When I first began apologetics online in the mid-1990’s, the internet was brand new and while there was little to no Catholic presence, there was no shortage of bigots who spouted the anti-Catholicism that was popular a century or more earlier. The “Bible alone” proponents were fundamentalist to the core and reduced Christianity to a “book religion.” If a Catholic tried to employ Scripture, because we are the true bible Christians, they would lament that our translations could not be trusted and that we had added books. Some would point to the missals used at Mass or the Breviary said by priests and religious, arguing that these papist books were what we substituted for the real Bible. I remember having the most heated arguments with a Protestant apologist who argued that the only true Bible was the old King James Version without revision— “if it were good enough for Jesus,” he argued, “it is good enough for me!” When it was explained that the Bible was originally in Greek and Hebrew, he would just delete the Catholic objections on his message board (there were no blogs in those days) as just so much spell casting and sorcery. The “Bible alone” champions would use isolated proof texts to answer any challenge, no matter what the actual context was about. They believed they had an immediate understanding of the biblical texts from God and that no commentaries, catechisms, and definitely no Catholic pope were necessary. Debate was hard because they were slippery and far from honest or rational.
What was the truth? The Christians inherited the Old Testament from the Greek speaking Jews of the diaspora. Gospels were composed, letters written, and an oral tradition spoken, that became the nucleus for the New Testament. A living sacred tradition has remained the backdrop for understanding the inspired Word of God. There was no complete Bible and agreed upon New Testament for the first three centuries of the Church’s life. The bishops gathering at Hippo (393 AD) would agree upon the canon. It would only be with the Vulgate Bible composed by St. Jerome that all 73 writings of the Bible were available in a single book, written in the vernacular Latin of the West. (English did not exist as a language.) Up until the invention of the printing press, there were few Bibles and they were very expensive. That would coincide with the reformation and the general availability of bibles (for the past 500 years). Given poor literacy rates, the main way that people absorbed Scriptural truths was from preaching, liturgy, and art. The latter should not be forgotten because both statuary and stained-glass windows often brought to mind the saints and the stories in salvation history. This the fundamentalist condemned as idolatry!
As the years passed, the winds have changed direction and I find myself in arguments with Catholics and Protestants alike who make a claim of the Bible but then ignore what it has to say. Essential salvation truth subsists in the Bible. But the Church comes first in time, not the book. The command to preach the Gospel is what gives birth to the Scriptures.
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