consensus of Christian thinking as it has developed from the second century to our present era. It is rooted in the rule of faith that summarized the grand biblical narrative in the earliest centuries of Christian history, it builds on the ecumenical creedal consensus of the Patristic era, it has been reflected on by key theologians throughout church history, and it represents what C. S. Lewis memorably referred to as “mere” Christianity.17 The great tradition also serves as the basic theological