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Church authority and the papacy: shared notes and post-750 development

Moved here from notes/reasoning/church-authority.md in the tier migration. The per-question reasoning now lives on each doctrine’s reasoning page: S08.1 · S08.2.

Church authority and the papacy: reasoning steps

Verdicts: categories/church-authority.md. Method: conventions and proximity tiers. Scripture is the primary measure; fathers are weighed by tier (T1 to c. 150 = 1.0, T2 = 0.8, T3 = 0.6, T4 = 0.4).

Post-750 development by tradition

Catholic

Gregory VII; Unam Sanctam (1302); Vatican I (1870).

  • P1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 2/4): Vatican I: Peter’s primacy of jurisdiction passes to the Roman pontiff.
  • P2 (fathers 1/4; Scripture 1/4): Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus 3–4: universal jurisdiction; definitions ‘irreformable of themselves’.

Orthodox

Primacy of honour; conciliar authority.

  • P1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 3/4): Rome’s primacy of honour before the schism.
  • P2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Rejected.

Oriental Orthodox

Patriarchal and synodal (Alexandria, Antioch, Etchmiadzin).

  • P1 (fathers 3/4; Scripture 3/4): Primacy among patriarchates recognised historically; Leo’s Tome rejected (to verify).
  • P2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Rejected.

Lutheran

Smalcald Articles II.4; Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope.

  • P1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope: no primacy by divine right.
  • P2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Rejected (Smalcald Articles II.4).

Anglican

Art. XXXVII; Royal Supremacy.

  • P1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): Art. XXXVII: ‘The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England’.
  • P2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Art. XXXVII; Art. XXI councils may err.

Presbyterian

WCF XXV.6.

  • P1 (fathers 1/4; Scripture 2/4): WCF XXV.6: the Pope ’that Antichrist, that man of sin'.
  • P2 (fathers 3/4; Scripture 3/4): Rejected, with the ‘Antichrist’ identification going beyond the evidence.

Reformed Baptist

1689 26.4.

  • P1 (fathers 1/4; Scripture 2/4): 1689 26.4: the Pope ’that antichrist, that man of sin’.
  • P2 (fathers 3/4; Scripture 3/4): Rejected, with the ‘Antichrist’ identification.

General Baptist

Orthodox Creed 39 (to verify).

  • P1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): No primacy; Orthodox Creed 39 (to verify).
  • P2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Rejected.

Anabaptist

Schleitheim 4 (separation).

  • P1 (fathers 2/4; Scripture 3/4): No primacy.
  • P2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Rejected.