Lutherans and Catholics

WHILE MICHAEL ROOT may still hold up the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) as the high point of Lutheran-Catholic discourse ("Rule of Benedict," May 17), there are many who understand it as a capitulation of the very article "by which," Martin Luther said, "the church stands or falls." The JDDJ treats justification as just one of many areas of conversation, thus obscuring its importance to the life lived by faith alone.

Evidence for how the Catholic Church treated this document can be seen in the release of new ways for Catholics to obtain indulgences almost the day after the JDDJ was signed. In this Lutheran pastor's opinion, it would be better to go back to the drawing board than to hype this flawed and blurry document.

Chris Enstad

Edina, Minn.

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