Croy Ch 3 Flashcards
What is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral?
a four-part method that employs Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience to guide in matters of faith and practice
Why does Croy prefer the term ‘trapezoid’ rather than ‘quadrilateral’?
He doesn’t give equal weight to roles of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience in the process of theological reflection
Why does Croy mean by the term ‘prima Scriptura’?
Scripture should be the primary source, but not the only, of Christian faith and practice
What was one long-term harmful effect of an exclusionist version of sola scriptura?
it removed biblical interpretation from its natural context: the church
Why does Croy make the distinction between ‘rule of Scripture’ and ‘role of tradition/reason/experience’? (p. 133)
Scripture is the norming norm that is not normed (tradition, reason, experience)
How does Croy define ‘tradition’?
Tradition is the treasured body of beliefs and practices that have been deliberately chosen and handed on to future generations to shape their identity and guide their living.
What was the function of the rule of faith?
The rule of faith summarized the content of apostolic preaching and functioned as a hermeneutical key for interpreting Scripture
What does Croy think about the role of tradition?
It is the norm normed by Scripture
the role of tradition is to corroborate, elaborate, clarify, and systematize the truths of Scripture
What four views exist to explain the relationship between Scripture and tradition?
The coincidence, supplementary, ancillary and unfolding views
Explain the coincidence view
Scripture was materially sufficient in that its content did not need to be supplemented by tradition, but it was formally insufficient in that it required the authoritative interpretation of the church.
Explain the supplementary view
According to this view, Scripture is not only formally insufficient, but materially insufficient as well, since the fullness of revelation is to be found only in the combination of Scripture and tradition.
Explain the ancillary view
The ancillary view was that of the Protestant Reformers, who asserted that tradition was an aid in interpreting Scripture but did not materially supplement it.
Explain the unfolding view
Under this view, Scripture could be regarded as materially sufficient, but only in the sense that Scripture contained at least a faint hint of the doctrines that later unfolded.
What is reason?
Reason is the pursuit of truth:
Name two schools of thought about how reason operates.
Plato believed that the transcendent realm of ideas or nonmaterial reality was primary, and the mind had access to this reality by way of theoretical reasoning.
Aristotle championed the approach that much later was known as empiricism: the reliance on observation of phenomena through the senses and experience.
