Biblical Authority after Babel: Retriving the Solas in the spirit of mere Protestant Christianity

Abstract

Experience is not the primary norm for Christian theology, but events often serve as catalysts or occasions for theologizing. I was awakened from my pre-dogmatic slumbers one summer by a curious incident while ministering in southern France. I was there for a summer in partial fulfillment of my seminary internship requirement. The local pastor with whom I was working accompanied me to the marché, the weekly open-air market that is a staple of every town in Provence. We set up a bookstall with standard Christian literature: Bibles, Gospels of John, and assorted evangelistic tracts. Most people ignored us: it was hard to compete with freshly picked apricots, herbes de Provence, and ripened wheels of Camembert. Time passed, until eventually a man approached. “Bonjour, monsieur!” The man thumbed through some of our pamphlets, checked the sign over our booth identifying us as an Église Libre (Free Church), and then said something unexpected: “Alors, vous êtes anarchiste?” (“So, you’re an anarchist?”). Several things went through my mind: first, did I hear him correctly; second, he wouldn’t be saying that if he knew my parents; third, if only my college friends could see me now! Seeing my surprise, he proceeded to set out what I would later discover was a customary Roman Catholic objection to Protestantism: “The Roman Catholic Church has a head [Gk. archē], a figure of authority who directs the body and says what the Bible means.