Volume I documents the development of the doctrine of justification from its earliest period to the eve of the Reformation. The work opens with an analysis of the semantic background of the concept in the world of the Ancient Near East, and particular attention is paid to the difficulties of translating the concept into Greek and Latin, After this the early development of the doctrine is considered, with particular reference to Augustine of Hippo. In a later chapter, the main features of the doctrine of justification associated with the five principal theological schools of the medieval period are established. The continuity between the later medieval period and the Reformation is discussed in a final chapter. The work includes a glossary of relevant theological terms for those not already familiar with the vocabulary of the period. Volume II documents developments from the Reformation to the present day. Lutheran and Reformed concepts are considered together with the teaching of the Council of Trent. English reformers are compared with continental counterparts; and the development of the doctrine within Anglicanism is studied with reference to Caroline divines and John Henry Newman. Modern development since the Enlightenment is considered with particular reference to Kant, Schleiermacher, Ritschl and Barth. There has been no comparable study since Ritschl's three-volume Christliche Lebre von der Rechfertigung und Versoehnung of 1870.