606 THIRD PKRIOD. A.D. 311-500.
§ 118. SourcsH of Theology. Scrvpture and Tradition.
Comp. the literature in vol. ii. § 159 (621 sqq.). Also : Eusebius : Hist. Eccl. iii. 25, etc. (on the form of the canon in the Nicene age) ; Leandeij van Ess (R. C) : Chrysostomus oder Stimmen der Kirchenvater fiir's Bibellesen. Darmstadt, 1824
VraoENTius LiRiNENsis (t about 450) : Coininonitorium pro cathol, fidei antiquitate et universitate adv. profanas omnium hser. novitates; frequent editions, e. g. by Baluzius (1663 and 1684), Gallandi, Coster, Klupfel (with prolegom. and notes), Vienna?, 1809, and by Herzog, Vratisl. 1839 ; also in connection with the Opera Hilarii Arelatensis, Rom. 1731, and the Opera Sidviani, Par. 1669, and in Migne's Patrologia, vol. 50, p. 626 sqq.
The clmrcli view respecting the sources of Christian theology and the rule of faith and practice remains as it was in the previous period, except that it is further developed in particulars.' The divine Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as opposed to human writings ; and the oral tradition or living faith of the catholic church from the apostles down, as opposed to the varying opinions of heretical sects — together form the one infallible source and rule of faith. Both are vehicles of the same substance : the saving revelation of God in Christ ; with this difference in form and office, that rlie church tradition determines the canon, furnishes the key to the true interpretation of the Scriptures, and guards them against heretical abuse. The relation of the two in the mind of the ancient churcli may be illustrated by the relation between the supreme law of a country (such as the Roman law; the Code Napoleon, the common law of England, the Constitution of the United States) and the courts which expound the law, and decide between conflicting interpretations. Athanasius, for example, " the father of orthodoxy," always bases his conclusions upon Scripture, and appeals to the authority of
im Platonismus ; Huber's Philosophic der Kircheiiviiter (Munich, 1859); Nkasdek's Dogmengeschichte, L p. 59 sqq. ; Archer Butler's Lectures on Ancient Philosophy Bhedd's History of Christian Doctrine, vol. i. eh. 1 (Philosophical Influences in tht Ancient (church); Alb. Stockl: (Jcschichte der Philosophic des Mitteialtcrs, Maim. '1865, 2Bde.
' (Jomp. vol. ii. §§ liJS and i:!'.) (j). 3Lt) sqq. ).
§ 118. SOUKCES OF THEOLOGY. 607
tradition only in proof that he rightly understands and expounds the sacred books. The catholic faith, says he, is that which the Lord gave, the apostles preached, and the fathers have preserved / upon this the church is founded, and ho who departs from this faith can no longer be called a Christian.'
The sum of doctrinal tradition was contained in what ii called the Apostles' Ckeed, which at first bore various forms, but after the beginning of the fourth century assumed the Roman form now commonly used. In the Greek church its place was supplied after the year 325 by the Nicene Ceeed, which more fully expresses the doctrine of the deity of Christ. Neither of these symbols goes beyond the substance of tho teaching of the apostles ; neither contains any doctrine specifically Greek or Roman.
The old catholic doctrine of Scripture and tradition, therefore, nearly as it approaches the Roman, must not be entirely confounded with it. It makes the two identical as to substance, while the Roman church rests upon tradition for many doctrines and usages, like the doctrines of the sev^en sacraments, of the mass, of purgatory, of the papacy, and of the immaculate conception, which have no foundation in Scripture. Against this the evangelical church protests, and asserts the perfection and suificiency of the Holy Scriptures as the record of divine revelation ; while it does not deny the value of tradition, or of the consciousness of the church, in the interpretation of Scripture, and regulates public teaching by symbolical books. In the Protestant view tradition is not coordinate with Scripture, but subordinate to it, and its value depends on its agreement with the Scriptures. The Scriptures alone are the norma fidei / the church doctrine is only the norma doctrinoi. Protestantism gives much more play to private judgment and
* Ad Serap. Ep. i. cap. 28 (Opera, torn. L pars ii. p. 676) : "iSwixiv . . . tt/j' rf i xpx^s iropaSotrij/ Kai ^iSaaKoXlav Koi iriffTiv ttjs KadoAjK^i (KK\ri<Tlas r)v 6 fifv Kvpws fSajKfV, 01 Se a.ir6a-To\oi fK-q pv^av , Koi o'l irarfpes eip v\a^av. Voigt (Die Lehre des Athanasius, &c. p. 13 ff.) makes Athanasius even the representative of the formal principle of Protestantism, the supreme authority, sufficiency, and self-iiterpreting character of the Scriptures ; while Mohler endeavors to place him on tho Roman side. Bot'i are biassed, and viola e history by theu' preconceptions.