The Tension between an Eschatological and a Utopic Understanding of Tradition: Tillich, Florovsky, and Congar
Abstrakt
This study explores how three major theologians from respectively Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic backgrounds speak about tradition not only as a historical but also an eschatological reality. It shows the achievements of these theologians, particularly Tillich's participatory notion of the ultimate reality that needs a permanent purification by prophetic critique, Florovsky's rehabilitation of the living tradition to which we go forwards rather than backwards, and that we experience in the liturgy and sacraments as coming from the realm of God, and Congar's emphasis on the centrality of the Holy Spirit holding together both the unity and the open plurality of tradition.
At the same time, the article examines where each of these concepts lies open to the reification of tradition, to utopic dreams, and to justifications of power interests, and how awareness of the weak points in the various positions can help in the search for a better balance between the non-reifiable eschatological and the symbolic-utopic dimensions of tradition.