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One way we might look at church history is as a series of clarifications of Christian belief and practice. In fourth and fifth centuries we saw a clarification of the doctrine of the Trinity. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, we saw a clarification of the doctrine of the nature and authority of Scripture, and in the 16th century there was an attempt at a clarification within the Roman Catholic Church concerning the doctrine of justification. Is the initial act of salvation something that God does in us and to us by means of faith and love working together through the administration of the sacraments by the institutional church? Or is it something that God did for us that we participate in by faith alone? When the attempt to answer this question initially failed, we saw the birth of Protestantism.
In his latest book, The End of Protestantism, Dr. Peter Leithart argues that we are preparing for yet another clarification,wherein we see the end of the divisions and denominations that have multiplied in the last five hundred years and develop a new view of the church in this world as one institution with many parts that contains all believers within its fold.