Comments on: Wesleyan Quadrilateral Fixed: Part One

By: Wesleyan Quadrilateral Fixed: Part Two» Making Chutney

Wesleyan Quadrilateral Fixed: Part Two» Making Chutney — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:15:20 +0000

[…] « Wesleyan Quadrilateral Fixed: Part One […]

By: Mickbic

Mickbic — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:40:01 +0000

My first good exposure to Roman Catholicism was a book that did a good job of undercutting the sola scriptura doctrines of the Protestants and seem to promulgate the three legged stool of Roman Catholicism as Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition, and the Magesterium. Perhaps UUs could use something similiar. (I am not real familiar with Roman Catholicism, but as a fundamental Baptist as a child I memorized quite a few scripture verses, some of which come to mind now and then.)

By: ogre

ogre — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 05:02:03 +0000

I’m very much behind on my reading, actually. Or is that just on my behind, reading?

By: chutney

chutney — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:01:00 +0000

Have you been reading ahead?

By: ogre

ogre — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:48:33 +0000

An engineering observation…

A quadrilateral is not a strong/stable structure. Push one side and it’s prone to failure. Now, a triangle… that’s a strong, resilient structure.

I’d restructure this, therefore (as a UU) as:

Tradition (of which scriptures are part… but *only* a part)
Experience
Reason

Of course, the verbs used are wretched (perhaps merely very dated) choices.

Reason does not Confirm. It Tests. The proper verb, though the sense has become a bit archaic, is “Proves.” Reason proves (and disproves… where it can).

Vivify wouldn’t be bad for Experience if it didn’t have to be explained. How about “Enlivens” or something of that sort?

Tradition? It Anchors. And that’s a good thing, even when one finds that it’s time to raise–or drag–the anchor.