Abstract
The third volume of Zondervan’s The Five Solas Series, Carl Trueman’s Grace Alone details the Christian tradition’s bedrock tenet of salvation by grace alone through faith. Trueman serves as Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary and has written numerous volumes on historical theology and faith and culture. Following the purpose of the series, Trueman explores major doctrinal developments in the Christian tradition up to the Protestant Reformation and then applies foundational teachings to practical actions of the church.
Throughout the work, Trueman clearly upholds grace as “the unmerited favor of God” as “an application of God’s character and attributes, to human rebellion” (pp. 24–25). In part 1, Trueman traces the nature of “grace alone” from the Bible through the consolidated Reformed tradition after Calvin. Two chapters are allotted to Augustine, including one outlining the Pelagian controversy, and one chapter each is given to Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. In part 2, Trueman turns to “grace alone” as it is enacted in the church, drawing the reader into the implications of such Christian practices as church, word, sacraments, and prayer.
The strengths of Grace Alone are Trueman’s consistent definition of grace in broad conversations and the identification of practical responses of the believer which remain dependent on the grace of God. Contrary to popular evangelicalism, Trueman insists that all aspects of grace are derived from the nature and work of God. Grace should never be understood as a mere “divine sentiment” since Scripture and tradition demonstrate sin’s dire effects necessitating grace through sacrifice. This characterization of grace helps readers avoid the pitfalls of self-help or cheap association with the gospel of Christ. A proper response to grace recognizes that even the actions of the church such as preaching, prayer, and baptism are gifts rather than mere performative offerings. Taking the God-ordained means of grace seriously should confront readers’ assumptions that sneak attitudes of synergism into the church and realign evangelicalism with the Reformation’s solas.
Some implicit and explicit conclusions hinder Grace Alone, such that some readers may question their place in Trueman’s view of “what the Reformers taught . . . and why it still matters” (subtitle). First, the author routinely limits live options for Protestants on questions that have remained open in the Christian tradition. When comparing the ability of human will, both historically and constructively, Trueman bars libertarian renderings almost altogether (e.g., p. 66). At times, he even ignores the prospect of compatibilism (a term that does not even make it into the index), which many in his Reformed tradition espouse. His recurrent use of the phrase “anti-Pelagian” to describe only hard determinism and unconditional election implies that other views, even within the Reformed tradition, bow to heretical views of humanity and salvation. In the most uncharitable reference to debates over predestination, Trueman insists, “Much popular Arminian opposition to predestination today is motivated by little more than a heartfelt belief that predestination is somehow unfair” (p. 150; cf. p. 152). As the author hints in a footnote here and on the topic of believer’s baptism, this statement is surely not the scope of centuries of theological deliberation in terms of the bounds of orthodoxy on grace (p. 152, n. 30; cf. p. 207, n. 17).
In a puzzling turn for The Five Solas Series, Trueman’s decision to include a chapter on Thomas Aquinas, supporting the catholicity of predestination (pp. 108–109), compounds the weakness of not including more post-Reformation voices. Given the lack of interaction in the book with views like conditional or corporate election, prevenient grace, or compatibilism, an entire chapter given to the “unexpected ally” (p. 91) is surprising because of his extension of Aristotelian causality to unconditional election. By seeking to incorporate Aquinas, Trueman seems to align the Protestant Reformation’s hallmark of “grace alone” with the Roman Catholic Church against which Luther reacted. The nature/grace continuum, treasury of merit, and touchpoints like sacramentalism and sacerdotalism barely gain mention, all of which logically sever the Roman Catholic Church’s allegiance to grace alone. Meanwhile, non-Reformed movements such as Wesleyanism and general Baptists hardly seem to be included in Trueman’s vision of “anti-Pelagian” determinism. Overall, Grace Alone is a helpful primer with both historical and practical application for those squarely in the Reformed tradition, but readers situated under broader Protestant influence will be surprised at the lack of visibility for their inclusion in the heritage of the Protestant Reformation’s five solas.