Church and State in Tudor Thought

Oliver O'Donovan writes in On the Thirty-Nine Articles: A Conversation with Tudor Christianity (1986; 2nd ed., 2011 [page numbers cited below are one page lower in the first edition]):

The Thirty-Nine Articles “are interested in two kinds of authority only, as exercised in two different social contexts. They are interested in the authority of true speech which persuades minds and instills convictions; and they are interested in the authority of legitimate command, which orders and directs the conduct of social life. Broadly speaking, they maintain the position that the Church, as 'the witness and a keeper of Holy Writ', exercises the former authority in society, and the monarch the latter.” (page 99)

“In the social orders which prevail until the coming of Christ, the authority of truth and the authority of command had better be kept explicitly distinct, since in practice any attempt to embody the whole truth in a political order must lead to disillusionment. For this reason Western Christian thought has tended to favour the development of a 'liberal' theory, which separates the authorities, rather than of an ideological totalitarianism.” (page 100)

“But it is a matter of some difficulty for the modern reader to grasp that this division of authorities does not imply the distinction of what we call 'church and state'...The very word 'state'...is used ambiguously by moderns with two distinct meanings: it sometimes represents the Greek politeia and the Latin respublica, which mean the politically organized community as a whole; but it is also, and more commonly, used to mean the distinctly political structures within the community, as opposed to all other aspects of the community's life...Now, this modern conception of the state as a department of society was not known to the Tudors and begins to make its appearance (in English thought at least) only in the seventeenth century. The Tudors did not conceive of society as divided (in Althusian fashion) into self-governing departments, each with its own proper area of concern. Thus they did not draw what might seem to us to be the obvious conclusion from the principle of twofold authority: that the monarch should not interfere with the affairs of the church, and that the church should not interfere with the affairs of the state.” (pp.100-101)

“The authority of the ruler extended over the whole of society 'whether...ecclesiastical or civil'. But then, so did the authority of God's word extend over the whole of society...In the next century...[the latter] drops out of sight, and seventeenth-century Anglicanism is marked by the growth of an absolutists theory of monarchical authority, reflecting, like the negative of a photograph, the absolutist conceptions of popular sovereignty which were steadily gaining ground throughout Europe.” (page 101)

Scripture and the Church

Johann Albrecht Bengel in 1742:

Scripture is the foundation of the Church: the Church is the guardian of Scripture. When the Church is strong in health, the light of Scripture shines bright; when the Church is sick, Scripture is corroded by neglect; and thus it happens, that the outward form of Scripture and that of the Church, usually seem to exhibit simultaneously either health or else sickness; and as a rule the way in which Scripture is being treated is in exact correspondence with the condition of the Church.

Gnomon of the New Testament, volume 1, page 7

Benedict XVI in 2011, offering a Marian interpretation of Psalm 119:

The Psalmist’s faithfulness stems from listening to the word, from pondering on it in his inmost self, meditating on it and cherishing it, just as did Mary, who “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart”, the words that had been addressed to her and the marvelous events in which God revealed himself, asking her for the assent of her faith (cf. Lk 2:19, 51). And if the first verses of our Psalm begin by proclaiming “blessed” those “who walk in the law of the Lord” (v. 1b), and “who keep his testimonies” (v. 2a). It is once again the Virgin Mary who brings to completion the perfect figure of the believer, described by the Psalmist. It is she, in fact, who is the true “blessed”, proclaimed such by Elizabeth because “she... believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Lk 1:45). Moreover it was to her and to her faith that Jesus himself bore witness when he answered the woman who had cried: “Blessed is the womb that bore you”, with “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Lk 11:27-28). Of course, Mary is blessed because she carried the Saviour in her womb, but especially because she accepted God’s announcement and because she was an attentive and loving custodian of his Word.  

General Audience (9 November 2011)

Holy Scripture and the Church in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England:

VI. 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 ... 

VI. The Old Testament is not contrary to the New: for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, being both God and Man ... 

XVII. ...  Furthermore,  we must receive God's promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture: and, in our doings that Will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God. 

XX. The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation.