Appeal to Authority - Because an authority thinks something, it must therefore be true.
Appeal to Tradition - Trying to get someone to accept something because it has been done or believed for a long time.
Example: This is the way we've always done it. Therefore, it is the right way.
Example: The Catholic church's tradition demonstrates that this doctrine is true.
Appeal to Authority - Because an authority thinks something, it must therefore be true.
I am sorry, but where did you come up with the idea that I was appealing to authority? I said that the Church does not teach authoritatively that St. Joseph was an elderly widow, but that it was merely a very ancient tradition. I said that I accept it only so long as evidence does not exist which refutes it. I said that ancient tradition is ancient, which means it has a stronger pedigree than the speculation of somebody living 2000 years after the fact. Do you really believe that the people who lived 1900 years ago were not a bit closer to the events than somebody writing about these things today? Sure, some people insist that some scholar musing about the bible being the work of people hundreds of years after the Lord lived know more than the people of the early Church. I am not one of them. I will go with the view which dates to the nearest time of the events in question, and all of you who want to jump on the bandwagons of historical revisionism can spend your time chasing after those other trends.