A Few Observations on Tradition and Progress

I've been thinking a little bit about the interaction between tradition and progress. Although I don't like the word progress as it sounds mechanistic and artifical I think it best captures the move to more functional "open structures" in our theological relationships. By open structures, I want to suggest the application of our own values alongside others that are firmly in place yet open-sourced to constant modification. They remain ours yet everyone's. Of the two: some short observations: Tradition looks inward. It thrives on a principle of conservation. It holds back to ensure self-preservation. It breeds suspicion and fears anything that does not reflect its own energy. It feigns outwardness so long as there is nothing ventured. It sees covenant as doctrine instead of relationship. It loves itself in order to distinguish it from what it is not. It therefore requires the same love and when it does not receive it, it cannot initiate. It only reciprocates. Progress seeks its energy from the outside. It holds itself out and keeps nothing in. It makes itself vulnerable to others despite the danger of non-response because it recognizes the necessity and value of the object of its affection. It stipulates no condition, and it does not seek its own good but the good of others. It inheres self-giving and rejects self-preservation. It loves what is not itself in order to love itself.