I have been invited by a Catholic priest and theologian acquaintance of mine to discuss the ARCIC document The Gift of Authority. The document says:
The meaning of the revealed Gospel of God is fully understood only within the Church. God’s revelation has been entrusted to a community. The Church cannot properly be described as an aggregate of individual believers, nor can its faith be considered the sum of the beliefs held by individuals. Believers are together the people of faith because they are incorporated by baptism into a community which receives the canonical Scriptures as the authentic Word of God; they receive faith within this community. The faith of the community precedes the faith of the individual. So, though one person’s journey of faith may begin with individual reading of Scripture, it cannot remain there. Individualistic interpretation of the Scriptures is not attuned to the reading of the text within the life of the Church and is incompatible with the nature of the authority of the revealed Word of God (cf. 2 Pet 1.20-21). Word of God and Church of God cannot be put asunder.
Can we assent to this really and maintain a Reformation understanding of the authority of scripture? It sounds to me as if this is paving the way for the authority of the Church to interpret scripture ...
6 comments:
Some thoughts from a usyd postgrad...
1) The revealed Gospel of God is 'fully understood' within the church. Wow- go the church. That's some understanding you've got there!
2) Could the reformation have happened if something like this statement was followed? Or would this have told Luther that "individualistic interpretation of the Scriptures is [...] incompatible with the nature of the authority of the revealed Word of God".
3) The relationship between faith and community is interesting. Is it implied that community precedes faith/is the ground for faith ("they receive faith within this community")? Is there an argument that this could be turned around? So faith puts you in the community. Faith in Jesus creates the community (of Jew and Gentile) rather than merely stemming from it.
4) What do you think church and community mean? I'm worried that it can easily come to mean 'our organised church- with our structures'. If this is the case then the final sentence is scary. If, however, one is talking about the invisible church then I'm more at ease perhaps.
5) What does 'precedes' mean? ("the faith of the community precedes the faith of the individual)
Is prior to? True, but not that earth shattering.
Is the grounds for? see 3)
Should hold authority over? but then...
5) My Church on a world wide scale (Anglican) often seems to be rubbish at interpreting the scriptures.(i.e. bishops who interpret John 14:6 to mean that it's ok to be a Hindu if you want)
Thanks that's brilliant Lachlan!
Yes: cannot a single godly person be right, and the whole church be wrong?
The language here and in the other slabs you have quoted is trying to be inclusive... but if we get something that is not inconsistent with our view, and also not inconsistent with a view we find quite incorrect, what on earth is it? I find it dissapointing to read, and I wonder if a more profitable approach might not be to focuss on common goals between Anglican's and Catholics, rather than trying to find unobjectionable summaries of belief...
Well, that's very interesting. Ecumenical dialogue needs a rethink, obviously, because we so often find the ambiguous language rather than a real common pool of belief.
Ah: the ole "Jesus against the church" thing...
This presupposes that it was anti-establishment-ism that was the whole content of Jesus' message, and nothing else.
I suppose in a way I DO agree, because I am not Catholic.
I find I agree with much of the quote, though like others, am concerned particularly at the first and final sentences and the implications for the non-reformability of the visible church depending how certain parts are taken.
Nonetheless, there are some important points to not be thrown out here about learning in community and the impossibility of lone-ranger faith. Beware the celebration of individualism. The lonely hero is the dangerous necessity of the time of crisis, not the permanent condition of each of us.
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