Dogma story

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The history of dogmas is a sub-discipline of historical theology within Christian theology . It began at the transition from early Christianity, which was still largely under persecution, to the recognized Christianity under Constantine the Great around 312 and was to emerge as an Arian controversy in the general historical consciousness. With the Council of Nicaea in 325, convened by Constantine, there was the first dogmatic dispute which later led to the secession of the Eastern Church. Since the 20th century at the latest, there has been a consensus among German dogma historians that there is a close interdependence between the development of dogmas and their intellectual, social and institutional historical factors. This interweaving is seen as "constitutive" for the presentation (and thus part of the subject itself). The individual areas and historical research priorities of the subject of the history of dogma are briefly presented here.

Dogma and the history of dogma

With the replacement of the medieval worldview in the Renaissance and the development of modern science, a critical attitude towards the Bible and creed arose towards the end of the 18th century .

On the Catholic side in particular, the papal definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception / Immaculate 1854 triggered the question of the justification of new dogmas in the Bible and tradition.

On the Protestant side, theological science increasingly questioned traditional beliefs.

Dogma and the history of dogma are themselves themes of church history. Dogma is a word of Greek origin and difficult to translate. If the word doxa was contrasted in antiquity as a general opinion with logos as justified reason, in translation it had a completely different meaning as honor or glory . In theology, dogmatic does not primarily mean traditional (so that one does not want to justify the dogmas). But the dogmatism and systematics has just the aim of the justification of theologoumena , that of theological beliefs. The history of dogmas is a historical sub-discipline of theology and historically and scientifically examines these justifications as well as the emergence and change of the theological systematics. There are typical questions that keep challenging: Do we even need dogmas, can't we think undogmatically for ourselves? What about the identity of the Christian faith when dogmas change?

Whether important judgments of theological science that are important in the history of dogma can claim priority over statements by the church teaching office is a matter of interdenominational controversy. On the Catholic side, the claim that theology had to integrate the respective state of knowledge of the sciences into church life was condemned as modernism in 1907 and only partially conceded in the most recent council ( Vatican II ). From an officially Catholic point of view, the history of dogma is only an aid to explaining the tradition, which essentially remains binding, cf. Infallibility .

The Protestantism approves only the Bible as the Scriptures a higher-level, normative function against religious traditions. Therefore the problem for theologians there focuses on who is responsible for the interpretation or Hermeneutics of sola scriptura can be responsible.

Following on from the textbook by John Henry Newman , Catholic dogmatics today understands the development of Christian doctrine as the development (but not: evolution) of church identity in time, however not under the guidance of an "autonomous" theology, but under the guidance of the church office, who is active in the college of bishops with and under the Pope .

The canon of the Bible

The most important theological basis is the Bible as Holy Scripture . The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament , which roughly corresponds to the Tanakh and was written in Hebrew (and in small parts in Aramaic), and the New Testament , which was written in Greek.

The definition of which books belong to the Bible raises questions that have been answered differently in the history of dogma depending on the epoch: Can one omit books from adding new ones? Why does the Bible have such authority? How do and how do Christians feel about the Bible? When was the canon created and why? How can one understand the Bible? How should it be read and interpreted correctly ?

Creeds

The oldest form of summarizing the basic Christian statements were the creeds that developed from the baptismal symbol . The central themes of the history of dogma listed below are already included in these confessions.

Trinity doctrine

Baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit caused the young church to reflect more and more on the nature of God in three persons .

Christology

The central dogma of the Trinity made it necessary for the theology of the ancient Church to understand more closely the person of Jesus Christ in his essential unity with the Heavenly Father.

The doctrine of sin and grace

The mystery of the redemption of the human race through Jesus Christ also shed new light on the riddle of evil and the imperfection of creatures.

Word and Sacrament

Jesus Christ as the eternal Word of the Father is present in his Church as a sign and instrument of the unity of men with God and with one another. This sacramental presence of eternal life in baptism and the Eucharist distinguishes Christian dogma from all other religious beliefs.

Doctrine of justification

The doctrine of justification is a central area of Martin Luther's theology , which deals with the question of how far we are righteous before God.

Luther already discussed by Paul discussed justice alone faith , faith alone ( Romans 1.17  EU ) that the main driver of the Reformation was. Luther's view of justification was condemned by the Council of Trent .

Much of the dispute between the Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations that emerged after the Reformation is only to be understood in terms of time. The big rift on the central issue of justification has since been defused by an ecumenical consensus paper that was signed by official representatives of the denominations on October 31, 1999 in Augsburg .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joint declaration on the doctrine of justification of the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church