Church Chat: What Does "Tradition" Mean?

Our ecclesiastical word of the day is...

Tradition: from the Latin tradere, "to hand over." You see the same root in the words "trade" and "traitor," the common link being the notion of an exchange or passing on of something from one party to another, be they goods or a person or country. Tradition, then, is that which is handed on, often used in a generational context: one generation bequeaths something to another. This word is used to describe the way in which the Christian faith is transmitted to succeeding generations, through teaching, example, religious practice (especially the liturgy), and written works (from the writings of the Church Fathers to catechisms and prayer books).

As Catholics we accept both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition as the revelation of God. These two are not opposed to each other, but dovetail as two modes of God's one revelation: authoritative Tradition tells us which books make up the canon of Scripture; Scripture gives us stories and teachings inspired by God; Tradition gives us a "rule of faith" by which we interpret Scripture to ensure that we do so in accord with the teaching that comes from Christ and the apostles; and so forth. Both of these reveal God's Word to us: Scripture gives us the words, Tradition gives us the "spiritual grammar" to interpret those words.

Think of it this way: Christ comes, preaches and teaches, suffers, dies, and rises again. He instructs His apostles and commissions them to preach the Good News. The apostles preach this message, people are converted to following Christ, and the Christian community expands and grows, and hands on from one person to another, from one generation to another, the substance of that faith, through their words and actions, that is, through Tradition. It is not until a few decades after the death of Christ that the New Testament authors compose their inspired texts, which are a crystallized form of the apostolic teaching. But this Tradition is the context out of which these texts arise and through which they must be read. Thus is the faith truly "handed on" down the ages.