I began my read of "The Roots of Christian Mysticism" last night. The author writes a bit about Tradition in the intro, stating:
Newman compared the early history of the Church to the opening chords of a symphony, when the subjects which will later be brought out one by one are introduced all together in a concentrated burst of creativity.
A beautiful analogy! I come from a background that had no use for anything older than yesterday. Viewing Tradition is this manner gives me a greater understanding and appreciation for the way it has unfolded. After all these years, I feel like such a novice, only beginning to dip my toes into deep waters.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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2 comments:
We're all novices - always. A 2,000 year tradition on top of a 3,000 year tradition... most of us might live 75 years? Novices. All of us!
I'm glad your book arrived! Welcome to the party.
While I appreciate people like Newman and J.R.R. Tolkien (also a Roman Catholic), I differ in the idea that all the opening themes of the symphony are found in the Introduction. For Roman Catholics it means the ability to explain almost any doctrine by simply saying that it was found in seed form in the Early Church. For the Orthodox it means that whatever the Church does, it may not differ from the doctrine of the Early Church.
That is a bit of a difference.
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