Relationship Between Tradition And Scripture

Tradition is based on practices, ideas and institutions that have passed through time and has been produced from its earliest of origins. Conservatives stress the importance of tradition as it allows continuity between different time frames, traditional conservatives are against change so tradition creates a bases of society staying the same for examples, in terms of being hierarchical. The terms of tradition has caused conflict within conservatism as the New Right – the neoliberals and neoconservatives, have avoided placing any importance of tradition and continuity needed in society thus showing tradition and continuity is less followed by conservatives now.

In fact, the presence and identification of errors within the texts of Scripture do not serve to weaken the doctrine of preservation; rather it serves to strengthen preservation by the recognition and elimination of textual error. DEVELOPING THE NEED FOR A CANON

The development of the established Holy Bible was a long, drawn out process that started with the foundation of the original Jewish scriptures, formerly known as the Torah. Building off of Jewish ideals, theologians and philosophers started compiling scriptures with the ultimate result of the New Testament canon. Typically, many factors were taken into account when distinguishing the credibility or incredibility of a given scripture. For example, apostolic succession, where and when it was written as well as the cohesiveness with the other scriptures (referring to the Old Testament, as well as the documents within what was to become the New Testament). There were various depictions of the New Testament as the universally accepted canon was still developing, some of which contained writings that were certainly questionable. However, there was an initial establishment of the scriptural canon that jump started the process of paving the road towards the Holy Bible as we know it today. It was the absurdity of Marcion’s teachings and that prompted the church to establish an orthodox position on doctrine.

The process by which Scripture has been preserved and compiled is one whose history is worth noting. The early church had many opportunities to share the Good News of Christ via word of mouth, but from the time of Christ’s resurrection until the mid-second century, there had not been a single culmination of writings considered to be essential for the purposes of

Bruce offers a solid explanation of the formation of the canon chronologically starting with the Hebrew scriptures (p. 21) until the 4th century where church councils started to present the first spoken finished canon (p. 97). Bruce shows the importance of the Old Testament scriptures, but writes most about the New Testament. He not only shows how the New Testament came to be a canon but offers a deep analysis of non-canonical scripture called the Apocrypha (pp. 48, 90-93).

“One has to consult the sayings of the Fathers of the Church, as well as other ancient writers. This helps us understand the historical changes which have occurred over the years. Reading the Fathers can give meaning to many of the rubrics, many of which are not carried out properly because of lack of understanding of their meaning”.

Scholars prefer to focus on religious traditions rather than just “religion” because religious traditions are “a tradition is an historical context or network of linguistic, personal, and cultural relationships” (Portier 19). Traditions can be limiting like the legal tradition in America where we carry it around because it shapes our ideas of what is right and what is wrong. Traditions can also be freeing like the civil rights movement which ended slavery and ended a limiting tradition. Traditions are used as a resource to answer the deeper questions about life. Also, scholars prefer to focus on religious traditions due to a problem associated with “religion”. The problem with “religion” is what does the term “religion” actually refer to?

reality. It was as if boats had their rudders removed, and they were permitted to drift freely. Today, we often refer to our Judeo-Christian heritage as based on law and legal precedent. In reality, the Christian part of this tradition did not become part of our Western morality until after the English referred back to the Torah, began to read Hebrew and incorporated the Jewish tradition in the system of laws based on written laws and legal precedents and then became known as the Judeo-Christian tradition. Until then, the governance of a community was based on power – those with it made individualized decisions based on at best their own personal dictates or, at worst, expediency. For their daily lives the people looked to the village priest,

For as long as records have been maintained, the Bible remains the bestselling book worldwide, year after year (Jeynes, 2012). One might be curious about the reasons it is popular, or more importantly, how did it come about. Called the canon of Scriptures, or a ‘list’, it is the compilation of biblical books regarded by Christians as “uniquely authoritative” (Klein, Blomberg, & Hubbard, Jr., 1993, p. 103). It includes 66 books encompassing thousands of years of history, written in multiple genres, and authored by many individuals. Inclusion into the canon required the necessity of scripture to meet specific criteria. Careful study dictated what became standard for believers (Klein, Blomberg, & Hubbard, Jr., 1993). A person’s understanding of the canonization of the Bible will affect how they will view the validity and authoritativeness of God’s Word.

Peter and the vicar of Christ was affirmed,Both scripture and tradition are expressions of God's revelation and lastly Human nature is not totally depraved.

What problems faced the Christian church after Jerusalem’s fall and the break with Judaism that resulted?

It is important to note that the New Testament was not yet complete. Thus, teaching the tradition followed along with whatever “scriptures” a particular bishop or church had in their possession. Williams provided excerpts from Ignatius of Antioch’s letters in which creedal-like fragments similar to the Apostle’s Creed were used. “The creedal-like fragments and simple confessions formulated in the apostolic era established patterns by which subsequent Christian communities strove to identify and transmit their faith (pp. 75).” To conclude the chapter, Williams reiterates to the reader that the early apologists had to rely on tradition over scriptures for two reasons. First, the scriptures as we know them today were not determined at that time. Secondly, Gnostics used the same biblical texts giving it their own spin, so the apologists used tradition to solidify their points. “Irenaeus concludes that one cannot proceed with proofs from Scripture without resorting to a reference outside of it ... the truth is found in the Tradition of the apostles manifested to the world through the agency of the churches (pp.

Within Yves Congar’s The Meaning of Tradition, he sets out to define the traditions of the Catholic Church. Congar begins his analysis of the role of Tradition in the Catholic Church by defining it; his definition states that Tradition is a gift from God that is passed down subsequent generations. According to Congar the Church’s tradition involves sharing Christ’s revelation, so that God’s revelation can be passed down throughout space and time. Congar devotes sections of his book to the role of magisterium in the Church. The magisterium has a pivotal role in analyzing the doctrines of the faith and providing the people of God with an explanation of its meaning. By doing this, the magisterium is exercising its role as the successors of Jesus’ apostles in guiding the faithful. The Magisterium is essential to ensuring that the faithful create a personal relationship with God. Congar, attributes the magisterium’s role in the Tradition of the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit. According to Congar argues that the Holy Spirit has inspired the Church throughout history. The Holy Spirit also works through the people, giving them the gifts necessary for understanding the word of God. Congar continues to ascribe the Church’s tradition to its familiar atmosphere that allows faith to grow in believers. Congar goes on to state that the Church’s tradition does not stem from Scripture alone, the uniting force of God’s word. Scripture needs to come from an inspired source, alone it can

Oral traditions are historical traditions passed down by word of mouth from one generation to another without written instruction. Oral tradition was used during

During the early history of the church, there was no such thing as a New Testament “canon.” The selection of books that were to be included or excluded from the texts used by the church was the responsibility of each individual church body, and thus varied greatly from location to location. Because there was no canon – (books considered