ABSTRACT
The most controversial aspect of Protestantism that emerged during the REFORMATION centered on the Protestant understanding of faith. Scholastic theology heavily influenced the prevailing Roman Catholic view on faith, creating a series of functional dualisms vastly removed from the original biblical understanding. These dualisms focused on the distinction between content of faith (in Latin fides quae) and subjective actions of faith (fides qua): the distinction between faith of laypersons in assenting to ORTHODOXY without understanding it (fides implicita) and faith of clergy in assenting to the same universal truths (fides explicita), between faith appropriated through natural means (fides acquisita) and faith incorporated into the soul alongside other virtues by supernatural means (fides infusd). The dualism drawing the Reformer’s most ardent ire involved the distinction between “unformed faith” (fides informis), a faith unrelated to love and able to exist alongside mortal sin; and “formed faith” (fides caritate formatd), a faith formed by and continually active in love. These aspects of faith required meritorious works by the believer to achieve JUSTIFICATION.
