Catholics claim that Jesus Christ established a Magisterium as an essential part of his Church, which could, within certain limits, and under certain conditions, teach infallibly. Protestants deny this claim, appealing instead to the sole infallible authority of Sacred Scripture. Catholics respond to “sola scriptura” in a variety of ways, including the claim that we would [...]

In this episode, Tom Riello, former PCA minister, interviews Annie Witz, a convert from the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church).  Annie’s father is an elder in the OPC church and serves on the board of Westminster Seminary California.   Annie shares her personal conversion story from being a devout OPC member to a Catholic in the [...]

One of the seven Old Testament books rejected by Martin Luther and subsequent Protestants was the book of Ecclesiasticus, alternatively known by its “Old Latin” title Sirach. The other books rejected by Protestantism are Judith, Tobit, Wisdom, Baruch, and 1 & 2 Maccabees. Ecclesiasticus/Sirach is found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (three copies to be [...]

In February of this year Ryan Glomsrud, the Executive Editor of Modern Reformation, invited me to participate in a roundtable discussion on the subject of sola scriptura, with Michael Horton, editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation, a co-host of the White Horse Inn, and the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary [...]

There are some Protestant apologists who are making the claim that the early church fathers taught that scripture was sufficient. Some of them are careful to admit that the sufficiency taught by the fathers is a material sufficiency but some of them are asserting that the fathers taught that scripture is formally sufficient.

Tom Riello interviews Marc Ayers on the topic of his conversion to the Catholic Church. Marc was a ‘disciple’ of Dr. Greg Bahnsen. Hear him tell how his presuppositional apologetic method helped him see the need for a divinely instituted authority, namely the Catholic Church. To download the mp3, click here.

N. T. Wright’s Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009) is a somewhat polemical response to his Reformed critics, in which Wright summarizes and defends his understanding of St. Paul’s doctrine of justification. For me, the book has proven to be both illuminating and frustrating. This post began as a chronicle [...]

Tom Riello interviews Tom Brown on his recent article on the issue of the canon of scripture.   How do we know which books belong in the Bible?  Who has the authority to answer such a question?  These issues are addressed in this podcast episode. Download the MP3 here.

Proponents of sola scriptura, especially those who would like to believe that the early Church fathers espoused this doctrine, have an important question to consider. Why didn’t the Church address the canon issue at Nicaea?

As Christians, how is it that we know we are saved by the death and resurrection of the incarnate Son of God? For those raised as Christians, the Sunday School sing-song answer “for the Bible tells me so” may come to mind, and this fairly well summarizes the Protestant teaching on the communication of saving truth.