Grace

CRITICAL FALSE-FRIEND DRIFT: ‘grace’ in ordinary contemporary English overwhelmingly means physical elegance or poise, or, in contracts and billing, a ‘grace period’ (a delay before a penalty applies) — a completely secularized sense with no theological content. CRITICAL DENOMINATIONAL CONTEST: English-speaking Christian traditions themselves disagree sharply on grace’s relationship to works and human cooperation (Reformed ‘grace alone’ vs. Wesleyan/Arminian synergism vs. Catholic sacramental ‘means of grace’ theology); this curriculum must state its own reading of Romans’ ‘apart from works’ argument (4:4-5, 11:5-6) explicitly rather than assume all English-speaking Christian readers already agree.