THE AUGUSTINIAN ANTICIPATION OF THE SOLA SCRIPTURA PRINCIPLE

Abstract

Martin Luther and the other Reformers of the 16th century had some theological emphases. In particular the Latin terms Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus and Sola Scriptura can be mentioned as fundamental in their theology. Sometimes, the Reformers are accused of introducing theological innovations within the Church and thus causing unnecessary uproar and schisms by questioning papal authority. Each of the theological principles mentioned is far from being a theological innovation, rather, they can already be found among patristic authors. This paper aims to show how the theological principle of Sola Scriptura, instead of being a doutrinary revolution of the Protestant movement, is the recover of a theme studied before by the patristic philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo. To this end, quotations from Hippo and Luther, which were found through bibliographic review research, will be presented alternately and comparatively.