Program / Course 25: Theological Synthesis / Lesson 4.1
What you will learn
- Define epistemology and say what a Christian account of knowledge must address.
- Describe the five sources of Christian knowledge: revelation, Scripture, tradition, reason and experience.
- Explain how Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions rank and relate these sources.
- Evaluate your own use of the five sources.
The big idea
Epistemology is the study of how people know what they claim to know. Christians draw on five sources: God’s self-disclosure (revelation), the Bible, the church’s tradition, human reason and personal experience. Each source has strengths and dangers. Traditions rank and combine them differently, and the differences explain many disagreements that look like disagreements about doctrine. A student who can say which sources they rely on, and in what order, can test their beliefs and explain them to others.
Key terms
- Epistemology
- The branch of philosophy that studies knowledge: what it is, how it is gained and how beliefs are justified.
- Revelation
- God making himself and his purposes known. General revelation is available through creation and conscience. Special revelation comes through particular events, persons and texts, above all Christ.
- Scripture
- The books recognized by the church as the written word of God.
- Tradition
- What the church has handed on: its worship, teaching, creeds and practice. The word can also mean the process of handing on.
- Magisterium
- In Catholic teaching, the teaching authority of the church, exercised by the pope and the bishops.
- Sola scriptura
- A Protestant principle that Scripture alone is the final authority for faith and life. It does not deny the use of tradition and reason.
- Inspiration
- The belief that God guided the writing of Scripture. Traditions differ on what this implies about accuracy.
Background
Epistemology has become a central subject in modern philosophy, partly because the Reformation and the rise of science raised the question of authority. Who decides what is true? On what grounds? Christian thinkers faced the question in a pointed way when the Reformers challenged the authority of church tradition and later thinkers challenged the authority of Scripture.
Christians generally accept some form of the idea that God has spoken. Hebrews 1:1 and 2 says that God, who spoke in many ways through the prophets, has in these last days spoken by his Son. The disagreements concern where the speaking is found and how to hear it. This lesson sets out five sources and shows how the main traditions arrange them.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Revelation
Revelation is the underlying idea. Psalm 19:1 says that the heavens declare the glory of God, and Romans 1:20 says that God’s invisible qualities are seen in what he has made. This general revelation is open to everyone. Special revelation is more particular: God’s acts in the history of Israel, and above all in Christ, who is called the Word made flesh (John 1:14).
Traditions differ on how much general revelation can teach. Catholic teaching holds that God can be known with certainty by reason from creation. Many Reformed theologians hold that the knowledge is real, but sin distorts it, so that saving knowledge needs Scripture.
Step 2: Scripture
Scripture is the written witness to special revelation. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Christians hold that Scripture is authoritative, but differ on how to describe its inspiration and accuracy. Some use the word inerrant, meaning without error in all that it affirms, and others prefer words such as infallible, meaning that it does not fail to accomplish its purpose, or trustworthy.
The canon differs. Protestants accept 39 Old Testament books, Catholics accept 46, and Orthodox churches accept a somewhat larger set. All accept the same 27 New Testament books.
Step 3: Tradition
Tradition includes creeds, councils, liturgy and the interpretation of Scripture by the fathers. Paul tells the Thessalonians to hold the traditions which they were taught (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Catholic and Orthodox churches hold that tradition is a source or a living context of revelation, alongside Scripture. Protestants generally hold that tradition is valuable but subordinate to Scripture.
Every Christian relies on tradition in some way, since the Bible is read, translated and taught within communities. The question is the weight and authority of it.
Step 4: Reason
Reason is used to interpret Scripture, to draw out implications, to test claims and to answer objections. The last lessons showed several accounts of its role. All traditions use reason, and none treats it as a substitute for revelation. The main disagreements concern its scope and what to do when it seems to conflict with what is revealed.
Step 5: Experience
Experience includes prayer, worship, conscience and the sense of the presence of God, and also suffering and the experience of the community. Wesleyan theology sometimes names experience as a fourth source alongside Scripture, tradition and reason, a pattern called the Wesleyan quadrilateral (a name coined by scholars after Wesley’s time). The Orthodox tradition gives great weight to experience in prayer. Critics warn that feelings can mislead and that experience needs to be tested.
Notice that all five sources interact. Reason interprets Scripture, tradition shapes how Scripture is read, and experience prompts questions. An honest account says how it ranks them when they disagree.
- Which of the five sources do I rely on most, and which least?
- What do I do when two of them seem to disagree?
- How do I decide whether an experience is trustworthy?
- What is my view of the canon, and why?
- What weight do I give to what the church has taught for centuries?
- Would a person of another tradition recognize my description of their view?
Examples
Reading Scripture alone
A student reads Romans without commentary and forms a view of justification. Later she learns that her view matches the reading of Luther and differs from that of the Council of Trent. She realizes that she was reading within a tradition without knowing it. (A constructed example.)
A powerful experience
A man has a vivid sense of the presence of God at a retreat. He asks how to weigh it. A Wesleyan would treat it as significant but tested by Scripture and community. An Orthodox writer would ask whether it leads to humility and love. A skeptic would look for natural explanations. All three want the experience tested.
Reason correcting a reading
Readers once took verses about the foundations of the earth as a description of physical structure. Reason and observation led most to read them as poetic. The example shows reason helping to interpret a text, and it raises the question of when that is legitimate.
Different perspectives
Catholic
The Second Vatican Council’s constitution on revelation, Dei Verbum, teaches that Scripture and sacred tradition flow from the same divine source and form one deposit of the word of God, entrusted to the church, and that the magisterium authentically interprets it. Reason and philosophy are honored, and experience is valued within the life of the church.
Orthodox
Orthodox Christians hold that Scripture is part of tradition, the life of the Spirit in the church, and is read within the liturgy and with the fathers. They do not ordinarily speak of two sources. They place great weight on experience of God in prayer, and on the consensus of the fathers and councils.
Protestant
Protestants generally hold sola scriptura. Reformed and Lutheran confessions treat tradition as a helpful guide but not as an authority equal to Scripture. Evangelicals stress personal conversion and Scripture, and Pentecostals stress the experience of the Spirit. Anglicans often speak of Scripture, tradition and reason as three supports, in the tradition of Richard Hooker.
Secular and philosophical views
Philosophers who study knowledge often hold that beliefs should be based on evidence and reasoning, and ask whether revelation and experience can count as evidence. Some religious epistemologists, such as Plantinga, argue that religious experience and trust in testimony can justify belief, which others dispute.
Why it matters
Disagreements among Christians often turn on epistemology more than on doctrine. A Catholic and a Protestant may read the same verse and differ because they give different weight to tradition. A student who sees this can discuss differences more fairly and can test their own commitments, which the synthesis requires.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Protestants reject tradition altogether.
Correction: Protestants accept the creeds and rely on a long tradition of interpretation. They hold that tradition is subject to Scripture, which is a different claim.
Misunderstanding: Catholics place the church above Scripture.
Correction: Catholic teaching holds that the magisterium is the servant of the word of God. It claims the authority to interpret it, which others dispute, but does not claim to be above it.
Misunderstanding: Orthodox Christians have no interest in reason.
Correction: The fathers used reason and philosophy extensively. Orthodox writers stress that reason has limits before the mystery of God.
Misunderstanding: Experience is not a legitimate source because it is subjective.
Correction: Experience can be tested against Scripture, the community and its fruits. Almost every tradition uses experience in some way, though they warn about its misuse.
Knowledge check
What are the five sources of Christian knowledge discussed here?
Revelation, which is God’s self-disclosure in creation and above all in Christ; Scripture, its written witness; tradition, what the church has handed on; reason, used to interpret and test; and experience, including prayer and conscience. Traditions weigh and rank them differently.
How do Catholic and Protestant views of Scripture and tradition differ?
Catholic teaching holds that Scripture and tradition together form one deposit of the word of God, interpreted by the magisterium. Protestants generally hold sola scriptura, treating Scripture as the final authority, with tradition useful but subordinate. Both use tradition in practice and both honor Scripture.
Why does the canon differ among traditions?
Because the Old Testament canon was not fixed in exactly the same way in all communities. Catholics and Orthodox use the larger Greek collection, which includes books that Protestants, following the Hebrew canon, call the Apocrypha. All accept the same 27 New Testament books.
What cautions apply to experience as a source?
Experience can be misread, and strong feelings do not guarantee truth. Traditions advise testing it against Scripture, the teaching of the church, the fruit in a person’s life and the counsel of others. Most accept experience as meaningful while denying that it can stand alone.
Think it through
- Which source would be hardest to give up, and why?
- How would you explain your view of Scripture and tradition to someone from another church?
- Have you ever changed a belief because of one source overriding another?
Independent assignment
My sources, ranked
In your own notebook, write 400 to 600 words. List the five sources in the order you actually rely on them, not the order you think you should. Give one example of a belief and the sources behind it. Describe one case where two sources pulled apart and what you did. Then write a sentence stating which tradition’s ranking is closest to yours.
Further study
- Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction The chapters on sources of theology.
- Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) A Catholic council document on the church and its teaching authority.
- Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3: The Creeds of the Evangelical Protestant Churches Compare the statements on Scripture.
- Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church On Scripture and tradition in Orthodoxy.
- Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament On the formation of the canon.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Hermeneutics On interpretation.
- 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:15 Hold the traditions.
- Hebrews 1:1 God has spoken by his Son.