Thomas Merton on tradition...

"...human traditions all tend towards stagnation and decay. They try to perpetuate things that cannot be perpetuated. They cling to objects and values which time destroys without mercy." (New Seeds of Contemplation . 1972:111)

Ringma develops these thoughts further:


"When traditions are no longer life-giving; no longer empower people; no longer reflect the strange values of God's upside-down kingdom; and when they are no longer relevant as an embodiment of contemporary understandings of faith and life in the light of the gospel, then traditions need to be renewed from within..."

Ringma, C. (2003). Seek the Silences with Thomas Merton.


So tradition is good ... as long as it is life-giving; empowering; reflects the Kingdom; is relevant in the light of gospel ... not a bad check list to work from.

Comments

Michael Krahn said…
Hey,

I just put up a series of posts about Thomas Merton that I think you'd enjoy at:

http://michaelkrahn.com/blog/thomas-merton/
12:47 AM
Kapten Clark said…
Yes, "renewed from within" -- not thrown out like the proverbial baby with the bathwater!

Gordon, I'm really struggling with something and I wonder if you'd be up for a bit of e-mailing about it: evelynclark@juno.com

If not, no worries!

Evelyn in Estonia
7:25 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit of sally bashing....

Came across a good bit of Sally bashing over at salvationsoldiers I have to say we try and make sure that everything we raise goes into projects that build local community in Poplar but hopefully if you read this blog you get that sense anyway.
Read more

Types of Christian Spirituality...

Image
It is easy to think and to limit ourselves to a single approach to Christian spirituality. A 'if it works for me it should work for you approach' tends to narrow our appreciation of other ways which actually impoverishes our experience of spirituality. Urban T. Holmes has developed a means of exploring spirituality and helps develop an appreciation through discovering links between spirituality, temperament and predisposition. The diagram illustrates his ideas together with potential inherent dangers. The vertical continuum speaks and helps us understand our relational orientation to God. This ranges from engaging with God through understanding and theological process to a more emotive response. Horizontally speaks of a persons preferred means of pursuing the spiritual life. Kataphtic speaks of affirmation and the need of something tangible in an individuals spirituality- this may take the form of worship, art, even imagination with the use of metaphors, symbols and images play
Read more

Lost Voices of Mission...Fred Brown

Image
Along the world famous Oxford street in London's Westend; nestled in among the classy frontage of designer shops there is almost an unnoticeable, unimpressive wooden door. It is more or less alongside The Regent Hall's main entrance onto the busyness of Oxford Street. People pass the wooden door oblivious to the equally unimpressive wooden steps that go up three storey's to what was Regent Hall's youth club. When I was 10 I played on these bare wooden steps totally unaware of the significance behind and upon which I played. Many years later I discovered a university youth work course - as an induction to Youth Work - stopped outside this insignificant wooden door to point out that Youth Work as we know it in the UK started behind this door. ...whether that be the surbanite flower people that flooded the Westend to express their free love; or the hard core drug community this unimpressive wooden door became the 'portal' that blurred encounter between church an
Read more