Abstract

This three-part study examines the doctrine of grace in the light of the main approaches to the subject that have emerged in Catholic theology over about the past thirty years. That discussion, however, must be seen against the background of the history of the topic since the Reformation, which is the subject of this first article. While the main focus will naturally be on theology, especially on Catholic theology, the wider context in which theology operates also has to be borne in mind. But it has to be borne in mind as the context, not as the text itself. That ‘text’ is constituted by reflection on the actual reality of grace.