50 Key Concepts in Theology
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50 Key Concepts in Theology - Rayment-Pickard
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- (eds.), Detraditionalisation
Tradition
The inherited beliefs and practices of the Church. In theology, the word ‘tradition’ is used specifically to refer to the inherited beliefs and practices of the Church. The idea of a tradition, which must be treasured and handed down, originates in the New Testament. St Paul refers to what he ‘received from the Lord and delivers to’ the churches. According to the conservative interpretation of the word ‘tradition’, it refers to the body of doctrine that has allegedly been handed down from Jesus via the apostles to the present day. According to the liberal interpretation, there is not one tradition but many, and traditions must be interpreted every bit as carefully as sacred texts. More radical theological voices have actively challenged the traditions of the Church, subjecting all inherited teaching and practice to a so-called ‘hermeneutic of suspicion’ which actively suspects the tradition of being oppressive to women and other excluded groups. ‘Tradition’ is regarded as a tool of ecclesiastical control and power. The idea that the traditions of the Church can be an authoritative guide to present Christian life depends upon the view that the Church itself is the vehicle for God’s revelation. So the traditions of the Church are regarded not simply as the accumulation of its habits and attitudes, but as the expression of the will of God. Thus, conservatives argue that the lack of precedent for women bishops is an argument against them. The difficulty with this rigid view of tradition is that nothing can change, thus locking God up in the cage of the existing habits of the Church and denying him the opportunity to do anything new. By contrast with the static view of traditions, liberals and modernisers argue that tradition is organic, and that through the dynamic processes of tradition God can bring about new beliefs and practices. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches have laid much greater stress upon the importance of tradition than the Protestant churches, who regard Scripture itself as the overriding authority in all things. The Anglican Church has affirmed the importance of reason, Scripture and tradition as the three principal sources of religious truth: Scripture is read in the light of tradition and reason; reason in the light of Scripture and tradition; and tradition in the light of reason and Scripture. The Anglican approach is attributed to the seventeenth-century theologian Richard Hooker, who argued that ‘what Scripture doth plainly deliver, to that first place both of credit and obedience is due; the next whereunto is whatsoever any man can necessarily conclude by force of reason; after these the voice of the Church succeedeth. That which the Church by her ecclesiastical authority shall probably think and define to be true or good, must in congruity of reason over-rule all other inferior judgments whatsoever’ (Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity). THINKERS John Milbank (1952– ) has argued that there needs to be a recovery of the pre-modern traditions of Christianity. The way to find an authentic Christianity, argues Milbank, is to enact the traditions. IDEAS Apostolic succession: the belief, precious to the Roman Catholic Church, that all authentic bishops are direct successors of the first apostles and can trace their lineage right back to Jesus himself. Paradosis: the New Testament Greek word for ‘tradition’, meaning ‘what is transmitted’. The magisterium (or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) has the task of defining and protecting the traditional doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Detraditionalisation: the contemporary ‘individualistic’ attitude that regards no corporate traditions as sacred, but subjects all traditions to critique, or simply ignores them. BOOKS Yves Congar, The Meaning of Tradition (Ignatius Press, 2004) Nicholas Lash, Paul Heelas and Paul Morris (eds.), Detraditionalisation: Download 0.85 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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