Nothing Gained Is Eternal: A Theology of Tradition

by Anne M. Carpenter

In the decades since the declaration of the "end of history," the West has been reminded time and again that history is not yet done with us. Time marches on, but the past keeps pace. The twin questions at the heart of the last two hundred years of philosophy and theology--What is history? What is tradition?--are more pressing now than when they were first posed. While most answers to these questions are methodological and descriptive, Nothing Gained Is Eternal presents an answer both theological and theoretical, an answer rooted in action, memory, and freedom. Drawing on the thought of some of the brightest lights of the twentieth century, such as Bernard Lonergan, Charles Péguy, Maurice Blondel, and Hans Urs von Balthasar, Anne M. Carpenter argues for a new theory of tradition. It is a theory firmly moored to the ambiguities, contradictions, and varied fruits of the past. Carpenter shows ressourcement to be a way not only of retrieving the past but of making moral judgments about both a former age and our own. The resulting account of tradition pushes back against sentimental and triumphalist interpretations of Christian patrimony. Yet, this work also identifies the ways in which theology's turn to history is incomplete and confronts its own theory of tradition with decolonial criticism. Carpenter challenges readers to wrestle with whether tradition can persist when its colonialist practices are brought to light. And in asking this question, she offers hope for transforming the life of tradition in its wake.

Genres: Theology

218 pages, Hardcover

Published September 13, 2022

About the author

Anne M. Carpenter loves writing - but is and was a reader first! Whether penning short stories (which she loves!) or frantically pounding out the story line for longer fiction, she writes with an eye on what she loves: a little suspense, a little irony, humor at times, a twist to keep the heart pounding and above all else, characters real enough to jump off the page.

Facebook: facebook.com/annemcarpenter
Twitter: twitter.com/annemcarpenter
GoodReads: goodreads.com/annemcarpenter
Web: annemcarpenter.com

Reviews

[Nicholas Perez]

I follow Dr. Carpenter on twitter. Been wanting to read her work for awhile.

[Fr. Nicholas Blackwell, O. Carm. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The professor does an excellent job, breaking open a variety of modern theologians and writers. For example, she really helps to explain key thoughts of Balthasar for the reader, to help them fully begin to understand him. However, when she gets into colonial history, as a practical application for her thoughts then specificity is lost from her. Fro example, She will make reference to tradition and Christian tradition in ways that are quite confusing as it relates to colonialism. Also, she puts forward big overarching concepts, while in the same breath, talking about the need to enter into the specificity of the historical reality. which Christian tradition? During the heart of colonialism Christianity was fractured so she only speaks about it in an overarching way thus regarding colonialism she does a disservice to the historical reality. She says people need to enter into the reality of history through the call of resourcement, yet she seems to cherry pick her sources. I believe the parts of the book that deal with colonialism she shows her intellectual bias and is locked into a sort of presentism regarding these topics, via the current progressive cultural moment. The issue of presentism is something that she addresses as a concern that she has in her last chapter but does nothing about it. There’s a lot of great things in this book but when you get near the end of each chapter, it’s almost like there’s a different person writing. For example, she speaks about the terribleness within Christianity, because of colonialism and Christians supporting this practice yet she leaves totally out of her text that concurrently at the same time. She also leaves out the role of the enlightenment and materialism in relationship to a new vision for the human person in which notions of race were constructed and solidified within cultures. Again regarding the historical reality of colonialism there were a vast majority of Christians from a variety of traditions working against colonialism, many of which helped create the modern language of human rights. These folks are never mentioned. Her call for a deeper entry into history, which she almost seems to equivocate with tradition and vice versa gets totally overshadowed by how she treats this complex history in the last quarter of each of her chapters sort of distracting from her vision for writing this book.

[Andrew McNeely]

If you need a theoretical heuristic that guides your inquiries into tradition, look no further. Theologian Anne Carpenter carefully works out a metaphysic of tradition in conjunction with addressing the historical development of the colonialism and racism that has interwoven itself into the lived practices and geographies emanated by modern Christianity.

Noteworthy also is her suggestion that ressourcement without “revolution,” the kind that makes the conditions possible for new trajectories, only reterritorializes sinful modes and practices of the historical past. I see something similar developing in the recent apologetics, postliberal, and pop retrieval movements within evangelicalism today.

[Bret · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly insightful exploration of the subject.