Tradition and Authority

For these determined “Biblicists” had their contemporary philosophy in their heads, took it with them to the Bible and so most certainly read themselves into the Bible no less than Church Fathers and Scholastics. They were no doubt free of Church dogma but not of their own dogmas and conceptions.

Luther and Calvin did not go to work on the Bible in this way. Neither should we. It is in the Church that the Bible is read; it is by the Church that the Bible is heard. That means that in reading the Bible we should also hear what the Church, the Church that is distinguished from my person, has up to now read and heard from the Bible. Are we at liberty to ignore all that? Do the great teachers of the Church, do the Councils not possess a –certainly not heavenly—but, even so, earthly, human “authority”? We should not be too ready to say, "No."

To my mind the whole question of tradition falls under the Fifth Commandment: Honor father and mother! Certainly that is a limited authority; we have to obey God more than father and mother. But we have also to obey father and mother.

And so I should call to all those who get excited when they hear the words Orthodoxy, Council, Catechism: Dear friends, no excitement! There is no question of bondage and constraint. It is merely that in the Church the same kind of obedience as, I hope, you pay to your father and mother, is demanded of you towards the Church’s past, toward the “elders” of the Church.

Karl Barth, Credo, “Appendix: Answers to Questions”

This Temporal Cycle of life and the Cosmic

It was a simple wedding; nothing very elaborate at all. As we sat there witnessing the simplicity of the setting and of the ceremony, I found myself with a sense that something of momentus cosmic consequence was happening. Yes, that is true of all weddings, but for some reason I felt it more keenly at this one.

Of course what that cosmic consequence will be will not be fully known in this life. But this I know and believe; the mundane things and cycles of this life in some way or fashion will echo into eternity. The story of Ruth comes to mind as a classic Biblical example. We are all part of a much bigger story. Our story ’s threads will and are being intricately woven into the fabric of that much greater Story.