catholicsphere

I developed “The Challenge” to “prove sola Scriptura” (”the Protestant doctrine on the authority of Bible alone”) several years ago because of the numerous apologetics discussions I had where the person I was discussing with assumed the authority of the Bible, and the near-infallibility of his/her interpretation of it, but rejected any outside authority.

It seemed that an obstacle in most discussions was the interpretation of Scripture and the acceptance of non-Biblical statements to “prove” one’s assertions. In order to back up my statements and interpretations of Scripture cited to support my position for a given doctrine I would often present the thoughts of others, such as the “Early Church Fathers”. However, several times these would be dismissed out of hand as “not Scripture”. Yet, in their rejection of these writings was — perhaps unbeknownst to the persons — a rejection of the tradition that accepted the Bible texts and fomulated them into a the Bible we have today.

I would like to make clear at this point that I accept the inerrancy and inspiration of the Scriptures in much the same way as my Protestant brethren do. I do, however, also accept the Tradition out of which the Scriptures were definitively recognized. I do so with the understanding that the Scriptures testify to Christ Jesus and to Him instituting a living and teaching Church, rather than having simply handed us a book.

I’d also like feedback from Catholics on whether the specifics of this challenge can be fulfilled in the Catholic Church. I believe it can and has been, but would like additional feedback if something would be problematic even for the Catholic to make his/her case.