4 - The Nature of Justification

Summary

The second part of this work consists of seven chapters exploring the development of the doctrine of justification in the Middle Ages, set against the backdrop of the discussion of theological method during this important and extended period. This chapter focusses on the medieval understandings of the nature of justification, in which the views of Augustine on the nature of justification as a ‘making righteous’ of the believer is amplified and elaborated. Of particular importance here is the medieval exploration of the inner dynamics of justification, framed in terms of the Processus Iustificationis (‘process of justification’), which correlates the various elements of the transformation of the believer, including ontological and relational issues. Particular attention is paid to the discussion of this theme in the early medieval theological tradition, focussing especially on the early Dominican and Franciscan schools.