What comprises Sacred Tradition?

[elementary]

I understand that paradosis consists of both Sacred Scripture (Bible) and Sacred Tradition.
Can someone shed some light on what comprises Sacred Tradition?

 

[Jim_Baur]

I will try to paraphrase Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity and his autobiography.

Revelation includes God and the humans to Whom He communicates through ACTIONS.

Concerning God ACTING in the People of God, He first acts and then the community preserves it. With N. T. times, the Church received the writings of the Apostles, used them at Liturgy and then published the list of the N. T.

That means there was a Tradition that kept the writing and used them at synagogue and then at Churches.

Then a set of leaders, Bishops, decided on which books were inspired, both O. T. and N. T.

Thus Revelation includes Tradition, Bible and Teaching Office.

 

[TimothyH]

Sacred Tradition is the unwritten word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and subsequently handed down to Apostle’s successors.

-Tim-

 

[Ad_Orientem]

If you’re looking for a written list of bullet points that constitute Sacred Tradition, or Sacred Tradition on DVD ROM or something, you’re not going to find it in that form. As to its definition, the Catechism states:

76 In keeping with the Lord’s command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways:

– orally “by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received - whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit”;33

– in writing “by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing”.34

77 "In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority."35 Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time."36

78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. **Through Tradition, “the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.”**37 "The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer."38

33 Dei Verbum 7.
34 DV 7.
35 DV 7 § 2; St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3,3,1G 7/1,848; Harvey,2,9.
36 DV 8 § 1.
37 DV 8 § 1.
38 DV 8 § 3.

 

[elementary]

Is then Sacred Tradition equal to the Catechism?

 

[Annie39]

I understand that paradosis consists of both Sacred Scripture (Bible) and Sacred Tradition.
Can someone shed some light on what comprises Sacred Tradition?

I recommend that you go to posts #14 and 15 here forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=411424 I posted a quote from a very good apologist.

Annie

 

[TimothyH]

Is then Sacred Tradition equal to the Catechism?

There have been many Catechisms. There was the Roman Catechism (Catechism of Trent) published in 1566, three different versions of the Baltimore Catechism, the 1993 Catechism known as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and others throughout history. Some Sacred Tradition, but not all, are in these catechisms.

Both Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are truths revealed to us by God. Sacred Scripture are the revealed truths written down in the Bible. Sacred Tradition are the revealed truths not written in the Bible. That’s it in a nutshell.

-Tim-

 

[mackbrislawn]

I understand that paradosis consists of both Sacred Scripture (Bible) and Sacred Tradition.
Can someone shed some light on what comprises Sacred Tradition?

Here’s one way. In the book of Galatians Paul says, “If we ourselves or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel at variance with the gospel we preached to you, he shall be held outcast…the gospel you heard me preach is no human invention.” (NEB)

The key words here are “preach” and “heard me preach.” This was a gospel the Galatians learned from Paul’s mouth, not from his writings! So, this true pure gospel was one preached, not written down. This preaching, we believe, still resides in Sacred Tradition.

Sacred Tradition is also an interpretive tradition. It provides us with the proper context to interpret scripture. After all, Christian scripture was written within the context of the prior, preached and unwritten background of the apostolic teaching. Christian scripture came to be in the framework of the existing spoken gospel. Knowledge of that unwritten gospel is presumed in scripture itself. 1John 2:24: “You must therefore keep in your hearts what you heard at the beginning. If what you heard then still dwells in you, you will yourselves dwell in the Son and also in the Father.” Sacred Tradition is what we heard at the beginning still dwelling in us. Also 1Peter 1:25: “But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the word of the gospel preached to you.” So this preached word will endure forever in the form of Sacred Tradition. Then 2Peter 3:16: “…And so as he [Paul] does in all his other letters…though they contain some obscure passages, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.” Those who do not know the preached message, those who are ignorant, can twist scripture to their own destruction. Not a trivial matter.

But with Sacred Tradition we are not ignorant!

 

[pablope]

I understand that paradosis consists of both Sacred Scripture (Bible) and Sacred Tradition.
Can someone shed some light on what comprises Sacred Tradition?

mark-shea.com/tradition.html

Sacred Tradition is the living and growing truth of Christ contained, not only in Scripture, but in the common teaching, common life, and common worship of the Church.

 

[sirach2v4]

There have been many Catechisms. There was the Roman Catechism (Catechism of Trent) published in 1566, three different versions of the Baltimore Catechism, the 1993 Catechism known as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and others throughout history. Some Sacred Tradition, but not all, are in these catechisms.

Both Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are truths revealed to us by God. Sacred Scripture are the revealed truths written down in the Bible. Sacred Tradition are the revealed truths not written in the Bible. That’s it in a nutshell.

-Tim-

There are more or less formal definitions of Sacred Tradition. What I did not see in the preceding posts (perhaps I missed it if it was there) that Sacred Tradition includes the Church’s various understandings of scripture – because, as you know, it is differences in interpretation (understanding) of scripture that distinguishes Catholic Christians from Protestant Christians and Orthodox Christians, in their various sects and “denominations.”

There is a book published originally around 1928 and then republished in more recent years called Tradition and the Church by Msgr George Agius.

see here amazon.com/Tradition-Church-Msgr-George-J-C-D/dp/0895558211/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399423355&sr=1-1&keywords=tradition+and+the+church

I think it’s unfortunate that the first example of tradition this priest uses in his book is the date of Christmas. Some have elsewhere criticized that date (Dec 25) as contrary to scripture, because they believe the shepherds wouldn’t have been in the fields at that time of the year. If you do get your hands on this book, I caution you not to choke on the first example because I’m not so sure that the celebration of Christmas on Dec 25 is divinely inspired.

In the recently published Orthodox Study Bible (the schismatic Orthodox Church)

amazon.com/Orthodox-Study-Bible-Ancient-Christianity/dp/0718003594/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399423724&sr=1-1&keywords=orthodox+study+bible

also discusses Tradition in a non-technical way. It generally parallels the Roman Catholic Church but deviates according to their own “tradition” of tradition. I’m saying that they emphasize Tradition strongly, although the actual tradition is different from the RCC. They describe themselves as singularly the living Church of the New Testament. They don’t have a “pope” because they don’t see “pope” in the pages of the New Testament; they even seem to dispute that St Peter ever was in Rome, much less crucified and buried there.

Roman Catholics and the Orthodox have generally parallel views of the Old Testament, but Judaism follows its own traditions of the Torah, depending on which branch of Judaism you look at. Muslims represent a fourth major (and separate) tradition of interpreting the books of the Bible – for example, they follow the Arian heresy that Christ was only a man, not God.

So…interpretation of the meaning of scripture is an essential element of Tradition.

 

[mackbrislawn]

I understand that paradosis consists of both Sacred Scripture (Bible) and Sacred Tradition.
Can someone shed some light on what comprises Sacred Tradition?

A Jehovah’s Witness once told me she thought of the bible as a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Well, okay, to continue that analogy, when you get a jigsaw puzzle it comes in a box and you dump the pieces onto the table and try to put them together to form a picture. Same with scripture. You put the verses together to form a theological picture. However, on the box of a jigsaw puzzle is a picture of what the completed puzzle should look like. It helps a lot in completing the puzzle. This picture can be compared to Sacred Tradition. But some people throw the box away, so they don’t have any idea of what the completed puzzle should look like. Now some people also throw away the box of Sacred Tradition, so they don’t have any idea what their theological picture should look like. They have to rely on their own man-made imaginations. Which is why we have so many man-made denominations.

 

[Ignatius]

I understand that paradosis consists of both Sacred Scripture (Bible) and Sacred Tradition.
Can someone shed some light on what comprises Sacred Tradition?

Sacred Tradition is all that was passed on from Jesus Christ to His Apostles and from them, down through the ages. The prime Sacred Traditions were eventually written down, this is Sacred Scripture. What would eventually become the New Testament was passed on in the Church for many years before being written down. In other words, Sacred Scripture started out as part of Sacred Tradition. Sacred Tradition also is the source of the Canon of Scripture (i.e. the books that compose the New Testament.) For a detailed exposition of this, read Where we got The Bible by Henry Graham.
Also is the correct understanding and interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Sacred Tradition also enables The Church to apply the principles handed on to new situations.

 

[TimothyH]

There are more or less formal definitions of Sacred Tradition. What I did not see in the preceding posts (perhaps I missed it if it was there) that Sacred Tradition includes the Church’s various understandings of scripture – because, as you know, it is differences in interpretation (understanding) of scripture that distinguishes Catholic Christians from Protestant Christians and Orthodox Christians, in their various sects and “denominations.”

There is a book published originally around 1928 and then republished in more recent years called Tradition and the Church by Msgr George Agius.

see here amazon.com/Tradition-Church-Msgr-George-J-C-D/dp/0895558211/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399423355&sr=1-1&keywords=tradition+and+the+church

I think it’s unfortunate that the first example of tradition this priest uses in his book is the date of Christmas. Some have elsewhere criticized that date (Dec 25) as contrary to scripture, because they believe the shepherds wouldn’t have been in the fields at that time of the year. If you do get your hands on this book, I caution you not to choke on the first example because I’m not so sure that the celebration of Christmas on Dec 25 is divinely inspired.

In the recently published Orthodox Study Bible (the schismatic Orthodox Church)

amazon.com/Orthodox-Study-Bible-Ancient-Christianity/dp/0718003594/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399423724&sr=1-1&keywords=orthodox+study+bible

also discusses Tradition in a non-technical way. It generally parallels the Roman Catholic Church but deviates according to their own “tradition” of tradition. I’m saying that they emphasize Tradition strongly, although the actual tradition is different from the RCC. They describe themselves as singularly the living Church of the New Testament. They don’t have a “pope” because they don’t see “pope” in the pages of the New Testament; they even seem to dispute that St Peter ever was in Rome, much less crucified and buried there.

Roman Catholics and the Orthodox have generally parallel views of the Old Testament, but Judaism follows its own traditions of the Torah, depending on which branch of Judaism you look at. Muslims represent a fourth major (and separate) tradition of interpreting the books of the Bible – for example, they follow the Arian heresy that Christ was only a man, not God.

So…interpretation of the meaning of scripture is an essential element of Tradition.

Yes, there is overlap. There is a nexus of Scripture and Tradition.

-Tim-

 

[TimothyH]

Sacred Tradition is all that was passed on from Jesus Christ to His Apostles and from them, down through the ages. The prime Sacred Traditions were eventually written down, this is Sacred Scripture. What would eventually become the New Testament was passed on in the Church for many years before being written down. In other words, Sacred Scripture started out as part of Sacred Tradition. Sacred Tradition also is the source of the Canon of Scripture (i.e. the books that compose the New Testament.) For a detailed exposition of this, read Where we got The Bible by Henry Graham.
Also is the correct understanding and interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Sacred Tradition also enables The Church to apply the principles handed on to new situations.

Does this mean that Sacred Tradition is sub-prime?

I’m not sure I agree. What do you mean by prime?

-Tim-

 

[sirach2v4]

A Jehovah’s Witness once told me she thought of the bible as a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Well, okay, to continue that analogy, when you get a jigsaw puzzle it comes in a box and you dump the pieces onto the table and try to put them together to form a picture. Same with scripture. You put the verses together to form a theological picture. However, on the box of a jigsaw puzzle is a picture of what the completed puzzle should look like. It helps a lot in completing the puzzle. This picture can be compared to Sacred Tradition. But some people throw the box away, so they don’t have any idea of what the completed puzzle should look like. Now some people also throw away the box of Sacred Tradition, so they don’t have any idea what their theological picture should look like. They have to rely on their own man-made imaginations. Which is why we have so many man-made denominations.

good post, good analogy