Abstract / DOI
Between Archives and a Vital Process: The Development of the Term ‹Tradition›. The importance of tradition derives from the fact that the origin of faith and the church lies in a series of historical events with its climax in Jesus Christ. At the same time these events in the past are understood as a revelation of universal importance and interest. Therefore tradition can be understood as the necessary bridge between these events and the respective presence. Several crises provoked theological reflection on tradition. Especially important was the fundamental criticism of tradition as a means of theological insight by Protestant theology. The following discussion led to a one-sided view of tradition as a kind of ‹box› containing revealed truth. In the late 19th and 20th century the development of theological reflection, confirmed by the Second Vatican Council, has recovered an integral understanding of tradition as a vital process representing revelation and enabling its contemporary understanding.