The Bible, Tradition, the Sacraments, source of authority in the Church

This article by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel examines the question of the sources of authority in the Church, articulating ecclesiology, biblical hermeneutics and the theology of Tradition. Adopting a reflective and theological approach, the author draws on an Orthodox conception of the Church as a divine-human reality to interrogate the foundations and structures of ecclesial authority. The central idea is that authentic Tradition, far from being a rigid conservatism, constitutes a living and creative reality, capable of discerning the essence of the Gospel through historical conditionings. The article makes a significant contribution to the debate on the place of women in the Church by showing, drawing on Bulgakov, Meyendorff and Lossky, that Orthodox ecclesiology contains the theological resources necessary to distinguish living Tradition from relative human traditions, thus opening the way to a reconsideration of women's access to ministries of authority.