By the Word of God Alone: Sola Scriptura and the Leaders of the Reformation

Authors

Ning Xi, Emory University

Abstract

Prominent Reformers, such as Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and Thomas Müntzer, had sharp disagreements on what parts of the Bible were the most important, what worship should look like, what is allowed and forbidden for Christians, the meaning of the most sacred rituals, whether there is any other source of communication between God and mortals besides the Scripture, and the relationship between believers and temporal rulers. By analyzing their commentaries and treatises on theological matters, one concludes that sola scriptura did more to divide the reformers than to unite them since anyone could find some part of the Bible to support their positions. That was an effect of the Scripture being a diverse collection of several histories, prophecies, letters, and sayings that span from the beginning of time to the Roman Empire written by many authors from countless places and backgrounds rather than a single cohesive document.

First Page

15

Last Page

23

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Xi, Ning (2023) "By the Word of God Alone: Sola Scriptura and the Leaders of the Reformation," Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History: Vol. 13: Iss. 2, Article 2.
DOI: 10.20429/aujh.2023.130202
Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/aujh/vol13/iss2/2