Sola Scripture

Sola Scriptura by Claire Richard

In 1520, Martin Luther published his thoughts on how to reform the Catholic Church. 200 years later in 1784, Kant argument unravels in accordance with Luther as they both led to a religious and cognitive revolution. The three pillars Luther rested his critiques for the churches were: Sola Scriptura, Priesthood of all Believers, and Soda Fidel. The most important of the three is Sola Scriptura, which reoccurs later in the Enlightenment. Luther and Kant intended Solar Scriptura to help the followers of the church come out of a religious depression, yet it is just as damaging to their mission as it is helpful.

Luther argues in, “To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation” that the flaw of Sola Scriptura is that those who preach the scripture are not learned enough to be respectable leaders on the subject. “The Romanists want to be the only masters of Holy Scripture, although they never learn a thing from the Bible all their life long” (Luther, “A Letter to German Nobility” 4). Luther’s anger is justified against the clergy that preach without fully understanding the meaning and he addresses the spiritual danger of listening to an unlearned leader. However, Luther’s only remedy to the problem is to stop following those who preach the scripture. This leaves the peasants, whom the article is aimed towards, to read the scripture themselves and does not address the issue of lack of schooling during the 1500’s. Few peasants could read or write and listening to the sermons was their only form of learning the texts. Luther is attempting to take away their church without offering anything to fill the void. The next most reasonable option would be to look to the schools in order to educated the masses but according the Luther the universities are also in need of reformation (Luther, “A Letter to German Nobility” 9). While Luther makes a good point that the blind following the blind leads to a detrimental, sinful society, he offers no means to improvement instead only reproaches the church hierarchy.

In 1784, Immanuel Kant addresses the issue of ignoring the scripture. Supporting his theme of Enlightenment, Kant believes that scripture should be interpreted with reason, and on a deeper level than Luther had originally considered necessary. The problem with Kant’s challenge is that scripture, if left to the individual person, would be interpreted completely different based on individual experiences, eventually leading to a potential evolution of the meaning. Kant scolds society for living a sheltered life and says that, “few among the guardians…will always think for themselves” (Kant, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment 1). The danger of not thinking for oneself is a consistent theme in religious readings. Yet, there is always a need to have one person stand up and to unify the meaning of scripture and ultimately unify a church. Giving the people absolute freedom to interpret their text in a way the most accommodates and reflects their life, as Kant wishes, deprives the meaning out of religion. One’s life should conform around religion, and not the other way around.

The idea of following scripture was originally to bring a religion out of a dark era. There is a natural line between believing and following and to push the line in either direction as Luther and Kant attempt to do is dangerous. It is wrong to allow the officials to determine the meaning of the text, but to ask for ultimate interpretational freedom leaves only hallow printed words. Luther and Kant agree that following scripture is good, but to preach Sola Scripture without fully addressing the negative effects is just as dangerous as not addressing it at all.

Kant, Immanuel. "An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?" Konigsberg in Prussia, 1784. Print.

Luther, Martin. "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate." 1520. Print.