Where the traditions land
Answer | Seated traditions | Seats | By population |
The Church's teaching office (Magisterium) | Catholic | 1 of 12 | ~63% |
The Church as a whole, through Holy Tradition | Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox | 2 of 12 | ~16% |
Scripture alone — every believer, under the Holy Spirit | Lutheran, Reformed/Presbyterian, Southern Baptist Convention, Pentecostal (Trinitarian), Seventh-day Adventist | 5 of 12 | ~13% |
Scripture first, alongside tradition and reason | Anglican, Methodist/Wesleyan | 2 of 12 | ~6% |
Living prophets and apostles, plus personal revelation | LDS | 1 of 12 | under 1% |
A single Governing Body | Jehovah's Witnesses | 1 of 12 | under 1% |
Why the disagreement
This question splits along more axes than most, because it isn't really asking what a tradition believes — it's asking how each tradition decides what to believe. Catholic and Orthodox teaching agree Scripture can't safely be read outside the Church, but locate that check differently: Catholicism in a specific living office, the bishops in communion with Rome; Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy in the Church's accumulated life across time — Holy Tradition, the Fathers, the councils — with no single person as the final word.
The Reformation-descended traditions all give Scripture the final say over any church office, but disagree on how much room tradition and reason get alongside it. Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist, Pentecostal, and Adventist teaching hold that Scripture interprets Scripture under the Holy Spirit, with no binding office above it. Anglican and Methodist teaching, descended from a shared root, keep Scripture primary but give tradition and reason real, ongoing weight beside it, not just for reference.
LDS and Jehovah's Witnesses both reject the idea that interpretive authority ended when the biblical canon closed. LDS teaching holds that living prophets and apostles still receive revelation that can clarify or add to it. Jehovah's Witnesses locate that same kind of ongoing authority in one body, the Governing Body, as the sole channel through which correct interpretation is given.
Sources
Same standing source per tradition on every post, not hunted per question.
- Catholic — Catechism of the Catholic Church
- Eastern Orthodox — Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (binding across all jurisdictions); The Longer Catechism of St. Philaret of Moscow (widely used, not binding on every jurisdiction)
- Oriental Orthodox — Catechism of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty (Amazon — no full free text found)
- Anglican — Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
- Lutheran — Book of Concord
- Reformed/Presbyterian — Westminster Confession of Faith
- Methodist/Wesleyan — Articles of Religion
- Southern Baptist Convention — Baptist Faith & Message 2000
- Pentecostal (Trinitarian) — Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths
- Seventh-day Adventist — 28 Fundamental Beliefs
- LDS — Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants
- Jehovah's Witnesses — What Does the Bible Really Teach?