Sacred Roots Workshop

Ses s i on 2: Go i ng Back to the Future

43

When, however, the Gnostics are confused from the Scriptures, they turn round and accuse the same Scriptures as if they were not correct, nor of authority. They say that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition. . . . But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates from the apostles, . . . they object to tradition.

~ Irenaeus, c. 180 Cf. David W. Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. p. 599.

1. The Great Tradition is rooted in the Apostolic Tradition, i.e., the apostles’ eyewitness testimony and firsthand experience of Jesus of Nazareth, their authoritative witness to his life and work recounted in the Holy Scriptures, the canon of our Bible today.

2. Need for the Church’s confession and commitments to stay grounded in the final authority of the Scriptures in continuity with interpretation learned from the early Fathers (and Mothers) of the Church

3. Unashamed commitment to the “apostolicity” of the Church: what the apostles saw, asserted, experienced and bore witness to is the essence of NT Christian faith.

4. The apostolic witness is final, irrevocable, and inviolate; only what can be deemed to be truly apostolic can therefore be considered binding and final for the faith and practice of the Church.

B. The Ecumenical Councils and Creeds, especially the Nicene Creed. The Great Tradition declares the truth and sets the bounds of the historic orthodox faith as defined and asserted in the ecumenical creeds of the ancient and undivided Church, with special focus on the Nicene Creed.

1. Affirm the Creeds as hermeneutical resources to understand the nature of apostolic faith.