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{"id":5376,"date":"2014-03-16T20:56:07","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T00:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/?p=5376"},"modified":"2014-03-16T20:56:07","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T00:56:07","slug":"a-random-thought-on-being-shapers-of-our-theological-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/peterenns\/2014\/03\/a-random-thought-on-being-shapers-of-our-theological-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"a random thought on being shapers of our theological traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The quote is from Andrew T. Linclon\u2019s recent book on the virginal conception of Jesus and the incarnation, Born of a <\/a> $\"\"$ <\/a>Virgin?: Reconceiving Jesus in the Bible, Tradition, and Theology<\/a> $\"\"$ , <\/em>pp. 290-91\u00a0(and please don\u2019t judge the book by the title).<\/p>\n

The point of this quote is something I\u00a0have\u00a0carried very close to me over the years and find it utterly compelling. I would even say it drives much of my own thinking and contemplating about God, my\u00a0faith, and why in the world I do what I do. We honor traditions best when we take seriously the responsibility<\/span>\u00a0for shaping them\u00a0for our time and place rather than preserving them in past iterations out of nostalgia or fear.<\/em><\/p>\n

But how can you hold to a tradition and also shape it? Isn\u2019t the point of holding to a tradition to, well,\u00a0hold<\/em> it rather than shape it?<\/p>\n

I understand the point, but think of this: we see tradition shaped\u00a0throughout\u00a0the Bible, within the Old Testament and also, in rather dramatic fashion, in\u00a0how the New Testament shapes and transforms various strands of Old Testament tradition.<\/p>\n

Without successive generations\u00a0shaping\u00a0their tradition, the tradition dies. I think the Lincoln quote captures that well.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"