I thank you very much for this post. On this issue there is a great deal of skepticism on both sides as to motives, with the result that we continuously pound on the talking points that we have been grounded in theologically. As the previous thread developed I began to feel that at least you and I, on this issue anyway, were really not that far apart and through God's illuminating hand you came up with this article.
One day I was having a discussion with a college classmate from England about public vs. private education. Normally we were in close agreement about political and social matters. In this instance, however, we were arguing against each other. We were both becoming exasperated as to why the other could not understand the points that we were making. Then, in the middle of the conversation, my English friend asked me to define what I meant by a "public school". It turned out that what is called a "public school" in the U.S. is called a "state school" in England. What the English call a "public school" we call a "private school". Thus we were actually agreeing on the policy but we did not realize it because we were using the term "public school" with two different meanings.
I think that between the Catholics and the Lutherans (am I correct in thinking that you, gscc, are Lutheran like Mr. Lucky?) we may have been doing the same thing for some five hundred years when we talk about faith. One problem, though, is that there are some Protestants who, perhaps making the same mistake concerning Luther's usage of the term "faith" it seems that Catholics have, do seem indeed to have reduces "faith alone" to a mere intellectual assent to God. Thus is becomes difficult to present the Catholic understanding when in a single thread there is not just a different usage between Catholics and Protestants but also between the Protestants themselves. Or is it that there are some Protestants that are more interested in proving that Catholics are wrong than in coming to a mutual understanding?
I cannot speak for their meaning of the term "faith" of the various Protestant denominations or theological schools. That is why I asked that the other posters on this thread could address this to see if the dispute on this issue was real or not.
I would like to thank the two of you for your remarks. I would also be interested to know if you thought that there were any deficiencies in Mr. Akin's analysis.