These lines from Eamon Duffy’s short but wonderful history of the Church remind us of a salient point: Be suspicious of those who turn to the Scriptures for proof-texts, those who emphasize one part of the tradition against another, those who deny the very premise of Catholicism, that the unity of the universal Church is achieved by bringing together different local churches, not extinguishing those differences.
“The New Testament speaks with many voices. It is not a single book, but a library, built up over half a century or so from traditions of the remembered sayings and actions of Jesus, early Christian sermons, hymns and liturgies, and the letters of the great founding teachers of the early Church.”
“…not single book, but a library…” Priceless.
