Doctrines About Religious Authority

Religious Authority

Christians often need to be clear about the grounds, or basis, of their teachings, but significant differences over the basis, or authority, for Christian teachings have long divided the churches. Eastern Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church have historically taught that the basis of all religious teaching is the unbroken unity of scripture and later church traditions. The Protestant Reformation questioned the purity of later church traditions and insisted on the authority of the Bible above all traditions. Since the time of the Reformation, the use of reason and reflection on common human experience (in addition to or beyond the use of scripture and traditions) has deeply influenced Christian understandings of the grounds of religious teachings. Very often, differing understandings about the grounds of religious authority lie at the basis of other differences in Christian teaching.

Sufficiency and Primacy of Scripture

Article 5; UM Confession 4

UM "Theological Task"

The Twenty-five Articles of Religion shared by the AME, AME Zion, CME, and UM Churches affirm that the Bible "containeth all things necessary to salvation" (Article 5), that is, that the scriptures teach everything that human beings need to know for their salvation. The title of this Article uses the term "sufficiency of the scriptures" to describe this belief. Implied in the Articles and the UM Confession of Faith is the belief that the Bible is the primary source and authority for our faith, that is, no other authority can override the authority of God revealed in the scriptures. This teaching on the primacy of the scriptures is made explicit in the UM statement of "Our Theological Task." The Methodist teaching on the sufficiency and primacy of the Bible concords with the Protestant Reformation's emphasis on the use of scripture to reform the church. Methodists have not historically defined their understanding of the Bible's authority as involving "inerrancy" or "infallibility" of the Bible as Fundamentalist churches typically do, except that we have historically insisted that the Bible does not fail in teaching the way of salvation. Our emphasis on the sufficiency and primacy of the scriptures does not rule out the use of Christian tradition or reflection on broader human experience (see below), but it clarifies that all other claims to authority must be judged by the primary authority of the Bible.

Unity of the Bible

Article 6; cf. UM Confession 4

The Articles of Religion state that the Old Testament stands in continuity with the New Testament, since the one God offers salvation through Christ in both Testaments (Article 6). Underlying this teaching as well as the teaching of the sufficiency and primacy of scripture is a belief in the unity of the Bible, that is, the belief that the Bible tells a single story that focuses on the salvation offered through Christ. Susanna and John Wesley spoke of "the analogy of faith" that is the core message of the whole Bible, telling the story of salvation.

Our historic teaching about the unity of the Bible may appear to be contradicted by more recent biblical scholarship that emphasizes the diversity of voices and perspectives in biblical literature. Methodist scholars have generally embraced this biblical scholarship, but Methodist doctrine insists that underlying the diversity of voices in the Bible is a divinely given message, at the center of which is our Savior. The UM statement of "Our Theological Task" (1988) acknowledges explicitly "a variety of diverse traditions, some of which reflect tensions in interpretation within the early Judeo-Christian heritage." But it goes on to claim that "these traditions are woven together in the Bible in a manner that expresses the fundamental unity of God's revelation."

UM "Theological Task"

Tradition

The God revealed in the Bible has continued to act, even after the age of the apostles. Tradition does not mean everything that happened in the past, but the past that we value, or treasure. In affirming and valuing the past, we affirm that God's presence did not retreat after the time of the New Testament. We affirm that God has been active through the history of the Christian community. We value in the past those times when we can perceive most clearly God's presence. Methodist doctrine does share the Reformation's suspicion that much in the Christian past amounted to a corruption of God's plan: our fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth Articles of Religion condemn teachings and practices that the Reformation judged to be corrupt. Similarly, the AME statement on "Apostolic Succession and Religious Formalism" rejects as later corruptions the teaching that all bishops must stand in an unbroken succession from the apostles, and the "formalism" that often accompanies traditional worship.

Articles 14-16; cf. AME "Apostolic Succession and Religious Formalism"

But Methodists do rejoice in God's presence in the long history of the Christian tradition that went before us: in affirming ancient creeds such as the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, we unite our voices with the voices of our Christian forebears. Our worship bears the marks of ancient and medieval Christian liturgy. Methodist hymnals now include a variety of voices from the Christian past, including texts and tunes from Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions as well as from a variety of Protestant traditions. At a special called General Conference in 1970, the UMC adopted a resolution clarifying that the anti-Catholic statements in our Articles are not directed toward contemporary Catholicism or the whole of the Catholic inheritance of faith but rather against medieval corruptions of Christian tradition, some of which were misunderstood by the Reformers. The UM Statement of "Our Theological Task" affirms the critical use of Christian traditions as a source and criterion of Christian teaching.

Reason and Experience

UM "Theological Task"

The same UM statement of "Our Theological Task" affirms the use of reason and experience as sources and criteria of Christian teaching. Reason refers to the many ways in which human beings reflect on the world, both as individuals and as communities. John Wesley believed that reason guided by the grace available to all persons could discern the existence of God and the need for moral responsibility; it could even illuminate the meaning of the Bible. Wesley valued experience, especially, as human contact with God, and he believed that our experience of the divine also illumined our own spiritual quest and (combined with reason)...