ClementofRome said:
May I throw a monkey wrench into the discussion? I am not necessarily advocating what I am about to say, it just came to mind as I read this thread. I would be interested in reading what others have to say about the following:
It seems to me that the Ecumenical Councils have very little influence today in that we live in a literate culture that has access to scripture in our vernacular. I can now read the Bible for myself (and in my case, I am able to work in both Greek and Hebrew) and I am able to make doctrinal decisions for myself as an educated and literate Christian. Obviously, the danger in this is "heresy." Also, one's worldview will tend to "color" interpretational outcomes. This being the case, do we NEED the work of the Councils or even the authority of the "church" to prevent chaos?
The national churches that arose as a result of the reformation, counter-reformation, and the schisms are now even further breaking down into 'personal' churches in which everybody and nobody is an authority on spritual matters. If the goal is a 'catholic' or universal church, as we all, as credal christians, profess to believe in, my opinion would be that yes, we do need to recognize some common authority in order to prevent chaos.
On the whole, biblical literacy is a very good thing, but the works of the bible are far too rich for any one person to fully come to terms with. Their is a practical need for us all to submit to a greater community and to come to an understanding in unison with the fuller Body of Christ of which we are all members of.
Unfortunately, what is most standing in the way of such a reunification and a desired unity of the faith community is our unwillingness to forgive. Molehills of doctrinal differences are turned in mountains as often as not in order to avoid such reconciliation. Our lack of trust of each other, built as it has been or centuries of egregious crimes against each other and horrendous slander of each others faiths, actually demands for there to be differences, even when no substantial differences exist.
To be able to submit to any authority we first need to trust that that authority holds the interests of the entire fold dear to its heart. But in order to start rebuilding such a trust, we must first actively seek out each other's forgiveness, and unbind each other from the sins that have so often been committed in the name of one's faith.
At the advent of the eucemenical council in which a common canon was being established, it is perhaps interesting to note that Jerome, who had perhaps the most advanced knowledge of scripture of all people in his day, did not have his views prevail. Nevertheless, in the interest of Christian unity, he was more than willing to submit to the larger Christian community and stand with their decision to allow works into the bible that he personally did not find very inspired or inspiring. Canon and a unified Christian community were not just built upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but depended very much on the visions of men such as Jerome who deeply desired that the body of Christ become visibly unified through the visible establishment of one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.
Because the existence of men such as Jerome was the norm, a secular authority such as Constantine was able to succeed in his unification efforts. Without such a desire for a unified church, such as seems to be the case today, not even Constantine could succeed into bringing about unity into a fragmented Christian community.
Perhaps then, it would be fair to conclude that it is not our greater knowledge of the biblical tradition in all its richness that is keeping us from communing with each other, but it is our stubbon reluctance to unbind each other from the sins of the past that is tearing the Christian community ever further apart.
). Would we proclaim what we currently do without his input?
