Prima scriptura

In Christianity, prima scriptura is the idea that canonical scripture is the most important kind of divine revelation. People who believe in this idea say that revelation that comes from scripture is more important than revelation that comes from other sources. Other sources include traditions, spiritual gifts, conscience, common sense and the views of experts. Prima scriptura suggests that there are ways of knowing or understanding God and his will that do not originate from canonized scripture. These may be helpful in interpreting that scripture, but that if they seem to contradict the scriptures, the scriptures should be used instead.

Prima scriptura is sometimes mentioned together with Sola scriptura. Sola scriptura is a view mainly held by protestants which states that only scripture is the source of divine revelation. Sola scriptura rejects scripture which is not in the Bible, while prima scriptura says that there may be such scripture.