Questions relating to salvation -- especially faith versus works, but also penance, purgatory, indulgences, and free cooperation with God's grace -- have been sore points in the dialogue between Catholics and Protestants.
Jimmy Akin knows and respects the Protestant tradition in which he was raised and the Catholicism he has come to embrace. He is not about to falsify either, or to pretend that crucial differences do not exist.
But he is also unwilling to allow theological slogans (such as "faith alone") to distract us from significant points of agreement. His method is to follow Scripture and Tradition wherever they lead -- and he is formidably equipped for the task -- with honesty, clarity of mind, and an abundance of logical skill.
The Salvation Controversy is a serious work by a serious and supremely-gifted defender of the faith on a topic of central concern for everyone. If it elicits the response it deserves, then all of us, whatever our confessional commitments, will at least be clearer about what really does divide us. And what does not.
