“Sola Scriptura, Etc.”
by on December 18, 2010
Quo warranto: “By what authority?” Posed to Jesus in Mark 11:28, this question became the driving impetus of the Protestant Reformation. By what authority should theology, spirituality, and ministry be judged? For nearly half a millennium, Protestants have answered this question by declaring sola scriptura. From Puritan pulpits in Britain to “Big Tent” revivals in America, “by Scripture alone” became a banner cry for those rallying behind the Protestant and eventually evangelical movement.
Today, new generations of Christians are asking the same questionby what authority? Against the backdrop of a postmodern society where the gods of relativism and subjectivism seemingly dwarf objective, absolute truth, this question becomes especially significant. Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, says, “The inherent flaw of postmodernism is becoming a practical obstacle to unity because there is no source of authority to determine what constitutes orthodox or heretical doctrine.”
Read the rest of this article from Modern Reformation magazine here.