Timely. Relevant. Pay attention, class.

Although it is sometimes said in Anglican circles that Scripture, tradition and reason form a ‘threefold cord’ which restrains and directs the church, and although there are not lacking those who regard these three as having equal authority, yet official pronouncements continue to uphold the primary, the supreme authority of Scripture, while accepting the important place of tradition and reason in the elucidation of Scripture.  Thus, the report on the Bible issued by the 1958 Lambeth Conference contained this heartening statement: ‘The Church is not “over” the Holy Scriptures, but “under” them, in the sense that the process of canonization was not one whereby the Church conferred authority on the books but one whereby the Church acknowledged them to possess authority.  And why?  The books were recognized as giving the witness of the Apostles to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of the Lord and the interpretation by the Apostles of these events.  To that apostolic authority the Church must ever bow.’