Doctrinal Proclamation versus Doctrinal Invention
A commonly leveled charge against the Catholic Church is that she “just makes stuff up”. An often circulated list is a series of dates, together with the doctrines that the Catholic Church “invented” on that date. How, the critics say, are we to understand that the Catholic Church is eternal and unchanging when she changes her teaching?
The truth of the matter, of course, is that the Church has never changed a teaching or a doctrine. Doctrines may develop over time, but this is not the same as the changing of a doctrine or the invention of a new one. But, if this is the case, what is this list of dates and doctrines? Aren't these the dates that these doctrines were invented?
No, they are not. Most of the lists get the dates and doctrines are accurate (there are some lists which have the wrong date for a particular doctrine) but the dates refer to the date the doctrine was solemnly defined or proclaimed – not the date the doctrine was invented. Doctrines are never invented – they are proclaimed.
The dates given are usually the date of a particular Church Council which defined that doctrine (so, for example, the date 1854 is given for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary). Non-Catholics seem to think that this means that the Catholic Church suddenly invented this teaching at that point, and forced people to believe it. But this is not the case.
In all cases, the doctrines are ones that have been believed by the majority of the faithful since the time of the Apostles, and have been treated as part of the teaching of the faith. One finds many, many examples of the teaching of the Immaculate Conception (although not under that name) in the writings of the Church Fathers and other Christians. This was not a radical new doctrine which no-one had ever heard of, nor are any other doctrinal proclamations. It was simply a formal declaration of the ancient belief.
The Protestant tactic of listing the dates of Councils and saying that those dates were when the doctrines were “invented” (that is, they did not exist before then and were wholly new and radical ideas withing Christianity, without any precedent) can and should backfire on them. For example, no Christian would ever say that the teaching about Christ’s Divinity was suddenly invented in 325 AD at the Council of Nicea.
Catholics properly understand this to be a solemn declaration of Christ’s Divinity that had always been believed all the way back to the Apostles.
Now, are the Protestants seriously going to hold onto the notion that a doctrine did not exist before it was solemnly defined? That no-one believed it before it was proclaimed? Of course not – because it is obvious (from both Biblical and extra-Biblical evidence) that the early Christians believed that Jesus was (and still is, and always was, and always will be) God.
Doctrinal proclamation is not doctrinal invention – it is simply the confirming of something which the Church has always taught, but in a formal language which leaves no room for doubt or confusion.
Why does doctrinal proclamation occur? There are three main reasons.
The first is that, as theological understanding grows and more precise details of the nature of God are revealed to humanity, spiritual matters can be better described. This is the process of doctrinal development, which leads to the formal declaration of doctrines which clearly define what the theological term is. A good example of this would be the eventual declaration of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The fact that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus Christ was well-known and clearly understood from the earliest times, but the precise nature of how this happened was a matter of debate until the doctrine was formally defined.
The second reason for formally proclaiming a doctrine is that the doctrine has been formally challenged. When an established truth of the faith is challenged by a heresy, the Church chooses to clearly define this truth in order to establish it as a fact of the Catholic faith. A good example of this would be the declaration that Jesus is God – this doctrine was defined in the face of the Arian heresy (which denied the divinity of Jesus) and managed to clearly separate the Christians from the Arians. Truths which are not challenged, or which are not essential to the faith, are not defined as doctrines. So, for example, no group of heretics has ever suggested that Jesus had only one arm – but it is assumed that He had two (based on common sense and the references to “hands” in the New Testament). The Church has never defined this as a doctrine, despite the fact she holds it as a truth. Similarly, the question of whether or not Mary died before being assumed into Heaven has never been defined as a doctrine – firstly because the Church does not know and secondly because it is not something which is essential to the faith.
The third reason for the formal declaration of a doctrine is because the proclamation of the doctrine will encourage devotion among the faithful. An example of this would be the proclamation of the Assumption in 1950, which encouraged greater Marian devotion among the faithful.
When explaining doctrinal proclamation to a non-Catholic, the important points to focus on are;
- The proclamation of a doctrine does not mean that it is invented then
- Doctrines which are proclaimed have been believed by the faithful since the earliest days of the Church
- Doctrines are formally defined because of doctrinal development, in the face of opposition, or to encourage devotion
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