In this Wingin' It episodette Wade discusses another topic from his book An Uncompromising Gospel: Lutheranism’s First Identity Crisis and Lessons for Today. In this session Wade discusses the Osiandrian Controversy over justification, which is named for Andreas Osiander, who argued for a justification more akin to the infused grace that the Catholic church had taught and not the forensic justification taught by Luther and the Lutheran church. (Wade discusses this a bit more in the episodette, but by “forensic justification” he means that justification declared by God for the sinner.) In so doing Osiander manages the rare feat of unifying most of early Lutheranism, even if they were unified against his teaching. Osiander believed his understanding of justification would be a greater comfort for believers, but most early Lutheran theologians not only disagreed with his assessment, but even more they believed this to be simply inaccurate doctrinally. Indeed, the Formula of Concord will eventually leave little room for dispute when it defines justification as a forensic act.

Peter interviewed Wade on his book in Episode 12, so if you haven't listened to that episode yet, it will provide a broader view of Wade's book. And, as promised in that episode, Wade provides a more in-depth discussion of one aspect of his book in this Wingin' It session. If you'd like to listen to Wade's other Wingin' It episodettes on his book, head on over to our Wingin' It page where you'll find them all.

Stay tuned for more Wining' It sessions on Wade's book!

Attributions for Music Used in this Episode:

“The Last One” by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

“Not Drunk” by The Joy Drops is licensed under an Attribution 4.0 Intern