[xzins]

I don't think our understand of sola scriptura permits a spontaneous interpretation.

There is a hereneutic that is strict.

There is of course the vocabulary and grammar that so many focus on when they think of "literalists," but that is just the beginning.

Every verse has a variety of contexts. It's place within the paragraph, section, book. It's place within the writings of the author in question. It's place within the NT. It's place within the history of the time. Textual issues are, of course, important.

Any derived theology or doctrine will study others opinions on these things. Perhaps that's the best way to view church councils (other than the Jerusalem Council, of course.) They are another opinion of significant others that must be incorporated. They are not automatically authoritative simply by virtue of bearing the title, "Church Council."

[Kolokotronis]

"They are not automatically authoritative simply by virtue of bearing the title, "Church Council.""

For 1500 years before the Reformation, well, at least until the Great Schism, The Church believed that the dogmatic pronouncements of the Ecumenical (not local) councils were authoritative. After the Schism, of course, Rome felt it could "go it alone" so to speak under a Pope who claimed infallibility. As an Orthodox Christian I, like you, do not accept the pronouncements of Popes as dogmatic in se nor do I believe that the local councils of the Latin Church are binding on me or infallible in their pronouncements. Considering the course followed by the Latin Church after the schism and through the Middle Ages in Western Europe, I can certainly understand why the reformers decided to break with Rome. What I have yet to understand is why the Reformers chose to create a totally new and different theology and ecclesiology which in most respects is at odds with what the One Church, I think admittedly, had always practiced and believed. And that Church, the One Church, was by definition infallible and invincible. So how come you threw out the belief that the councils were infallible? Why was that necessary? I have my own theory but I am curious about yours.

[Gene Eric]

>> Retired Army Chaplain and proud of it! Supporting our troops means praying for them to WIN!

Excellent tag. And, I will continue to do so each and every day.