Tuesday, November 29, 2011

How can I understand, unless someone instructs me?

Pope Leo I once said, "A man who has not the most elementary understanding even of the creed itself can have learnt nothing from the sacred texts of the New and Old Testaments." This is quoted in Pelikan's, Acts, in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. The East and West affirm the vital nature of the apostolic witness, as it has been transmitted through the Church's traditions and liturgies, in guiding Christians in their interpretation of Scripture. As Kallistos Ware has said in a CT interview, there are not two sources of authority, Scripture and Tradition; they are inseparably united. I would even suggest that to take away one of these is to try and walk on one leg.