Multi-Part Rebuttal of David T. King's Book, Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith, Vol. I: A Biblical Defense of the Reformation Principle of Sola Scriptura
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My normative policy of time-management or stewardship of my time under God, and maintenance of sanity for nearly five years now is to refuse to waste time debating theology with the small fringe group of anti-Catholic Protestants (i.e., those who deny that Catholicism as a system of theology and spirituality is Christian, and who claim that in order to be a good Christian, one must reject quite a few tenets of Catholicism). It has always been a futile exercise in my experience (I tried for twelve years online). I do, however, make exceptions on occasion (one so far in five years, in order to try to help a friend who was being negatively influenced by one anti-Catholic apologist).
This seems to be a sensible second exception. I have continued to interact with historic Protestant anti-Catholic works, and I did, e.g., in the case of William Whitaker, a prominent 16th century advocate of sola Scriptura (18-part reply). I also have lots of material (including two books) concerning major Protestant figures Luther, Calvin, Chemnitz, Zwingli, Bullinger, and others.
The self-published, three-volume set (one / two / three) on sola Scriptura by David T. King and William Webster (2001) is clearly relevant in relationship to my current book, 100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura . This particular volume is virtually a polar opposite of my title. I say the Bible opposes the notion; he maintains that it supports it. That makes for some good debate (and as anyone who knows me is aware, I immensely enjoy debate). It's stimulating and fun, and educational, all at the same time.
Pastor David T. King is a Presbyterian, and graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He is pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Elkton, Maryland, and was formerly affiliated with PCA.
Judging by past "interaction" with Pastor King (the nature of which is -- shall we say -- quite beyond description), there is almost no chance whatsoever that he will ever respond to my critiques (or at least not substantively), so I am able to avoid the ugliness of attempted "discussion" with a theologically and personally hostile anti-Catholic, while at the same time I can demonstrate the biblical and logical bankruptcy of the arguments used, and the vast superiority of the Catholic positions on authority in general and Scripture in particular. The best of both worlds . . .
Anti-Catholic Protestants do, in any event, share basically the same opinion concerning sola Scriptura as the rule of faith in Protestantism, with other Protestants. This is a common characteristic, whether a Protestant regards Catholics as brothers in Christ; fellow Christians (as most do), or do not (as anti-Catholics hold). Therefore, it is worthwhile to tackle some of the more vigorous efforts to defend sola Scriptura, and this book (if nothing else) certainly does fit in that category. Unfortunately, most of the books that deal with this topic in the greatest depth (e.g., others by Keith A. Mathison, Bishop "Dr." James R. White, and R. C. Sproul), come from anti-Catholics. Be that as it may, we can handily refute these arguments from a Catholic and thoroughly biblical perspective.
All future installments of this series will be listed below, as they come out.
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.
My normative policy of time-management or stewardship of my time under God, and maintenance of sanity for nearly five years now is to refuse to waste time debating theology with the small fringe group of anti-Catholic Protestants (i.e., those who deny that Catholicism as a system of theology and spirituality is Christian, and who claim that in order to be a good Christian, one must reject quite a few tenets of Catholicism). It has always been a futile exercise in my experience (I tried for twelve years online). I do, however, make exceptions on occasion (one so far in five years, in order to try to help a friend who was being negatively influenced by one anti-Catholic apologist).
This seems to be a sensible second exception. I have continued to interact with historic Protestant anti-Catholic works, and I did, e.g., in the case of William Whitaker, a prominent 16th century advocate of sola Scriptura (18-part reply). I also have lots of material (including two books) concerning major Protestant figures Luther, Calvin, Chemnitz, Zwingli, Bullinger, and others.
The self-published, three-volume set (one / two / three) on sola Scriptura by David T. King and William Webster (2001) is clearly relevant in relationship to my current book, 100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura . This particular volume is virtually a polar opposite of my title. I say the Bible opposes the notion; he maintains that it supports it. That makes for some good debate (and as anyone who knows me is aware, I immensely enjoy debate). It's stimulating and fun, and educational, all at the same time.
Pastor David T. King is a Presbyterian, and graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He is pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Elkton, Maryland, and was formerly affiliated with PCA.
Judging by past "interaction" with Pastor King (the nature of which is -- shall we say -- quite beyond description), there is almost no chance whatsoever that he will ever respond to my critiques (or at least not substantively), so I am able to avoid the ugliness of attempted "discussion" with a theologically and personally hostile anti-Catholic, while at the same time I can demonstrate the biblical and logical bankruptcy of the arguments used, and the vast superiority of the Catholic positions on authority in general and Scripture in particular. The best of both worlds . . .
Anti-Catholic Protestants do, in any event, share basically the same opinion concerning sola Scriptura as the rule of faith in Protestantism, with other Protestants. This is a common characteristic, whether a Protestant regards Catholics as brothers in Christ; fellow Christians (as most do), or do not (as anti-Catholics hold). Therefore, it is worthwhile to tackle some of the more vigorous efforts to defend sola Scriptura, and this book (if nothing else) certainly does fit in that category. Unfortunately, most of the books that deal with this topic in the greatest depth (e.g., others by Keith A. Mathison, Bishop "Dr." James R. White, and R. C. Sproul), come from anti-Catholics. Be that as it may, we can handily refute these arguments from a Catholic and thoroughly biblical perspective.
All future installments of this series will be listed below, as they come out.
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