Scripture and Tradition

by Patrick Madrid

As a theological peritus (expert) at the Second Vatican Council, Yves Congar, O.P. exerted a profound influence on the Council's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum. Congar's widely lauded contribution to Dei Verbum was the culmination of his decades of sustained scholarship, deeply exploring Sacred Tradition and its relationship to Scripture and the Church. His adroit and penetrating research into the testimony of the Fathers and medieval doctors yielded a remarkable abundance of rich, compelling data that enabled him to formulate what he saw as a viable solution to the twin problems of sola Scriptura and Tradition the former is problematic for Catholics, while the latter is problematic for Protestants. This book explores Congar's understanding of the concept of the material sufficiency of Scripture and its relationship to Sacred Tradition, as well as his critique of the Protestant principle of sola Scriptura and its inherent assertion that Scripture is formally, not just materially, sufficient.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published September 23, 2014

About the author

PATRICK MADRID is the publisher of Envoy Magazine, a journal of contemporary Catholic thought, and the director of the Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College. Since its inception in 1996, the Envoy team has garnered numerous journalism awards, including several first-place awards in the magazine-of-the-year “General Excellence” category from the Catholic Press Association.

Patrick is the author or editor of 14 books on Catholic themes including, Pope Fiction, Search and Rescue, Does the Bible Really Say That, 150 Bible Verses Every Catholic Should Know, and The Godless Delusion: A Catholic Challenge to Modern Atheism (Spring 2010). He edited and co-authored the acclaimed multi-volume Surprised by Truth series.

He has published numerous popular articles on Scripture, Church history, patristics, apologetics, and evangelization in various Catholic and Protestant periodicals, and he has contributed scholarly articles on apologetics in the New Catholic Encyclopedia.

Active in apologetics since 1987, he worked at Catholic Answers for eight years (from January 1988 to January 1996), where he served as vice president and helped co-found that apostolate's flagship magazine, This Rock, in January of 1990.

Patrick is a cradle-Catholic, not a convert. By God's grace, he was raised in the Catholic Faith and has been a practicing Catholic his entire life.

Growing up in Southern California, he attended grammar school at the Mission San Juan Capistrano parish school, where for years he served as an altar boy for the parish's daily Traditional Latin Mass in the famed Serra Chapel. Ever since his boyhood, Patrick has loved the Traditional Latin Mass.

Patrick earned a bachelor of science degree in business from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor of philosophy degree (B.Phil.) from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, where he is completing a master's degree in dogmatic theology. He has also done graduate studies in theology at the University of Dallas.

He is the host of several EWTN television series, including “Pope Fiction,” “Search & Rescue,” and "Where Is That In the Bible?" and he hosts the Thursday edition of EWTN Radio's “Open Line” broadcast, heard on approximately 150 AM & FM stations across the United States, as well as on shortwave and on the Sirius Satellite Radio Network (Thursdays from 3:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m. ET). He is also a regular guest on the "Catholic Answers Live" program and Sirius Radio's "The Catholic Channel."

Patrick serves on the board of trustees of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, CA, on the board of directors of St. Gabriel Catholic Radio, in Columbus, Ohio, and on the board of advisors for Catholics United for the Faith, Immaculate Heart Radio Network, and Catholic Scripture Study International. He authored all the original website content for CatholicsComeHome.org, where he also serves as a theologica