tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post5143691915311484254..comments2023-04-09T05:18:06.643-05:00Comments on Into the Expectation: Anglican ValuesMatt Gunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11230570081324464033noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-59745430418250795112010-03-04T22:34:35.672-06:002010-03-04T22:34:35.672-06:00Very good. Thanks, Matt.Very good. Thanks, Matt.Lyndonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10198538052057343766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-16548247521628005802010-03-04T18:21:17.083-06:002010-03-04T18:21:17.083-06:00Thanks, Loukas.
You are welcome to translate it ...Thanks, Loukas. <br /><br />You are welcome to translate it as you wish. <br /><br />Lyndon, <br /><br />Life got crazy and I haven't been able to respond to yopur last comment. I think that we are in basic agreement.Matt Gunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11230570081324464033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-81256204480569302832010-03-04T16:18:18.211-06:002010-03-04T16:18:18.211-06:00A very interesting summary. Of course, one can alw...A very interesting summary. Of course, one can always discuss particular moments and the discussion about the tradition and the role it plays in Anglicanism I find interesting too.<br />What I personally would like to add to it is that we are a part of the Tradition, a living and active part. If the Tradtion can be called a living stream of the human experience of the Divine we are a drop in it. <br />We would very much like toe translate this article to Polish and publish it on our blog.Pradusz and Loukashttp://dstp.cba.plnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-10398144952487315102010-02-23T07:14:33.987-06:002010-02-23T07:14:33.987-06:00Matt, the manner of articulating tradition as an &...Matt, the manner of articulating tradition as an 'appeal' is what i meant by saying, "the way we engage (or not) in the imaginative and conceptual possibilities available to us is restricted by our embodiment of the past in the present, and our hopes and goals for the future." The notion of appeal is met in the restricted nature of our doxa and praxis as embodiments, or better yet, obedience patterned on the obedience of Jesus. It is the practice of a patterned imagination that allows for our obedience to be more than allegiance to particular (and it is always, particular) features of the past. This makes tradition both stable and unstable at the same time. It is like a rope woven of a thousand different strands and we never know ahead of time how the strands might instruct or what will be revealed as we risk answering the questions posed by circumstance and culture. <br />Again, this is why character (i.e. a mature disposition) is necessary so as to avoid rejecting the authority of the past altogether, or clinging to the past as if it is a unchanging monolith. We can only truly say we are a church 'tradition' if our fundamental means and commitments entails the courage to live, work and die in the darkness in which Jesus himself lived and died. The visibility of our shared tradition will be best displayed in the sacramental visibility of the church as the sign of humanity being brought (occasionally kicking and screaming, and sometimes singing and dancing) towards eternal life under the kingship of God.Lyndonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10198538052057343766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-43542601140602265962010-02-22T17:39:20.319-06:002010-02-22T17:39:20.319-06:00I'm with you regarding tradition as a complex ...I'm with you regarding tradition as a complex way of life. It certainly must be more than "this is how we've always done it." Or even, this is how it was done in some supposed pristine, golden age. Nor is it static. <br /><br />I agree that tradition is not just a set of beliefs but a manner of life. One of the challenges is that, shaped as we are by consumerism and individualism, we no longer have much in the way of a complex of shared (traditional) practices and habits that by which we are all together formed. <br /><br />Still, I wonder if we can avoid understanding one aspect of "tradition" being something to which we appeal, ala Andrewes. The doxa and praxis that we hope to share, after all, is shared with those who have gone before us. It is by returning (though not uncritically) to their expression of the doxa and praxis - in word and deed, community and worship - that we determine whether or not it is indeed shared.Matt Gunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11230570081324464033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-2471398182222391822010-02-22T14:18:50.614-06:002010-02-22T14:18:50.614-06:00Matt, at one level a teleological understanding of...Matt, at one level a teleological understanding of tradition includes what you mention in your linked piece: "The tradition of the church is not a problem to be overcome, but a community in time to which we belong and with which it is possible to dialogue." Tradition is, to quote MacIntyre, "constituted by a continuous argument" as to what the church is and ought to be. It is a fiction to suppose that this dialogue or argument can happen in a historical vacumn.<br /> <br />As human animals, we are shaped by inherited language (and therefore, inherited rationality); consequently, the way we engage (or not) in the imaginative and conceptual possibilities available to us is restricted by our embodiment of the past in the present, and our hopes and goals for the future. It is the question of what our goals are within a tradition that maintains it that will make the tradition either vital or just another anachronistic ideal constituted through a refusal to answer asked questions.<br /><br />Tradition is teleological because it defines a complex life (not simply an inheritance of teaching) in which some parts (e.g. our practice of the eucharist) come to throw unexpected light on other parts (e.g. the political character of the church in a late capitalistic society, ala the work of Bill Cavanaugh). We can only discover these connections if we are asking ourselves about what makes our pursuits good, and how do the 'goods' of our pursuits shape our character. This is why 'novelty' within a tradition can reek havoc. If we lack the character instituted through dialouge and argument, and through attention to the goods pursuant as a specific tradition, then we will lack the prudence necessary to judge some novelty as good, and some as corrosive.<br /><br />What I am trying to move away from is the idea that tradition is what we appeal to rather than the manner of our life together within the territory of a shared doxa and praxis (that is, as a form of life constituted by the Word made flesh - the language of God spoken in us). I still have a ways to go with this line of reasoning.Lyndonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10198538052057343766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-77658740506368485232010-02-22T10:49:27.729-06:002010-02-22T10:49:27.729-06:00Thanks, Dan and Lyndon.
Lyndon, I'd like to h...Thanks, Dan and Lyndon.<br /><br />Lyndon, I'd like to hear more about the teleological nature of tradition. I also wrote a brief bit about tradition here:<br /><br />http://intotheexpectation.blogspot.com/2010/02/configuring-scripture-criterion-5.htmlMatt Gunterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11230570081324464033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-88443625846347910572010-02-22T10:22:44.062-06:002010-02-22T10:22:44.062-06:00Thanks, Matt.
I would only add that attention to &...Thanks, Matt.<br />I would only add that attention to 'tradition' ought to be more teleological in character; that is, what are we pursuing that reflects the 'goods' of our Anglican tradition, and how are we pursuing them? 'Tradition' isn't something we possess, it defines the character of our journey. Tradition is our reason, lived in human history.Lyndonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10198538052057343766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1692793350977058371.post-49429307024721350132010-02-20T15:27:37.769-06:002010-02-20T15:27:37.769-06:00Bravo!Bravo!Daniel Martinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15980949721733826978noreply@blogger.com