What is Tradition? Part three

Author note:  This is the third (and final for now) part to my discussion on tradition.

In the first two parts of my discussion on the topic of tradition, I started with a definition of tradition, and provided some perspectives on tradition and how it has fit into the concepts of faith and religion.  I’m going to cover one final concept, tying it into religion, and then attempt to close.

Another element of tradition is culture.  Whether you look at a community as something provided from your parents (ethnicity), or a common experience (the military might fit into this), the common tradition you share with others is what binds you together as a community.  When I look at my childhood and growing up, I can identify different traditions.  Some of them were due to society (holiday picnics/fireworks displays), some coming directly from my family (what we did for vacations).  These events, along with stories told about my siblings and parents, became a ‘tradition’.  Who I am both in family and in society has, in no small part, been driven by tradition.

Bringing this to religion in general, and Christianity in particular, this is where the concept of the ‘body of believers’ comes in.  Tradition is something that gives you a history and a lineage that goes back through time.  Whether it’s specific prayers, or statements of belief, all the different denominations have a tradition.  The continuing pattern of culture, patterns, and beliefs in the Orthodox Church is a connection with the many believers throughout the centuries and down to the present time in all the Orthodox Churches in the world today. The Orthodox Church has a tradition and line that can be shown to go back to Pentecost.  This tradition ties you as a member back to the beginnings of the church.

In looking at different protestant denominations, some of them may have a tradition that goes back as far as 1517 (the beginning of the Protestant reformation), and there are others may go back only to the last century.  Their tradition is short, or even almost non-existent.  Or it may be incomplete, as the culture, pattern, or even the belief is different now than what it was at the founding of that denomination.  When looking at them, there is ultimately no tradition that ties them back through the centuries to Pentecost or Christ.  They may claim to be true to the teaching of the apostles, but without the tradition to back it up, it just doesn’t fit the definition that we started with.

Well,I hope you enjoyed this.  It's certainly been mind-stretching for me.

What is Tradition? Part 2

Author note:  This is the second part of a discussion about tradition.  As I stated before I’m not going to apologize for advocating one perspective over another.  I am simply putting my perspective out there.  You can agree or not.

In my last post, I started to discuss tradition, and I began with a definition, and started to talk about what tradition meant in Christianity.  I finished up with discussing how tradition is discussed in the Bible.  Now I’m going to discuss some larger concepts in regards to tradition.  This may be a little confusing or uncomfortable.  Can’t help it, it’s my perspective.

You may look at what I’ve written so far and say: ‘That’s all right for oral traditions to have been used in the early Church, but we have the Bible now, those are no longer necessary.’  I would respond that we need to look back at the definition of tradition.  It’s not just beliefs, but also culture and practices.  If we are to hold on to the beliefs, culture, and practices from previous generations, then the tie that binds them must be tradition.  There are multiple examples of common current Christian beliefs (the Trinity for example) that came from the early Church and have been carried through to the present day.  Yes, the concept of Trinity is expressed in the Bible, but HOW we INTERPRET those verses and come to our belief in the Trinity is the tradition that has come through to the present day. And that is a very important point.  I have seen this concept illustrated in the context of traffic laws.  When you break one of those laws, who enforces it?  The police enforce it.  In the same vein, the church must enforce the interpretation of scripture and tradition.  Tradition gives us the guidelines we should follow within the Church as well as how we interpret the Scriptures.

Let’s use an example outside of religion.  You find a series of letters written by an ancestor.   If you sit down and try to read and understand everything said in all of those letters by themselves, you are going to have some areas that are unclear or downright confusing.  However, if you sit down with an older relative who either:  lived and talked with that ancestor, or who heard the story behind those letters from their parents/grandparents, they will be able to answer your questions about those areas and you won’t have confusion or misunderstanding.  In fact, you will probably have a wonderful history that you can pass on to your family.

Moving back to religion.  One thing I would stress is:  tradition and Scripture are inextricably intertwined.  If you attempt to remove one from the other, you will lose the meanings and definitions from what you have left.  If you go with tradition over Scripture, you will eventually end up with the ‘doctrines of men’.  However, if you go the other direction, then a common interpretation of Scripture is lost (you can see my Scripture post about that).  Both work together to provide the complete picture of the ‘Body of Christ’.


I'm going to take another break here.  The next post will hopefully cover the last element I want to cover on this topic and then I'll finish it. 

What is Tradition? Part one

Author note:  This is another religion post (actually the first of multiple, since the topic and what I’ve written is a bit too much for just one post). As I said in my Bible post, I’m not going to apologize for advocating one perspective over another.  I am simply putting my perspective out there.  You can agree or not.

Admittedly one of the more difficult things (don’t know that it was the most) that I have had to wrestle with, at least in an intellectual sense, is the idea of tradition in the Church.  How do words, ideas, actions, and so forth identified as ‘tradition’ within the Church fit with the testimony of Jesus Christ in the Bible?  What I found dealt with so much more than just the idea of man creating rules and such instead of just relying on the Scripture, and actually showed me something much richer and deeper than I had known before.

First, I think confirming the definition of tradition is important.  If we’re going to talk about this word, there needs to be a common frame of reference.  For the purpose of this discussion/blog post, I am going to use the definition of tradition from Dictionary.com.  Dictionary.com has under tradition the following:  1) the handing down on statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or practice. 2) something that is handed down.  3) a continuing pattern of culture, beliefs, or practices.  First, I’m going to make a couple of comments about the definition that we have, and then I’m going to discuss tradition and how it fits into the larger concept of religion and faith. 

Something you may or may not have noticed is:  traditions are primarily tied to a culture, or grouping of people.  Whether you are talking about a culture or grouping due to ethnicity (like Native Americans), beliefs (Christians), or a combination of both (Jewish), there are things that are shared through word or action.  This fits into tradition.  This points into something more important:  We are tied to previous generations of Christians through our traditions.  We draw our identity through the traditions we observe.  Our Christian identity is also drawn from the traditions we observe.  No matter what denomination you belong to, traditions are involved.   I mentioned this in passing when I talked about my journey of faith (in ‘What a long, strange trip it’s been part 2):   

“Also, if you think about it, we all rely upon or give ourselves over to some other authority than the Bible at some point. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Luther, Calvin, the Popes, or someone other modern (John MacArthur comes to mind, although one could put in almost anyone who is teaching), we look to their perspective and interpretation as a guide for our own understanding.”

When you look at from this perspective, traditions were extremely important in order to carry the Christian faith forward to future generations.  Keep in mind that the canon of Scripture hadn’t been compiled.  The Apostle Paul talks of tradition (particularly the faith) in a positive light in 2 Thessalonians 2:15:  ‘Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.’  Yes, there are also instances where traditions are talked about in a negative light.  If you look at the different passages, they are talking about two different things.  The negative references deal with traditions put forth by men with no tie to God or what He taught.  The positive references deal with traditions put forth that are tied to God and what He taught.

This seems about as good a place as any to call a halt.  I hope you have found this informational.  In the next post, I’ll share some unoriginal ideas about tradition in religion.