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Toten
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What is the “Devlopment of Dogmas”. Is it drawing beliefs out of existing beleifs (There is Dogma A and Dogma B and from that we can draw Dogma C)? Or something else?
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rr1213
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Various changes in dogma or doctrine, sometimes in nuance at other times in substance, without recognizing or acknowledging the resultant changes as being anything more than mere explanation. See also "Development of the Common Law:.What is the “Devlopment of Dogmas”.
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kaycee
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Vincent of Lerins, in the fifth century promulgated a concept of development. In his teaching, Vincent delineates the following parameters for true development of doctrine:
"But some one will say. perhaps, Shall there, then, be no progress in Christ’s Church? Certainly; all possible progress. For what being is there, so envious of men, so full of hatred to God, who would seek to forbid it? **Yet on condition that it be real progress, not alteration of the faith. **For progress requires that the subject be enlarged in itself, alteration, that it be transformed into something else. The intelligence, then, the knowledge, the wisdom, as well of individuals as of all, as well of one man as of the whole Church, ought, in the course of ages and centuries, to increase and make much and vigorous progress; but yet only in its own kind; that is to say, in the same doctrine, in the same sense, and in the same meaning".
"But some one will say. perhaps, Shall there, then, be no progress in Christ’s Church? Certainly; all possible progress. For what being is there, so envious of men, so full of hatred to God, who would seek to forbid it? **Yet on condition that it be real progress, not alteration of the faith. **For progress requires that the subject be enlarged in itself, alteration, that it be transformed into something else. The intelligence, then, the knowledge, the wisdom, as well of individuals as of all, as well of one man as of the whole Church, ought, in the course of ages and centuries, to increase and make much and vigorous progress; but yet only in its own kind; that is to say, in the same doctrine, in the same sense, and in the same meaning".
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Subrosa
Guest
There is no official “Developement of Doctrine or Dogma” in the Catholic Church. More accurately, what happens is a retrospective investigation of church history that becomes evident over time and is then declared.What is the “Devlopment of Dogmas”. Is it drawing beliefs out of existing beleifs (There is Dogma A and Dogma B and from that we can draw Dogma C)? Or something else?
Let’s look at examples: the Primacy of the Pope and the Assumption of Mary.
Papal Infallibility was unknown to the Apostles. It has been the position of the church from very early in it’s history that Peter was given by Jesus a leadership position among the Apostles. What exactly this means is unclear, but different Traditions occured over time.
In the East the church now known as the Orthodox Church held that each church had it’s own bishop that kept a leadership position in each particular church. So, for example, the church in Greece had it’s bishop, the church in Syria had it’s bishop, the church in Egypt had it’s bishop and so on. These bishops were understood to be equals - peers. But within this understanding there lied another concept - primacy. There are to this day certain bishops that hold a higher position within the eastern churches. This is a position of honor, not of authority. These bishops are seated at the head of churches in cities where the church was established by Apostles (some churches were established by followers of Apostles). There are five of these cities known as Sees. The Bishop of Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, is the chief bishop of the eastern churches. This See was established by the Apostle Andrew. Today this bishop is Patriarch Bartholemew the First. His “job” is to make sure that the ancient teachings of the Apostles are maintained and that no changes occur.
The east has four of theses Sees. In the west the one and only bishop is the Bishop of Rome. It became the understanding of this particular See, established by the Apostles Peter and Paul, that it had inherited a leadership position overseeing the whole church, the position Traditionally understood to be that of Peter. This understanding, or Tradition, started having a very negative effect on the relationships between east and west. A fracture began to occur between east and west and by the end of the first millenium it had opened wide. In the year 1054 the issue had become such a problem that at a meeting between the bishops both the Bishop of Constantinople and Bishop of Roem excommunicated each other.
This fissure exists to this day although inroads have been made to repair this seperation. See this link - www.patriarchate.org
The primary issue seperating the east and west is the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome. Even from the Orthodox perspective the Bishop of Rome has primacy, but they cannot accept the authority that became the Tradition in the west. In the interim the Bishop of Rome - the Pope - solidified this position. Many people disagree with this understanding of the Bishop of Rome, but many more agree. Today the Roman Catholic Church is the largest religion on earth totalling more than 1.1 billion people. Whether or not one agrees with the Catholic perspective, the Pope is the de facto leader of Christianity.
The Dogma of the Assumption of Mary is something agreed to by all of the ancient Apostolic Churches. New age and reformation protestantism deny this dogma.
This dogma did not become dogma until 1950, declared infallibly by the Pope. This belief did not become a part of the religion until sometime after the fourth century. One may ask why did it take so long. The answer is not simple or totally forthcoming. One version is this - the bishops of Jerusalem held an oral Tradition of this belief to themselves for over 400 years. During one council of bishops, some visiting bishops wished to visit the tomb of Mary in order to venerate her. The Jerusalem bishops then told these visitors that she was unavailable. (The early christians had kept all of the bones and some of the possessions of the apostles and other biblical figures - called relics) Everyone knew where she was buried, but the bones were missing. The Tradition held orally by the Jerusalem bishops was that upon her death all the Apostles were there to entomb her. The one apostle missing was Thomas who was in India. When he did show up he wanted to enter the tomb and venerate her, but when they opened the tomb she was gone. The oral Tradition statrted by the apostles is that she was raised, body and souls, into heaven - a very biblical act even though this event is not recorded in the bible.
The Tradition expanded as doctrine over centuries throughout the whole church. It was raised to dogma by the Pope in 1950. A dogma is a belief held by the whole church.
Subrosa
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