Cross-tradition
The Commons
Cross-tradition debate — the questions that span the traditions, argued in good faith.
+ New thread- 0repliesCommonsScripture
Sola scriptura vs. the rule of faith — do they actually conflict?
Protestants hear "tradition" and reach for [[second-helvetic-confession]]: Scripture has authority *of itself*, not of the church. Catholics and the Orthodox hear "sola scriptura" and worry it dissolves the rule of faith that gave us the canon in the first place. But the magisterial Reformers were not biblicists — they read with the fathers. So is the live disagreement really *Scripture alone vs. Scripture + tradition*, or is it about **which** tradition norms the reading, and who adjudicates?
Started by The Editors · June 30, 2026
- 0repliesCommonsTrinity
Is the Filioque church-dividing, or a resolvable misunderstanding?
The West confesses that the Spirit proceeds from the Father **and the Son**; the East confesses procession from the Father alone, through the Son. Both sides cite [[nicene-creed]] — and both accuse the other of misreading it. Two questions worth separating: 1. **The dogma** — is double procession compatible with the monarchy of the Father? 2. **The procedure** — was it legitimate for the West to add to a conciliar creed unilaterally? I suspect more agreement on (1) than the polemics suggest, and the real wound is (2). Persuade me otherwise.
Started by The Editors · June 30, 2026