Sacred Roots Workshop

44 Sacred Roots Workshop: Retr ieving the Great Tradi t ion in the Contemporary Church

2. Commentaries on the biblical story’s meaning and scope

3. The findings of the councils and the statements of the creeds are historical records of the unified witness of the Church to God's plan for the history of the world.

C. The Ancient Rule of Faith . The Great Tradition embraced the substance of this core Christian faith in a rule, i.e., an ancient standard rule of faith, that was considered to be the yardstick by which claims and propositions regarding the interpretation of the biblical faith were to be assessed. “Wherever it will be manifest that the true Christian rule and faith are, there likewise will be the true Scriptures and the correct expositions thereof – and all the Christian traditions” (Tertullian, c. 197 [cf. David W. Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998, p. 147]).

1. Represents the Church’s understanding and summary of the content and meaning of the biblical Story of God’s saving actions in Christ

2. This rule summarized God’s actions in Creation, the Covenant with his people Israel, the Incarnation of Christ and his recapitulation of human history, and the coming Re-creation.

3. The ancient Church sought to make clear this apostolic and biblical testimony in its Rules of Faith, which were used to interpret Scripture and provide answers to attacks of culture.

4. This rule of faith signifies the unity of Christian thought, embodied in Vincent of Lerins’s dictum: “the tradition that has been believed everywhere, always and by all,”