Can theologians create teachings?

[ajpirc]

I heard something on the radio about a theologian from sometime in the early Church that created a theory that the Father was the ruler in the first covenant, the Son is the ruler in this covenant, and there will be a third covenant that the Holy Spirit will rule over. He asked the Church to accept this teaching but the Church declined it.

Can theologians create theories and have the Church accept them as teaching or does the Church only create doctrine from what has been revealed through Scripture and Tradition?

 

[Barbkw]

From the Catechism:

186 From the beginning, the apostolic Church expressed and handed on her faith in brief formula normative for all.1

But already very early on, the Church also wanted to gather the essential elements of her faith into organic and articulated summaries, intended especially for candidates for Baptism:

This synthesis of faith was not made to accord with human opinions, but rather what was of the greatest importance was gathered from all the Scriptures, to present the one teaching of the faith in its entirety.

And just as the mustard seed contains a great number of branches in a tiny grain, so too this summary of faith encompassed in a few words the whole knowledge of the true religion contained in the Old and the New Testaments.2

See Also:

scborromeo.org/mobileccc/index/a.htm

Doctrine

Christian doctrine
brief formulae of, 186
goals of, 25, 78, 98
Gospel, unparalleled doctrine, 127
initiative of lay Christians, necessary for permeating social realities with the demands of, 899
Jesus’ teaching as the Father’s teaching, 427
Sermon on the Mount as teaching for life, 2764
summary of Christian teaching, 9-10
teaching, 5, 11, 427, 2179
texts for sacred song in conformity with Catholic teaching, 1158
truth of Christian doctrine in the witness of martyrdom, 2473
See also Catechesis

social doctrine of the Church, 2419-25
course of history explained in light of the Gospel (as found) in, 2421-22
development of, 2412-22
guidelines for action offered in, 2423-25
temporal aspects in, 2420

Dogma

definition of dogma by the Church’s authority, 88
of the faith, 88-90
of the Immaculate Conception, 491
formation of dogma of the Holy Trinity, 249-52
of the Holy Trinity, 253-56
Domestic church. See Family; Marriage (Matrimony)

Tradition, 81

apostolic, 75-79
deposit of faith contained in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, 84, 97
of faith and prayer, 2651 (see also Prayer)
liturgy as a constitutive element of, 1124
one and the same content of, 174
oral tradition in the formation of the Gospels, 126
and Sacred Scripture, 80-83, 95, 97, 113, 120

 

[Barbkw]

Taken to its most extreme extent, you might read about heresy in the Early Church and how that was determined and handled:

Heresy

definition of, 2089
first, 465
origin of, 817

newadvent.org/cathen/07256b.htm

 

[laszlo]

I heard something on the radio about a theologian from sometime in the early Church that created a theory that the Father was the ruler in the first covenant, the Son is the ruler in this covenant, and there will be a third covenant that the Holy Spirit will rule over. He asked the Church to accept this teaching but the Church declined it.

Can theologians create theories and have the Church accept them as teaching or does the Church only create doctrine from what has been revealed through Scripture and Tradition?

The Covenant of the Holy Spirit is condemned gnostic heresy.

As for teaching there are only a few dogmatic teachings (Creed, Sacraments, Mariology) there are many theological opinions. This later are created by theologians, and can be followed unless the Church explicitly condemns them.