{{Short description|Christian theological doctrine}} {{lang title|la}}
'''{{lang|la|Prima scriptura}}''' (Church Latin for ''''scripture first'''<nowiki/>')<ref>Burger, H., Huijgen, A., & Peels, E. (Eds.). (2017). Sola Scriptura: Biblical and theological perspectives on scripture, authority, and hermeneutics. Brill. p. 8. "Van den Belt criticizes the idea of sola scriptura as imprecise, and in need of clarification. He therefore proposes to speak of prima scriptura ("scripture first") instead of sola scriptura." </ref> is a Christian theological doctrine historically held by Anglicans,<ref name="Humphrey2013">{{cite book|last=Humphrey|first=Edith M.|title=Scripture and Tradition |date=15 April 2013|publisher=Baker Books|language=en |isbn=978-1-4412-4048-4|page=16|quote=historically Anglicans have adopted what could be called a prima Scriptura position.}}</ref> and reflected in some United Methodist liturgical thought.<ref name="UMC - Wesleyan Quadrilateral">{{cite web |url = https://www.umc.org/en/content/glossary-wesleyan-quadrilateral-the |title = Glossary: Wesleyan Quadrilateral, the |publisher = The United Methodist Church |access-date = 2025-04-14}}</ref> It posits that Scripture is the primary authority, but that its interpretation may involve other authorities. It also treats revelation and reason as related gifts from God, since written revelation must be interpreted through the use of reason.<ref>Croy, N. C. (2011). Prima Scriptura: An Introduction to New Testament Interpretation. United States: Baker Publishing Group. See Section: Must Exegesis Be done in the Original Languages. "...Prima scriptura: Scripture as the primary authority, but in conjunction with and mediated by other authorities. Both revelation and reason are gifts from God; indeed, they are interrelated gifts, since one cannot grasp a written, historical revelation without the use of reason."</ref>
==Contrast with ''sola scriptura''== ''Prima scriptura'' is sometimes contrasted to ''sola scriptura'', which literally translates "by the scripture alone".<ref name="WELS2014">{{cite web |url=https://wels.net/faq/lutherans-and-methodists/ |title=Lutherans and Methodists |year=2014 |publisher=Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod |language=en |access-date=2025-04-14 |quote=The United Methodists see Scripture as the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine. They emphasize the importance of tradition, experience, and reason for Christian doctrine. Lutherans teach that the Bible is the sole source for Christian doctrine. The truths of Scripture do not need to be authenticated by tradition, human experience, or reason. Scripture is self authenticating and is true in and of itself. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924204830/https://wels.net/faq/lutherans-and-methodists/ |archive-date=Sep 24, 2024 }}</ref> The former doctrine as understood by many Protestants—particularly Evangelicals—is that the Scriptures are the sole infallible rule of faith and practice, but that the Scriptures' meaning can be mediated through many kinds of secondary authority, such as the ordinary teaching offices of the Church, antiquity, the councils of the Christian Church, reason, and experience.<ref name="WELS2014"/> An increasing number of Evangelicals cite Scripture itself to support ''prima scriptura'', referring to such teaching as 'walking' or being 'led by the Spirit' as quoted by the Apostle Paul.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Croy |first=N. Clayton |title=Prima Scriptura – An Introduction to New Testament Interpretation |publisher=Baker Publishing Group |year=2011 |isbn=9780801035883 |publication-date=2011 |pages=72}}</ref>
However, ''sola scriptura'' rejects any original infallible authority other than the Bible.<ref name="WELS2014"/> Church councils, preachers, biblical commentators, private revelation, or even a message allegedly from an angel are not an original authority alongside the Bible in the ''sola scriptura'' approach, and the authority of most of these is seen as derivative of and subject to examination via the Scriptures; as per 1 John 4:1 the claims of "angelic" messages are to be readily and rigorously examined against the Scriptures in order to certify or refute them.
Both may be contrasted with ''nuda scriptura'', which rejects any authority of any sort other than the Bible; this doctrine is very common amongst fundamentalists.
==Anglicanism== Article VI of the 39 Articles, ''Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation'' states:<ref name="39Articles">{{cite web |title=Articles of Religion of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America |url=https://anglicansonline.org/basics/thirty-nine_articles.html |access-date=2025-04-14 |language=en |date=2017-05-23}}</ref> {{quotation|Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.
Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books. Genesis, The First Book of Samuel, The Book of Esther, Exodus, The Second Book of Samuel, The Book of Job, Leviticus, The First Book of Kings, The Psalms, Numbers, The Second Book of Kings, The Proverbs, Deuteronomy, The First Book of Chronicles, Ecclesiastes or Preacher, Joshua, The Second Book of Chronicles, Cantica, or Songs of Solomon, Judges, The First Book of Esdras, Four Prophets the greater, Ruth, The Second Book of Esdras, Twelve Prophets the less.
And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:
The Third Book of Esdras, The rest of the Book of Esther, The Fourth Book of Esdras, The Book of Wisdom, The Book of Tobias, Jesus the Son of Sirach, The Book of Judith, Baruch the Prophet, The Song of the Three Children, The Prayer of Manasses, The Story of Susanna, The First Book of Maccabees, Of Bel and the Dragon, The Second Book of Maccabees.
All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical.<ref name="39Articles"/>}}
The Anglican view of the role on ''prima scriptura'' can be best summarized by Richard Hooker. In his famous work "On the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity" he developed a view that would be known in the Anglican tradition as the "3-legged stool". This consists of scripture, tradition and reason. Scripture is the source of all revelation in the Christian tradition. At the same time Hooker also saw the necessity of tradition, while not on the same level as scripture, as being an important mediating principle in interpreting. He specifically critiques the Puritan interpretations of sola scriptura that were present at the time in Elizabethan England. This is followed by what Hooker calls the "law of reason". Hookers' 3-legged stool would become the basis of the Methodist quadrilateral as well as form a via media between the Catholic and Lutheran understandings on the relationship between scripture and tradition.
==Methodism== Another version of the ''prima scriptura'' approach may be the Wesleyan Quadrilateral for the Methodists, which maintains that Scripture is to be the primary authority for the Church. Nonetheless, it is best interpreted through the lenses of reason, personal experience, and Church tradition, although the Bible remains the crucial and normative authority for Christians. According to the United Methodist Church, which adheres to this notion: {{quote|"Scripture is considered the primary source and standard for Christian doctrine. Tradition is experience and the witness of development and growth of the faith through the past centuries and in many nations and cultures. Experience is the individual's understanding and appropriating of the faith in the light of his or her own life. Through reason the individual Christian brings to bear on the Christian faith discerning and cogent thought. These four elements taken together bring the individual Christian to a mature and fulfilling understanding of the Christian faith and the required response of worship and service."<ref name="UMC - Wesleyan Quadrilateral"/>}}
==Others== The Quaker Christian concept of the Inward light or the charismatic views of the Holy Spirit as an active force in the life of the believer may be examples of the ''prima scriptura'' approach.
While most Pentecostals and Charismatics believe the Bible to be the ultimate authority and would not say that any new revelation can ever contradict the Bible, they do believe that God continues to speak to people today on extra-biblical topics as well as to interpret and apply the text of the Bible.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Lee |first= Edgar R. |year= 2007 |title= Pentecostals and Subordinate Revelation |url= http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/top/2007_Pentecost_Sunday/subordinate_revelation.cfm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180820171629/http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/top/2007_Pentecost_Sunday/subordinate_revelation.cfm |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2018-08-20 |journal= Enrichment Journal |publisher= Assembly of God}}</ref>
Besides the Holy Scriptures,<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.adventist.org/holy-scriptures/ |title = What Adventists Believe About the Holy Scriptures |access-date = 2025-04-14 |website = Seventh-day Adventist World Church Official Site |year = 1980 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015062355/http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/god/holy-scriptures |archive-date=2015-10-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://gc.adventist.org/official-statements/the-holy-scriptures/ |title = The Holy Scriptures |access-date = 2025-04-14 |website = Seventh-day Adventist World Church Official Site |date = 1995-06-29}}</ref> the Seventh-day Adventist Church hold Ellen White's writings to be "a continuing and authoritative source of truth which provide for the church."<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.adventist.org/gift-of-prophecy/the-gift-of-prophecy/ |title = The Authentic Gift of Prophecy: 5 Ways to Know |access-date = 2025-04-14 |website = Seventh-day Adventist World Church Official Site |year = 1980}}</ref> However, Adventists do not necessarily believe that the writings of a so-called post-canonical prophet has equality with Scripture. A leading Adventist theologian has claimed "Adventist theology and ministry depend on the ''sola-tota-prima Scriptura'' principle (the Scripture only, in all its parts, and as the first principle of interpretation of natural revelation and the human sciences)."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Canale |first1=Fernando |title=Sola Scriptura and Hermeneutics: Toward a Critical Assessment of the Methodological Ground of the Protestant Reformation |journal=Faculty Publications |date=1 October 2012 |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=179–205 |url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/theology-christian-philosophy-pubs/96/}}</ref>{{rp|199}}
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the interpretation of scripture and codification of doctrines is considered the responsibility of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Christ Leads His Congregation|journal=Watchtower|date=15 March 2002|pages=13–16}}</ref>
Christadelphians believe that the Bible is the sole source of instruction from God in terms of the way that they should conduct their affairs.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/christadelphians_1.shtml |title = Christadelphians |access-date = 2025-04-14 |website = bbc.co.uk |year = 2009}}</ref> However they do note that some translations of the bible into non-original languages have changed the message, so study of the original texts are important.
==See also== *Deposit of faith, the contrasting approach towards scripture and tradition in the Catholic Church.
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
== Further reading == *{{cite web |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/2003/11/tradition-temptation/ |title=The Tradition Temptation: Why we should still give Scripture pride of place |first1=Roger E. |last1=Olson |author-link1=Roger E. Olson |date=November 1, 2003 |work=Christianity Today}} (Baptist opinion)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prima Scriptura}} Category:Christian terminology Category:Christian theology of the Bible Category:Latin religious words and phrases Category:Eastern Orthodox theology