Quadrilateral Egg/Chicken Dilemma

January 23, 2017

7:56 AM

In some parts of the global church there is a thing called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. The quadrilateral is a way of talking about four sources that are used in the pursuit of Truth. Those four sources are Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.

Art Courtesy of Jason Valendy

Wesleyan Quad

A visual representation of John Wesley's theological method, posted by Scot McKnight on his now-archived blog, "Jesus Creed" on BeliefNet.com http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/jesuscreed/2010/07/the-wesleyan-quadrilateral-ste.html

There are many ways to visually describe the quadrilateral which you can see with a google image search. Some people talk about all four sources as equal in weight, while others talk about Scripture being heavier than the other three. The debate between if Scripture is "heavier" is not as heated of a subject as how much heavier is Scripture. Are we a "Sola Scriptura" (only Scripture) or a "Prima Scriptura" (Scripture first) people?

The element that I have not heard in this conversation is the Chicken/Egg Dilemma inherent in the quadrilateral. Here is what I am talking about:

If we take Scripture as first and primary, that is well and good. However, Scripture did not fall from the sky. Scripture is what it is because a particular Tradition won out over time. That is to say, the Biblical canon is what it is in The United Methodist Church because of the tradition of Martin Luther, not the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. With the chicken/egg metaphor, Scripture could be the chicken and Tradition could be the egg.

Tradition was also not created out of thin air. Tradition comes out of a lived experience that reveals what is valued by the person(s) generating the Tradition. Luther had experiences that led him to believe that some books of his Bible were not canon-worthy (we call those the deuterocanonical books). In this thinking, Tradition could be the chicken and Experience could be the egg.

We can't forget that a person's Experiences receive meaning through the filter of that person's own Reason. For instance, Luther did not think that books like Hebrews or Revelation should be in the canon because his Reason argued that they were not in his understanding of the Christian Tradition to be considered Scripture. Here, Experience could be the chicken and Reason the egg.

Finally, the role of Reason filtered out stories and experiences that were not "of God" to a community as far back as oral Tradition - thus dictating what stories were told and ultimately having a chance at being Scripture. Is Reason the chicken and Tradition the egg? How does scripture fit into this analogy?

And we are back at Scripture.

Currently some in the UMC are debating the role of Scripture. Some sections of the UMC cannot tolerate anything on equal grounds as Scripture (example). I am not saying that anything should be. Here's a question worth pondering: Does the insistence of Scripture as "heavier" results in a dismissal of "lighter" sources? Maybe making the sources more equal does not result in taking Scripture lighter, but understands the Egg/Chicken dilemma.

Valendy Thumb

Rev. Jason Valendy

The Rev. Jason Valendy, along with his wife the Rev. Estee Valendy, serves as co-pastor of Saginaw United Methodist Church in Saginaw, TX. He blogs at JasonValendy.com, from which this post is republished with the author's permission.

Comments (5)

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Albert Outler conceived the Quadrilateral

And he came to regret that he ever came up with it!

"Another problem with attaching Wesley’s name to the quadrilateral is that it lends authority to a theological method that is often misused and misconstrued. These misrepresentations ultimately lead to a misrepresentation of Wesley and his beliefs. Since its formulation, the quadrilateral has taken on a life of its own. Its most egregious misuse occurs when people treat all four sources as being of equal authority, thus belittling scripture." From "The Myth of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral", http://www.jonathanandersen.com/the-myth-of-the-wesleyan-quadrilateral/

Just like our misconstrued understanding of Wesley's thoughts on the catholic spirit, the Quadrilateral is one more example of how little we really know about who John Wesley was and what he really did!

Betsy more than 7 years ago

Conversation

The key element of the Quadrilateral is conversation. It invites us into dialogue with each other with openness and grace. And in this sense the Quadrilateral became essential during the times of merger in the late 1960s. When circumstances were ripe for various factions to split and leave the church it helped set a groundwork for healthy debate.

Rev. Jack Stubbs more than 7 years ago

A Man of One Book

When Wesley declared himself a "Man of One Book" he meant scripture always comes first and foremost. It was someone else who ascribed a Quadrilateral to him. I see Wesley as living as close as possible to scripture and recommending same for us.

Skipper Anding more than 7 years ago

Quadrilateral

Since Methodists take their cues from Wesley this quote ought to help put some boundaries on reason and experience.
"If any doubt of this privilege of the sons of God, the question is not to be decided by abstract reasonings, which may be drawn out into an endless length, and leave the point just as it was before. Neither is it to be determined by the experience of this or that particular person. Many may suppose they do not commit sin, when they do; but this proves nothing either way. "

We do not weigh these on a balance scale. We test our reasoning against scripture.

Kevin more than 7 years ago

Maybe we need a pentilateral....

Adding "Context." Because all of the Religious Right citations of scripture ignore its context. The Right abuses scripture by reducing it to a "gotcha" list to affirm their prejudices and biases.

Or, a sextilateral, adding "Character." This could include a resolve to "Do No Harm." Religious Right ideology weaponizes scripture to exact harm upon those they deem less worthy than themselves. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," a 1973 short story by Ursula K. LeGuin, serves as a guide to proper response to harm of others. The story describes a civilization which is prosperous and pleasre-full, but it is predicated upon the torture of one small child. In response upon learning of this, most people simply shrug and go about their business, but a group determines that because of this they must leave this evil polity. The story is certainly a metaphor for exclusivist notions of the afterlife in which those who the self-righteous have determined they are better than suffer eternal torment like a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Such a position is essential to Religious Right cosmology, but anathema to true following of Christ.

George Nixon Shuler more than 7 years ago