6 - Tradition as a Historiographical and Cultural Problem

Summary

The sixth chapter, the summation, shows the paradox that Calvin’s argument against tradition has been accepted at face value, even though Calvin regularly used the tradition in his doctrinal, polemical, and pastoral work. This paradox created both historiographical and cultural consequences. Historiographically, a great number of scholars accepted the false picture of Protestant biblicism vs. Catholic traditionalism, frequently noted by the couplet scripture and tradition or scripture vs. tradition. Culturally, this supplied certain heirs of Reformed thought to believe that their traditions were wholly biblical, and thus neither culturally conditioned, nor open to change. This had disastrous impacts, from racism to sexism to the exploitation of the natural world. The study then examines a variety of theological receptions of tradition to argue for a more nuanced appropriation of tradition.