Missouri Synod members believe in the Reformation-era doctrine of sola scriptura, which says Scripture is the only inerrant Christian authority.

Reformation-era doctrine?  Please.  Evidently the author of the article spent some time reading Roman Catholic Apologetics 101.

Take time with your decision,” [Bishop Mark] Hanson said after the vote in Minneapolis. “Step back and understand the magnitude of the decision if you choose to leave, because we will be diminished by your absence.

To which the only reasonable answer is “Our departure could not possibly diminish you more than your own actions have diminished you.  Notice me shaking the dust off my sandals on the way out.”

carl

Carl,

“Sola Scriptura” is certainly a Reformation-era doctrine in the sense that it was at the time of the Reformation that the doctrine was articulated and made prominent by the Reformers.  Certainly the slogan “Sola Scriptura” itself was coined at that time.

One might just as fairly say that the Trinity is a fourth-century doctrine (because it was debated and clarified in the councils of the fourth century) or that the Incarnation is a fifth-century doctrine (because it was debated and clarified in the councils of the fifth century).  That does not mean that the Church did not hold those doctrines from the beginning.  It means only that those doctrines were particularly at risk, and therefore had to be specifically defended, in those later centuries.  From a Protestant perspective it is certainly fair to say that it was only in the sixteenth century that the authority of Scripture seemed to be particularly at risk and in need of defense and explicit statement.

Thus as a matter of Church history there is no problem with calling it a “Reformation-era doctrine.”

ELCA must have wanted to diminish, as any minimally competent observer could have observed happening to ECUSA/TEC since 2003.  It’s even on-line and official.  Check out the numerical reality on the stats provided by the national organization.  Even noted by the official statistician for GenCon2009.

No excuse, (easy) Mark, except -perhaps- you like the kool-aid.