Pillars of Sola Scriptura
A book-length response to the two most respected classical defenders of sola Scriptura — the 16th-century Calvinist Anglican William Whitaker, whose Disputation on Holy Scripture James White still calls essential reading, and the 19th-century Anglican William Goode, whose Divine Rule of Faith and Practice modern Presbyterian David T. King calls “never been surpassed.”
Dave Armstrong takes the heart of the Protestant rule of faith — that Scripture alone is the supreme and final authority — and dismantles its biblical defense from inside. Across 26 chapters he answers Whitaker on perspicuity, the canon, and oral tradition; Goode on the Bible’s own self-witness; and modern defenders like David T. King on the standard prooftexts: Romans 16, 2 Timothy 3, Galatians 1, and Acts 17.
Heavy-duty apologetics for serious students. Armstrong’s case isn’t that sola Scriptura is wrong because Catholics say so — it’s that no defense of it has ever stood up to its own biblical standards. As he puts it: “fully and closely examined, it simply doesn’t make sense.”
Inside this book
- The Catholic “three-legged stool” of Scripture, Tradition, and Church — and where sola Scriptura severs the joint
- Refutations of Whitaker on perspicuity, the canon, and the Holy Spirit as “final interpretive judge”
- Refutations of Goode on the Bible’s own self-witness and the Church’s authority
- The standard sola Scriptura prooftexts (2 Timothy 3:16–17, Acts 17:11, Galatians 1, Romans 16) tested against their own context
- The “solo” vs. “sola” Scriptura distinction — a reply to Keith A. Mathison