Theme of conference

Theme of conference

Social and cultural traditions and opinions develop through an appeal to history. The past offers an explanation, or furnishes proof, we might say, for the present as well as the future. Historical events, texts, and so on, are the permanent points of reference for the establishment of meaning in the present and the future. This appeal implies that the concepts of ‘tradition’ and ‘history’ are mutually determined. In this sense, the way in which we view – or construct – history determines our tradition and vice-versa. Yet, this determination also produces a tension. The legitimacy of the continuation of our tradition (cultural values, etc.) is, after all, justified in terms of a history that is itself more or less the product of the tradition in which we are embedded.

This is pertinent in a special way for theology. History is, theologically speaking, the place where God revealed, and continues to reveal, Godself to humanity and the world. The past is, from a theological-historical perspective, not only ‘history’ but also ‘salvation history’. This theological dimension of tradition and history does not undo the tension that exists between the two of them, but actually adds to it. More recently, the realisation has grown that tradition has a history of its own, and that – also from a theological point of view – the development of tradition is not the result of a mere process of accumulation but also implies rupture and discontinuity. Moreover, especially since modern times, history (‘as it really happened’) – exposed through historical-critical investigation – has become the grounds of an argument aimed to critique classical appeals to tradition. History then is mobilised to critique certain theological positions, while it is invoked to legitimate others. As a consequence, and by functioning as pivotal arguments within an ongoing theological debate, historical-critical readings become theologically loaded.

Multiple examples of the tension between tradition and history can be invoked, including the complex interaction between systematic theologians and church historians. The relationship between theology, with its appeal to tradition and tradition development, and history, with its appeal to data and the canons of historical research, will be one of the main foci of multidisciplinary theological reflection at LEST VIII. Participants will include specialists in the domains of fundamental and systematic theology, philosophy and religion, history of Church and theology, etc.

Image © Bruno Vandermeulen, Anjou Bible, M. Sabbe Library, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven