Tag: tradition

The NIV on Tradition and Teachings

In my opinion, the NIV is one of the nicest versions of the Bible.  It’s easier to read and understand than the NASB; doesn’t pretend God speaks in King James English; and stays more faithful to the original Scriptures than “The Message” and similar versions. More technically, it’s a good mix of dynamic and formal… Continue reading The NIV on Tradition and Teachings

Catholicism v. Sola Scriptura

What I’ve done in this post (which wasn’t ready by yesterday afternoon, sorry) is outline the Scriptural support for the Catholic position on Scripture and Tradition, and then explained the two best arguments against sola Scriptura, the “Self-Refuting” Argument, and the Canon Argument. The post is long (about 4,000 words), but I think it’s worth… Continue reading Catholicism v. Sola Scriptura

Scripture, Tradition, and the Church

As promised, the post for this afternoon is about a critique of Catholicism which Keith Mathison offers from his book The Shape of Sola Scriptura, available in full here. On page 183, he lays out a pretty concise summary of his general thesis: The typical evangelical view, Tradition 0, does not allow for any real… Continue reading Scripture, Tradition, and the Church

The Elephant-Horse and Catholicism

Michael Novak, on page 43 of No One Sees God: The Dark Night of Atheists and Believers, uses a wonderful analogy: In an inn in the little village of Bressanone (Brixen) in northern Italy, there is a fresco painted many centuries ago, whose main subject is an elephant, by a painter who had obviously never… Continue reading The Elephant-Horse and Catholicism

Unwritten Tradition, Birth Control & Abortion

I’ve got a final tomorrow, so this post will be short and sweet.  Actually, it’s a modified version of a comment I left on Roderick’s blog. He was skeptical about what we Catholics call “unwritten Tradition,” so I tried to respond with a concrete example of why the (admittedly confusing) term means: The short answer… Continue reading Unwritten Tradition, Birth Control & Abortion

Did Irenaeus Believe in Sola Scriptura?

I. Background Last Monday, I wrote a post explaining as succinctly as I know how to the two types of sola Scriptura. Long story short, Tradition 0 (associated typically with Evangelicals like Independent Baptists and other “low-church” people) gives virtually no weight to the Early Church Fathers, and is sometimes rather hostile to them, while… Continue reading Did Irenaeus Believe in Sola Scriptura?

Two Things to Consider Regarding Sola Scriptura

Nick responded to my last post, and pointed me to his blog post on the subject. There were two parts which I liked enough that I think that they’re worth mentioning here. 1. Sola Scriptura Wasn’t True When the Bible Was Written. These aren’t Nick’s words, these are James White’s. White, if you’re not familiar,… Continue reading Two Things to Consider Regarding Sola Scriptura

Two Types of Sola Scriptura

Back on April 3rd, Roderick_E said in response to a post about the two types of tradition (traditions of men and Sacred Tradition): The “anti-traditionalists” who shout “Sola Scriptura” but actually mean their private interpretation alone seem to fail to realize that Martin Luther even understood there is such a thing as the “ancient faith”… Continue reading Two Types of Sola Scriptura

Two Types of Traditions

An online thread recently reminded me of the mass confusion which exists on the issue of tradition. A commenter was upset that Catholics had Tradition, finding it anti-Biblical. When asked about where the Bible came from, and why that wasn’t a Tradition, (s)he declared that the Bible “is the word of God, and came from… Continue reading Two Types of Traditions