ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the debate over the authority of Scripture and the authority of tradition in the thought of John Calvin, using his exegesis of the prophetic books of the Bible to examine his views on authority, tradition, and church history. The Church preaches the kerygma which is to be found in toto in written form in the canonical books Oberman, Harvest. Tradition is not understood as an addition to the kerygma of the church, but as the handing down of that kerygma. Largely due to the power of canon lawyers, Oberman argues, the position designated as Tradition II began to gain the ascendancy. Accordingly, by the late Middle Ages, Tradition I became a position of protest against the burgeoning acceptance of the two-source theory. Adherents to Tradition I included Thomas Bradwardine, John Wyclif and Jan Hus amongst others. Augustine has very wisely explained this in his fourth book against Julian.