Christian Intellectual — Jaroslav Pelikan Dead at 82
From Albert Mohler’s Blog – I have never heard of this guy, but I will have to look into him. He has published prolifically, including such titles as Interpreting the Bible and the Constitution, The Idea of the University : A Reexamination, The Reformation of the Bible/The Bible of the Reformation, Whose Bible Is It? A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages, plus a couple of series, including Sacred Writings (which he edited, covering all the major faiths), and The Christian Tradition (looks like 5 volumes). Anyway, I love his quote below about tradition:
Jaroslav Pelikan, one of the Christian tradition’s greatest historians of doctrine, died Saturday, May 13, 2006, of lung cancer. Pelikan had served for many years as Sterling Professor of History at Yale University — holding the university’s most prestigious professorial title. He was also a prolific author, writing more than thirty books, ranging from classical studies to considerations of Bach and Faust….
[In] his great work The Christian Tradition, he warned that tradition must be distinguished from traditionalism: "Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living."
Hi. I've visited your blog periodically, but never commented. It's good to see you post on Jaroslav Pelikan. His work in the field of church history is widely regarded, by Christians from vastlly different denominational backgrounds, as the best.
Jarislav Pelikan was recently quoted on The White Horse Inn, the message about about Tradition and Traditionalism.
"There is a big difference between the living tradition of the dead and the dead tradition of the living." -Jarislav Pelikan