What is Traditional Theology mean to you?

Gnarwhal

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To me, Traditional Theology is a consciousness in which we hold in tension historic fact, biblical context and, as Vincent of Lerins said, "that faith* which has been believed everywhere, always, by all."

*What I understand "that faith" to mean is the holistic combination of teaching and praxis including the sacraments and the doctrines that have lasted for two millennia.
 
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MoreCoffee

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I was wondering what Traditional theology meant to everyone. To me it means relying on the Church Fathers, Tradition, and Scripture not just Scripture alone.

I think of it as the theology of the early church fathers as it has been remembered and received by the church over the centuries.

That implies that the theology remains essentially unchanged but also that it is adapted to suit new cultures (including the changes in a continuing culture as it changes over the ages).
 
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MKJ

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I think most fundamentally to me it means understanding the Church as a community that exists across time and is connected through time. It didn't end at any particular date so that anything "new" after that is invalid, but by the same token there has not been some kind of break in the community or new revelation and the people who were members 500 years ago are still part of the Church community today.
 
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Liberasit

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I think tradition and theology are a bit incongruous.

To me, tradition is what the church does, whereas theology is about God. All churches, unless brand new, have some kind of tradition, and most will broadly follow what the early Christians did in Acts, in their small fellowships.

The irony is that those churches which value "tradition" are those who have added onto the what the early Christians did and don't see these add-ons as "petty".
 
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Tzaousios

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For me it is a confession of the Nicene Creed as the definitive statement of Christian orthodoxy. Also, it entails having one's faith be informed by the decisions of the ecumenical councils and the interpretations of the church fathers. In terms of exegesis, considering the Bible to be a document that should be interpreted within the historical community of faith is also important.
 
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LivingWordUnity

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Since sacred Scripture is accepted by those of us who believe in holy Tradition I think that it's possible that someone who believes in Sola Scriptura could post in this sub-forum with their only intention being to post Scripture passages and their thoughts on common ground beliefs without debating against holy Tradition. I think this is possible at least in theory. Whether it will work in practice is a different question.
 
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Liberasit

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Since sacred Scripture is accepted by those of us who believe in holy Tradition I think that it's possible that someone who believes in Sola Scriptura could post in this sub-forum with their only intention being to post Scripture passages and their thoughts on common ground beliefs without debating against holy Tradition. I think this is possible at least in theory. Whether it will work in practice is a different question.

What is "holy tradition" as opposed to common-or-garden tradition?
 
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MoreCoffee

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What is "holy tradition" as opposed to common-or-garden tradition?

Holy Tradition is the living transmission of the message of the Gospel in the Church. The oral preaching of the Apostles, and the written message of salvation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Bible), as conserved and handed on as the deposit of faith through the apostolic succession in the Church. Both the living Tradition and the written Scriptures have their common source in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

The theological, liturgical, disciplinary, and devotional traditions of the local churches both contain and can be distinguished from this apostolic Tradition
 
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MKJ

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Holy Tradition is the living transmission of the message of the Gospel in the Church. The oral preaching of the Apostles, and the written message of salvation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Bible), as conserved and handed on as the deposit of faith through the apostolic succession in the Church. Both the living Tradition and the written Scriptures have their common source in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

The theological, liturgical, disciplinary, and devotional traditions of the local churches both contain and can be distinguished from this apostolic Tradition


I think another way to describe it is that is the teaching of the whole Church. That becomes a little complicated later on as more schisms develop, but it is pretty unified up until the 10th century at least. The Nicean Creed, for example, doesn't directly come from the Apostles or Bible, but the whole of the Church agrees that it is orthodox teaching. So it includes things obviously like ecumenical councils, liturgy in the sense of its meaning and form as it affects meaning, practices that were universally accepted if not always practiced universally, and so on. Plus, things that everyone agreed were un, orthodox, such as iconoclasm or gnosticism.

So it isn't just things that we can say come directly from the Apostles, but how the Holy Spirit has acted through the Church community to interpret that over time.
 
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BornAgainBrian

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To me, traditional means that the theology is not particular to one time or place. It especially tests trends which have primarily taken shape in the last couple centuries to make sure they are in line with Scripture. It also tests all translated Scripture against the original languages. I do not believe it is necessarily bringing oral traditions to the same level as Scripture. Traditional theology, to me, doesn't necessarily portend adherence to oral traditions which aren't tested against Scripture, though I respect the origins of such traditions and the people for whom they are important.
 
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