Authority

I’ve been reading Phyllis Tickle’s new book, The Great Emergence.  It’s good; lots of interesting insights about how history, culture, and the church have been woven together for the last 2000 years.

One of the central questions in Tickle’s historic patterns is, Where is authority?   I was talking about this book last night with some church leaders and we started talking about authority.  A few of them adhered to Luther’s sola scriptura, or only Scripture.

At first glance, sola scriptura makes sense.  But the problem is that every human brings a certain bias to their own study of Scripture.  What do you do when two folks who believe in sola scriptura come to different conclusions about what Scripture has to say?

My best answer about sources of authority comes from the Wesleyan Quadrilateral.  John Wesley believed that God revealed Himself through four sources:  Scripture, history, reason, and experience.

That begs the question:  is Scripture equal to the other sources, or does it trump the other sources?  I definitely believe the former; Scripture is the ultimate trump card.

Yet what I appreciate about the Wesleyan Quadrilateral is that it allows God to speak through other secondary forms of revelation.

The next time you’re looking at a tricky passage of Scripture or talking with kids about a tricky issue (homosexuality, evolution, abortion, or any of the other biggies), try bringing the Wesleyan Quadrilateral into the conversation.  What does Scripture say?  How about tradition, reason, and experience?   How (if at all) does the Wesleyan Quadrilateral help you navigate a more transformational path?

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute