Assignment 9

Read the web assignments for this week.

Christians claimed that religious truth was only available through their group. After the founder's death, who decides what that truth is, and who are the legitimate members of the group? We have seen that the Buddha did not designate a successor and that subsequent followers sometimes disagreed about the best way to follow the Buddha's dharma. The readings describe how some Christians wrestled with this issue.

Clement and Ignatius were early Christian bishops. For them the bishops are the guarantors of authentic Christianity. For these two writers, how do the bishops claim this authority?

Irenaeus was also a bishop defending bishop's authority as resting on "scripture and tradition". What does Irenaeus mean by these terms?

The claims advanced by these early writers eventually led to the elevation of the bishop of Rome (known as the pope) as supreme bishop over the whole church (this claim was never accepted by the Eastern churches). Boniface VIII was pope in 1302. How does Boniface claim papal authority? Is that different from the more general "authority of the bishops" described by the earlier writers? Why or why not?

Martin Luther rejected the claim of papal and episcopal (adjective of "bishop") authority. For him, what is the supreme Christian authority and how does it work?

With your study partner, discuss these readings, especially the questions in boldface. Write a 1-2 page paper describing your discussion. Be sure to include at least one dialogue, question, or disagreement that came up in your discussion.