April 8, 1546

The Council of Trent on Scripture and Tradition (Fourth Session, 1546)

Responding to the principle of sola scriptura, the Council of Trent at its fourth session (April 8, 1546) placed tradition on a par with Scripture: the truth is contained "in the written books and in the unwritten traditions" received by the apostles from the mouth of Christ or from the Holy Spirit, and the council receives both with equal reverence. The council affirmed a complete list of canonical books, including the apocrypha, recognized the Vulgate as the authoritative text, reserved to the Church the right to judge the true sense of Scripture and forbade publications on the interpretation of Scripture without the approval of church authority. According to McGrath, the council thereby adopted the later medieval understanding of Tradition ("Tradition 2") – the two-source theory.