There is so much going on in the world, globally and locally, in academia and in religious communities. You may have noticed… In the media, catastrophes are mixed with advances in research. Solutions to problems that we once thought were unsolvable are presented to us on an almost daily basis – if we only know where to look for this type of news in the otherwise steady stream of misery.
News forms us as individuals and as social beings
‘The Possible’ is redefined. Constantly. Never before have we heard the word ‘unprecedented’ so many times, and quite a few of these mentions are, in fact, occasioned by positive advances. News, whether negative or positive, forms us as individuals and as social beings, whether we know and reflect on it or not. So, reflecting on it seems to me to be the better option.
Tradition
Lately, this has led me to think a lot about ‘tradition.’ What it means and how we define it. How it relates to continuity, renewal, and change – in society, including in religious settings, but also in academia and at our Faculty. Everything is interconnected and with a thousand threads woven into the tapestry we call the ‘here and now’ – the present.
As 2024 begins, we are, as always, entering unknown territory. But, paradoxically, at the same time, we have this feeling that we have been here before. In fact, it is the newness of it all that is familiar. As the new semester is about to take off, I think it may be a good idea to ponder for a second or two what that means – or can mean. For, as is well known since Greek antiquity, one can never enter the same river twice. That saying has been repeated so often that it almost feels like what in Swedish is called ‘en floskel’ – an assumed undisputable truth that through endless repetition has become trivial.
But if we stop for a moment and look at it again – think it and rethink it – these words are carriers of basic truths related to the very conditions of life on this planet. It is a deeply meaningful saying of great consequence for how we understand both ourselves and our shared, social, religious, and socio-institutional lives – if we take it seriously.
What is the relationship between tradition and renewal at TF?
As for our faculty, let’s consider one aspect of this saying in particular, and its implications for us: What is the relationship between tradition and renewal, ‘tradisjon og fornyelse,’ at TF?
What the wisdom of the Greeks tells us, is that the tension we often perceive – and debate about – between tradition and renewal is, ultimately, an illusion. For what is ‘tradition’ if not ‘renewal’ that happened in the past?
Focusing on tradition in the sense of aiming to do nothing with it, or rather, to preserve it through cementing its various forms and expressions, in fact means changing the very foundation that upholds it, so that we simultaneously depart from and undermine it. Indeed, trying to hold on to older expressions of tradition would, in reality, be to leave the path which our predecessors walked and, through their journey, prepared for us.
Theologies, whether Christian, Jewish, or Muslim, whose expressions do not change in fact threatens to interrupt our continuity with the past and divorce us from the wisdom that would otherwise have had the potential to connect us with our predecessors – and with one another in the present.
In knowledge-based dialogue, let us move the world into the future together
Entering 2024, a world of opportunities lies ahead of us. As we open the doors to the ‘familiar unknown,’ let us remember, as we seek truth and wisdom, not only our right to re-think, re-interpret, and re-invent, but also our duty and responsibility to do so for the sake of the generations to come. And doing so, let us also remember that the students we as teachers once were do not exist anymore. As we welcome our new students and our returning students, let us therefore first of all prepare ourselves to learn from them, so that we, in knowledge-based dialogue, can move the world into the future together. New questions, new fears, new curiosities, new fascinations, will lead the way as we stay true to tradition through giving birth to it in our own time, and adapt our thinking, our structures, our teaching programs, to facilitate that birth.
Importantly, as the news media predictably and relentlessly will throw at us seemingly unsurmountable and impossibly tragic disasters, challenges that will likely only increase in 2024, let us remember one of the most important quotes that Martin Luther never said: “Even if I knew that the world was ending tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree today.”
It is such an attitude of defiant hope and determination that will, eventually, allow us not only to imagine a better world, but also to actively participate in making it come alive. ‘Understand religion – change the world,’ as our Faculty motto says. Let us leave no stones unturned as we seek to meet these challenges of today in order to build a better tomorrow.
TF is no stranger to innovative change
TF is, after all, no stranger to innovative change in its aim to understand society and transform it through research, research-based teaching, discussion, and debate. We nurture a proud tradition of consequential socio-cultural change, in Norway and beyond. As part of this tradition of renewal, seeking new knowledge and understanding of how religious traditions develop and grow side by side, we have hired new colleagues whose fields of research and teaching are now integrated parts of what it means to be a Faculty of Theology in the 21st century. In 2024, we will, in conversations and dialogue, continue to do so.
A warm welcome to TF-2024
Again, a warm welcome to TF-2024. Let’s continue to re-define the possible over the next twelve months – and beyond!