The authority of the church

• religion

  could be argued that it is characterised as much by its moral as by its beliefs
• morals

  a set of principles linked to doing right actions
• R.C Tradition

  the authority of the words of Jesus holds high authority
• Protestants

  the Bible is the highest authority
• Some Christians

  what is right and what is wrong is based on one single authority of love
• The Bible as the only source of ethics

  • the idea that the Bible is a set of truth statements that reveal God‘s message to the world, a “propositional revelation”
  • if the Bible is a set of statements that God has made then it is logical that these statements should be followed directly
  • some Christians see the Bible not as dictated by God but inspired and still accurate
  • the bible is interpreted the minute it is read and that this cannot be helped, literalists do allow this approach to interpretation
• Church authority - Protestant approach

  • the Bible should guide people in their moral lives
  • the Church is the bridge between the 1st century and today, its journey is as important as the journey of the first Christians
  • Christians can learn from prayer and worship
• Church authority - Roman Catholic approach

  • the authority of the Church was given by Jesus to Peter and the apostles
  • authentic interpretation of the Bible is the duty of the Church, under the influence of the Holy Spirit
  • “To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles“ - Catechism of the Catholic Church
  • humans are weak and sinful and therefore cant rely on themselves to make moral decisions properly, the Bible and Church are required
• Using reason

  • for Roman Catholics, reason can be used to identify what God has revealed
  • Catholics give authority to conscience to help make moral decisions
  • “Conscience has more authority than even the Pope because having a conscience predates the Church’s existence“ - J.H Newman
• Using reason - Protestant view

  • reason in required to help distinguish between correct and incorrect interpretations of the Bible
  • reason is required to understand the Bible in an ever-changing world
  • reason is important to establish what would be in the Bible if it were written in today‘s context
  • reason points back to the Bible, which holds ultimate authority
• Personal or communal?

  • Christians have had a community for over 2000 years
  • Christian ethics is about a community expressing moral actions, more than an individual doing them
  • a community is made up of individuals
  • ethics is personal but has the ultimate intention of the overall good of society
• Personal or communal? - Personal

  • the Bible and Church teachings give individuals a way to live life according to their own needs
  • Jesus spoke to individual circumstances, eg. the woman with the flow of blood
  • the community focus is about worship and prayer, rather than ethics
  • situation ethics is person-centred
• Personal or communal? - Communal

  • the Bible needs to be read as the expression of how a community lives its life
  • Jesus spoke to groups more than to individuals, eg. the Sermon on the Mount
  • for some Christians, the Bible should be shared and studied in group situations
  • the rules found in the Bible are for the community