C
Chany8920
Guest
Orthodox Catholics believe the Bible is the pinnacle of Tradition, but not in a category of its own. Why is this not true?
- Status
S
SonCatcher
Guest
I have never heard this assertion anywhere before. Where are Catholics allegedly saying this?
C
Chany8920
Guest
I must have read some Eastern-Orthodox (as in, the other side of the schism, not Roman Catholic) stuff wrong. I was just wondering why the Bible isn’t considered part of Tradition.
po18guy
Well-known member
It is the written Tradition. But,as we see from protestantism, it is useless for unity or arriving at the truth, without the authority to interpret it. It is one of the three pillars of the faith.
L
Luvtosew
Guest
And as we all know only the CC head people can interpret scripture.
J
Jim_Dandy
Guest
It is true that Sacred Scripture is Sacred Apostolic Tradition that was reduced to writing. There is also Sacred Apostolic Tradition that was not written down and preserved as Scripture, but it was preserved in other ways. They are equally the Word of God. But I don’t understand your question.
po18guy
Well-known member
Well, their predecessors wrote it and passed their authority on. There is not one protestant denomination that existed in 1930 that has not changed its teaching. Not one.
L
Luvtosew
Guest
The Bible has not changed, except in regards my Catholic, NIV and KJV use different wording in some areas, leave a word out here and there but pretty much the same.
Now the Bible is the living breathing Word of God, and yes Protestants may quote a scripture passage and give a talk about it, and after listening to a few good Protestants preachers for several years, their talk concerning a piece of scripture may lead them off on a different twist of a sermon,
which by the way, I would bet to say the Priests talking about the Bible passages read any given day in Mass also give a different homily concerning what was read that day.
The wonderful thing about Scripture is even after reading a area and coming back to it at a later date, one can find a new hidden meaning.
Might I also add, I have listened to Catholics on EWTN and they have different meanings also, different interpretations, so its not a Protestant thing.
T
TimothyH
Guest
I fear that this kind of statement may be what keeps many Catholics from reading scripture.
We are to check our understanding of the Bible against the teaching of the Church, and when we deviate from that teaching we are to try to understand where we went wrong, but I don’t see in the teaching of the Catholic Chruch anything contrary to our ability to read the bible and come to some understanding, even a great understanding, of what it is God want’s us to know.
The authority of the Church is a benchmark against which we judge our own understanding, a measuring stick against which we measure how well we understand, but God speaks to mankind, and to individual persons through scripture and there is much to learn from simply opening the book and reading.
I agree that Protestantism makes the mistake of breaking with the infallible interpretation of scripture in the Catholic Church and so makes many gave errors. And we can do the same if we break with the guidance of the Catholic Church. But again, I fear that casually throwing out statements about an authority which interprets scripture for us either makes people fearful of reading scripture or ask themselves why they should even bother.
There are amazing graces recieved from reading the Bible. The Bible is a great gift to man, and everyone should be reading it daily - yes, checking it agains the benchmark of 2000 years of Catholic teaching - but there is much in the Bible which we can gain simply by picking up the Book and reading what it says.
-Tim-
P
ProVobis
Guest
I think you’re mixing up things. First the Bible is split into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The New Testament wasn’t written until well into the 2nd century. The way we worship is from Tradition, not only from Christ, but from Cain, Malchisedech, and Abraham. Tradition is a hand-me down from generation to generation, keeping as much intact as possible. Scriptures are Sacred but one must go back to the originals to appreciate their true sacredness. Modern languages and translations distort a lot of meanings and tend to corrupt what’s sacred, IMO.
S
SonCatcher
Guest
Ah, yes; our Eastern brethren (Orthodox and Eastern Catholics) do have different terms to express many things. The Eastern Orthodox do refer themselves as “Orthodox Catholics” too.
Here is something to keep in mind:
[BIBLEDRB]2 Thessalonians 2:14[/BIBLEDRB]
St. Paul divided Tradition into written (epistle) and oral (word). We now call written Tradition “scripture.” (this is 2 Thes 2:15 in other translations)
F
fhansen
Guest
Scripture is just written Tradition. Tradition consists of practices, teachings, and beliefs that were simply never written down-unwritten Scripture, so to speak.
C
COPLAND_3
Guest
Scripture is God’s written word by the Holy Spirit working through the pen of the authors who wrote it. While Tradition is the Church in action as it preserves and develops what was passed down from Christ to the Apostles.
po18guy
Well-known member
Shame on them for not reading scripture, and shame on me for not including that it must be viewed in light of Church teaching.
po18guy
Well-known member
Luther’s bible had 81 books (including the Deuterocanon), but now only 66. Clearly, something happened to it…
Then, how can the devil quote it? Rather, “Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit.” CCC81. Scripture is an infinitesimally small portion of the expression of the infinite God. Scripture is not an authority, but speaks of and from authority.
The bible is not God. The bible is not even complete. Even though inspired by God, it is man made and thus needs authoritative interpretation. Both **Nehemiah 8 **and Acts 8 tell us this. Otherwise the Jehovah’s Witnesses are right. The Branch Davidians are right. The… see where it goes?
R
rdscheirer
Guest
Read, read, read- as I came into the Catholic Church from the Lutheran in 2002 I obtained from Catholic Answers a great set of publications of the writings of the Early Chuch Fathers- I don’t know if they’re still available but it was a beautiful series that led me to Christ.
Read at least one chapter of the Bible everyday because especially in the south you will run into a Baptist who quotes Scripture- and if you can tell him what came before his verse and what came after he (she) is dumbfounded that a Catholic knows Scripture and that he(she) knows that the person is perverting the true meaning of a single verse because they don’t read(use) in the context of the WHOLE Bible.
Literal, allegorical and moral.
Read at least one chapter of the Bible everyday because especially in the south you will run into a Baptist who quotes Scripture- and if you can tell him what came before his verse and what came after he (she) is dumbfounded that a Catholic knows Scripture and that he(she) knows that the person is perverting the true meaning of a single verse because they don’t read(use) in the context of the WHOLE Bible.
Literal, allegorical and moral.
po18guy
Well-known member
Have you read Making Senses Out of Scripture by Mark Shea? Pretty good read.
F
fred_conty
Guest
The answer to this question is, no it is tradition.
CCC 83
“The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus’ teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. The first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself DEMONSTRATES the process of living Tradition.”
Just an insight that they wrote down afterwards what they first heard.
“There were many other things that Jesus did; if ALL were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be WRITTEN.”
The very last thing that John wrote in his gospel, a warning that not everything is written down.
CCC 83
“The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus’ teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. The first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself DEMONSTRATES the process of living Tradition.”
Just an insight that they wrote down afterwards what they first heard.
“There were many other things that Jesus did; if ALL were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be WRITTEN.”
The very last thing that John wrote in his gospel, a warning that not everything is written down.
- Status