http://www.boarsheadtavern.com/archives/2007/05/16/1051179.html “The Church must be free to be poor in order to minister among the poor. The Church must trust the Gospel enough to come among the poor with nothing to offer the poor except the Gospel, except the power to discern and the courage to expose the Gospel as it is already mediated in the life of the poor…When the Church has the freedom itself to be poor among the poor, it will know how to use what riches it has. When the Church has that freedom, it will know also how to minister among the rich and powerful. When the Church has that freedom, it will be a missionary people again in all the world. When the Church has the freedom to go out into the world with merely the Gospel to offer the world, then it will know how to use whatever else it has–money and talent and buildings and tapestries and power in politics–as sacraments of its gift of its own life to the world, as tokens of the ministry of Christ.” -William Stringfellow (HT to Nate Spencer) Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:29:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 http://www.boarsheadtavern.com/archives/2007/05/16/1051179.html#comment-54639 The Boar’s Head Tavern » Who is the authority of the Church? Jesus or men? Wed, 16 May 2007 15:08:27 +0000 http://www.boarsheadtavern.com/archives/2007/05/16/1051179.html#comment-54639 [...] (EDIT: In light of Joel’s comment, I should make this a little more clear than my post implies. David, this is not aimed at you specifically. Though I am coming at the from a non-RCC perspective, I’m throwing out a general observation on Church authority that we all seem to be poking at without addressing squarely.) Appeals to our individual Magesteriums, Councils, Conferences, Confessions, etc. as authority are all well and good, but I have yet to be convinced from the scriptures that any of these man made councils have any legitimate claim to global authority. If we take a trip in our time machine and look at the earliest churches, then sure, they were all lead by the authority of the apostles, and it is from them that the churches received their doctrine. And where do we get the authority of the apostles today? Is it from bishops, priests, pastors, denominational hierarchies, etc.? No. It is from the scriptures themselves. [...] [...] (EDIT: In light of Joel’s comment, I should make this a little more clear than my post implies. David, this is not aimed at you specifically. Though I am coming at the from a non-RCC perspective, I’m throwing out a general observation on Church authority that we all seem to be poking at without addressing squarely.) Appeals to our individual Magesteriums, Councils, Conferences, Confessions, etc. as authority are all well and good, but I have yet to be convinced from the scriptures that any of these man made councils have any legitimate claim to global authority. If we take a trip in our time machine and look at the earliest churches, then sure, they were all lead by the authority of the apostles, and it is from them that the churches received their doctrine. And where do we get the authority of the apostles today? Is it from bishops, priests, pastors, denominational hierarchies, etc.? No. It is from the scriptures themselves. [...]

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