Sola Fide
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"History of the Christian Church, book 7, chapter 4".; Philip Schaff's The Protestant Spirit of Luther’s Version: "The most important example of dogmatic influence in Luther’s version is the famous interpolation of the word alone in Rom. 3:28 (allein durch den Glauben), by which he intended to emphasize his solifidian doctrine of justification, on the plea that the German idiom required the insertion for the sake of clearness. But he thereby brought Paul into direct verbal conflict with James, who says (James 2:24), "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" ("nicht durch den Glauben allein"). It is well known that Luther deemed it impossible to harmonize the two apostles in this article, and characterized the Epistle of James as an "epistle of straw," because it had no evangelical character ("keine evangelische Art")."
Apocryphal stories are often more illuminating than historical truth. In a fit of frustration, Luther -- unable to reconcile James 2:24 with his radical belief in "sola fide" -- ripped the page from his bible.
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"Faith alone" strikes me as a jejune attempt to reduce Christianity to a mental exercise -- or what most people think of as mental exercise -- instead of touching relationship.
"The work of heaven alone is material; the making of a material world.
The work of hell is entirely spiritual."
G.K. Chesterton
The work of hell is entirely spiritual."
G.K. Chesterton
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"Love and do what you will."
Augustine of Hippo
We are saved by the cross when we make it our own.
Jesus was modeling salvation, not giving it away.
The Crucifixion
Isenheim Altarpiece
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Matthias Grünewald
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