Academic literature on the topic 'Theology, Doctrinal ; Dogma'

AbstractThis paper argues that Western theology has lost a certain intellectual unity by becoming divided between dogmatic theology (or doctrine) and moral theology (or ethics). The history of theological reflection on Mary illustrates this, because it has become confined to dogmatic theology and has hardly ever been discussed in the context of morals. However, mariology can help us to understand the doctrinal foundations that must support any adequate moral theology. By helping us to see how morals depend on dogma, mariology can help us to recover the unity of theology.

Moltmann derives much of the power of his theology from his willingness to endure the tensions of paradox, a willingness signalled early in his career with the title of his work, The Crucified God. Such paradoxes, however, leave unanswered questions and the need for further explorations. It is the argument of this article that an aspect of Moltmann's theology in particular need of exploration is the area of the status of Christian doctrine and its appropriate development. There is a major tension, we will suggest, between the disavowal of‘doctrine’, ‘dogma’, ‘tradition’ and ‘system’ as helpful concepts, and the strongly doctrinal and systematic content of Moltmann's theology. This tension, we believe, has something to do with the ambivalence in Moltmann's attitude to the intellectual legacy of the Enlightenment, to ‘modernity’. We shall try to show that Moltmann operates with a mixture of internal criteria (based on key doctrines) and external criteria (based on perceived human needs) for assessing authenticity in doctrine. Finally, within the dynamic of Moltmann's theology, with what we shall identify as its emphasis on historicality, there are resources for advancing an account of the theological significance of the development of doctrine. We explore these and ask why Moltmann himself has not put them to greater use.

As a “doctrinal synthesis of the Christian faith” (St. John Paul II), the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God could serve as a focal point that brings together various theological concepts and approaches pertaining to salvation history. For that to happen, however, it is necessary to delve into and discover the richness of Mariology. Often regarded as a secondary discipline, as a context for other disciplines or even as a source of difficulties in ecumenical dialogue, Mariology nowadays needs a revival of its own. The call for constructing an “objective Mariology” presumes that the autonomy of theology as an academic discipline will be preserved and that theological reflection on the Virgin Mary will be objectivized in terms of both form and content. To meet these demands, one must strive to respect the supernatural purpose and sources of theology as such, and strengthen and develop biblical Mariology as well as the reflection of the Church Fathers. Furthermore, there is a need to draw from the rich legacy of the Franciscan school when reflecting on the unity of God’s plan of creation and Redemption in His eternal reasons. Finally, one must not accept a departure from the “hermeneutic of continuity” in the Catholic doctrine on the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Immaculate and Assumed. The article sets out to describe the essence of the above assumptions and proposes specific conditions that would foster the development of an “objective Mariology”. In that respect, it is important to establish the First Person of the Holy Trinity as the starting point for any reflection on the plan of salvation—of which the Immaculate Conception is the ultimate origin and ultimate goal.

Ecclesiology discusses the identity, essence of existence, and function of the Church concerning the identity and mission of the Church in the world. It explored aspects of the experience of the Christian community as a framework for interpreting the experience of faith. Conflicts on interpretations and applications of the Scripture’s messages about justification by faith in the sixteenth century were the cause of the doctrinal divisions and conflicts between the Lutheran Confession and the Roman Catholic Church’s Council of Trent. This study exploited a qualitative research method by exploring literature. By improving recent studies of Scripture and referring to the history of theology and dogma, the ecumenical dialogue after the Second Vatican Council resulted in renewed opinion towards ecumenical unity. Ecumenism means a religious initiative towards the oneness of the Church. It increased cooperation and better understanding between groups within Christianity or church denominations. The study results showed that the Roman Catholic Church had various views on the existence of churches. The context of the times, the dominant thoughts of the time, and the meaning of the Christian faith were the main contributors that gave birth to this diversity.

With the publication of his Den Byencorf der H. Roomische Kercke (The Beehive of the Holy Roman Church) in 1569, the Netherlandic Calvinist Marnix of Saint Aldegonde launched a satirical attack onthe clergy, polity, and sacramental practice of Catholicism. Though the fame of the book and its author have been eclipsed, they were both well known during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesas shown by the frequency of publication. Marnix's task, in common with other sixteenth-century religious propagandists, was to communicate a theological message to a popular audience. The success of this effort depended on reaching across the separation between systematic theology and folk religiosity. The object was not original theology, nor even doctrinal subtleties, but the creativeuse of common terms to explain divergent schemes of basic dogma. Because the subject was more religious than theological, the separation between Latin and the vernacular cultures could be bridged by the use of metaphors common to both high and popular culture. In this, Marnix's work is distinguished by his use of the metaphors of beehive, honey, and manna to explain the differences between the Catholic Eucharist and the Calvinist Lord's Supper. The use of manna is not surprising as one would expect it to be a common image; however, the metaphors of hive and honey are less expected. While the former is clearly biblical in origin, the apiary metaphors are not. Thus, Marnix relies on the common sociocultural context of the beehive to instruct a popular Dutch audience in a fundamental difference between Calvinism and Catholicism. By identifying the Catholic host with polluted honey, Marnix defends the necessary presence of the Word for the Calvinist Lord's Supper, which he portrays as pure manna. Rather than feeding on the body of Christ, Marnix argues, the true Church feeds on the Word of God, which is present in the Calvinist wafer.

В статье рассматривается деяние Второго Ватиканского собора на предмет обсуждения и принятия марилогических вопросов. До открытия собора часть епископата призывала совсем не затрагивать мариологических вопросов, другие ожидали нового мариологического догмата, а третьи призывали вынести соборное определение о посреднической роли Матери Божией в деле спасения. В исследовании представлены противоположные точки зрения на принятие определений о Матери Божией (в качестве отдельного независимого документа или же в составе учения о Церкви). После полемики и нескольких голосований в конечном итоге 21 ноября 1964 года было торжественно провозглашено «Догматическое постановление о Церкви» (“Lumen Gentium” (лат.) - «Свет народам»), в восьмой главе которого излагается соборное учение о Марии. В этой главе собор подтвердил принятые ранее мариологические догматы (о непорочном зачатии и телесном вознесении Девы Марии), а также признал Матерь Иисуса Христа образом и началом Церкви. В настоящее время соборное постановление «Свет народам» стало полноправным документом Католической Церкви. Оно является официальным выражением католической веры в лице её епископов, богословов и простых верующих. Можно сказать, что Второй Ватиканский собор привёл к сдвигу в мариологических исследованиях от своей изначально обособленной в богословии позиции к более плотной связанности со Христом и Церковью. This article examines the work of the Second Vatican Council with regard to the discussion and reception of mariological questions. Prior to the opening of the Council, some of the episcopate called for no Mariological issues at all, others expected a new Mariological dogma, and still others called for a conciliar definition concerning the intermediary role of the Mother of God in salvation. The study presents proponents of opposing views on the adoption of definitions on the Mother of God (as a separate independent document or as part of the doctrine of the Church). After controversy and several votes, the doctrinal statement on the Church was finally solemnly proclaimed on November 21, 1964 (Lumen Gentium, Latin for Light to the Nations), chapter eight of which sets out the council's teaching on Mary. In this chapter, the Council reaffirmed the earlier Mariological dogmas (about the Immaculate Conception and the bodily ascension of the Virgin Mary) and recognized the Mother of Jesus Christ as the image and origin of the Church. Nowadays, the council resolution "Light to the Nations" has become a full-fledged document of the Catholic Church. It is the official expression of the Catholic faith represented by its bishops, theologians and ordinary faithful. The Second Vatican Council can be said to have led to a shift in Mariological studies from its originally separate position in theology to a tighter connection with Christ and the Church.

This paper theologically articulates the Immaculata-doctrine of the Church and its dogmatic implications through Mariology and Ecclesiology. Moreover, the paper is following the soteriological relevance of the Christian dogmas, according to which they speak of revealed truth about affirmation of the human being. Accordingly, through theology we are able to get an insight to content significant for the Christian anthropology, which then also point back to theology as its authentic ground. It is primarily about the theological content of the dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, according to which Mary, mother of Jesus, is holy and immaculate (sancta et immaculata). Although the Immaculate-doctrine firstly concerns Mary, it was theologically accepted from a very early stage as a doctrine of the Church that had an emphasis in anthropological implications. This paper brings to question these anthropological implications as well, especially the contemporary relativization of sin and human sinfulness, where Immaculata-doctrine is seen, not in contrast to human nature, but as the one that deeply belongs to it. In that context, the old doctrine and its content can now be seen as precious and has a valuable meaning even in modern times, especially if accepted as the key of the new awoken evangelization.

In this paper I show how an identification dogma influences the image of society. The identification dogma is a doctrine that is not intended to clarify a theological issue but to influence political views on society by influencing the religious sentiment of believers. I call this process dogmatical identification. Here, in connection with the Filioque doctrine, I examine how this process is realized in contemporary Romanian theology and public discourse.

The Incarnation of the Word of God between Niceism and Arianism in the IVth century. The incarnation of the Word is the main theme debated by St. Athanasius throughout his theological and dogmatic works. First, incarnation theology has an anti-pagan connotation, as pagans derided Christians’ faith in the incarnation of the divine Logos, and, on the other hand, the Alexandrian bishop developed the theme of the incarnation against the Arians who denied the divinity of the Son and promoted a “creationist” doctrine of Christ. Between niceism and arianism, the theology of the incarnation knew several forms of theological expression, starting from the Arians, followers of Arius, to the neo-Arians, reinvented by Aetius and Eunomius, passing through the theology of the Homeans, who claimed the resemblance of the Son to the Father, to it culminated in the Homoiousians, those who came closest to the dogma of the Nicene Creed and who would finally embrace Niceism. The Cappadocians use in their theology of the incarnation the intuitions and arguments of Athanasius to overcome any other doctrine that would oppose or contradict the Niceno homoousian dogma, the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, namely, the Son is God like Father. Keywords: incarnation, Trinity, dogma, homeism, homoousianism, Arianism, niceism, Athanasius, council, ousia, theology, heresy, orthodoxy, Logos, Son, Father.

The paper explores Pascal’s idea according to which the teachings of the Church assume the hiddenness of God, and, hence, there is nothing surprising in the fact of the occurrence of nonresistant nonbelief. In order to show it the paper invokes the doctrines of the Incarnation, the Church as the Body of Christ, and the Original Sin. The first one indicates that there could be greater than nonbelief obstacle in forming interpersonal bonds with God, namely the ontological chasm between him and human persons. The assumption of the human nature by the Son of God could be seen as a cure for this problem. The doctrine of the Church shows it as an end in itself, and in order for the Church to have meaning and to exist there has to be nonbelief in the world. Finally, the dogma of the Original Sin shows that there is no category of purely nonresistant nonbelief. The paper also addresses Schellenberg’s “accommodationist strategy” from the perspective of the Christian theology and in the last part it investigates what should be the influence of the fact of the hiddenness on theology’s take on the divine revelation.