Book Review: The Salvation Controversy

I finished this book, The Salvation Controversy by James Akin this morning, after it becoming my official “book to read while I’m sitting with Elise while she falls asleep for naps”. I will admit, this book is at times, quite deep. That could be good or bad, depending on the kind of reader you are or what you’re in the mood for. A couple of times I had to put it down and pick it up at a later time; simply because I was in the mood for something a little lighter. It is definitely a theological work, centering on salvation and justification. Two things that I never thought too deeply about but am enriched for having done so, at least what Mr. Akin is doing in his book.

Rather than be a book of “LOOK AT THOSE PROTESTANTS!”, it’s a book of “Let’s unpack Sacred Scripture and talk about what’s going on in it.” I liked that both Catholic misconceptions of Protestant ideas and Protestant misconceptions of Catholic ideas were presented and discussed. I also thoroughly enjoyed his treatment of TULIP (the points of Calivinism)(okay, his chapter on TULIP was my favorite part of the book). Not only did he discuss what TULIP was all about, but also where and how Catholicism agreed with some parts of TULIP (a shocker to me and Greg, definitely).

There are some apologetics in this book, but I would not classify it as SOLELY apologetics material. There are also some thicker parts of the book – particularly where he discusses salvation in all its forms – that I think I will need to re-read in order to fully understand what he is going for. The prospect of re-reading this book doesn’t make me moan or groan; rather I look forward to it because I’ve already learned a bunch from it, and much more will be learned on subsequent re-readings.

He closes his book discussing the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation – something I came across when I was studying the Church but never had the time to read. I knew the “Cliff notes” of the Joint Declaration but learned so much more about the Joint Declaration and what it means for Catholics and Lutherans. I plan on bringing up the Joint Declaration with my mom, not to beat her over the head with it but rather as a “hey, check out what I learned!” sharing of information bonanza.

There’s also a handy glossary of terms in the back of the book (which absolutely answered my question, “What does he mean by ____ again?” Over the years I’ve learned how critically important it is to ensure everyone is operating under the same definition of words, especially in discussing aspects of the Faith.

Considering the topics of salvation and justification could (and have) be discussed for ever; I think Mr. Akin did a stunning job on making the topics accessible without watering them down or glossing over certain aspects of them.

This review was written as part of the Catholic books reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The Salvation Controversy. I received nothing but a free copy of the book in exchange for my opinion of it.