Christian Moral Authority

Theological Heteronomy

The view that moral rules are imposed by an external divine source.

Ecclesial Authority

Moral guidance interpreted and mediated by the Church community, history, and magisterium.

Autonomy (Moral Philosophy)

The view that moral law is internal, discerned via God-given reason and conscience.

Wesleyan Quadrilateral

A model balancing four authority sources: Scripture (primary), Tradition, Reason, and Experience.

Sola Scriptura

The Protestant Reformation principle that Scripture is the sole infallible rule of faith.

Biblical Absolutism

The view that the Bible contains timeless moral rules directly dictated by God.

Biblicism

A literalist interpretation treating scripture as an error-free manual for ethics.

Proof-Texting

The practice of pulling isolated biblical verses out of context to justify a stance.

Propositional Revelation

The belief that God reveals truth in clear, factual statements or commands.

Non-Propositional Revelation

The belief that God reveals Himself through historical events and stories requiring interpretation.

The Hermeneutical Problem

The challenge of bridging the cultural gap between ancient texts and modern ethics.

Sacred Tradition

The living transmission of the Gospel through church teaching, equal in weight to Scripture.

The Magisterium

The official teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church (Pope and bishops).

Apostolic Succession

The belief that authority has been passed down directly from the Apostles to bishops.

Papal Infallibility

The Catholic dogma that the Pope is preserved from error when defining faith/morals.

Prima Scriptura

The view that Scripture is primary, but Tradition and Reason are essential guides.

Community of Believers Model

Stanley Hauerwas's view of tradition as shared practices and moral stories of the community.

Natural Law (Aquinas)

The belief that humans can discern God's moral order using reason without Scripture.

Synderesis

In Aquinas's ethics, the innate human orientation toward doing good and avoiding evil.

Conscientia

In Aquinas's ethics, the practical application of reason to decide specific actions.

Categorical Imperative (Kant)

A secular moral framework emphasizing duty derived purely through human reason.

Richard Mouw

Argued against total autonomy, stressing that human reason is corrupted by sin.

Karl Barth

Warned against Bibliolatry, arguing the Bible points to God's Word but is not itself God's static voice.

Richard Hays

Outlined the hermeneutical task, balancing textual, exegetical, synthetic, and hermeneutical steps.

Allen Verhey

Argued that scripture provides a "grammar" for moral living rather than precise recipes.

Hermeneutical Gap

The historical, cultural, and linguistic distance between ancient texts and modern ethical issues.

Apostolic Continuity

The belief that church traditions preserve an unbroken link of moral truth from the Apostles.

Philip Turner

Argued tradition acts as a check against individual misinterpretations of scripture.

Autonomous Ethics (Christian)

The view that reason alone allows humans to discern moral duty, centering on agape.

Agape (Selfless Love)

The core principle of autonomous Christian ethics, using reason to express Christ-like love.