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INSIGHT

The term tradition can take on different, strongly interrelated meanings:

• as a synonym for custom (the definition "popular traditions" or "folklore" is often used in this sense), meaning the transmission over time, within a human group, of the memory of social or historical events, customs, rituals, mythology, religious beliefs, customs, superstitions and legends; in particular, the transmission not mediated by writing is called oral tradition

• as a more or less convenient corpus of beliefs and practices from a group of people within a field of activity, such as being for example a religious tradition or a scientific tradition

• in the philosophical field (with a capital initial: Tradition), as a meta-historical concept and, indicating an ordering force as a function of transcendent principles, which acts along the generations, through institutions, laws and regulations that can also present a great philosophical diversity

• as a technical term present with its own specific meaning in the disciplinary fields of philology and law.

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Anthropology

In anthropology, tradition is the set of customs, and of the connected ones that each generation, after having learned, preserved, modified from the previous one, passes on to subsequent generations. The tradition is particularly felt by minority communities which, through it, tend to preserve their own identity.

Folklore studies defined inculturation as the process by which a social group transmits and reproduces its own "traditions" within it; acquired by acculturation, on the other hand, the cultural traits coming from outside (different social strata, or from other geographical-cultural areas) were defined.

 

In Italy, within the ethno-anthropological sciences, a field of study has emerged that is now defined as the history of popular traditions, within which customs, dialects, material culture, customs of law, religious practices, songs, poems, music, oral traditions and any other aspect concerning what was called "people", or the most backward social strata. initially defined demopsychology, then demology, or acquiring the American term, folklore studies, this field of study, starting from the eighties, has deeply questioned its object, criticizing the reification of traditions, and placing the emphasis more on processes of social construction and on the use that subjects make of them.

From the eighties, from a scientific point of view, there has been a tendency to criticize the concept of tradition, to highlight the fact that culture is located in the individual, and every time there is a passage of cultural traits, a re-elaboration necessarily takes place. From this point of view, tradition is seen more as a rhetorical element used by groups of individuals to strengthen their own collective identity, in particular to be used in contrast with other social groups.

 

Religion

Judaism

The Israelites of the time of Judaism had many unwritten traditions, which they claimed were entrusted to Moses on Mount Sinai, and passed on to Joshua, the Judges and the prophets. After their against the Romans at the time of Hadrian and Severus, due to their ever greater dispersion cause, the Israelites try to preserve the preservation of their traditions by entrusting them to writing.

Two commentaries are added to this text: the Gemarah of Jerusalem, probably in the year 370 and the Gemarah of Babylon.

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Christianity

Jesus severely condemns many of the Pharisees, a very widespread Jewish sect in the Second Temple period, reproaching them for preferring the traditions of their ancestors (i.e. the oral Torah) to God's own law, superstitiously adhering to vain observances and neglecting moral and moral duties. most important religious.

In the context of Christianity, oral traditions exist which are subsequently transcribed and accepted as authentic by a specific community.

• Tradition in the New Testament: in Christian theology, the set of preachings of the apostles to the Christian communities, subsequently collected in the New Testament from which, in the course of history, the different ecclesiastical traditions have developed, for example, that of Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and Protestantism. Catholicism believes that its traditions derive from the unwritten teachings of the apostles; those of Orthodox Christianity are contained in the patristics and considered normative. Those of Protestantism are honored, but are not considered normative or on a par with the Holy Scriptures: they must always be confronted with the ultimate authority of the Bible.

• Christian tradition: The set of practices, customs, beliefs and rituals of most Christians or shared and advanced within individual churches or Christian communities; as far as the Orthodox Church is concerned, we can mention the typical Slavic culture and clothes, considered compatible with Christian life (even if they are not a characteristic of Christianity). Often all these sets of customs, in some cases real "traditions", are handed down in writing through ecclesiastical-liturgical treatises or catechisms. Famous examples are the ancient Orders of the Church, the Didache, the Apostolic Constitutions, the Apostolic Tradition and various other ancient texts dating back to the early centuries of Christianity, whose purpose was to regulate the life and daily life of the faithful as well as of the priests. In any case, the authority and attribution of these works varies, and the rituals and practices described do not always coincide with the teachings of the apostles.

• Catholic tradition: in Catholic theology, the part of the Christian tradition approved by the Council of Trent and of events that cannot be proved, but which are considered real by the faithful and / or by the ecclesiastical hierarchies. In Catholic theology it is the Church in her doctrine, in her life and in her worship, in the act in which she perpetuates and transmits to all generations "all that she is, all that she believes".

• Apostolic Tradition: it is a short work in which reference is made to a compendium of principles, regulations and instructions on the subject of ecclesiastical order, liturgical practice and community life, which represent the structure and the form with which the ancient Church has translated the "delivery" (traditio) of the apostles for the good and edification of all believers. It constitutes the cornerstone of many Christian texts of antiquity and largely described the Roman rite as it was celebrated in the third century. It is considered of incomparable historical importance, as it is a source of information about Christian community life and liturgy of the third century.

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Traditionalism

In Catholicism, traditionalism is a trend that teaches the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church and that this historical continuity with the past was interrupted by the Second Vatican Council.

In Orthodox Christianity, the Bible is considered the constitutive heart of a larger tradition.

These conceptions are certified by Protestantism which often generally maintains that the content of the Bible takes precedence over any Christian tradition, with respect to which it must be verified and possibly rejected if it cannot be reconciled.

Inspired by Protestantism's contestation of ecclesiastical tradition, the Enlightenment itself as if to consider even the Bible part of questionable traditions.

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Right

In Roman law, traditionally meant the formal act of delivery of a good, normally necessary and conclusive in the purchase of property by way of derivative. It was a "consensual tradition" if carried out through the material delivery of the (generally movable) property or "actual or symbolic tradition" if carried out through the delivery of a symbol that gave the possibility to exercise possession over the property (generally immovable - eg building keys).

 

Philology

In philology, or textual criticism, by tradition we mean the set of witnesses who transmit a work. It can be transmitted directly when it intends to transmit a given text, indirect when a text or part of it is thanks to the quotation made by another author.

We speak of a critical edition when the published text contains all the written testimonies (preserved or not), the relationships between apograph copies and original anti-graphical copies reconstructed backwards to find those considered more ancient, a critical apparatus that highlights non-existent textual variants in the testimonies preserved up to the modern age, the choices of the publisher to amend or correct errors or corruptions of the text that he recognizes in passages considered vitiated in form or substance throughout the tradition.

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Philosophy, politics and metaphysics

Traditionalist conservatism, also known as traditionalism, describes a political philosophy located in the bed of conservatism that emphasizes the need - philosophical, ethical and practical - for the principles of natural law and the transcendent moral order, tradition, organic unity and hierarchical, rural life, classicism and high culture, and Fidelity. Some traditionalists have embraced the terms "Reaction" and "Counter-revolution", referring to the decay of society brought about by the Enlightenment. Since traditionalist conservatives have a hierarchical view of society, they defend the monarchical (or aristocratic and demoorganic) political structure as the most natural and beneficial social order. Traditionalism - although not embodied in a specific political model - has existed since civilization began; its contemporary expression, however, developed in the 18th century, mostly in response to the English Civil War and the French Revolution.

Traditional or traditionalist thinkers, including René Guénon, Julius Evola, Titus Burckhardt, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Nicolás Gómez Dávila conceive Tradition (with a capital initial) as immanent transcendence, as a force that is a presence with a higher character than historical contingencies.

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Masonry

The concept of "tradition" in Freemasonry is extremely important and debated, since some scholars bring it back to the esoteric aspect intended as a transmission of history, philosophy of thought and values, others portray it as an esoteric and therefore initiatory, sapiential and spiritual transmission.