Regensburg 1–4 and the Catholic Tradition

Abstract

The opening four articles of the Regensburg Colloquy are here compared with the treatment of the same topics by the Council of Trent’s Decrees on Original Sin and on Justification and by the Catholic–Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. Attention is paid to the way each of the three texts were written to play specific ecclesiastical functions, which shaped the kind of agreements sought in each text. A broad similarity is noted in the understanding of original sin and concupiscence held by the texts, despite different approaches to detailed questions about concupiscence.