Here are some review questions on Tradition.

1. How could you summarize Vatican II’s teaching on the Transmission of Revelation (see the Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum chapter II)? God arranged that what was revealed would be transmitted faithfully. The apostles received the deposit of revelation from Christ, through his words, deeds, and life with them. They were commanded to preach the Gospel to all nations, starting in Jerusalem, which they did. From the apostles, revelation was transmitted by oral preaching, their example, and their writings made under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The apostles appointed bishops as their successors, who preserved the scriptures, passed on the tradition of doctrine and worship, and guarded the faith from error. The tradition is not only oral, it is all that the Church is. For example, morality was transmitted by behavior more than oral teaching.
   Both sacred tradition and sacred scripture are bound closely together and communicate with each other. They flow from the same divine well-spring, and merge, moving towards the same goal.
2. How does “Tradition” understood in a global, comprehensive sense (as also used in the Early Church) differ from “Tradition” as popularly understood in the Post-Tridentine theology? The comprehensive sense of Tradition is that it contains everything received from the apostles and passed down through the generations, which includes the Scriptures. The popular interpretation of Trent was that Tradition was distinct from Scripture and contained doctrines not attested to by the canonical Scriptures.
3. How would you describe briefly the importance of Tradition within the New Testament community and in the formation of the New Testament Scriptures? The early Church was taught personally by the apostles, who received their teaching from Christ. Teachings were transmitted and learned orally, and were likely repeated in catechesis and in the liturgy. The liturgy itself was taught by example, not by written documents. Apostolic teaching drew from the Old Testament, but there was no written record of Gospel teachings in the beginning. Letters started to be written when issues came up that Paul or other apostles needed to address to a pastor or congregation distant from them, and these letters were saved. As the eyewitnesses of Christ grew older, the need for writing down the stories of Jesus arose and led to the creation of the Gospel books. The Gospels and apostolic epistles circulated but a canon of scripture did not develop until heretical documents posing as apostolic began to be circulated, and it was the criteria of tradition that was used to determine which documents were genuine.
4. What is Tradition according to its active and objective senses? The active sense is the act of transmitting, and the objective sense is the content which is transmitted.
5. In what sense is Tradition more than a transmission of doctrines? Tradition includes the life and worship of the Church, in addition to doctrine. Moral and liturgical practices are passed down by example as well as explicit doctrine.
6. Give and explain the division of Tradition according to its origin. The three divisions of Tradition according to origin are divine, apostolic, and ecclesiastical. Both apostolic and ecclesiastical can be taken in an exclusive sense (”Merely … “) or inclusive sense (in that divine and apostolic tradition is transmitted within the ecclesiastical).
7. How can Tradition be divided according to its relationship to Sacred Scripture? First of all, Tradition can be see as preceding Scripture. Secondly, it can be seen as including Scripture (in the global sense), and thirdly as distinct from Scripture (”oral” tradition).
8. What did Trent define concerning Tradition? Trent says that the Gospel was first promised through the prophets, preached by Christ, who then commanded the apostles to preach it to the world. The Gospel has come down to us as written books and unwritten traditions. The council equally regards the Old and New Testament together with the traditions concerning faith and practice as coming from the mouth of Christ or inspired by the Holy Spirit and preserved in the Church.
9. Does Tradition contain more than Sacred Scripture (distinguish and explain)? As said above, Tradition in the broad sense includes the Scriptures, but contains more. Even if all of the dogmas have their seed in Scripture, they are developed in Tradition. There are other things in Tradition not found in Scripture, including which books are inspired Scripture, and the liturgy in its completeness.
10. What does the so-called “Two Sources” theory propose concerning the relationship of Tradition and Scripture? The “Two Sources” theory is that Scripture and Tradition are two different sources of Revelation, such that some doctrines are found in the Bible and others are found in Tradition. This view is in contrast to that of Yves Congar that says “all is in Scripture, all is in Tradition”, meaning that they are two modes of transmitting the same deposit of faith.
11. How could you explain briefly the importance of Tradition for Sacred Scripture, and the importance of Sacred Scripture for Tradition in the Church? Tradition is important for Scripture because Tradition existed before Scripture, and it is Tradition that has transmitted and preserved Scripture. Also, Scripture can only be properly understood within the context of Tradition. The Rule of Faith and the creeds are essential for Biblical interpretation.
    Scripture is important to Tradition because Scripture identifies essential points of Tradition, and Scripture is the sure test against which various traditions are judged. Apostolic Tradition can sometime be difficult to identify, so one test is that no true point of Tradition can contradict Scripture. Because the Scriptures are a fixed set of inspired, inerrant writings, they crystallize revelation and provide a concrete standard to measure against.