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Sproul contends that agreement can be reached only if evangelicals abandon their historical position on sola fide or if Rome makes this doctrine an official part of its teaching. Yet there may be another option: to restate the issues of the past in a new way that takes into account both God's sovereign grace and human responsibility in living a life of obedience in the power of this grace. We are justified by faith alone, but faith does not remain alone, and the fruits of our faith play a significant role in how we are finally judged by God (Matt. 25:31-46). Sola fide still constitutes a formidable barrier in Catholic-Protestant relations, but contra Sproul, it must not be deemed insurmountable, particularly if we believe that churches that openly confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can still be reformed and purified by the Holy Spirit.

Donald G. Bloesch is emeritus professor of theology, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.

Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification, by R.C. Sproul (Baker Book House, 221 pp.; $15.99, hardcover). In 1992, a group of evangelicals and Catholics began to meet to seek common ground while clarifying the issues that continue to divide the two communities. The 1994 statement that grew out of that initiative, accompanied by six essays, is published in Evangelicals and Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission, edited by Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus (Word, 236 pp.; $15.99, paper). The ect statement has generated a vigorous response, both positive and negative, and an ongoing conversation. R. C. Sproul's Faith Alone is a negative assessment of ect by a leading evangelical. With the aim of fostering productive discussion of the important issues raised by Sproul's book, we present a review by a senior evangelical theologian. Then, for added insight, the observations of a Catholic scholar long active in Catholic-evangelical dialogue.

A Catholic Response
-by Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC

This lucidly written book was evidently occasioned by the declaration "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium," of March 1994, which has caused so much discussion in the U.S. evangelical world. (The text-since it is unofficial, builds on previous evangelical-Roman Catholic work and does not press for theological agreement as do more mature ecumenical documents-has not created as much discussion among Roman Catholics.) As J. I. Packer is quoted, the ect statement is intended "to galvanize both groups to work together as co-belligerents"; it is not "a formal statement of doctrinal unity." It does, however, invite attention to the already substantial dialogue between Protestants and Catholics seeking reconciliation in the biblical faith.

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October 7 1996, Vol. 40, No. 11