Scripture and Tradition

The pivotal section, and the one most in dialogue with the wider Christian world: how the Orthodox Church relates the Bible to Tradition. Against the Latin “two-source” theory and against Protestant sola scriptura alike, Orthodoxy confesses Scripture as the supreme written expression within the one Tradition — born from the Church, read in the Church, interpreted by the Church. This section is written from within the Church (METHODOLOGY §4.1): the Orthodox account is given fully as the Church’s own teaching, while the Roman Catholic and Protestant positions are represented fairly and in their own terms.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Overview

The relation of Scripture and Tradition is where the doctrine of Tradition meets the great confessional divisions of Christendom. The Reformation raised the banner of sola scriptura; the Counter-Reformation, in a common reading of Trent, spoke of “Scripture and Tradition” as two sources. Orthodoxy stands apart from both formulas, holding that Scripture is neither a self-sufficient text standing over the Church nor one of two parallel channels beside a second, but the inspired written core of the single, indivisible Tradition — the Church’s own book, produced within her life and rightly heard only within it. This is the companion theme of the whole compendium The Orthodox Church and Holy Scripture.

Files in This Section

File Description
scripture-within-tradition.md Scripture as the supreme written expression within Tradition — the Church’s case against the Latin two-source theory and against sola scriptura, with the Roman Catholic and Protestant positions represented fairly; the named positions
the-church-as-the-interpreter.md The Church as the living context and interpreter of Scripture — not two parallel sources but one organic whole; the canon, the rule of faith, and the limits of private interpretation

See Also