"It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time.... [Tradition] is the democracy of the dead."
- G. K. Chesterton
It always amazes me how Chesterton can take something so commonplace, something we don't even really think about and make us think about it and make it important...something like a Piece of Chalk or Orthodoxy....
1 comment:
Which tradition was Mr. Chesterton speaking of? The paradosis of the Church or just the latest tradition that was established at the founding of the local parish--only 10 years ago--which now has the weight of divine revelation.
Tradition is a very interesting animal--definition problems abound; it's all good or all bad depending upon who you talk to.
The lack of paradosis is a danger to the Church, for the word means that tradition that is handed down--that faith "once for all delivered to the saints." Without that tradition, we don't have the Church because we don't have the faith.
Of course, the paradosis was committed to writing in the New Testament texts, but that doesn't mean we don't need the paradosis in the sense of the tradition handed down--for example, in the interpretation of the Holy Writ, or in the Apostolic ministry that was also handed down.
Of course, as Chesterton is probably referencing--which tradition do we get most worked up about? The ancient one? or the 10 year old tradition?
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