The Bullshit of Sola Scriptura

 One of the central tenants of the Protestant movement is the idea of Sola Scriptura, or "Only Scripture." It's the tenant that in many Evangelical and Protestant circles holds up the idea of the Bible as the Fourth leg of the Trinity, or worse, believes that when the Bible talks about the "Word" it means itself, and not the Logos (Christ).

There are several problems I have with Sola Scriptura. The first is that it limits the ongoing revelation of God, and His restoration of creation. If creation is indeed being restored to what it should have always been, then God is moving. And it means that the bible needs to be understood in it's own context. But for many Protestants, this view of scripture has elevated it from the Inspired Word of God, which (to borrow from the Orthodox Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko), writings which constitute the true and genuine expressions of His Truth and His Will for His People and for the whole world, and instead becomes a frozen and immutable thing, no longer words meant for the Holy Spirit to interpreter for us. This is my second problem with this theology. The Spirit is the one that teaches us, by interpreting the scriptures, they are at best useless and at worst dangerous without God's aid. We can see this in Satan's temptation of Jesus, he quotes scripture.

The next is that Protestants don't actually believe it. This sounds crazy, but it's true. The claim of Sola Scriptura is that we should not rely on those of have gone before us, the "church fathers", as it were. But, even when you walk into the most hardcore bible thumping pastor's office you'll find all kinds of study material, works of their favorite theologians, and commentaries on the scriptures. In other words, instead of the works of St. Polycarp and St. Iranaeus, you get N.T. Wright and Eugene Peterson.

Finally, it tempts us to view our faith as an intellectual pursuit only, with no room for the heart. Theologies are good, and we need them, but without the practice that goes along with our right beliefs (the orthopraxis to our orthodoxy) then it's all useless.