Meaning of Tradition

The Meaning of Tradition by Yves Congar, OP, translated by AN Woodrow, 155 pages

The Meaning of Tradition is the third volume in the monumental 150 volume project The Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Catholicism curated by the renowned Church historian Henri Daniel-Rops.  Although the ambitious series, which sought to bring together many of the mid-century Church's finest intellectual talents to contribute short works on their areas of expertise, is remarkably uneven, Fr Congar's exposition of the nature and significance of Sacred Tradition stands at the high end of the spectrum.

As Fr Congar explains, despite what literal-minded moderns might imagine, Tradition is not a set of unquestionable positive propositions handed down from antiquity, indeed, he cites no less an authority than St Hilary of Poitiers to establish that the act of formal dogmatic definition is a sometimes necessary but nevertheless regrettable "surrender to the dangers of a human word what should have been kept and worshipped in our hearts."  Sacred Tradition, properly understood, originates in the example, practices, and ways of life born out of the apostles' own imitatio Christi.  This Tradition is a living tradition precisely because it finds its continuation and development in the ongoing life of the Church, a life nurtured and sustained by the Holy Spirit.