How Should We Love Tradition?
Beatrice Institute, one of the sponsoring institutes of Genealogies of Modernity, produced this exciting Podcast episode. “What is history?” is the opening query of Anne Carpenter’s new book, Nothing Gained is Eternal: A Theology of Tradition. Carpenter’s answer: history is what humans do. The following chapters of her book consider the consequences of this definition: that tradition must be renewed, not just preserved, and sins, from racism to colonialism, must be dealt with.
In this episode, the Genealogy and Tradition reading group join in conversation with Anne to discuss her recent work. In this question-and-answer session, the group asks Anne: How would you rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral? Are we justified in putting humans at the center of history? and, most importantly, How can we best love tradition, and can we love it too much?
6:23 A proper restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral would interpret the cathedral in a new way by adding to it, which reflects a living use of the church.
9:41 Heuristics, especially when judging vulnerabilities, must be deployed by each individual.
15:23 “And so I think everything is involved in the cosmic work of Salvation. Christian tradition is a particular quality of the human participation in the work of redemption.”
17:53 Tradition is “a human way of being historical,” and thus must be anthropocentric. Humans studying tradition may lead to self-transcendence.
22:37 In Catholic contexts, tradition implies a familiar connection to those who come before you. Modernity causes anxiety in modern Catholics by separating them from history.
26:01 “I can't just love Ovid for Ovid. I have to love him in a way that redeems him. And that's much harder. But I think I can do no less.”
33:06 Artist suggestions
35:56 Learning to understand I don’t understand
43:04 To take action, scholars must be transformed individually, theorize more, and “collaborate in order to have the proper insights.”