This originated as an off-the-cuff reply this morning, in this thread. I thought it came out rather well. I think you’re overlooking the very crux of the matter. “Sola scriptura” is more than just a claim that Scripture is an infallible standard: it’s a claim that it is the only infallible standard. And if we …
Tag Archives: Protestants
“Sola Scriptura” is in the Bible? Thoughts on the Canon and Interpretation of Scripture
The following is a response to John Bugay’s review of Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books by Michael J. Kruger, in which John announces, “Attention Roman Catholics: ‘Sola Scriptura’ is in the Bible.” It proved too long for his comment box, so I thought I would put it in …
Reading Church History as a Protestant: The Epistemology of Sola Scriptura
Protestants argue that Scripture itself is sufficient to support the doctrine of sola scriptura — but a more important question to ask is if one, not having held such a doctrine before, could come to a doctrine of sola scriptura by Scripture alone. The “Great Apostasy” thesis presumes, first of all, that “true” Christianity originated …
Continue reading “Reading Church History as a Protestant: The Epistemology of Sola Scriptura”
Reading Church History as a Protestant: The Early Church, Apostolic or Apostate?
The broken WordPress app misdated my last entry, and rather than break all the links I’ve already made, I thought I would share a link to it. When Protestants read the history of the early Church, do they understand the faith of those early Church Fathers to be the fruit of the Apostles, or rather …
Continue reading “Reading Church History as a Protestant: The Early Church, Apostolic or Apostate?”
Reading Church History as a Protestant: The Early Church, Apostolic or Apostate?
I suppose there are only two or three ways for the Protestant reader of Church history to understand the Early Church (by which I mean the subapostolic Church, the Church of the first several generations of Christians after the Apostles). The inherent thesis of the Protestant Reformation is that the changes brought about by the …
Continue reading “Reading Church History as a Protestant: The Early Church, Apostolic or Apostate?”
The Faith of Abraham
The post I meant to make before I was distracted by Luther. This Lent I’ve been re-reading the Pentateuch, since the last time I read it was before I was Catholic and before I had the benefit of Catholic Bible commentaries or an elementary knowledge of the Hebrew language. In reading the story of Abraham …
Luther, Imputation, and Sin: Surprisingly Irrational
This was supposed to be a post about Abraham’s faith and righteousness, but instead I started reading Luther, and was unexpectedly carried away with other observations. Now, I freely acknowledge that I may be missing something. Am I somehow misunderstanding Protestant theology? Please, someone correct me if I am. Because today, in seeking to understand, …
Continue reading “Luther, Imputation, and Sin: Surprisingly Irrational”
Reading Church History as a Protestant: The Catholic Church, Dead in “Religion”
Cardinal Newman famously stated, “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.” If any single sentence could sum up the reasons for my conversion, that would be it. Yet there are many, many well-educated and thoughtful Protestants, who seem thoroughly versed in the facts of the history of the Church, for whom …
Continue reading “Reading Church History as a Protestant: The Catholic Church, Dead in “Religion””
Resolutions
Hi. No, I haven’t forgotten about blogging. I’ve been pondering it every day, wondering what I should say next. I’ve written posts several times and then decided not to post them. It’s been an intense time of growth and healing and change, being broken and rebuilt. And I’ve come to a few resolutions for this …
“Nuda Scriptura” and the Authority of Tradition
Bearing down on the thesis today. But I wanted to point you in the direction of an incisive new post by Bryan Cross, relevant to what we’ve been talking about recently, over at Called to Communion: “Sola Scriptura Redux: Matthew Barrett, Tradition, and Authority.” In it, Bryan responds to a “Reformation Day” post by Matthew …
Continue reading ““Nuda Scriptura” and the Authority of Tradition”