Rola Tradycji w Kościele. Między „archeologizmem” a „entuzjazmem”

The article is an attempt to answer the question about the relation between tradition and the development of theological cognition. The church from the first centuries was aware that allegiance to the council tenets exceeds a technical repetition of council`s formulas. It is clear that a belief in dogma assumes openness to both the past and the future.In the article two approaches to tradition are criticized: archeological and enthusiastic. The first one is linked with attempt to end the possibility of adding to a developing tradition further at any point in history; the second one is a result of conviction that currents form of doctrine and church are exactly what is wanted by God.In reference to K. Rahner, J. Ratzinger and W. Kasper the typological‑sacramental meaning of the tradition was proposed. It lets us – basing on the statements of the Vatican II – overcome a progressivist hermeneutic of rupture and go toward a hermeneutic of continuity and to the real reform of the church. In other words, it means that the process of reception and realization of Jesus` teaching and of the history of Christianity lives on and every epoch, every culture and every generation has a task to deepen and to better understand all revelation given to us by Christ. It must be done with a sensitivity to the historical, cultural and religious contexts of every period of history including the present.