Clement of Rome

[jswranch]

Public revelation ended at the death of the last apostle (John, approx 100ad). The canon of scripture contains only those writtings by the 12 apostles or those who knew them.

Paul's writtings are included even though he was not one of the twelve. Paul's letters were written before the end of the of public revelation, he was ordained a bishop by one of the 12. Therefore, Paul's letters may be included in scripture. [u]Does Clement and his writings not meet the same standards as Paul? [/u]

Show me where I am wrong.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

The Church has never considered the Letters of Clement to be inspired. Text must be inspired by the Holy Spirit, not merely written by one in authority. While Clement may bear weight, that does not mean that the Holy Spirit was guiding the particular writings we have from him.

[jswranch]

I realize the church does not consider his writting inspired, but why?

[StColette]

[quote name='jswranch' date='Mar 25 2006, 09:14 AM']I realize the church does not consider his writting inspired, but why?
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A. Method to be followed

(1) To determine the nature of Biblical inspiration the theologian has at his disposal a three fold source of information: the data of tradition, the concept of inspiration, and the concrete state of the inspired text. If he wishes to obtain acceptable results he will take into account all of these elements of solution. Pure speculation might easily end in a theory incompatible with the texts. On the other hand, the literary or historical analysis of these same texts, if left to its own resources, ignores their Divine origin. Finally, if the data of tradition attest the fact of inspiration, they do not furnish us with a complete analysis of its nature. Hence, theology, philosophy, and exegesis have each a word to say on this subject. Positive theology furnishes a starting point in its traditional formulae: viz., God is the author of Scripture, the inspired writer is the organ of the Holy Ghost, Scripture is the Word of God. Speculative theology takes these formulæ, analyses their contents and from them draws its conclusions. In this way St. Thomas, starting from the traditional concept which makes the sacred writer an organ of the Holy Ghost, explains the subordination of his faculties to the action of the Inspirer by the philosophical theory of the instrumental cause (Quodl., VII, Q. vi, a. 14, ad 5um). However, to avoid all risk of going astray, speculation must pay constant attention to the indications furnished by exegesis.

(2) The Catholic who wishes to make a correct analysis of Biblical inspiration must have before his eyes the following ecclesiastical documents: (a) "These books are held by the Church as sacred and canonical, not as having been composed by merely human labour and afterwards approved by her authority, nor merely because they contain revelation without error, but because, written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and have been transmitted to the Church as such." (Concil. Vatic., Sess. III, const. dogm, de Fide, cap. ii, in Denz., 1787). (b) "The Holy Ghost Himself, by His supernatural power, stirred up and impelled the Biblical writers to write, and assisted them while writing in such a manner that they conceived in their minds exactly, and determined to commit to writing faithfully, and render in exact language, with infallible truth, all that God commanded and nothing else; without that, God would not be the author of Scripture in its entirety" (Encycl. Provid. Deus, in Dena., 1952).

[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08045a.htm"]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08045a.htm[/url]

The criterion of inspiration (less correctly known as the criterion of canonicity)

Even those Catholic theologians who defend Apostolicity as a test for the inspiration of the New Testament (see above) admit that it is not exclusive of another criterion, viz., Catholic tradition as manifested in the universal reception of compositions as Divinely inspired, or the ordinary teaching of the Church, or the infallible pronouncements of ecumenical councils. This external guarantee is the sufficient, universal, and ordinary proof of inspiration. The unique quality of the Sacred Books is a revealed dogma. Moreover, by its very nature inspiration eludes human observation and is not self-evident, being essentially superphysical and supernatural. Its sole absolute criterion, therefore, is the Holy inspiring Spirit, witnessing decisively to Itself, not in the subjective experience of individual souls, as Calvin maintained, neither in the doctrinal and spiritual tenor of Holy Writ itself, according to Luther, but through the constituted organ and custodian of Its revelations, the Church. All other evidences fall short of the certainty and finality necessary to compel the absolute assent of faith. (See Franzelin, "De Divinâ Traditione et Scripturâ"; Wiseman, "Lectures on Christian Doctrine", Lecture ii; also INSPIRATION.)

[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm"]http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm[/url]

Search for Criterion (Criteria) of Inspiration or Criterion (Criteria) of Canonicity

[journeyman]

St. Collette has the documentation . . . my 2 cents . . . Paul, by virtue of his conversion on the road to Damascus, had a direct relationship with Jesus . . . (I heard one protestant pastor state that Paul was the 13th apostle - "selected" by Jesus to replace Judas) . . . Clement, as far as I know, did not have that direct relationship . . . by that measure, Paul's writings fall within the same category as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John