DOGMA/DOCTRINE

DOGMA/DOCTRINE  ዶግማ

DOGMA

Dogma

ˈdɒɡmə/

noun

     a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.

"the dogmas of faith"

Doctrine

ˈdɒktrɪn/

noun

     a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church, political party, or other group.

a stated principle of government policy, mainly in foreign or military affairs.

INTRODUCTION

•The Greek word (Dogma) literally means ‘opinion.’ This word has another meaning, ‘that which seems good.’ It was later used by the classical Greek authors as technical term either to the philosophical writings or to the decrees of public authorities. In the second sense it is used in the Septuagint (LXX) and in the New Testament, (Ex. Dan.2:13; Acts.16:4; Eph.2:15 etc.), whereas the patristic use developed from the first meaning.  

•Dogmatic Theology can be defined as the organized and systematic presentation of the dogmas of the Christian Church.

In this context, we will use dogma and doctrine interchangeably.

     •Before examining particular doctrines, here in the introductory part, is an important preliminary question which the readers must face.

     •This concerns, historically, the attitude of the Church in the period under review to Christian doctrine itself in particular to its sources and authority.

     •Christianity came into the world as a religion of revelation, and as such claimed a supernatural origin for its message. Its ultimate source, as the theologians of the early centuries clearly perceived, relay on the Person, words and works of Jesus Christ in the context of the revelation of which He was the climax.

   •On close inspection, however, the problem is seen to be more complex. Which is meant by Christian doctrine here is the teaching of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. The root is from the end of the first century onward.

 •As a source of dogma, the ultimate source of ‘Dogma’ is the self-revelation of God Himself. By the incarnation, God revealed Himself completely to the creation. (Heb.1:1). But our understanding is incomplete.

 •Knowing God is an ongoing process for man. According to the Orthodox Churches the dogma is preserved in the Tradition, which includes the Holy Bible.

•The Holy Bible is the nucleus and measuring rod of the tradition, because it contains the living word of God. And it was formed out of the primary experience and understanding the Apostolic community.

•The Church, which is the living body of Christ interprets and explains the mystery of God in accordance with the guidance given by the Holy Spirit. ‘Tradition’ includes oral traditions, liturgical texts, patristic writings, canons, creeds, and practices in the Church.

•Tradition of the Church contains many things which are not in the Bible. The Bible itself testifies that it is not complete. (Jn.20:30; 21:25).

•The Tradition of Church always stands in accordance with the Holy Bible and never contains anything against the doctrine of the Bible. The Church cannot accept a tradition or practice which contradicts the teachings in the Holy Bible.

REVELATION

•Revelation is the basis and content of Christian faith. Apart from God’s self-revelation there would be no knowledge of God and no Christian faith. In other words we can say, what God has revealed about himself constitute the content of our knowledge and faith.

•    •The 'revelation' refers to both the act of revealing and the content of what is revealed. According to St. Ephraim, one of the prominent Syrian Church Fathers of fourth century, the nature (universe) and Scripture are two great fountains of revelation. He explains incarnation of God as the key to open those fountains. 

•Creation is the outcome of the spoken word of God and Scripture is the word of God recorded in human Languages. Incarnation is the ultimate self-revelation of God into the history. Incarnation is the perfection of all revelations. It can be called the crown of revelation.

Revelation as a Personal Communication

•We can say that revelation is a communication between God, the absolute infinite Person and human beings limited and finite persons. In the process of revelation the infinite person God came down and used finite things, language and methods of communication to make the revelation real and fruitful.

  •The revelation becomes fruitful and meaningful when it communicates the idea of God to the limited capacity of humanity. As one human person can be known through his words and deeds, God also reveals His self through the words and deeds while being both transcendent and immanent.  

Perfection of Revelation through Jesus Christ

•The self-revelation of God through the incarnation is the absolute disclosure of God. The revelation is complete in the incarnation, but the understanding of man is yet on the way to reach its perfection (Heb.1:1). The idea of definitive and full revelation in Christ is very often misunderstood as if we already know the whole truth and everything about God's plan of salvation.

     •We do not know yet in any comprehensive way the mystery of Christ. It has to be gradually unfolded by the Holy Spirit who alone will lead the Church into the fullness of truth. (Jn 14:25-26). The revelation is culminated in the incarnation does not mean that God is never more present and acting in history. God through the risen Christ and His spirit is all the more dynamically present in the created world and in human history leading the whole creation to its final fulfillment.

Understanding and Interpretation of Revelation

The revealed truth can be understood through the experience and interpretation. In order to understand and comprehend the divine truth of revelation, human beings have to depend on their experience. The revelation and relational experience are to be interpreted in an understandable manner to humanity. Through the revelation experience and interpretation a version of revelation or revealed truth which is understandable to humanity originates. That should be totally loyal to and in line with the absolute truth. In that process is the need of human reason and interpretation.

    •Reason is man’s quest for truth, but revelation is God’s revealing Himself. In logic reason is all important, but in theology reason is used to understand the divine revelation.

  •Reason enables man to distinguish between right and wrong. Revelations do not minimize the importance of reason or reject it. On the contrary they sharpen reason.

   

     •Interpretation is primarily the understanding of the revelation using reason. The interpretations have to be made in the light of the teachings and guidelines of the Church. The interpretation must be for the building up of the Church.

   •The Bible and the Tradition of the Church contains different interpretations of the ultimate Truth. We have to be loyal to the Church’s understanding in interpreting revelation, because the Church of God is the custodian of Bible and Tradition, which are the major sources of Revelation. Church is entrusted by our Lord to continue his ministry until His second coming.

Revelation through the Conscience of Man

•The revelation of God is present everywhere in the world in different ways even without the persons serving as the instruments for it. It is expressed through Philosophy, Science and all the creative activities of human beings.

•Human beings have a tendency towards creativity and beauty. That itself is a proof for the pressure of God or His power on them. The universality of the conscience and its turn towards goodness also points to the natural revelation outside the religions.

•St. Paul speaks about it in Rom. 2:14-15, “For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them”.  

•In his fourth way to prove the existence of God St. Thomas Aquinas speaks about the inclination of conscience towards goodness. He explains: we can see in the world degrees of perfection and goodness. We know these degrees because we can compare them with the maximum in any genus (genus = group of things).

As human beings have the capacity for both good and bad deeds they cannot be the source of all goodness. Therefore, the maximum in the genus of morality and goodness must be God (the most perfect being), who is the 'first cause', or source, of all goodness and perfection. We could notice the traits of Platonic and philosophy in it. Plato taught about the perfect existence of everything and Aristotle has observed that we can find a moral God behind a moral religion. 

•This idea was taken and developed by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), which is presently known as ‘Moral Argument’. Kant first denied the existence of God, but later repented and wrote: “The powerful moral judgment of the conscience points to the existence of God.” Conscience and moral rules can only be thought of as given by God. Our conscience proves that there is God.

•We can consider this argument as a partial truth, but not capable enough to prove the divine existence. We cannot make any comment depending on human conscience. Nobody has the pure conscience except Jesus. Conscience of each person is conditioned by different factors in his / her life. 

ወስብሐት ለእግዚአብሔር!

Glory be to God!