Protestants and atheists are dissimilar in most regards, and I suspect both sides would be happy with my making this observation. But there is one area in which the two groups behave all too similarly: a fallacious sort of burden-shifting argument. For purposes of this post, we’ll call it “the Norseman and the Atheist.”
Tag: sola scriptura
Most Protestants Are No Longer Protestant
Historically, two doctrines more-or-less defined Protestant theology: sola fide (justification and salvation are “by faith alone”) and sola Scriptura (doctrines are established “by Scripture alone”). But do Protestants today even believe in these doctrines? A fascinating pair of Pew surveys, marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, decided to find out by surveying large numbers of Protestants in the U.S. and in eight different Western European countries. The results were fascinating, and we Catholics ought to be paying close attention.
About Those Noble Bereans…
It’s more than a little ironic that Protestants who believe that all doctrines need to be found in the 66 books of their Bible claim to be modelling themselves off of the Bereans (Acts 17:10-12), who neither had a 66-book canon nor a belief that all doctrines need to be found in the Scriptures. The Bereans are noble, but they’re not Protestant.
Sola Scriptura and the Empty Tomb
Was sola Scriptura true during the time of the Apostles?Were the Apostles and the first-century Christians bound to follow Scripture alone? These are the two options. You can claim, despite the clear evidence to the contrary, that the Apostles and early Christians believed in Scripture alone. But doing so both undermines John’s faith in the Resurrection and renders the New Testament irrelevant. Or you can concede that the Apostles and early Christians didn’t believe in Scripture alone. But then you have to throw out all of the alleged “Scriptural proofs” for sola Scriptura, and concede that it’s a post-Apostolic man-made tradition that contradicts the written word of God.
The Public Nature of Reading Scripture
In the modern age, it’s easy to assume that Christians always studied Scripture by reading their personal Bible, or that theological questions always settled by the believer looking through his Bible at home, alone.
But none of that is true. As St. Augustine and Scripture itself confirm, the Bible was originally intended to be proclaimed to the community. Which is why I’m happy to be part of a project that seeks to do just that.
How Important is the Canon of Scripture?
How important is it that all Christians operate from the exact same Bible? You may be surprised to learn that for most of Church history, the (implicit) Christian answer was “not that important.” Why was this the case? And why isn’t it the case today? Because of a major shift in how Christians approached Scripture and doctrinal orthodoxy…
The Trouble with Christian SoBs
Contemporary Christian groups are fond of producing “Statements of Belief” (SoBs) that serve as sort of imitation Creeds. That’s a bigger problem than it might seem.
Karl Barth v. Keith Mathison on the Early Church & Sola Scriptura
Did the early Christians believe in “sola Scriptura” (Scripture alone)? Or did they also believe in Apostolic Tradition? Keith Mathison, in his book “The Shape of Sola Scriptura,” claimed that the Catholic view wasn’t found in the first centuries of the Church, and that the earliest Church Fathers believed in sola Scriptura.
Mathison’s views are thoroughly debunked by (of all people) Karl Barth, the Reformed theologian Christianity Today called “the most important theologian of the twentieth century.” And Barth capably proved the Catholic Patristic case… even though he personally believed in sola Scriptura!
Is Mandatory Celibacy Unbiblical?
Is mandatory celibacy extrabiblical? Who cares?
No, the Bible Isn’t the Fullness of Revelation. Jesus is.
The debate over sola Scriptura is often framed as a question of whether the fullness of revelation is Scripture or Scripture plus Tradition. But the Bible points us to the fullness of revelation, and it doesn’t look like this: Vincent Van Gogh, Still Life with Bible (1885) Rather, the fullness of revelation looks more like… Continue reading No, the Bible Isn’t the Fullness of Revelation. Jesus is.