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Dionysius of Alexandria Resolves a Schism
In leafing through St. Dionysius of Alexandria, Letters and Treatises, I came across this interesting fragment of Dionysius’ “On the Promises,” preserved in Eusebius’ Church History. Dionysius (d. 265) wrote: So being in the district of Arsenoe, where, as you know, this teaching prevailed long before, so that both schisms and the defection of whole…
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GodIsMyJudge on Sola Scriptura
I’m not sure he actually disagrees with me, but William Birch has posted an article by GodIsMyJudge on Sola Scriptura, in which GodIsMyJudge distinguishes his explanation from mine. Enjoy! -TurretinFan To God be the Glory!
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James of Edessa on Scripture
Roger Pearse recently posted on-line a translation (Original to French by Francois Nau and then French to English by Roger Pearse) of James of Edessa’s Letter to John the Stylite on the genealogy of the Virgin Mary. I’m not sure the precise date of the letter, but James of Edessa (aka Jacob of Edessa) was…
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I Can’t Do it Perfectly, So I Won’t Even Try!
One of the obstacles to becoming free from Rome’s power is a refusal to think critically about Rome’s claims. This refusal to think critically can be dressed up in pious clothes. What it amounts to is the adoption of a sola ecclesia position in which the person hands over their judgment to their church, or…
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Solo Scriptura, Sola Scriptura, and Apostolic Succession: A Response to Bryan Cross and Neal Judisch (by Keith Mathison) [Guest Post]
Solo Scriptura, Sola Scriptura, and Apostolic Succession:A Response to Bryan Cross and Neal Judisch(pdf version here) Keith Mathison Introduction In November 2009, the Roman Catholic website Called to Communion posted an article titled Solo Scriptura, Sola Scriptura, and the Question of Interpretive Authority, critiquing one of the claims of my book The Shape of Sola…
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Jerome’s Hebrew Questions on the Book of Genesis
There is a translation of Jerome’s Hebrew Questions on Genesis done by C.T.R. Hayward and published by Clarendon Press at Oxford. The text of the “Questions” is not very long, and probably not valuable on the whole to most readers. There are not a lot of profound exegetical thoughts, for example. On the other hand,…
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Sola Scriptura in Cyril of Alexandria’s "Against Those Who are Unwilling to Confess that the Holy Virgin is Theotokos"
The Orthodox Research Institute has published an English translation of Cyril of Alexandria’s work, “Against Those Who are Unwilling to Confess that the Holy Virgin is Theotokos.” It’s not a huge tome, weighing in at about 50 pages of English text. Nevertheless, I think it serves to illustrate the Sola Scriptura approach of Cyril. Most…
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Rejecting the Truth with Clement XI
Some of Rome’s rejections of Scriptural truth are more clear than others. One particularly clear set of examples comes from the dogmatic Constitution, “Unigenitus,”dated Sept. 8, 1713, and authorized by Clement XI. I’ve previously posted a full list of the 101 “errors” condemned (link to full list). There many alleged errors identified. I’ve taken the…
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Formal Sufficiency of Scripture: Fourth Century Fathers (Guest Series)
Formal Sufficiency of ScriptureStated and Examined from Scripture and the Fathers, with scholarly confirmation regarding the Fathers’ views. We began by explaining the nature of formal sufficiency (i.e. the Reformed view) in an introduction section (link). After that we explored Scripture’s own testimony to its sufficiency (link). We could rightly have stopped the series there,…
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>Innocent III vs. Benedict XVI — Use Scripture as Your Standard Instead
>”Here I wish to affirm once more that religion can never justify intolerance or war. We cannot kill in God’s name!” (Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, September 30, 2010, Part 3) Desiring with an ardent desire to liberate the Holy Land from the hands of the ungodly, we decree with the advice of…