Marking Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year

Ses s i on 5: Shoes That F i t Our Feet

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1. The Authoritative Tradition is synonymous with the Apostolic Tradition, embodied in the canonical Sacred Scriptures, our Old and New Testaments, which speak to Yahweh’s saving acts in history, culminating in the person of Jesus Christ, Exod. 3.15 (ESV) – God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” 2. This tradition is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ himself being the corner stone, Eph. 2.19-21 (ESV) – So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole struc ture, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 3. Those who gave eyewitness testimony to the revelation and saving acts of Yahweh, first in Israel, and ultimately in Jesus Christ the Messiah are the bearers of the Authori tative traditions. Their testimony in Scripture is binding for all believers at all times, and in all places.

4. This authoritative tradition is the measure by which all subsequent decisions, actions, and beliefs of all others Christian traditions are to be weighed and judged.

B. Level two: The Great Tradition : the Ecumenical Councils and their creeds

1. The Great Tradition is the core dogma (doctrine) and practice of the early Church, essentially summarized in the first five centuries of the Church.