Tradition and Sanity

Tradition and Sanity: Conversations and Dialogues of a Postconciliar Exile by Peter A Kwasniewski, 211 pages

CS Lewis famously remarked that the value of studying history lies not in the delusion that previous eras had all the answers, but in the realization that their mistakes were different from ours.  Similarly, for Dr Kwasniewski the fact that the traditional liturgy was not specially made for our time enables it to offer the modern world precisely what the modern world desperately needs but is incapable of producing, a form of worship which is oriented to the transcendent and therefore not dependent on, or manipulable by, us.  In Tradition and Sanity this theme runs through the collected conversations, some real interviews, some invented dialogues.

Of course, invented dialogues often become polemics, but those collected here are characterized by their gentleness.  The author defies the stereotype of the narrow-minded traditionalist by refusing to play the angry activist and writing instead as a thoughtful contemplative.  Whether discussing the role of sacred music or the shortcomings of the current pontificate, he speaks not as an outraged partisan but as a joyful discoverer eager to share the treasures he has found.