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The Vindication of Tradition: The 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities by Jaroslav Pelikan
drbobcornwall's review against another edition
4.0
Jaroslav Pelikan was among the preeminent church historians of the 20th century. It's in this set of lectures given in 1983 as the National Endowment for the Humanities Thomas Jefferson Lectures that he laid out his understanding of tradition, why it might be rediscovered, recovered, understood. It is here that he makes his famous distinction between tradition (living faith of the dead) and traditionalism (dead faith of the living).
The reason we turn aside from tradition, he notes, is likely because of traditionalism -- that embrace of what is old for the sake of its being old, not because it has been critically examined and understood to be of importance.
Why examine tradition? Because all ideas and practices have a history! Even, I would say, postmodern ones!
The reason we turn aside from tradition, he notes, is likely because of traditionalism -- that embrace of what is old for the sake of its being old, not because it has been critically examined and understood to be of importance.
Why examine tradition? Because all ideas and practices have a history! Even, I would say, postmodern ones!
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