LESSON 3- THE SOURCES OF FAITH

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 Recognize key concepts that relate to

each source of the faith;
 Distinguish the role played by the three
sources of the faith in theology; and
 Appraise the relationship of the primary
sources of Sacred Scripture and Sacred
Tradition
EXPOSITION
Revelation, the divine self-gift of God, is
communicated in different ways. It is
communicated through:
1. Sacred Scripture
2. Sacred Tradition
3. Church’s Magisterium
These three sources (Scripture, Tradition and
Magisterium) come from the same origin (God)
and unite in one goal: the proclamation of
revelation in Christ.
THE CHURCH

 The Church looks to God’s revelation in the

Scripture and Tradition as the only authentic
and complete source for our knowledge about
God and God’s will for the whole human race.
 It is the responsibility of the whole Church,
through her teaching (doctrine), her
sacraments (worship) and her ministries
(morals), to transmit to every new generation all
that God has revealed.
WHAT IS THIS BOOK?
SACRED SCRIPTURE
 The Sacred Scriptures, collected in the Bible, is
the inspired record of how God dealt with His
people, and how they responded to,
remembered and interpreted that experience.

 The Bible was written by persons from the

people of God, for the people of God, about the
experience of the people of God.

 Collectively, the Scriptures form “The Book of

the People of God, the Church.”
BIBLICAL INSPIRATION
 Biblical inspiration is a special gift given to the
authors of the sacred text.
 Inspiration here refers to a charism, a special
grace or gift given by the Holy Spirit, for the
purpose of building up the Christian community.
Therefore, the entirety of the Bible was written
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
 God chose certain human authors (not just
authors, but even editors, compilers and
communities), who made full use of their human
faculties, guided by the Holy Spirit who
enlightened their minds, to put into writing what
God wanted written.
THE CANON OF SCRIPTURES

 The Biblical canon refers to the definitive list of

books of the Bible that are divinely inspired,
and whose content contains the norms of the
faith.
 After a lengthy process of development and
study, the Council of Trent, after its fourth
session in 1546, determined the 46 books of
the Old Testament and the 27 books of the
New Testament.
CRITERIA FOR CANONICITY

1. Apostolicity – Is the text

connected with a known apostle of
Christ?
2. Source Community – What is the
community from which the text
emerged?
CRITERIA FOR CANONICITY

3. Coherence with the Essential

Gospel Message – Is the text
consistent with the general
understanding of the Christian
message?
4. Liturgical Use – Is the text used
in liturgy, like the Eucharist? “
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE CANON?

 Scholastic theologians formulate their

answer: (Scripture is the norma normans
non normata (the norm which norms all
other expression of the faith but which is
not itself normed).
 The canon was made to unite all
Christians by grounding them under a
normative set of text that will be
considered sacred and true.
IMPORTANCE OF THE CANON

 Another important function of the

canon is to remind us that
“Christianity is a historical religion; it
is not simply a collection of eternal
myths, but it is also a set of historical
accounts of God’s saving action on
behalf of humanity.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
PENTATEUCH (5)
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
HISTORICAL BOOKS (16)
1. Joshua 9. 2 Chronicles
2. Judges 10. Ezra
3. Ruth 11. Nehemiah
4. 1 Samuel 12. Tobit
5. 2 Samuel 13. Judith
6. 1 Kings 14. Esther
7. 2 Kings 15. 1 Maccabees
8. 1 Chronicles 16. 2 Maccabees
WISDOM BOOKS (7)

1. Job
2. Psalms
3. Proverbs
4. Ecclesiastes
5. Song of Solomon
6. Wisdom of Solomon
7. Sirach
PROPHETIC BOOKS (18)
1. Isaiah 10. Obadiah
2. Jeremiah 11. Jonah
3. Lamentations 12. Micah
4. Baruch 13. Nahum
5. Ezekiel 14. Habakkuk
6. Daniel 15. Zephaniah
7. Hosea 16. Haggai
8. Joel 17. Zechariah
9. Amos 18. Malachi
THE NEW TESTAMENT
GOSPELS (4)
1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John
ACTS OF THE
APOSTLES (1)
PAULINE EPISTLES/LETTERS (14)
1. Romans 8. 1 Thessalonians
2. 1 Corinthians 9. 2 Thessalonians
3. 2 Corinthians 10. 1 Timothy
4. Galatians 11. 2 Timothy
5. Ephesians 12. Titus
6. Philippians 13. Philemon
7. Colossians 14. Hebrews
CATHOLIC EPISTLES/LETTERS (7)

1. James
2. 1 Peter
3. 2 Peter
4. 1 John
5. 2 John
6. 3 John
7. Jude
The Book of
Revelation (1)
SACRED TRADITION
Tradition (Latin tradere, meaning “to pass or hand
something on”) refers to both:
 The living heritage, the content that is handed on
from one generation of the Church to another.
This may refer to individual doctrine, accounts or
customs transmitted within the Church.
 The actual process of handing on the faith.
Tradition refers to the mode of transmission of
said doctrine, accounts or customs.
 The official organ of tradition is known as the
magisterium, the teaching authority or the
teaching office of the Church.
MAGISTERIUM
 The task of authentically interpreting the Word of
God, whether written or handed on, has been
entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of
the Church, whose authority is exercised in the
name of Jesus Christ.
 This teaching office is not above the word of God,
but serves it, teaching only what has been handed
on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously
and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine
commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit.
SACRED SCRIPTURE AND SACRED TRADITION
Dei Verbum, par. 9
Hence there exists a close connection and communication between
sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from
the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and
tend toward the same end.
For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is
consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit,
while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ
the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles.

Therefore both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be

accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and
reverence.”
HUMAN EXPERIENCE
 Persons are embodied spirits. The Christian view of the body is
understood through the lens of the Incarnation: “The Word
became flesh and dwelt among us”(John 1:14 RSV).
 Christ Himself is the Embodied Son. “For by his incarnation, the
Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every man.
He worked with human hands, he thought with a human mind,
acted by human choice, and loved with a human heart.
 Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like
us in all things, except sin.
 The Incarnation of Christ showcases how the human body, and
its experiences, has potential in becoming an avenue for
goodness.
WHO IS THIS WOMAN?
SOURCES OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE
 We must identify possible sources of human
experience from which to draw from in order to
close the gap between the believers’ faith and
daily life. The following are:
1) human culture, like in the case of
devotional practices;
2) the experience of beauty in the arts,
especially Christian art; and
3) human witness, like in the lives of the
saints.
FILIPINO TRADITIONS
 “Religion is also a memory and tradition, and
popular piety is one of the best examples of
genuine inculturation of faith, because it is a
harmonious blend of faith and liturgy, feelings and
art, and the recognition of our identity in local
traditions.”
 In the Philippines, devotions and popular piety are
at the heart of the Catholic faith tradition, and
many Filipinos come to the knowledge and
understanding of their faith through these
inculturated practices.
HUMAN CULTURE

 “The preaching, worship, and spiritual

life of the Church must incorporate
the best elements of each culture. At
the same time, the whole Church
must criticize elements in any culture
that are incompatible with the gospel
message.”
BEAUTY AND ARTS
 Beauty attracts us, evokes our wonder and joy, and
arouses a flood of delight and inconsolable
longing. We fall in love with beauty, sing it praises,
and want to stay in its presence.
 What then becomes the standard of beauty? The
standard then, in matters of Christian spirituality,
is the standard of Christ’s beauty.
 This concept of beauty—one that not only goes
beyond bodily beauty but also consists in inner
beauty (kagandahang luob)
CALL TO CONVERSION
 The call of Christ for radical conversion is
facilitated by the service and witness of his
disciples in the Christian community.
 By living a truly moral life, “especially our works
of charity, our faith becomes a confession, a
witness before God and our neighbors of our
gift of self, like that of Jesus.”
 Witness refers to bearing testimony to the
world, proclaiming and making known that
Jesus Christ is the liberator of all humankind
and God’s creation.
HUMAN WITNESSES

 One important resource is the witness of the

saints, as preserved in hagiography.
Hagiography refers to writing on the lives of
saints. Through the lives of saints, we gain an
understanding of what it means to live an
authentically Christian life. Their knowledge,
moral life and prayer life all help illuminate for
us ways in which we too can live lives of
sanctity in the present time.
IMPACT OF CHRISTIAN WITNESS

 The faith must have an impact on the way we

live, and must transform our human experience
as well.
 This transformative potential is most clearly
seen in Christian witness.
 Through the lives of good men and women of
the Church, whether the saints of the past, or
the new “prophets” of the present, we see
Christ continuing his salvific work even today.
WHO IS THIS MAN ?
SUMMARY
 Sacred Theology rests on the written Word of God,
together with Sacred Tradition, as its primary and
perpetual foundation.
 For the Sacred Scriptures contain the word of God
and since they are the inspired Word of God; and so
the study of the sacred page is, as it were, the soul
of sacred theology.
 By the same word of Scripture the ministry of the
word also, that is, pastoral preaching, catechesis
and all Christian instruction, in which the liturgical
homily must hold the foremost place, is nourished in
a healthy way and flourishes in a holy way (Dei
Verbum # 24).
REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What do we mean when we say that

the Bible is divinely inspired?
2. How should we approach the
reading and interpretation of the Bible?
3. What are the two ways of
understanding Tradition?
REFERENCE

Badion, Justin Joseph, Initium

Fidei: An Introduction to Doing
Catholic Tehology, San Sebatian
College Recoletos de Cavite,
Manila, 2018