Is Luthers Doctrine the Concern of Catholic Theologians Today?
It is claimed that the modern Catholic Church is teaching a doctrine of justification essentially the same as the one Luther labored to defend. Is it true that if Luther were alive today, he would see that to continue his protest is pointless? First, the question must be asked as to whether Rome has corrected the deficiencies which Luther thought he could see in the Regensburg article and which came to the surface again at the Council of Trent. Has Rome revised its definition of justification, a definition which Luther found so offensive? The only way to answer this question is to examine the statements of current Catholic theologians. Hans Kung is a highly respected Catholic theologian in our generation, and his doctoral dissertation on justification is still regarded as a masterpiece of scholarship by Protestants and Catholics alike. His observations should give a fairly good idea as to how Luther’s doctrine of extrinsic justification is faring among Roman Catholics today. Although K
