Tradition, tradition, tradition.

Some excerpts from An Introduction to the Reformed Tradition by John H. Leith.

• Speaking of Protestant fragmentation: In part, it was due to the Protestant conviction, which accepted the risk of division as preferable to any institution or authority with power to dictate how Christian communities were to read the Bible. The emphasis on the Holy Spirit's speaking through Scripture as the final authority and the obligation of all believers as priests before God to take responsibility for their own faith was a source of Protestant strength nd also divisiveness. (p22)
• On tradition: By tradition people are saved from the tyranny of the moment, and by it they gain some transcendence over time...Tradition properly enables one to live out of the resources of the past with an openness to the future. (p28-9)
• On "new" things: Since 1955, theology and churchmanship have been plagued by lust for novelty and narcissistic delight in being original. The result has been faddism. (p29)
• On benefits of tradition: The greatest asset of a tradition is its provision of a rich resource of accumulated wisdom that gives perspective to the present moment. (p30)
• A caution: Inordinate love of the past, the repetition of dead traditions as laws for contemporary life, the refusal to change are clearly destructive ways of life. (p30)
• Tradition versus traditionalism: A historian of doctrine has put it very well. Tradition is the living faith of dead people. Traditionalism is the dead faith of living people. (p31)

That's just the first chapter!