This book seeks to answer the following question: how did the doctrine of justification fare one hundred years after Paul's death (c. AD 165)? This book argues that Paul's view of justification by faith is present in the second century, a thesis that particularly challenges T. F. Torrance's long-held notion that the Apostolic Fathers abandoned this doctrine (The Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers, 1948). In the wake of Torrance's work there has been a general consensus that the early fathers advocated works righteousness in opposition to Paul's belief that an individual is justified before God by faith alone, but second-century writings do not support this claim. Each author examined-Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to Diognetus, Odes of Solomon, and Justin Martyr-contends that faith is the only necessary prerequisite for justification, even if they do indicate the importance of virtuous living. This is the first major study on the doctrine of justification in the second century, thus filling a large lacuna in scholarship. With the copious amounts of research being conducted on justification, it is alarming that no work has been done on how the first interpreters of Paul received one of his trademark doctrines. It is assumed, wrongly, that the fathers were either uninterested in the doctrine or that they misunderstood the Apostle. Neither of these is the case. This book is timely in that it enters the fray of the justification debate from a neglected vantage point.

T. F. Torrance's influential The Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers (1948) relegated the collection of Christianity's earliest noncanonical witnesses to a fall from grace. According to Torrance, the Apostolic Fathers abandoned Paul's "justification by faith" and instead advocated for various forms of "works righteousness." Given the new perspectives on both Paul and first-century Judaism, Brian Arnold challenges Torrance's judgments of the Apostolic Fathers by assessing the clarity, prevalence, and importance of Paul's doctrine of justification one hundred years after Paul's death (ca. 165 CE). Arnold carefully examines the ancient writings of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch,and Justin Martyr, as well as the Epistle to Diognetus and the Odes of Solomon, providing close readings of key texts. Arnold concludes, contrary to Torrance, that Paul's teaching on justification is present, understood, and important in second-century writings. Arnold opposes arguments that claim the Early Church Fathers either misunderstood Paul or were uninterested in the doctrine. Arnold shows that Christianity, in its earliest practices, emphasized the virtuous life that must follow one's baptism, while also contending that faith is the only prerequisite for justification. While second-century Christian literature may not mimic Paul's language at every point, Arnold shows that the essence of Pauline soteriologyathe liberation and new life that faith in Christ's atoning death provides apart from lawacontinues to be a dominant theme of Christian reflection, praxis, and worship.

The purpose of this book is to compare different solutions adopted by nine industrialized countries to common problems of income tax design. As in other legal domains, comparative study of income taxation can provide fresh perspectives from which to examine a particular national system. Increasing economic globalization also makes understanding foreign tax systems relevant to a growing set of transnational business transactions. Comparative study is, however, notoriously difficult. Full understanding of a foreign tax system may require mastery not only of a foreign language, but also of foreign business and legal cultures. It would be the work of a lifetime for a single individual to achieve that level of understanding of the nine income taxes compared in this volume. Suppose, however, that an international group of tax law professors, each expert in his own national system, were asked to describe how that system resolved specific problems of income tax design with respect to individuals, business organizations, and international transactions. Suppose further that the leaders of the group wove the resulting answers into a single continuous exposition, which was then reviewed and critiqued by a wider group of tax teachers. The resulting text would provide a convenient an comprehensive introduction to foreign approaches to income taxation for teachers, students, policy-makers and practitioners. That is the path followed by Hugh Ault and Brian Arnold and their collaborators in the development of this fascinating book. Henceforth, a reader interested in how other developed countries resolve such structural issues as the taxation of fringe benefits, the effect of unrealized appreciation at death, the classification of business entities, expatriation to avoid taxes, and so on, can turn to this volume for an initial answer. This book should greatly facilitate comparative analysis in teaching and writing about taxation in the US and elsewhere.