The March 2011 issue of First Things included an essay by Timothy George, president of Beeson Divinity School, entitled "Reading the Bible with the Reformers," in which he argued the Bible should be read in dialogue with the Church's historic creeds and confessions, along with the last 200o years of interpretation. Finding this rather standard protestant fare, my only reaction was to wonder how a Baptist can place himself within the broad stream of ecclesiastical consensus. But then, I'm a presbyterian curmudgeon.
Given that I was reading First Things, I should have anticipated the vehement objections registered by several Roman Catholic correspondents in the May issue's letters column. These complained that Protestants cannot have a "churchly hermeneutics" as they do not accept Rome's (supposedly) authoritative magisterium. In a polite reply, Timothy George pointed out theological divisions within Roman Catholicism not only prior to the Protestant Reformation, but today as well, forcefully demonstrating that Rome's recourse to an ecclesiastical authority which stands over the Scriptures has utterly failed to produce anything like a doctrinal consensus.
For once, I cheered on the Baptist. This material is available online, but only to paying subscribers of the print edition. Perhaps you can still find the May issue at better newsstands everywhere.
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