Early Christians regarded Tradition as coming from God no less than did Scripture itself. And yet, in the long march of time from those early centuries, many have come to regard Tradition as a foe, as something opposed to Scripture. There is a reasoned case to be made for both views. My question is, which view is correct, and why? The question has two parts, and I am interested to hear answers to either or both.
1. Is revealed truth limited to Scripture?
2. What role, if any, does Tradition have in allowing us to understand Scripture?

Please: Kindly support any response you care to share with reasoned support. In other words, please do not simply post dizzying lists of Scriptural passages. For any Scripture you do offer, please provide some explanation of what you take it to be saying and why you take it to say that.

Thank you in advance.

N0help4u

Some traditions are good and some are not
You have to look at the context and the history
where did it come from
Does it line up with scripture
Is it man's tradition because they believe it will please God

JoeT777

Can you define what you mean by "Tradition" for me. Is this my tradition of Christmas turkey? Or, is it something different?

JoeT

Akoue

Perhaps I could have been clearer. We use the word "tradition" in lots of different ways, of course. We have family traditions, cultural traditions, I have my own personal "traditions". We I ask about tradition--hereafter Tradition--I mean to ask about a source of revelation. (Presumably my family's traditions aren't a source of revelation for anybody, not even for me.)

I mean Tradition as a body of teaching handed down from one generation to the next. Early Christians called it the "deposit of faith": A body of teaching--to repeat what I just said--that contains truths in matter of faith.

Does this help at all?

(I'm trying to give a sort of neutral presentation of the idea of Tradition.)

Wondergirl

Like NO said, first look at a tradition's context and history --

In a Zen temple, every evening during meditation the temple's cat would screech at the top of its voice, preventing the monks from concentrating. Eventually the Master had to order the cat to be tied and gagged during meditation sessions, and in this way the problem was solved.

Years passed and both the master and the cat died, and a new master was appointed. Then a new cat was found and every evening before the meditation, it was tied and gagged.

Several years later, scholars at the temple wrote treatises about the significance in Buddhist practice of tying up cats.

N0help4u

I heard a story about tradition. The woman always cut her meat in half and baked each half in the oven on different racks.
Her husband one time asked why she did it that way. She said I dunno I will have to ask my mother why she did it that way.
She asked her mom. Her mom replied because the oven was too narrow to put a big roasting pan in it so she had to use two smaller ones.

Wondergirl

I've aways folded towels and washcloths exactly as my mother taught me many years ago. I once asked her why those kinds of folds. She replied, "Because then they will fit in the drawer."

Too often that's what happens with church tradition--"we've always done it that way," but no one knows why and there's no mom to ask why.

Akoue

Wondergirl, N0help4u,

Thanks. Okay, so I think this helps. So what I want to get at is a notion of Tradition as something the goes beyond the examples you've offered. (Though I would like to here more about the Zen one sometime.--No offense, N0help4u, too soon after Thanksgiving for me to even think about turkey yet).

So, back to my original question: What are your views about Tradition in *that* sense?

arcura

I think what you are asking about is what the early Church Fathers wrote and taught that was not included in the bible and is referred to as Christian early tradition.
We get that tradition information from still existing documentation.
That does not include later activities such as the CHRISTmas Tree or turkey for CHRISTmas dinner.
Am I right?
Fred

Wondergirl

Please name some specific early church traditions that are still kept and help Christians in some way (and how).