Lecture 5: Scripture and Tradition

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ghbkfdml7srl84a7qzbb/Video-Lecture-5-Scripture-and-Tradition.mp4?rlkey=w6y6wyrobnanzfxyj0rf9rqki&dl=1 

Scripture and Tradition

St Gregory of Nyssa: "Let the inspired Scriptures be our umpire [arbiter], and the vote of truth will be given those whose dogmas are found to agree with the divine words" - On the Holy Trinity and of the Godhead of the Holy Spirit

Three distinct ways of looking at Scripture and Tradition:

  1. Scripture and Tradition - two sources or means of God's revelation. Roman Catholic sources
  2. Scripture alone - Protestant view
  3. Scripture within Tradition - old patristic view, well anchored in the apostolic tradition and emblematic of Orthodox Tradition

In Orthodoxy, Tradition is conceived as the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Scripture is the Church's pulsating heart, always radiating life and sustenance to the members of the body, challenging it to dialogue with the living Word of God. Scripture within Tradition

Formed and Informed: The Church has been formed and informed by Scripture since inception. It is the Church's responsibility to interact with the Scripture to keep the Tradition alive. Scripture has an ecclesial character: Jews and Christians preserved their foundational memories and gradually turned them into liturgical acts.

Traditionalist Readers place a text in the traditional context of their community of faith. Historical critics attempt to analyze a text based on original historical, cultural, religious context. Context is unavoidable, and thus assumptions are unavoidable. There is no fully objective interpretation of Scripture.

Two important events triggered the transition from oral proclamation to written documentation

  1. Death of the first apostles (James, Peter and Paul) in 60s AD
  2. Destruction of the Temple in 70AD

In the 1st Century, the apostles and their disciples are the interpreters of Scripture. Beginning in the 2nd Century, the bishops are "presiding in the place of God" (Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr). "Be careful, therefore, O bishop, to study the word, that you may be able to explain everything exactly, and that you may copiously nourish your people with much doctrine, and enlighten them with the light of the Law" (Constitutions 2.2.5)

To defend the faith against various forms of Gnosticism, the Orthodox Church appealed to verifiable episcopal succession. It is the bishops' unique role to teach definitively on behalf of the whole Church. It is the entire Church (people of God) that are the tradents of authentic apostolic tradition.

The Church is the only authentic depositary of the apostolic proclamation, so it is the Church that has both the mandate and authority to interpret the Scripture.

The proclamation of the Word of God in Church generates the Tradition that is the life of the Church in the Spirit.

Tradition as Life and Journey of the Church

The two words related to Tradition primarily designate the action of handing over or transmitting the Tradition:

Tradition is a fluid reality, easier to describe than to define. A dynamic process that is still unfolding.

Tradition is the rich, never exhausted life of the Triune God experienced by believers within the Church through:

Phases of Tradition Development
  1. Oral Proclamation (kerygma) of the Word of God made flesh
  2. Rule of Faith - more normative and better contoured in its content
  3. Codification of the Tradition
    • Conciliar statements codified by Justinian in the mid-sixth century AD
    • Process of screening, filtering and compartmentalization of the entire Tradition at various times culminating in the 17th Century

Kerygma: Proclamation or Tradition of the Apostles.

Rule of Faith: Statements of faith or creeds that became the norm of right interpretation of the Scripture

Codification of the Tradition

Scripture-Tradition Relationship

Revision #2
Created 11 February 2025 13:40:00 by Morcous Wahba
Updated 11 February 2025 16:03:42 by Morcous Wahba