ABSTRACT
In this section of the book, we turn our attention to ‘tradition’, and to the ways in which the practice of Christian theology involves engagement with tradition. The word ‘tradition’, however, can be used in several different ways. The most obvious way in which the word ‘tradition’ is used is to name a pattern
of belief and practice that has been preserved over a long period of time, often over many generations, by a particular community or society. In popular usage, the word most easily refers to
1 the exotic customs of a group or community isolated from what we take to be the mainstream of modern life;
2 the oppressive habits of mind and action that drive a community’s resistance to the development of progressive and enlightened behaviour; or to
3 patterns of established practice and belief that help protect a community against the onset of various forms of chaos.
