Ask a Catholic Theologian

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hannah Joy on February 25, 2015 at 11:50am

I do appreciate your willingness to answer questions as I do have some sincere questions about Roman Catholicism. Perhaps in a later comment I will share my own connections to Catholicism, though I myself am not a Catholic. I also appreciate that it sounds like you are very knowledgeable, as I am interested in knowing the Church's official position on these topics. My first question relates to authority. How does the authority of the church relate to the authority of the Bible? Is one of them a greater authority or are they equal? And how should the average Catholic person relate to each of these authorities? Is there any recourse for a Catholic who sees an apparent contradiction between what the Church teaches and what the Bible teaches?

Permalink Reply by EG Norton (Siris) on February 25, 2015 at 12:19pm

The Catholic Church's official position on our relationship to Sacred Scripture is that Scripture has primacy since it is the inspired Word of God. We believe it was written by human authors but was inspired by the Holy Spirit (thus having both human and divine authorship). Because Jesus is also the Word Made Flesh, and we believe that this is the same Word, we hold Sacred Scripture as another way of experiencing communion with Jesus.

We do not believe that any other writings of the Church have been divinely inspired in that same way. However, Sacred Tradition offers a framework that helps us understand and interpret Sacred Scripture clearly, so we hold them in equal importance. (CCC 81-82)

As to authority, we listen to our teaching body, the Magisterium, made up of the pope and other bishops. They help us ensure that we all understand and believe the same things so that there can be no disputes over matters of Faith and Morals (yet as fallen creatures, these do still arise. At least we have some guidelines to help resolve conflict if all are humble enough to accept them). However, according to the Catechism:

Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. (CCC 86)

This means that the Church cannot teach anything contrary to Sacred Scripture as interpreted by Sacred Tradition, and that is the heart of the matter. Catholics believe that our church does teach in accord with Scripture. However, sometimes translation errors or misinterpretation can lead to the appearance of contradiction. Sometimes the pope makes an offhand comment that contradicts what we believe (for the record, we don't believe the pope is always right all the time or is some kind of demigod. He's still just a guy, and is only considered infallible in a very specific circumstance which you can ask me about later). Sometimes these contradictions are even deliberate on the part of some theologians who, for personal motives, try to destabilize the Church. Obviously this causes problems.

My best advice in these situations is to do self-study, to actually read the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers for oneself, and pray that God may reveal the truth in your heart. More often than not in my experience, God reveals a straight path where once were seen only brambles, once one is willing to struggle with the material. The best recourse is Ora et Labora, prayer and work.

Even then, sometimes a Catholic just has to take it on Faith that the Church knows better than they do, but it is a hard thing to be so humble and trusting. I struggle with it myself sometimes. In the end, though, the struggle is what makes being a human so wonderful and interesting. We get to wrestle with these things in a way the rest of creation does not. It's pretty cool, when you stop and think about it. Thanks, God!

Permalink Reply by Hannah Joy on February 25, 2015 at 12:45pm

Thank you for your through response. I am particularly interested in how the Catholic view of authority compares and contrasts with the Protestant view.

Permalink Reply by EG Norton (Siris) on February 25, 2015 at 1:11pm

I think it definitely depends on the protestant denomination you're talking to. Contrary to what a lot of my fellow Catholics believe, I know that there is a wide range of theology in protestant circles and will not presume to speak for all with my Lutheran background. If anyone wants to weigh in, please do so.

Permalink Reply by Hannah Joy on February 25, 2015 at 12:46pm

*thorough

Permalink Reply by Hannah Joy on February 25, 2015 at 4:11pm

I consider myself a Protestant and I agree with you that there is a lot of diversity of belief among Protestants. I am what might be called Evangelical Protestant or a theologically conservative Protestant. I have relatives who are Roman Catholic and I grew up in the Philippines which is a predominantly Catholic country. From what you said and some of my own research, it seems like Catholics believe that sacred scripture and sacred tradition are of equal authority, whereas Evangelical Protestants would put scripture above traditions. It also seems like in the Catholic Church, the church is responsible for the interpretation of the Bible; there is an idea that the common man may interpret it wrong. This differs from Evangelical Protestant who believe that while it is important to know what other Christians believe, the basic scriptural truths can be understood by any person; the common person can read and understand the Bible and the Bible is the ultimate authority, more so than church authority or tradition. Is that a fair comparison? I got some of my information from the following website.

https://carm.org/roman-catholicism-bible-and-tradition

Permalink Reply by EG Norton (Siris) on February 25, 2015 at 11:25pm

I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment. Though I would say that we also think that anyone can understand the Bible, we just want to have an accepted interpretation available to be an authority when interpretations differ, as they sometimes do. It's less a "you'd better read it this way or else" and more a "hey, that's interesting, let's look at what biblical scholars for the last couple thousand years have said about this point to see if that can lend more insight."

I think you've definitely hit the nail on the head when it comes to our differing relationships with Tradition, though I would stress that we still think Scripture has primacy. Tradition is more the lens that helps us see it clearer, thus being equally important but less of an authority, if that makes sense.

Permalink Reply by Hannah Joy on February 26, 2015 at 1:35pm

I found this collection of quotes from the Catholic Catechism.
"Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God . . ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 97).
"The apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority.'" (Par. 77).
"This living transmission, accomplished through the Holy Spirit, is called tradition . . . " (Par. 78).
"Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence." (Par. 82).

Permalink Reply by EG Norton (Siris) on February 26, 2015 at 2:09pm

Exactly. Note that they are considered a single deposit of faith (as in Tradition can't contradict Scripture), and that "equal sentiments of devotion and reverence" does not equate to "both of these have the same level of authority." Tradition shares in the authority of Scripture because it clarifies it, but we don't say that St. Augustine's writings were inspired by the Holy Spirit, for example.

A lot of this is semantics, but there is an important distinction here that is clarified in paragraph 83: Scripture itself is Tradition, because when we talk about Sacred Tradition

The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus' teaching and example [...] The first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.

It really comes down to the question of authority. We believe that our bishops are the spiritual descendants of the Apostles, thus inheriting their authority. Because the New Testament wasn't written until long after Jesus' death, we have to rely on the oral tradition of the Apostles to fill in the blanks. We can't separate Scripture and Tradition the way that churches who are sola scriptura do. It would never occur to a Catholic to do that, because to us that would be rejecting the Apostolic Succession and the men Jesus chose to lead the Church.

I'm not saying this is what many Protestant churches have done, but from a Catholic view of Biblical Theology, we would have a hard time believing in sola scriptura. We would feel as if we were missing something, like a man in the woods who has a map but no compass.

Permalink Reply by Hannah Joy on February 26, 2015 at 4:25pm

Thank you again for this good dialogue! It is significant to me that though we disagree on some key points, that our discussion had been respectful and kind. I do hold to the doctrine of sola scriptura:
- that the Bible is the final authority on every subject it addresses,
- that the Bible is the ultimate authority in a Christian's life,
- that all things necessary to know about God, faith, and the Christian life are contained in the Bible (either directly or by inference), and
- that all tradition, councils, and church leaders are under the authority of Scripture.
From the Westminster Confession of Faith: “The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.”
Other resources:
http://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-does-sola-scriptura-mean/
https://carm.org/dictionary-sola-scriptura

Permalink Reply by EG Norton (Siris) on February 26, 2015 at 10:05pm

I'm definitely enjoying this as well. It's great to be able to have this level of dialogue, and certainly helps me hone my skills as a theologian.

I'm going to be without internet tomorrow, so I won't be able to continue this chat until late tomorrow night. Just wanted to thank you and let you know that I'd love to pick up when we can.

Permalink Reply by Hannah Joy on February 26, 2015 at 10:10pm

Thanks for the heads up! I have a couple other topics I'd be interested in discussing, so at some point I'll post those questions too, which you can answer at your leisure. God bless you!

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