Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The idea of the development of doctrine or, in Catholic parlance, the development of dogma, has appeared relatively recently in the history of Christian thought. Only in the past 200 years have theologians conceived the development of doctrine as an idea that corresponds to a historical reality and that is theologically important. Ideas, of course, are constructions of human experience that surface in particular times and places for reasons that are more or less explainable. New ideas may cause the invention of things that previously did not exist, like constitutional democracies or automobiles. Or their appearance may be explained as the conceptual discovery of phenomena that previously existed but which had eluded recognition, like the heliocentric solar system. Whether explained from inside or outside the circle of faith, the idea of the development of doctrine is an example of the second kind of idea. It was understood as the discovery of previously existing, though unrecognized, phenomena. From outside the circle of faith, these phenomena are regarded only as the ebb and flow of religious beliefs in history, which, like all things historical, are simply subject to change. From within the circle of faith, these phenomena are regarded as the believing community's revisable account of its own sacred tradition, itself a record of the Holy Spirit's presence to time and culture. ... log in or subscribe to read full text