The Obscurity of Scripture: Disputing Sola Scriptura and the Protestant Notion of Biblical Perspicuity
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Turn on Christian radio anywhere in the United States and see how long it takes before someone declares that “Scripture clearly teaches [fill in the blank].” There’s a reason for that, and it has to do with the very origins of Protestant Christianity more than five hundred years ago.
The Protestant Reformation coalesced around five core doctrines: sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus, and soli Deo gloria. But another founding principle served as bedrock for all of them: the doctrine of clarity, or perspicuity. According to this doctrine, which was upheld in various forms by all the major Reformers and remains central to Protestantism today, the Bible is clear enough so that any Christian, relying on the Holy Spirit, will be able to determine at least what is necessary for salvation, if not much more.
The Obscurity of Scripture: Disputing Sola Scriptura and the Protestant Notion of Biblical Perspicuity catalogues and analyzes the historical, theological, and philosophical dimensions of perspicuity and finds the doctrine not only confused but erroneous, destructive, and self-defeating. The Obscurity of Scripture exposes the hopeless dead ends of clarity and, through a consideration of Catholic teaching on the Bible, offers the only way out.
- Catalogues and analyzes the historical, theological, and philosophical dimensions of perspicuity
- Finds the doctrine not only confused but erroneous, destructive, and self-defeating
- Exposes the hopeless dead ends of clarity and offers the only way out
- Foreword
- Introduction: The Ubiquity of Clarity
- Part I: Hitting (and Demolishing) Protestant Bedrock
- Chapter 1: Perspicuity as a Protestant Doctrine
- Chapter 2: Perspicuity as Protestant Bedrock?
- Chapter 3: Preliminary Considerations: What Is to Be Critiqued
- Chapter 4: Philosophical Problems with Perspicuity
- Chapter 5: Individualism and Irresolvable Conflict: Ecclesial Problems with Perspicuity
- Chapter 6: Whose Sin? Whose Ignorance?
- Chapter 7: Perspicuity’s Failure in History
- Part II: A Different Model for Scriptural Interpretation, and Answering Objections
- Chapter 8: Text in Community and Catholic Authority: Another Way to Understand Scripture
- Chapter 9: The Church Fathers Rejected Perspicuity before It Was Perspicuity
- Chapter 10: Considering the Biblical Proof-Texts for and against Perspicuity
- Chapter 11: Considering the Biblical Proof-Texts for an Interpretive Authority
- Chapter 12: Does the Catholic Church Complicate the Simple and Obscure the Clear? Answering Common Objections
- Conclusion
- Selected Bibliography
- Acknowledgments
The Bible itself does not save anyone. No book does. Jesus himself offers salvation to everyone. The Incarnate Word truly saves. This is why the Catechism teaches that Christianity is not a ‘religion of the book,’ but rather a religion of the ‘Word which is incarnate and living.’ Scripture’s obscurity does not denigrate the Bible. The Bible is precious exactly because it is not sufficient. Its very insufficiency points to the all-sufficiency of God—the fount of all holiness, truth, and salvation. With clear prose and authentically Christian insight, Casey J. Chalk invites his readers to reconsider their understanding of the Bible and the Church—and, consequently, their relationship with the Eternal Word. This is a book that I will recommend to friends both Protestant and Catholic.
—Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P., Instructor of Systematic and Moral Theology, Dominican House of Studies
This book by Casey Chalk is a stunning achievement, filled with balanced judgment and lucid style. Chalk’s sophisticated biblical, theological, and philosophical treatment of the doctrine of clarity, otherwise known as perspicuity, provides an extraordinary opportunity for ecumenical exchange between Catholics and Evangelical Protestants. Does clarity on its own ground biblical authority, which is necessary to resolve hermeneutical pluralism? Is it the lone factor adjudicating between rival interpretations of Scripture? Chalk extensively argues against this view because biblical authority is not autonomous. Rather, he maintains the authority of Scripture by defending a view in which Tradition and the Church are intrinsically and necessarily related to Scripture when coming to certainty about everything which has been revealed. This is a must-read book.
—Eduardo J. Echeverria, Professor of Philosophy and Systematic Theology, Graduate School of Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary
Casey Chalk turns a keen analytical eye on a fundamental question that lies beneath so many disagreements between Protestant and Catholic Christians: is Scripture clear on everything, some things, or even anything? Making his case through a wide range of theological, philosophical, historical, and sociological analyses, he provides a compelling answer to that question, offering a light much needed in ecumenical conversations.
—Paul Thigpen, Author of The Biblical Names of Jesus: Beautiful, Powerful Portraits of Christ