Sola Scriptura?
"The constitution of the secular state exists, first of all, as an idea or a document, and one sets out to conform reality to this. It is quite otherwise with a living thing inhabited by the Spirit of the living God: it bears its own law within itself and does not realize it according to a written scheme or an ideal constitution. It is self-realizing, it develops what it recieves in germ from its Begetter, and can no more escape from its law, interior as it is, than one can leap outside one's shadow.
It is the case with the Church, and the circumstance is of great importance. Our Lord did not found His Church after the fashion of Solon, Lycergus, or Lenin, giving it a charter, a document, a constitution. He founded His Church by giving its very being and life, promising it His Spirit to animate and assist it. He announced that, in virtue of His living within her, we would have within her truth and life, because He would live in her Himself, who is the Way and the Truth, by His Spirit. Christ has given to us His very self."
- Yves Congar, The Church and its Unity.
Such quotes are appropos for conversation in the wake of the Beckwith resignation from the Evangelical Theological Society, which ocurred largely on the basis of his disagreement with the ETS "sola scriptura" article of faith (in my humble opinion: enormous ecumenical potential gone to waste). See also Holy Whapping's post of today on "Loving the Word" for a catholic perspective on the role of the Scripture in the Church.
posted by MM at 5:38 AM
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