"For evangelicals to ignore or to be in ignorance of the great tradition of the church is to have lost their foundational heritage. With its passing, the faithful will have less and less of a place to stand when challenged by pseudo-Christian spiritualities and the confused perambulations of contemporary theology. An absence of the churches theological past will produce believers who are not sure how to interpret their bibles apart from relative or fashionable opinion or who are not able to position their interpretations within the wider framework of competing claims of new theologies. Despite the information boom affecting biblical study over the last twenty years it is apparent that mere knowledge of the bible does not assist in the critical task of understanding and integration. Scripture, without the tradition to guide its interpretation can too easily devolve into an insipid spiritualism. Even worse, believers become highly susceptible to repeating old heresies and unknowingly undermining the Christian identity and mission.
The tradition as found in the ancient confessions, the Rule of Faith and the doctrinal theology of the fathers provides truth about God, in fact, primal truth about God. These sources point us beyond ourselves and ask us to peer out of the confines of the Protestant ghettos we have created into the main street of catholic Christianity. "
(Emphasis mine. From Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants by D.H.Williams)
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