Ecclesia Docens: Structures of Doctrinal Authority in Tertullian and Vincent

Abstract

ECCLES/A DOCENS: STRUCTURES OF DOCTRINAL AUTHORITY INTERTULLIAN AND VINCENT IN THE CONTROVERSY following the publication of the encyclical Humanae Vitae, the discussion concerning ecclesiastical doctrinal authority occupied much more time than the arguments over the moral issues more directly involved. The prohibition and condemnation of contraception had to be upheld, it was maintained, because to do otherwise would mean introducing an element of serious discontinuity with previous Catholic teaching.1 It has been claimed that this preoccupation with continuity is a trait of the modern Church, especially of the modern Papacy. It is intriguing to consider whether the remark of Tertullian in Adversus Praxean referred to similar concern for continuity c. 200 A. D. The bishop of Rome, according to Tertullian, was on the verge of granting some sort of recognition and approval to the Montanist movement in Asia Minor, when the Modalist heretic, Praxeas, dissuaded him with lies and"... by (his) insistence on the decisions of the bishop's predecessors." 2 Continuity, in one form or another, has been a constant concern of the Church. In earlier centuries, this concern could be summed up in the word" apostolicity." As the first generation of Christian gentile converts began to pass from the scene and increasingly discordant versions of the Christian message were preached, the need for verification of the link with the past became evident. Irenaeus could speak proudly of his direct connection with the Apostle John through Polycarp of Smyrna. Yet Florinus had had the same experience and Irenaeus con1 H. Kling, Infallible? An Inquiry. (Trans. E. Quinn, Garden City, 1971) 54. 2 Adversus Praxean. 1 (CC ~.1159 Kroymann & Evans). 96 " ECCLESIA DOCENS " 97 sidered him a heretic.a Papias could proclaim his preference for the living voice of tradition. Yet his own beliefs, e.g. millenarianism , demonstrated the unreliability of this approach. Eusebius deemed Papias " a man of exceedingly small intelligence ." 4' The growing dilemma led to increasing pressure for a practical solution. This practical solution was found in combining the argument from succession, formulated succinctly in Clement of Rome, with the ever more important office of the monarchical episcopate.5 Gnostics also claimed that their teaching took its origin from the teaching of the Apostles. As Ptolemy wrote to Flora: "For with God's help you will learn ... if you are deemed worthy of knowing the apostolic tradition which we too have received from a succession ..." 6 The answer to the Gnostic challenge was formulated by Irenaeus and Tertullian.7 The basic argument has not changed greatly since that day. Immutability is the hallmark of Catholic doctrine; variation, the characteristic of heresy. Bossuet in the 17th century, like Tertullian in the third, could still pursue this reasoning.8 As historical knowledge increased and, more important, the historical mentality took deeper root in the 18th and 19th centuries , this view became untenable. Evolutionary and developmental theories became the fashion of the time. Yet, when it was a question of Catholic doctrine, only a homogeneous development was acceptable. Catholic doctrine did change, it was recognized, but always in the sense of progress, always in the direction of greater clarity and explicitation. As Jossua has observed, homogeneity came to play in historically aware • Eus. H. E. V. 20. 4-8. (GCS text (E. Schwartz) in K. Lake, Loeb edition. Vol. 1 496-8.) • Eusebius H. E. III. 39.13 (LCL 1.296). 5 Clement of Rome. 42. 1-2 (K. Lake, Loeb edition 78-80.). The Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (LCL 172 ff) . 6 Letter of Ptolemy to Flora (SC 24.68 Quispe!) (Paris, 1949). • Irenaeus Adversus Haereses III. 3 (SC 211. 30£ Rousseau & Doutreleau) (Paris, 1974). Tertullian De Praescriptione Haereticorum 36 (CC 1.216-7 Refoule). 8 0. Chadwick From Bossuet to Newman Ch. 1 "Semper Eadem" (Cambridge 1957). 98 ROBERT B. ENO circles the role that fixity and perenniality had for more conservative minds.9 Today's problematic is considerably more complex than this. Even a recent Roman document like Mysterium Ecclesiae (sect. 5) admits the problem of the historicity of doctrines but then gives it short shrift. One's view of the ancient solution of apostolic succession seems highly colored by one's basic ecclesial presuppositions...