Catholic Vs Protestant Sola Scriptura: TLR Interview

I had the honor of visiting with my Protestant friend, Devin Pellew, on his Spotify podcast Bellator Spiritus. (Click the link for access).

Topics discussed were:

The differences between sola scriptura and solo scriptura. The concept of solo scriptura was examined in Keith Mathison’s book The Shape of Sola Scriptura. I reviewed the book here.

The Protestant “essentials” and how Protestants determine them.

Whether or not dissent among Catholic progressives reflects negatively on the validity of Catholic authority.

My recent article, Sola Scriptura Makes All Beliefs Into Mere Opinion. In that article, I made of following observations:

I often write about sola scriptura (SS) and its consequences. One of my main concerns is the fact that SS allows for all kinds of interpretations (opinions) of Scripture. Adherents of SS seek to assuage one another by “agreeing” on the “essentials,” while offering tolerance for the “nonessentials.” For most Protestants, these “essentials” tend to reside under the umbrella of Nicene-Chalcedonian Christianity, a Christianity that affirms belief in the Trinity and the Incarnation. Moreover, to deny the “essentials” of the Trinity and Incarnation means to deny biblical Christianity and embrace heresy (heresy here understood as unbiblical beliefs).

However, others who also identify as Protestants use SS to expand the list of “nonessentials” to include the Trinity and Incarnation. According to these Protestants, belief in the Trinity and Incarnation as “essential” dogmas represents the last great stranglehold of Catholicism on true biblical Christianity. To escape this last vestige of Catholicism, Protestants must embrace what Dr. Steven Nemes calls post-Catholicism (PC). To these PC Protestants who also adhere to SS, belief in the Trinity and Incarnation represent at worst a Catholic error, or at best, a theologoumenon, or non-authoritative individual theological opinion. In other words, in their appeal to SS, PC Protestants deny the Trinity and Incarnation and posit that heresies themselves cease to exist in any meaningful way.