Philip Arthur Bence PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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Scripture gains its authority in that it records the
life of the early church, in which God was uniquely
active.
If the church was founded by God himself
through his Spirit and in Jesus Christ, if the
original church as the norm for the future
church is the object of God's activity in a
qualitatively unique way which is different
from his preservation of the church in the
course of history, and if scripture is a
constitutive element of this original church as
the norm for future ages, then this already
means quite adequately and in both a positive
and an exclusive sense that God is the author
of scripture and that he inspired it.:3
As a written record of life in the early church,
(which was one with Christ), Scripture is authoritative.
(This argument alone obviously does not support the
Biblical status of Old Testament books. But, since the
early church recognized them as an "account of the
prehistory of the Church," Rahner affirmed their
canonicity.) And, as Christ has remained one with
the Church through centuries since his ascension, the
tradition of these subsequent times is equally normative.
Thus, the current statements of the Church
(tradition-in-making) are similarly authoritative. In
the expression of these thoughts, Rahner supported the
customary Roman Catholic position, speaking of "the
revelation of God in Jesus Christ, as it is given in
Scripture and Tradition" (underlining mine).
Revelation is never complete. Each generation
requires answers to new questions, as well as a new
statement of previous tradition. Rahner saw himself as a