“Tradition
is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the
living.” Those are the perceptive words of Jaroslav Pelikan.
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| Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006) |
Pelikan taught at Yale University from 1962 to 1996 and wrote more than 30
books, including the five-volume The Christian
Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (1971–1989). It
was in the July 26, 1989, issue of U.S. News &
World Report,
that he made the oft-quoted statement about the difference between tradition
and traditionalism.
Although
it is much different now than in times past, still, most people tend to remain
affiliated with the same religious tradition of their parents. This is the case
not just for broad religious affiliation, such as Christian, Jewish, Muslim and
the like. It is true also for denominations within the religions, such as
Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, or Mennonite. The same is true for those who come
from atheist homes.
All
of this is by no means surprising. The home is the first and most important
primary community, and everyone’s worldview is shaped primarily by the
community of which they most closely identify. Moreover, even minor paradigm
shifts are difficult and sometimes even painful.
And
so we land in the problem of traditionalism. The family religious tradition,
for example, is often maintained by those who no longer possess the living
faith that initiated that tradition. Religious ideas and practices are
maintained just because that is what we always believed or that is the way we
always did things. It is a part of our tradition.
Tradition
makes for continuity. As Tevya said, “Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions,
our lives would be as shaky as... as... as a fiddler on the roof!” But
tradition often disintegrates into traditionalism. Those within the Christian
tradition maintain the accoutrements of faith in Christ, but in reality there
is little there but the “dead faith” that Pelikan referred to.
On Easter Sunday our pastor at Rainbow Mennonite
Church introduced an intriguing novel: Martin Gardner’s The Flight of Peter Fromm (1973). I am currently reading that book
and finding it fascinating. In my May 13 sermon at RMC, I quoted the following
statement by the narrator (a seminary professor and Unitarian pastor):
“For most
Protestants today their ‘religion’ is little more than a weekly ritual which
they endure for reasons which have nothing to do with God. The ritual is
familiar and comfortable. It reminds them of their childhood. . . . The church
is a place to meet friends on Sunday morning, listen to good music, and
(hopefully) to hear a sermon that arouses a warm feeling of piety without
suggesting—God forbid!—that one alter a single prejudice or behavior pattern”
(pp. 13-14).
This is a good
description of tradition having become traditionalism. And it is no new
problem. Long ago, Leslie Weatherhead, one of Britain’s finest preachers, declared,
“One
of the things which hold back progress in modern Church life is the presence of
vast numbers of people who not only have had no real experience of God, but who
do not believe there is anything to find save which they have found” (How Can I Find God? [1933], p. 32).
How can those who have been brought up in, and who
have sought to maintain, exemplary traditions keep from falling into
traditionalism? How can a vital living faith be maintained?
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