Sources for Theology

The four sources of theology are

Scripture

Reason

Tradition

Experience

Most Christians (though not all) will claim that Scripture is the most important of these four sources, but there is no real agreement on which of the remaining three follows in importance. However, how you choose to rank these sources in terms of their authority in your theological thinking will have a profound affect on what your theology turns out to be.

Some Christians claim to be tradition-free. However, all Christians are shaped by traditions to some extent. For some, these traditions are codified in confessions and doctrinal statements. For others, these traditions are passed on more informally and operate in the community primarily through the teaching authority of the pastor.

Experience may include personal, mystical experiences, or it may refer primarily to more general experiences of the beauty of creation, the order of nature, and God's providential care for us.

All these sources of theology are centered on Christ and subservient to Christ. Christ is the living Word to whom the Scriptures testify, the head of his body the Church and so of its tradition, the ordering principle which makes reason function and the light which illumines our minds to know anything. It is Christ whom I meet in my experience and Christ who is revealed in all these ways.