to diverge even more radically in the course and aftermath of the Protestant Reformation].

[6] This means that, in the traditional Christian picture, every performance of a sacrament involves an ADVENT.   Return.

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  Suggestions, comments and questions are welcome.  Please send them to lyman@ksu.edu .

      See acknowledgment.

      This page last updated 20 August 2001.