I came across an interesting comment about the comparison between Buddhist and Christian tradition by Edward Conze, editor of Buddhist Scriptures (Amazon affiliate link). Please note that this is not an attack on Buddhist tradition or a defence of Christian tradition.
Buddhist tradition differs fundamentally from that of Christianity. In Christianity we can distinguish an ‘initial tradition’, embodied in the ‘New Testament’. from a ‘continuing tradition’, which consists of the Fathers and doctors of the Church, the decision of councils and synods, and the pronouncements of various hierarchies. Buddhists possess nothing that corresponds to the ‘New Testament’. The ‘continuing tradition’ is all that is clearly attested. The bulk of the selections in this book was written down between A.D. 100 and 400, in other words 600 to 900 years after the Buddha’s demise. For the first five hundred years the Scriptures were orally transmitted. They were written down only at the beginning of the Christian era, because at that time the decline in faith threatened their continued survival in the memories of the monks.
