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50 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Introductory Work on Central Protestant Doctrine, July 9, 2002
This book is written by a compilation of authors who successfully articulate and defend the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura, and also successfully contrast this doctrine with the practical sola ecclesia of Roman Catholicism. Similar to Soli Deo Gloria's Justification by Faith Alone compilation, this book is a solid introduction that clearly and unmistakenly reveals that the theological and doctrinal differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are real and substantive and should not be mindlessly thrown aside in the interests of achieving a unity without foundational meaning. The reader of this book, once the book is read, is faced with a choice. Roman Catholicism has repeatedly made itself clear that it denies the unequal authority and sufficiency of Scripture over doctrine and salvation, in favor of a doctrine of Scripture plus 'Sacred Tradition' as being sufficient. However, it has long been clear that Roman Catholicism's 'Sacred Scripture plus Sacred Tradition' concept is really based on a more fundamental doctrine of sola ecclesia. This is the view that states that since both Scripture and Tradition have their origins in the church, both are ultimately subject to the authority of the church in terms of interpretation and dogmatics. And herein lies the central disagreement on this issue - is the Bible alone sufficient in providing humanity with the gospel message and the ability to embrace salvation, or is the Bible by itself insufficient and thus needs to be augmented by church tradition and ex cathedra pronouncements from Rome? This is the dividing line, and it's a very clear one. Has God preserved His Word in sufficient detail that people can properly interpret its contents without an official and earthly third party mediator between God and man, or has God destined the Roman Catholic Church to be the preserver of His Word and to be the final authority on correct Biblical interpretation upon which all believers should assent? This book leaves no doubt that this fundamental difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism exists, that it is substantial, and that the answers we arrive at on these questions go a long way towards framing our theological outlook. I happen to strongly believe that the Protestant position is by far the more defendable position. The Roman Catholic arguments that Scripture doesn't teach the view of Scripture alone are very weak arguments that are contextually shallow, in my view. I thought that James White's chapter was the best part of the book, although Sproul's chapter is also very good. I'm aware that White is held in particular revulsion among many Roman Catholics, but his extensive citations of the early church fathers and their views continue to be tough for the modern Roman Catholic to deal with. White, as he has done multiple times before, shows quite convincingly that Roman Catholic doctrine is inconsistent over time, with many contemporary Catholic views on things such as what exactly is 'sacred tradition' not reconciling very well with the views of the early church. To me, this is quite clear that such inconsistency (or even an evolving perspective that is more sympathetic to Rome) casts serious doubt on the viability of the notion that the Roman Catholic Church alone has authority over Scripture and Tradition in such a way that it adequately reflects the unchanging character of God. In summary, this is an introductory work, so I highly recommend this book for beginners who want to understand one of the central doctrines that separate Protestantism from Roman Catholicism, and why it matters. In an age of increasing ecumenism that has witnessed a number of mainline Protestant denominations jettisoning the doctrinal distinctives of the Reformation in order to achieve a supposed unity with a Church that hasn't moved an inch away from the doctrinal distinctives that created the Reformation in the first place, it would be a good thing for Christians either to familiarize or refamiliarize themselves with who's saying what, who believes what, and why such differences are hugely important in preserving the integrity of the faith.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Have Reference Book, February 21, 2005
This book is a compilation of several authors. Those I am most familiar with are James White, R. C. Sproul, and John MacArthur. For the most part, this book is very understandable. Sproul's chapter is a little more gray cell stretching, but the rest is relatively easy to follow. I think this is a better book to have than a book on the same subject by a single author, because you get a broader perspective of adherants of this important teaching. The best part, too, is the final chapter, which focuses on why Sola Scriptura is so important, which is the transforming nature of Scripture.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Authority and Tradition, March 5, 2010
This review is from: Sola Scriptura: The Protestant Position on the Bible (Hardcover)
R.C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministries (and publishing arm, Reformation Trust) has a justly deserved reputation for talking about the same things over and over. We appreciate that because those "same things" include the holiness of God, the Gospel of Christ, the power and inerrancy of Scripture, the intellectual heritage of Christianity, etc.--in other words, the things that desperately need to be repeated, as loudly and as often as possible. In Sola Scriptura: The Protestant Position on the Bible, the latest book from the "Ligonier Gang" (a group of pastors and theologians including Sproul, John MacArthur, Sinclair Ferguson, Derek W.H. Thomas, and others who routinely speak at Ligonier events and publish books through RT), the contributors articulate for today's generation the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation: that the Bible is our only authority and source of our knowledge of God and His redemption of the world. At times, it feels as though the writers are simply re-hashing the Reformation, fighting an old battle against Roman Catholic doctrine. However, it becomes clear that this is intentional for two reasons: 1) they obviously consider the work of the Reformation incomplete, owing to the fact that there are still over 1 billion Roman Catholics in the world, the vast majority of which hold a distorted view of Scripture that prevents them from grasping the truth, and 2) they wisely perceive the trend within Evangelicalism of Christians holding their personal, emotional experiences of faith on par with revealed truth (though few would admit it), leading to a rise in the reliance on "tradition" over Scripture that is just as destructive to the faith as that of the Pharisees and Roman Catholics. Overall, Sola Scriptura is a winsome declaration of why Protestants believe what they do, the authority of Scripture, its power to transform, and the completeness and sufficiency of God's Word written. They explore these issues from Scripture itself, the writings of the Church fathers, and the testimony of the Word's power through the centuries. The book asks the vital question, "do you treat Scripture the same way Jesus did?," reminding readers that how we view Scripture is indicative of how we treat Christ (as He is the Word made flesh) and that the Church truly does rise and fall on the truth of the Bible.
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