Editing Sola scriptura (section)

{{Short description|Protestant Christian theological doctrine}}
{{italic title}}
{{for|the album by Neal Morse|Sola Scriptura (album)}}
[[File:Psalm118.jpg|thumb|275x275px|According to the doctrine of ''sola scriptura'', [[Bible|Scripture]] is the only infallible authority for the [[Christian Church]], due to its unique nature as a [[Biblical inspiration|divinely inspired]] text.]]
{{Five solae}}

'''{{lang|la|Sola scriptura}}''' (Latin for ''''by scripture alone'''<nowiki/>') is a [[Christian theology|Christian theological doctrine]] held by most [[Protestantism|Protestant]] [[Christian denominations]], in particular the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] and [[Reformed tradition|Reformed]] traditions,<ref name=solascriptura>{{cite web |url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090927214527/https://www.wels.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?1518&cuTopic_topicID=39&cuItem_itemID=12132 |title=Sola Scriptura? |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=15 May 2006 |website=WELS Topical Q&A |publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |access-date=26 May 2024 |quote=[M]any passages...state sola scriptura, such as Revelation 22:18-19. If we cannot add anything to the words of Scripture and we cannot take anything away from them, that is Scripture alone.}}</ref><ref name="Wisse 2017">{{cite book |author-last=Wisse |author-first=Maarten |year=2017 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yk_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |chapter=PART I: Systematic Perspectives – ''Contra et Pro Sola Scriptura'' |editor1-last=Burger |editor1-first=Hans |editor2-last=Huijgen |editor2-first=Arnold |editor3-last=Peels |editor3-first=Eric |title=Sola Scriptura: Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Scripture, Authority, and Hermeneutics |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Studies in Reformed Theology |volume=32 |pages=19–37 |doi=10.1163/9789004356436_003 |isbn=978-90-04-35643-6 |issn=1571-4799}}</ref> that posits [[Christian Bible|the Bible]] as the sole infallible source of authority for [[Faith in Christianity|Christian faith]] and practice.<ref name="Wisse 2017"/> The [[Catholic Church]] considers it [[heresy]] and generally the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox churches]] consider it to be contrary to the [[phronema]] of the Church.

While the scriptures' meaning is mediated through many kinds of subordinate authority—such as the ordinary teaching offices of a church, the [[ecumenical creeds]], [[Catholic ecumenical councils|councils of the Catholic Church]], or even personal special revelation—{{lang|la|sola scriptura}} in contrast rejects any infallible authority other than the Bible.<ref name="Wisse 2017"/> In this view, all non-scriptural authority is derived from the authority of the scriptures or is independent of the scriptures, and is, therefore, subject to reform when compared to the teaching of the Bible.

{{lang|la|Sola scriptura}} is a [[formal principle]] of many Protestant Christian denominations, and one of the [[Five solae|five ''solae'']].<ref name="Wisse 2017"/> It was a foundational doctrinal principle of the [[Protestant Reformation]] held by many of the [[Protestant Reformers|Reformers]], who taught that authentication of Scripture is governed by the discernible excellence of the text, as well as the personal witness of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] to the heart of each man. 

By contrast, the Protestant traditions of [[Anglicanism]], [[Methodism]] and [[Pentecostalism]] uphold the doctrine of {{lang|la|[[prima scriptura]]}},<ref name=WELS>{{cite web |title=Methodist Beliefs: In What Ways Are Lutherans Different from United Methodists? |url=http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/questions-answers/christian/methodist-beliefs |website=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522105449/http://www.wels.net/what-we-believe/questions-answers/christian/methodist-beliefs |archive-date=22 May 2014 |access-date=22 May 2014}}</ref>{{sfn|Humphrey|2013|p=16}} with scripture being illumined by [[sacred tradition|tradition]] and reason. The Methodists thought reason should be delineated from experience, though the latter was classically filed under the former and guided by reason, nonetheless this was added, thus changing the "Anglican Stool" to the four sides of the [[Wesleyan Quadrilateral]].{{sfnm |1a1=Schmidt |1y=2002 |1p=15 |2a1=Waltz |2y=1991}} The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] holds that to "accept the books of the canon is also to accept the ongoing Spirit-led authority of the church's tradition, which recognizes, interprets, worships, and corrects itself by the witness of Holy Scripture".{{sfn|Nassif|2004|p=65}} The [[Catholic Church]] officially regards tradition and scripture as equal, forming a single [[Deposit of faith|deposit]], and considers the [[magisterium]] as the living organ which interprets said deposit.{{sfn|Flinn|2007|pp=431–33}} The Roman magisterium thus serves Tradition and Scripture as "one common source [...] with two distinct modes of transmission",{{sfn|CCC|loc=80–81}} while some Protestant authors call it "a dual source of revelation".{{sfn|Johnson|Webber|1993|p=43}}

Many [[Protestantism|Protestants]]  want to distinguish the view that scripture is the only rule of faith with the exclusion of other sources ([[nuda scriptura]]), from the view taught by [[Lutheranism|Luther]] and [[Calvinism|Calvin]] that the scripture alone is infallible, without excluding church tradition in its entirety, viewing them as subordinate and ministerial.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carson |first=D. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CEn7DwAAQBAJ&dq=nuda+scriptura&pg=PA199 |title=Themelios, Volume 36, Issue 2 |date=2015-01-27 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-7252-3466-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dockery |first1=David S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKZaDwAAQBAJ&dq=nuda+scriptura&pg=PT136 |title=Worship, Tradition, and Engagement: Essays in Honor of Timothy George |last2=Massey |first2=James Earl |last3=Smith |first3=Robert Jr |date=2018-04-20 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-9850-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Strange |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vH7vDwAAQBAJ&dq=nuda+scriptura&pg=PT38 |title='For Their Rock is not as Our Rock': An Evangelical Theology Of Religions |date=2015-05-08 |publisher=Inter-Varsity Press |isbn=978-1-78359-374-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Barrett |first=Matthew |title='Sola Scriptura' Radicalized and Abandoned |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/sola-scriptura-radicalized-and-abandoned |access-date=2022-06-25 |website=The Gospel Coalition |date=16 June 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Treier |first=Daniel J. |title=Scripture and hermeneutics |date=2007 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-evangelical-theology/scripture-and-hermeneutics/8FCBCA529FE98EBF513400518980B834 |work=The Cambridge Companion to Evangelical Theology |pages=35–50 |editor-last=Treier |editor-first=Daniel J. |series=Cambridge Companions to Religion |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-84698-1 |access-date=2022-06-25 |editor2-last=Larsen |editor2-first=Timothy}}</ref>