Vindication of Tradition

The Vindication of Tradition by Jaroslav Pelikan, 82 pages

In this transcription of his 1983 Jefferson lectures, Jaroslav Pelikan discusses how the rediscovery and subsequent rejection or recovery of tradition is possible in the aftermath of Reformation and Enlightenment.  Where those movements claimed to embody ahistorical truths and directly attacked pre-existent traditions through the historical-critical method, post-modernity has exposed them as themselves historically and socially conditioned and thus traditions vulnerable to the same critiques.  Even at the height of nineteenth century rationalism, however, Newman established the concept of authentic and inauthentic development, which Pelikan suggests allows for an approach to tradition characterized by thoughtful gratitude rather than unquestioning idolatry or arrogant rebellion.