The beauty of the Catholic Church is that we do not rest upon whoever is presently alive. Tradition is "the democracy of the dead" Chesterton said. This means that the "theolgians" we "rely" upon are long gone. And there is no evidence of their being "corrupt."
And what is the difference between such a position and the reliance by the NC churches upon the original Apostles ?
Good question. Not a whole lot, actually. Except that we have an actual succession of history showing where our beliefs came from, and moving the core belief to the era of the Apostles.
Where NC churches tend to read their Reformation-era ideas back into history where they are not. Honestly, does the idea that each person is sovereign to read the Scriptures and decide for Himself what is true even make any sense in a pre-literate, pre-printing press world?
SD