Adrian Teo wrote:
> Hello George,
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: george murphy <gmurphy@raex.com>
>
> [portions deleted]
>
> Having said that - sure, the church is an institution of human
> beings who are tempted to use scripture to defend the status quo. It's
> significant though that the primary challenge to such a tendency, the
> Reformation of the 16th century, was based on an appeal to scripture against
> those who thought that the church had other sources of authority.
> The primary concern is not challenges to the boundaries of the canon
> itself: Luther's opinions about James or Revelation & differences about the
> status of the Apocrypha, e.g., don't really matter very much. What is of
> greater concern is core teachings of the church - Christ, justification,
> Trinity, &c. If there is no canon then one can invoke any texts or
> "experiences" one wishes on the same level as John or Romans.
> Appeal to "our experience of the Sacred" can be disastrous. That's
> just what the Deutsche Christen did - & if there is no canon, who is to deny
> them the sacredness of Blut und Boden?
> ------------------------------
>
> Technically, any personal interpretation of Scripture is an "appeal to our
> experience of the sacred".
To some extent. & this is why it's important that biblical
interpretation be done within the context of the church & remain in touch with
(note that I don't say "remain identical with") the church's tradition of
interpretation.
> Does it not follow that this is precisely why
> there are so many Christian factions around today, and seemingly growing?
> And if so, the canon doesn't completely solve the problem of appealing to
> experience, although it may serve to keep things partially under control.
I agree. The canon doesn't guarantee fidelity. The Jehovah's Witnesses
have the same canon as Protestant Christians but are 10^6 km from the gospel.
Nor does confessional subscription or the historic episcopate - including claims
of papal infallibility - guarantee truth.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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