BIBLICAL AUTHORITY

AFTER BABEL

Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity

KEVIN J. VANHOOZER

a division of Baker Publishing Group

www.BrazosPress.com

© 2016 by Kevin J. Vanhoozer

Published by Brazos Press

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.brazospress.com

Paperback edition published 2018

ISBN 978-1-58743-423-5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Names: Vanhoozer, Kevin J., author.

Title: Biblical authority after Babel : retrieving the solas in the spirit of mere Protestant Christianity / Kevin J. Vanhoozer.

Description: Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016017619 | ISBN 9781587433931 (cloth)

Subjects: LCSH: Calvinism. | Reformed Church—Doctrines.

Classification: LCC BX9422.5.V365 2016 | DDC 230/.42—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017619

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011

Scripture quotations labeled ASV are from the American Standard Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

To the faculty and principals of Moore College,

past and present

Contents

Preface

Introduction: Should the Church Repent or Retrieve the Reformation? Secularism, Skepticism, and Schism—Oh My!

“By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them”: Assessing a Revolution

Narrating the Story of Protestantism

Repenting the (Unintended) Iniquities of Our Reformation Fathers

Fine-Tuning the Problem; Deepening the Dilemma

Always Retrieving? “Ressourcing” the Debate about Interpretive Authority

Why Mere Protestant Christianity Matters

1. Grace Alone: The Mere Protestant Ontology, Economy, and Teleology of the Gospel

Sola Gratia: What the Reformers Meant

Nature and/or Grace: Other Views

Triune Ontology and the Economy of Salvation

Sola Gratia for Bible, Church, and Interpretive Authority

2. Faith Alone: The Mere Protestant Principle of Authority

Sola Fide: What ...

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About Biblical Authority after Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity

In recent years, notable scholars have argued that the Protestant Reformation unleashed interpretive anarchy on the church. Is it time to consider the Reformation to be a 500-year experiment gone wrong?

World-renowned evangelical theologian Kevin Vanhoozer thinks not. While he sees recent critiques as legitimate, he argues that retrieving the Reformation’s core principles offers an answer to critics of Protestant biblical interpretation. Vanhoozer explores how a proper reappropriation of the five solas—sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (in Christ alone), and sola Deo gloria (for the glory of God alone)—offers the tools to constrain biblical interpretation and establish interpretive authority. He offers a positive assessment of the Reformation, showing how a retrieval of “mere Protestant Christianity” has the potential to reform contemporary Christian belief and practice.

This provocative response and statement from a top theologian is accessibly written for pastors, church leaders, and students.

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