Sola scriptura: A Biblia tekintélye, türelem és állandó kinyilatkoztatás
Sola Scriptura: Biblical Authority, Tolerance, and Ongoing Revelation

Summary/Abstract: The occasion of the 450th anniversary of the Edict of Religious Tolerance promulgated at Torda in 1568 requires of us some reflection concerning the Bible. One key principle of the Protestant Reformation, after all, was that of sola scriptura, questioning the accumulation of post-scriptural creeds, rituals, hierarchies, and practices that had come to separate the faithful from a more direct experience of God’s word of grace as an ongoing presence in human life. Tolerance in religious debate was then practiced (to a degree), and encouraged at Torda. In our own time, it seems rare. Our 21st century, in which electronic communication has supplanted Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, often fosters far more polarization than reasoned discussion. Identity politics now divides us along lines of race, ethnicity, tradition, creed, class, gender, or sexual orientation. The Biblical story of Babel illustrates how new technology, and an arrogance that goes with it, can divide humanity. Yet surely that of Pentecost, in which the Spirit descends upon even those who consider themselves the Elect, should encourage us to try to speak and to be understood in tongues not even of our own inheritance. It is in that spirit that this short essay was written.

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