I started reading N.T. Wright at Westminster Seminary and along the way through my hiatus as an Anglican. I think that he provided the necessary paradigm shift for me to appreciate nuances of the Council of Trent regarding justification.

NT Wright is a good enough biblical theologian to realize that Paul wasn’t teaching individual salvation by way of an imputation of an alien righteousness. That’s why he’s received so much attention.

Some earnest Protestants are now scratching their heads and saying to themselves: “You know, everything we’ve always assumed that Paul taught isn’t actually articulated by Paul. Maybe it’s time to rethink the entire systematic theology that we (Protestants) erected in the 16th-17th century.”

If you buy into Wright’s covenantal realism, you’ve already taken three steps toward the Catholic Church.

It’s almost as if Wright dug deeply into Paul’s writings until finally he came to a door. When he opened the door, to everyone’s surprise, he found that he was standing in the Council of Trent!

Click here to here for the Canons of the Council of Trent on Justification (i.e. the Sixth Session).