Is the Protestant principle of sola scriptura antithetical to Christian unity? That’s the argument of Catholic historian Brad Gregory, in his newest book: “Though it liberated evangelicals from the Roman Church, [“scripture alone”] also plunged them into the beginning of an unwanted Protestant pluralism. What lay behind these church-dividing disagreements was the very thing that had launched the Reformation in the first place: Luther’s insistence on scripture as the singular authority for Christian faith and life.”

So on this episode, Sam and I discuss a few of those historic disagreements from the 1520s, and what sola scriptura means for Christian unity today.

Featured Book

Brad Gregory, Rebel in the Ranks: Martin Luther, the Reformation, and the Conflicts That Continue to Shape Our World

Other Readings

Andreas Karlstadt, “On the Removal of Idols” (1522)

“Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants” (1525)

Martin Luther, “Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants” (1525)

“Erasmus-Luther Correspondence, 1517-1534,” Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, Feb. 2, 2017

…but in avoiding the Scylla of Luther I would have us also avoid Charybdis. (Erasmus, 1520) #Reformation500

— Chris Gehrz (@cgehrz) October 31, 2017

John Turner, “More Than a Tragic Necessity,” The Anxious Bench, Oct. 25, 2017

Peter Leithart, The End of Protestantism: Pursuing Unity in a Fragmented Church

And if you really want to read my #Reformation500 tweet-a-thon from Tuesday, you can find it archived in two parts: 1517-1528 and 1529-1546.