Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site duke.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!duke!nlt
From: nlt@duke.UUCP (N. L. Tinkham)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Biblical Christianity
Message-ID: <4828@duke.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 26-Sep-84 15:50:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: duke.4828
Posted: Wed Sep 26 15:50:37 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 27-Sep-84 05:26:14 EDT
Organization: Duke University
Lines: 32

[John Nelson]
>>  I agree with you here [on the existence of christians before the NT],
>>  except that the only record of what you will call "the essential
>>  doctrines" of being a Christian were communicated to us through that
>>  book.
[Charley Wingate]
> What about the teachings of the Church?  I don't mean the RC church,
> either; I mean all the writings and teachings of the Churchs throughout
> christian history.  The Episcopal Church, for one, recognizes the
> Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed as being equal in merit to the
> scriptures.  It seems to me that this is how fundamentalism got its
> start, with the notion that any man could, in total isolation, read the Bible
> and be able to interpret it absolutely correctly.

----------------------------------

   As an Episcopalian (and as a student of theology, for that matter), I
agree with Charley Wingate's statements about the value of the teachings
of the Church, and I agree that the interpretation of the Bible by individuals
in isolation is a "fundamental" (sorry!) aspect of Fundamentalism.  But
I think the claim that the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds are viewed as equal
in merit to the Scriptures is a bit strong.  Even among Episcopalians I
hear terms like "inspired" and "the Word of God" used for the Bible but
not for the creeds.  What they mean by those terms (or what I would mean
by them) isn't clear; theories such as dictation or "verbal inspiration"
are not popular in Anglican theology.  But there does seem to be a special
status, however difficult to define, given to the Bible which sets it
apart from other writings of the apostles or church fathers.

                                       N. L. Tinkham
                                       duke!nlt