THE ROLE OF SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION

In most every religious syand indstem, there are scriptures (sacred texts) and traditions that define and identify the beliefs and practices of that system.  In some cases, such as in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the sacred texts constitute the basic core of their belief systems.  In other words, the beliefs and practices of that system are based on "what the text says."

In some segments of Christianity, the doctrine and theology are based on "what the Bible says."  In other segments of Christianity, the theology is based on the hermeneutics (interpretations) of the text, and also on how the preceding oral tradition gave way to the text.

Until recently, almost the entire spectrum of theological opinion would have agreed that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, together with the doctrinal interperpretations, occupy a unique and indispensable place of authority for Christian faith, practice, and reflection.  But this consensus now seems to be falling apart (Edward Earley and Peter C. Hodgson in "Scripture and Tradition." Christian Theology: An Introduction to the Traditions and Tasks. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994, p. 60). 

Formation of the Scripture Principle in Postexilic Judaism,

What is called the scripture principle, originated as a solution to  a major crisis in Israel's history, i.e. the dispersion of the Jewish people following the Babylonian Exile.  This event significantly modified Israel's social institutions, separated a portion of the Jewish people from those institutions, and brought about an acute threat of cultural and religious assimilations. The Diaspora Jews, now lacking the land, temple, and priesthood, created two new institutions for preserving their socioreligious identity: the synagoue and the written Torah (Ibid., p. 64)

Under these circumstances, "scripture" came to mean a written deposit of the complete and definitive revelation of Yahweh to the people, functioning as the primary source of cultic and moral regulaltion to the community.  Threee basic convictions came to be held about the Torah:

1.  It is the exhaustive location of a now past divine communication, relative to all present and future time and places, containing at least implicitly, an answer for every need and crisis.  

2.  It is toally and equally valid in all its parts and details.

3.  It contains symbols, references to the nation, land, holy city, and temple, permitting the endurance of a people whose self-understanding remained that of a dispersed nation, a quasi-political and religious entity, having as its regulated law what was originally given for its life as a nation in possession  of its own land (Ibid., pps. 63-64).

The Christian Appropriation of the Scripture Principle

Although as an offspring of Judaism, the early Christian community inherited the Hebrew/Jewish scriptures and soon produced a collection of writings of their own, it did not necessarily have to adopt the scripture prinicle.  In fact, through the first century and a half of its existence, a certain tension can be discerned over precisely this issue (Ibid., p.67).

In Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, the basic notion is that the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Early Church (experiences and traditions) preceded written revelation.  So, in some respects, experience and tradition "gave birth" to the Scripture.

In Protestantism. it was and still is believed that the Scripture carries primacy over the tradition and over experience.  The rules of "Prima Scriptura" and "Sola "Scriptura" relegate experience and tradition to a secondary status.  

Has the "House of Authority ( whether the traditions and Scriptures as interpreted by the Church, or the Scriptures themselves as the final authority in the life of the  Church) collapsed?  That is something that will have to be determined on an ongoing basis by lay people, ministers, scholars, and theologians.

Dr. Juan A. Carmona