The conception of Living Tradition in the context of the life and work of Jaroslav Pelikan

Abstract

The article considers the issue of the formation of the idea of a Living Tradition in the scientific and social activities of the American scientist Jaroslav Pelikan (1923– 2006). In the life and intellectual path of a scientist, three stages — early, middle and late ones — are conditionally identified. The article shows that the concept of Living Tradition is the result of the development of two sides of Pelican’s life and that the study of the Christian tradition can lead to a change in confessional affiliation. Particular attention is paid to the middle and late periods of his intellectual and spiritual searches, at the stage of which the scientist discovers the heritage of the Ancient Church. The article also highlights the Pelikan’s theological features of the conception of the Living Tradition. Through the idea of a Living Tradition, the scientist reconciles the continuity of the tradition of the Church and the changes within this continuum. The article shows that the conception of Living Tradition is closely connected with the idea of catholicity and continuity of the Church. The author claims that, firstly, the Pelikan, in the idea of Tradition, adopted the language of representatives of the Catholic school of Tubingen and the Orthodox Neo-Patristic school. At the same time, the theological thought of J. Pelikan continues to move within the strict framework of the set research goal — historical research and justification of continuity and changes in the Church. It is also shown that J. Pelikan’s views on the conception of Living Tradition are largely dictated by his correspondence polemic with his predecessor A. von Harnack. In addition, the article concludes that the Pelikan in his understanding of Tradition is not so sensitive to the Divine within Tradition, understood as the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church. At the end of the article, it is demonstrated that at the late stage of his work, Pelikan fails to fully solve the problem of Tradition. This research can be useful for everyone who is interested in the life and work of modern theologians and Christian historians.