[adiaireton8]

I didn't claim that the Catholic Church "has a monopoly" on Scripture. But Christ did not leave us with a book. Christ left us with a Magesterium. Even a cursory study of early Church history shows that. From the Magesterium came the New Testament books, and from the Magesterium came the decisions concerning the contents of the canon, eventually ratified ecumenically in the fourth and fifth centuries. If you read the selection from Called to Communion at the very beginning of this thread, you will that then Cardinal Ratzinger is making the same point. The fundamental Protestant mistake is to take the Book and reject the Magesterium. But the authority of the former is dependent on the authority of the latter. The very notion of "Sola Scriptura" is completely absent for the first fourteen hundred years of Church history, until the time of Wyclif, Hus, and the major Protestant Reformers. Sola Scriptura is a novelty, not something that was present from the beginning. That is one of the reasons that Cardinal Newman said "To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant".

-A8

[Uncle Chip]

'Cardinal Newman said "To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant".'

---- "but to be deeper in history is also to cease from being Roman Catholic".

[wmfights]

"Even a cursory study of early Church history shows that. From the Magesterium came the New Testament books, and from the Magesterium came the decisions concerning the contents of the canon,..."
_______________________________

When exactly did this Magesterium determine the canon?

Who was in this magesterium and where did they meet?

I know I can trace the formation of the Canon to specific individuals, places and times.

[marajade]

"But Christ did not leave us with a book."

Kinda goes against John 1.