I've been pondering lately about the Methodist Quadrilateral (yes I am that geeky), and I got to thinking, is it of any use? Can anything new come out of it or has it now served it's purpose?
For those of you how do not know this is what the Quadrilateral is (curtessy of Aunty Wiki)
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral, or Methodist Quadrilateral, is a methodology for theological reflection that is credited to John Wesley, leader of the Methodist movement in the late 18th Century. The term itself was coined by 20th century American Methodist Albert C. Outler in his introduction to the 1964 collection John Wesley
It is the dialogue between Scripture, Reason, Tradition and Experience which helps us to apply the teachings of the Bible to who we are and what we do as Christians.
Wesley was of the opinion that Tradition weakened over time and so to do things because we have always done them that way is not a theologically good reason. There must always stand the possibility that we have got things wrong in the past.
Scripture does not change, but the other three do and this affects how we understand and interpret scripture.
The Experience of each person is different, it is affected by our upbringing, our friends and the teaching we recieve from different sources.
Reason also differs from person to person, what seems reasonable to one may be less so to another but reason works best within the quadrilateral if we talk it through with other people and make use of the broader understanding of a larger group of people, inside and outside of the traditional church. "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD to each one of us. We are invited to think about our faith.
And as mentioned before Tradition is something which can seem to loose it's relavence over time and constantly needs to be re-anylised and reformed. If you really love something you work to reform it and keep it relavent.
This got me wondering. Has tradition now started to get in the way? Is it becoming more important to us as a church than the other 3? It occurs to me that even when we say that we put scripture first it is scripture through the lens of our tradition. When we say that reason and experience are important it is only when they fall in line with what tradtion tells us are the experiences we should have and the understanding we should have.
In short I believe that Tradtion has become Dr Sheldon Cooper (if you don't get this culture reference, Google it and your homework is to watch the first season of The Big Bang Theory).
Below is a praraphrased Big Bang Theory quote which explains my point.
Scripture:
Hey, check it out. I got you a Batman cookie jar!
Tradition:
Oh neat, what’s the occasion?
Scripture:
Well, you’re a friend, and you like Batman, and cookies, and you’re
off the team.
Tradition:
What?
Scripture:
Experience, Reason and I just had a team meeting.
Tradition:
No you didn’t.
Scripture:
Yes we did, I just came from it.
Tradition:
Okay, I don’t know where you just came from, but it couldn’t have
been a team meeting because I’m on the team and I wasn’t there,
ergo the team did not meet.
Scripture:
Okay, let me try it this way, uh, I was at a coffee klatch with a
couple of friends and one thing led to another and it turns out
you’re off the team.
Tradition:
Why?
Scripture:
Because you’re taking all the fun out of it.
Tradition:
Well, I’m sorry, is the winner of the Church the team that has the
most fun?
Scripture:
Okay, let me try it this way, you’re annoying and no-one wants to
play with you any more.
Is it now time for us to sit down with Tradition and explain to it that it needs to change and this change may have to be bigger than "Anything can happen Thursdays" (again Google it).
If we did this, if we took the other points of the Quadrilateral seriously, what would Church look like?
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