Apostolic Tradition

The pioneer missionaries were churchmen and operated within confessional contexts. They adhered to the Ecumenical Creeds. They had not rejected the Apostolic Tradition. They were not innovators, but reformers. Part of being Confessionally Protestant (whether Anglican, Lutheran or Reformed) was the importance of proclaiming the Word of God. (Romans 10 and I Corinthians 1 & 2). While emphasizing the importance of the written text of the Bible, the missionaries translated theological works and Bible commentaries.

This work briefly reviews the thematic importance of the Ascension in the post-consecratory anamnesis of ancient liturgies as a legitimate summation of Biblical themes related to what is called "exaltation Christology." Contrary to the normal opinion, I find that exaltation Christology concerns the sitting of the Son of Man at the right hand and not merely a reference to the resurrection of Jesus.

This is a doctoral paper I wrote for Patristics scholar Dr. Joanne McWilliam of Trinity College at the University of Toronto (one of my minors was in Patristics).  My subject was how Pontius Pilate came to be in the Creed and what appeals to his name meant in the Early Church.  As it happened she liked the paper (which was no small thing; since she had roughed me up pretty good over the inadequacies of an earlier paper I did for her on Ignatius of Antioch, which naturally contributed to the shaping of this one), and she seemed to want to direct my dissertation.  But alas, I did not end up writing in her area.

A review of Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts: Reconsidering the Bauer Thesis. Paul A. Hartog, ed.  Pickwick Publications. 2015. 288 pages. $32, paperback.

This collection of ten papers from various scholars addresses the Bauer thesis and seeks to reappraise it critically. The volume begins with a brief (5 page) introduction by Hartog which sets the stage for the volume. While the Bauer thesis has many strengths, it also has many weaknesses that do not hold up to scrutiny. Each contribution is briefly summarized below to indicate the general direction of the essays and as well as their conclusions.

In the preserved Greek text of Origen we cannot find the expressions 'apostolic tradition' and 'ecclesiastical tradition'. This absence draws our attention to the relationship between Origen and the earlier Christian tradition, that put in the apostolic tradition the rule of faith. In the apostolic origins Irenaeus had already found the seal of authenticity for the words, transmitted orally and in writing, and the rites and customs of the Christian Churches. Perhaps the controversy with the Gnostics, and above all with their conception of tradition as the source of truth, had provoked Origen to give greater attention exclusively to the Scriptures, globally and jointly read in Christological terms. The positions of the two greatest origenian translators, Jerome and Rufinus, are very different. They were friends but they became enemies precisely over their conception of the Scriptures: a fidele depositum of the Holy Spirit sent by the apostles themselves (Rufinus) or as a tool to seek the original sense iuxta Hebraicam veritatem (Jerome).