Socrates vs Sola Scriptura

One of the greatest arguments against Sola Scriptura was articulated by a pagan philosopher many centuries before the Protestant Revolution came along:

SocratesHe who thinks, then, that he has left behind him any art in writing, and he who receives it in the belief that anything in writing will be clear and certain, would be an utterly simple person, and in truth ignorant of the prophecy of Ammon, if he thinks written words are of any use except to remind him who knows the matter about which they are written.

PhaedrusVery true.

SocratesWriting, Phaedrus, has this strange quality, and is very like painting; for the creatures of painting stand like living beings, but if one asks them a question, they preserve a solemn silence. And so it is with written words; you might think they spoke as if they had intelligence, but if you question them, wishing to know about their sayings, they always say only one and the same thing. And every word, when once it is written, is bandied about, alike among those who understand and those who have no interest in it, and it knows not to whom to speak or not to speak; when ill-treated or unjustly reviled it always needs its father to help it; for it has no power to protect or help itself.

Now tell me; is there not another kind of speech, or word, which shows itself to be the legitimate brother of this bastard one, both in the manner of its begetting and in its better and more powerful nature? 

PhaedrusWhat is this word and how is it begotten, as you say? 

SocratesThe word which is written with intelligence in the mind of the learner, which is able to defend itself and knows to whom it should speak, and before whom to be silent. 

PhaedrusYou mean the living and breathing word of him who knows, of which the written word may justly be called the image. 

SocratesExactly. Now tell me this. Would a sensible husbandman, who has seeds which he cares for and which he wishes to bear fruit, plant them with serious purpose in the heat of summer in some garden of Adonis, and delight in seeing them appear in beauty in eight days, or would he do that sort of thing, when he did it at all, only in play and for amusement? Would he not, when he was in earnest, follow the rules of husbandry, plant his seeds in fitting ground, and be pleased when those which he had sowed reached their perfection in the eighth month? 

PhaedrusYes, Socrates, he would, as you say, act in that way when in earnest and in the other way only for amusement. 

SocratesAnd shall we suppose that he who has knowledge of the just and the good and beautiful has less sense about his seeds than the husbandman? 

PhaedrusBy no means. 

SocratesThen he will not, when in earnest, write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the truth effectually.(The Phaedrus, A Socratic dialogue by Plato written around 370bc)

And THAT, in a nutshell, is why Sola Scriptura does not work.  Mankind needs the Church, the infallible interpreter of all God's revelations, to explain that which is contained in the Bible.

Sincerely,

De Maria