Justification and Anthropology in the JDDJ

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief introduction to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, including its sources in the twentieth-century Lutheran–Roman Catholic dialogues and the process by which it was drafted, edited, accepted, and signed. This history is necessary to understand the JDDJ, which understands itself as an agreement that officially receives the progress made by the earlier dialogues. It also provides an overview of the major critiques that have been levied at the JDDJ. These critiques, from academics, LWF churches that rejected the JDDJ, and other Lutheran bodies, question the particular findings of the JDDJ, its method of differentiated consensus, or both. In particular, the idea that the differentiated consensus described in the JDDJ is impossible or illusory is widespread among its critics.