Scripture, Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils, final post

This series of posts began with a post from Caldonia Sun found here related to the autumn book club on mysticism. It triggered me to begin reflecting again on Holy Tradition, what it is, and what it means for our lives. But, behind it was also a whole set of discussions over a several year period with Huw over at Sarx on the difference between tradition and Tradition. Oddly enough, I have now come... [Read more]

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Scripture, Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils, part 06

This will probably be the least satisfying posting, both for myself and for those reading this. Remember that it took decades for the Church to work out the four negatives (only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation) that define our Lord Jesus Christ. I have very little faith that I can give a good via negativa description of Holy... [Read more]

Scripture, Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils, part 05

It took a little longer to return to this subject than I thought. But, what is Holy Tradition? In order to understand more about Holy Tradition, it is very helpful at this time to use a way of speaking that is much more common in the East than in the West. And that is what is called variously, Apophatic Theology, the Via Negativa, or Negative Theology. One description of the Via Negativa is, “In... [Read more]

Scripture, Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils, part 04

And now, back to our regular programming. As we have been talking about Holy Tradition, part of the problem that I see is that many people want Holy Tradition to be a list of canons, a list of practices, a list of dress codes, a list of personal grooming codes, etc., all of which can be easily parsed so that it is possible to easily tell when one is following Holy Tradition and when one is not. That... [Read more]

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Scripture, Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils, part 03

St. Vincent of Lerins Let me make some comments, as an aside, in order to make myself clear before I return to what I was discussing. The Holy Spirit works through many means. I am only mentioning three of them: Scriptures, Holy Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils. I list the Scriptures as separate from Holy Tradition, not because I have a Protestant background, but because of their nature. There is... [Read more]

Scripture, Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils, part 02

Tongue-in-cheek, please laugh! Yesterday I gave examples of how Tradition has vetoed Papal bulls, Roman Catholic Councils, and Ecumenical Councils. In each case, there are still many who would insist that those pronouncements are valid and to be obeyed, even while there is significant disobedience to the pronouncements. That is, Tradition is not a static set of statements handed down to us from the... [Read more]

Scripture, Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils, part 01

On Sarx a question came up about that made me think about the relationship between Scripture, Tradition, and Ecumenical Councils. And, not surprisingly, my conclusion is that the relationship is a complex interaction that does not boil itself down to a set of easily memorizable doctrinal statements. I can, however, perhaps give some generalized thoughts on the interaction. Too often we (Orthodox, Roman... [Read more]

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