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Examined Doctrine

Scripture & Authority

3 questions in this part of the map. Each one shows the views side by side, who holds each view, and their own words wherever they can be quoted.

  1. Is the Bible the final word, or does the church’s tradition share that authority?

    Authority of Scripture

    Everyone on this map treats the Bible as God’s word and appeals to it. They split over where the church’s handed-down teaching and its leaders fit: under Scripture and checked by it, beside it with real weight of their own, or as the place where Scripture is received and read. That gives three views.

    3 views: Scripture alone is final; Scripture together with church tradition; Scripture first, read within the church · 39 figures placed

  2. Do the extra Old Testament books, like Tobit and Maccabees, belong in the Bible?

    Canon of the Old Testament

    Some Bibles include Old Testament books such as Tobit, Sirach and Maccabees that others leave out; Protestants call them the Apocrypha, others the deuterocanonical books. The split is over whether they are Scripture or only reading that sits outside it, and two early writers on the map come before the argument started. That gives three views.

    3 views: Not part of the Bible; Part of the Bible; Too early for the dispute · 19 figures placed

  3. Can people know God just from the world around them and their own conscience?

    Natural / general revelation

    Most on this map who answer agree that nature on its own cannot save anyone. They differ over whether creation still shows God clearly enough to leave everyone without excuse, or gives no real knowledge of him apart from Christ. One figure, Billy Graham, said late in life that it can lead someone to saving faith without hearing of Christ, though his own statements on it changed over the years.

    3 views: Clear enough to leave no excuse; No real path to God; Can lead to saving faith · 12 figures placed