I just want to quickly point out a blog article that articulates something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and that is the necessity of a living teaching authority in the Church, which we Catholics call the Magisterium. Please check it out if you’re interested. Also, here is the complete Answers to Main Objections Against Dominus Iesus by then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI). I just have to quote this one part because it’s so good!

When the contours of the faith are blurred in a chorus of opposing exegetical efforts (materialist, feminist, liberationist exegeses, etc.), it seems evident that it is precisely the relationship with the professions of faith, and thus with the Church’s living tradition, that guarantees the literal interpretation of Sacred Scripture, protecting it from subjectivism and preserving its originality and authenticity. Therefore the Magisterium does not diminish the authority of Sacred Scripture but safeguards it by taking an inferior position to it and allowing the faith flowing from it to emerge.