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20 Answers: Scripture and Tradition
A Twin-fold Source of Truth- In what forms does the word of God come to us? How do we know that the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and complete? Did the Catholic Church add extra books and “traditions of men� to God’s revelation in Scripture? Why do we need Tradition to help us understand Scripture—doesn’t the Bible teach that it alone is sufficient for salvation? In 20 Scripture & Tradition you’ll find smart, solid answers to these questions and many more. 20 Scripture & Tradition examines the first and most important issue in the Christian the manner in which God has communicated to us the saving truths of the gospel. Only with a confident understanding of authority—sure knowledge of what is revealed truth and what isn’t—can we be certain that we are truly following Christ. The 20 Answers Series from Catholic Answers offers hard facts, powerful arguments, and clear explanations of the most important topics facing the Church and the world—all in a compact, easy-to-read package. Check out dozens of other topics in the 20 Answers Series of booklets published by Catholic Answers Press .
- GenresReligion
73 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 6, 2017
I have read 20 of the 23 books available in the Catholic Answers Series. And of those 20 books that I have read Jim Blackburn has written three. His contributions to this amazing series are all excellent books. This specific volume deals with Scripture and Tradition. Jim explains so well his purpose in writing this book is too perfect to summarize, so in his own words:
“All Christians generally agree that Christian doctrine must be determined in accordance with God’s revelation. It makes sense that everything God has revealed is worthy of belief and, in many cases, necessary for salvation. Indeed, Jesus, quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3, emphasizes the importance of the word of God: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’� (Matt 4:4).
Tragically, though, not all Christians agree on what God’s word is, and thus do not agree on all matters of Christian doctrine.
Most non-Catholic Christians claim that the Bible alone is the word of God. This is a relatively novel idea in the history of Christianity, having come to the fore only since the time of the Protestant Reformation. For most of Christian history, Christians have believed that Scripture does not constitute the entirety of the deposit of faith that the first Christians received long before a book of the New Testament was ever written (see Jude 3).
That faith was first delivered to the early Church orally, not in writing. Scholars nearly unanimously agree that the first books of the New Testament (1 and 2 Thessalonians) were not written until the middle of the first century, around A.D. 50�52. Yet, even without these books, the revelation of Jesus Christ was being spread through the oral teaching of the apostles and their successors. The books of the New Testament came to be written over a period of several decades, and it was not always immediately apparent exactly how they should be understood (see 2 Peter 3:16). So the early Christians came to interpret them correctly through authoritative oral teaching—what the Church calls Sacred Tradition (see 2 Peter 1:20�21).
Since the Protestant Reformers rejected Sacred Tradition, the descendants of their faith tradition have been left with only their own fallible interpretations of Scripture alone (sola scriptura) with which to determine their doctrines. This has resulted in countless disagreements and widespread splintering into thousands of Christian denominations.
It is my hope that this booklet will help to dispel the myth of sola scriptura and be a useful instrument for helping Christians fully embrace the word of God.�
And he goes on to do this in giving his answers to the 20 questions that are answers in this volume. And those 20 questions are:
1. What is the “word of God�?
2. What is Sacred Scripture?
3. How do we know books make up the Old Testament and the New Testament?
4. What exactly is Sacred Tradition?
5. Is Sacred Tradition mentioned in the Bible?
6. Is there any evidence for Sacred Tradition actually being handed on from the apostles to their successors down through the centuries?
7. Where can we find a list of all the teachings given to the apostles by divine revelation and contained in Sacred Tradition?
8. Can Sacred Tradition contradict the Bible?
9. Doesn’t Vatican II say that Sacred Scripture—and, therefore, Sacred Tradition by association—is inerrant in only a very limited way?
10. I agree that Church Tradition has authority, but isn’t the Bible the only infallible authority?
11. The Catholic Church claims to be the guardian of the Bible, but didn’t it demonstrate hostility towards Scripture when it added unscriptural books to the Old Testament, namely the Apocrypha?
12. Isn’t the Muratorian Fragment proof that the canon of Scripture was settled long before the fourth century, contrary to what the Catholic Church claims?
13. If Church documents are sometimes infallible, don’t they in effect add to the Bible, in violation of John’s warning in Revelation?
14. Isn’t the Bible all we really need to evangelize the world?
15. Once the New Testament books were written down, didn’t this do away with the need for Sacred Tradition?
16. Maybe we needed Tradition before the biblical canon was finally decided, but after it was—after we know for sure what was Scripture and what wasn’t—shouldn’t have made Tradition unnecessary?
17. Didn’t Jesus say that any tradition that contradicts Scripture is false, meaning that tradition is inferior to Scripture?
18. Since Jesus commonly quoted Sacred Scripture in his disputes with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, doesn’t this prove that he saw the Bible as the sole rule of faith?
19. Doesn’t the biblical example of the Bereans prove that Scripture is the true rule of faith and Sacred Tradition is meaningless?
20. Does the Catholic Church emphasize Sacred Tradition so much that it makes the Bible seem unimportant? Isn’t that why the Church historically tried to prevent people from reading it?
Jim states: “In the Catholic Church, we refer to the apostles� preaching, examples, and institutions as Sacred Tradition (or apostolic tradition) and their writing (including the Old Testament that they received from the Jews) as Sacred Scripture. Many other Christians believe that only the written Bible is the word of God. They see Scripture alone as the only definitive source of divine truth. Catholics, however, believe that God did not limit his revelation to a book; instead he gave his saving truth to mankind in two complementary and equally authoritative forms.� And that is the crux of the matter in this book, and in dialogue between Catholic and most other Christian denominations. It is also great that he draws from many protestant theologians to answer his questions. For example: “Today, many Protestants do not realize that their Bibles are lacking so much text that was originally included. However, anyone who studies the authentic history of the canon must admit that this is the case. As Protestant church historian J. N. D. Kelly writes, “It should be observed that the Old Testament thus admitted as authoritative in the Church was somewhat bulkier and more comprehensive [than the Protestant Bible] . . . It always included, though with varying degrees of recognition, the so-called . . . deuterocanonical books,� which are rejected by Protestants.�
One of the most powerful pieces in the book is chapter 5. For many Protestants focus on what they call the great commission, but do not read it in context. Jim declares: “Notice that Jesus did not tell the apostles to write down everything he had taught them. He simply commanded them to teach it. Much of this teaching later made its way into written form and became part of Sacred Scripture, but every bit of it was first—and still is—part of Sacred Tradition.� I have never really heard it explained that way and it immediately struck a chord with me and would have been great to know in so many conversations from the past.
Overall this is one of my favorite book in the series. It is an excellent read. Another amazing book in an incredible series.
Read the review on my blog and reviews of other books from Catholic Answers.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews:
September 30, 2017
I am always impressed by how much content the authors are able to fit into the 20 Answers booklets. Blackburn expertly addresses a number of oppositions to the idea of Sacred Tradition by pulling from resources like The Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, early Church writings, and Dei Verbum (from Vatican II). I appreciated that he made his definitions for the word, Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and human tradition abundantly clear so the reader can focus on his arguments rather than semantics. He did a nice job building on topics and restating some points without becoming too redundant. My one criticism is Blackburn uses so many quotes that the reading can get a little clunky because of the slightly different writing styles. The content within the quotations, however, is important and expressed in such a great way that it makes sense that Blackburn chose to write this way. Overall, I thought this book was very well done, and the clunkiness of the reading was a minor detail that doesn’t really detract from the overall quality of this resource.
May 7, 2018
Good Answers to the Protestants who do not accept Sacred Tradition and do not agree with Catholic Scripture.
I was an evangelical Christian. I read the KJV bible and trusted my pastor. But then I read many other teachings and learned that my pastor did not teach me things from before the Reformation and that the rapture was a wrong belief. Once I learned some of the right beliefs, I converted to Catholicism. I have tried to encourage others to come home to Rome. Now, I have a daughter who is marrying a non-believer and is not worried about him going to heaven. She does not even have questions about what will happen to their children.
I was an evangelical Christian. I read the KJV bible and trusted my pastor. But then I read many other teachings and learned that my pastor did not teach me things from before the Reformation and that the rapture was a wrong belief. Once I learned some of the right beliefs, I converted to Catholicism. I have tried to encourage others to come home to Rome. Now, I have a daughter who is marrying a non-believer and is not worried about him going to heaven. She does not even have questions about what will happen to their children.
November 27, 2023
This was a solid basic treatment of the Sola Scriptura debate. Though it makes sense to me, I am not sure necessarily it’ll convert everyone who comes across it. It’s a hard debate to simply “solve�, because it gets into strange logical loops that can’t be readily disentangled. It’s like the chicken or the egg question, where we all claim we know for sure it was one or the other.
Anyway, another one in the books! Can’t wait to crush this reading challenge.
Anyway, another one in the books! Can’t wait to crush this reading challenge.
June 23, 2024
The first part of this little book was very boring. But the last couple points that were written about were interesting. That's why I'm giving it 2 🌟
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