Sources of Divine Revelation


On a recent thread, I shared with a friend, a potential convert, about the traditional view of Divine Revelation, Catholic Tradition and Scripture, known as partim-partim. Now, modern apologists and theologians would probably distance from partim-partim to a sort of middle way with sola Scriptura, a concept some call "prima scriptura". I've heard it used by Patrick Madrid, and Robert Sungenis shared with me that this idea likely came from the influence of Scott Hahn. 

Anyway, the idea of partim-partim is that there are two separate sources (plural) of Divine Revelation, Scripture and Tradition. This was certainly the idea at the time of the prep for the Second Vatican Council as the draft schema for the document on Sacred Scripture, Schema Constitutionis Dogmaticae de Fontibus Revelationis, referred to "sources of revelation". What came out of Vatican II, in Dei Verbum, was a single Source, Christ, with two streams that flow from the same source, the streams being Scripture and Tradition. Perhaps some may say, a distinction without a difference. 

There is a difference. Partim-partim would hold that there may be oral traditions passed down through the ages in the form of creeds, writings of church fathers, local customs, etc that may not be explicitly or implicitly in the New Testament. The modern view would hold that all that is in Tradition can be found implicitly or explicitly in the New Testament. I just found this reference from Liturgical Press, which is sort of left of center liturgically but validates the concept in Catholic history. Hard to find modern articles about partim-partim.



Comments

  1. Laurence GonzagaMarch 2, 2021 at 10:46 PM

    Jubernson Alabastro
    Laurence Gonzaga Gerry Matatics was with Madrid in Catholic Answers during Madrid's Sola Scriptura debate with White, so perhaps he could confirm this. If I am not mistaken, Madrid's source for the Material sufficiency of scripture came from Fr. Yves Congar. To Madrid's credit, I believed he used it well when White cited Church Fathers' authority alleging the sufficiency of scripture.

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  2. Laurence GonzagaMarch 2, 2021 at 10:46 PM

    Jubernson Alabastro
    Laurence Gonzaga it was my initiation to Catholic Apologetics many years ago. You should also read the post debate exchange between Madrid and White, The White Man's Burden in This Rock's Magazine. I forgot the title of the response of White in his website

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  3. Laurence GonzagaMarch 2, 2021 at 10:47 PM

    Jerwin Tonillo Lique
    Hi Sir Laurence, for ease of reference you can find Mr. Patrick Madrid's article entitled "The White Man's Burden" in the links below as well as the counter-argument of Mr James White.
    https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-white-mans-burden?fbclid=IwAR21U32Ih3fife9jHkMBaBub10SkAgiMU8q7P7SxQb2sSwQZREP6OhrkO_k
    https://www.aomin.org/aoblog/roman-catholicism/catholic-answers-myth-or-reality-a-refutation-of-patrick-madrids-article-the-white-mans-burden-and-a-defense-of-sola-scriptura/?fbclid=IwAR2DVV5FUR-9acrpJLCsqKYcb8VbGhI8W40S5m0FTKoYOwEbbk1yzyHrqo0

    ReplyDelete
  4. Laurence GonzagaMarch 2, 2021 at 10:49 PM

    Gregory Elder
    The principle of dual revelation is ancient indeed and predates Christianity in its Jewish heritage. But it was very important to Catholics in the 16th century to fight accusations from the Protestants sola scriptura attacks.
    But the Catholic argument has won the day. First, we now have access to liturgical manuscripts of the early church which grind to powder the claim the the early Church was simple and non clerical and non liturgical. The texts dug up in the past centuries make it clear that there was and is a living tradition. There is also the matter of St John Henry Newman's principle of development of doctrine, which I believe speaks against the sola scriptura argument as well as the debate you cite above about sources

    ReplyDelete
  5. Laurence GonzagaMarch 2, 2021 at 10:50 PM

    https://youtu.be/LlLlzDBHhhA
    Madrid vs White Debate on Sola Scriptura

    ReplyDelete

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