36 chapters
14 hour read
Selected Chapters
36 chapters
VORWORT ZUR ENGLISCHEN AUSGABE.
VORWORT ZUR ENGLISCHEN AUSGABE.
Ein theologisches Buch erhält erst dadurch einen Platz in der Weltlitteratur, dass es Deutsch und Englisch gelesen werden kann. Diese beiden Sprachen zusammen haben auf dem Gebiete der Wissenschaft vom Christenthum das Lateinische abgelöst. Es ist mir daher eine grosse Freude, dass mein Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte in das Englische übersetzt worden ist, und ich sage dem Uebersetzer sowie den Verlegern meinen besten Dank. Der schwierigste Theil der Dogmengeschichte ist ihr Anfang, nicht nur weil
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
No theological book can obtain a place in the literature of the world unless it can be read both in German and in English. These two languages combined have taken the place of Latin in the sphere of Christian Science. I am therefore greatly pleased to learn that my "History of Dogma" has been translated into English, and I offer my warmest thanks both to the translator and to the publishers. The most difficult part of the history of dogma is the beginning, not only because it contains the germs
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
FROM THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
FROM THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The task of describing the genesis of ecclesiastical dogma which I have attempted to perform in the following pages, has hitherto been proposed by very few scholars, and, properly speaking, undertaken by one only. I must therefore crave the indulgence of those acquainted with the subject for an attempt which no future historian of dogma can avoid. At first I meant to confine myself to narrower limits, but I was unable to carry out that intention, because the new arrangement of the material requi
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
In the two years that have passed since the appearance of the first edition I have steadily kept in view the improvement of this work, and have endeavoured to learn from the reviews of it that have appeared. I owe most to the study of Weizsäcker's work, on the Apostolic Age, and his notice of the first edition of this volume in the Göttinger gelehrte Anzeigen, 1886, No. 21. The latter, in several decisive passages concerning the general conception, drew my attention to the fact that I had emphas
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
In the six years that have passed since the appearance of the second edition I have continued to work at the book, and have made use of the new sources and investigations that have appeared during this period, as well as corrected and extended my account in many passages. Yet I have not found it necessary to make many changes in the second half of the work. The increase of about sixty pages is almost entirely in the first half. Berlin , 31st December, 1893 INTRODUCTORY DIVISION. CHAPTER I.—PROLE
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
1. The History of Dogma is a discipline of general Church History, which has for its object the dogmas of the Church. These dogmas are the doctrines of the Christian faith logically formulated and expressed for scientific and apologetic purposes, the contents of which are a knowledge of God, of the world, and of the provisions made by God for man's salvation. The Christian Churches teach them as the truths revealed in Holy Scripture, the acknowledgment of which is the condition of the salvation
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
The Gospel presents itself as an Apocalyptic message on the soil of the Old Testament, and as the fulfilment of the law and the prophets, and yet is a new thing, the creation of a universal religion on the basis of that of the Old Testament. It appeared when the time was fulfilled, that is, it is not without a connection with the stage of religious and spiritual development which was brought about by the intercourse of Jews and Greeks, and was established in the Roman Empire; but still it is a n
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
BOOK I.
BOOK I.
Εαν μυριους παιδαγωγους εχητε εν χριστω αλλ' ου πολλους πατερας. 1 Cor IV. 15. Eine jede Idee tritt als ein fremder Gast in die Erscheinung, und wie sie sich zu realisiren beginnt, ist sie kaum von Phantasie und Phantasterei zu unterscheiden. GOETHE, Sprüche in Prosa, 566...
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
The first century of the existence of Gentile Christian communities is particularly characterised by the following features: I. The rapid disappearance of Jewish Christianity. 140 II. The enthusiastic character of the religious temper; the Charismatic teachers and the appeal to the Spirit. 141 III. The strength of the hopes for the future, Chiliasm. 142 IV. The rigorous endeavour to fulfil the moral precepts of Christ, and truly represent the holy and heavenly community of God in abstinence from
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
On account of the great differences among those who, in the first century, reckoned themselves in the Church of God, and called themselves by the name of Christ, 152 it seems at first sight scarcely possible to set up marks which would hold good for all, or even for nearly all, the groups. Yet the great majority had one thing in common, as is proved, among other things, by the gradual expulsion of Gnosticism. The conviction that they knew the supreme God, the consciousness of being responsible t
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
The confessors of the Gospels, belonging to organised communities who recognised the Old Testament as the Divine record of revelation, and prized the Evangelic tradition as a public message for all, to which, in its undiluted form, they wished to adhere truly and sincerely, formed the stem of Christendom both as to extent and importance. 163 The communities stood to each other in an outwardly loose, but inwardly firm connection, and every community by the vigour of its faith, the certainty of it
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
The Christian communities were originally unions for a holy life, on the ground of a common hope, which rested on the belief that the God who has spoken by the Prophets has sent his Son Jesus Christ, and through him revealed eternal life, and will shortly make it manifest. Christianity had its roots in certain facts and utterances, and the foundation of the Christian union was the common hope, the holy life in the Spirit according to the law of God, and the holding fast to those facts and uttera
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
Marcion cannot be numbered among the Gnostics in the strict sense of the word. 365 For (1) he was not guided by any speculatively scientific, or even by an apologetic, but by a soteriological interest. 366 (2) He therefore put all emphasis on faith, not on Gnosis. 367 (3) In the exposition of his ideas he neither applied the elements of any Semitic religious wisdom, nor the methods of the Greek philosophy of religion. 368 (4) He never made the distinction between an esoteric and an exoteric form
42 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
1. Original Christianity was in appearance Christian Judaism, the creation of a universal religion on Old Testament soil. It retained therefore, so far as it was not hellenised, which never altogether took place, its original Jewish features. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was regarded as the Father of Jesus Christ, the Old Testament was the authoritative source of revelation, and the hopes of the future were based on the Jewish ones. The heritage which Christianity took over from Judaism,
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX I.
APPENDIX I.
On account of the importance of the question we may be here permitted to amplify a few hints given in Chap. II., § 4, and elsewhere, and to draw a clearer distinction between the Jewish and Hellenic conceptions of pre-existence. According to the theory held by the ancient Jews and by the whole of the Semitic nations, everything of real value, that from time to time appears on earth has its existence in heaven. In other words it exists with God, that is, God possesses a knowledge of it; and for t
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX II.
APPENDIX II.
The reader has perhaps wondered why I have made so little reference to Liturgy in my description of the origin of dogma. For according to the most modern ideas about the history of religion and the origin of theology, the development of both may be traced in the ritual. Without any desire to criticise these notions, I think I am justified in asserting that this is another instance of the exceptional nature of Christianity. For a considerable period it possessed no ritual at all, and the process
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX III.
APPENDIX III.
The historical significance and position of Neoplatonism. The political history of the ancient world ends with the Empire of Diocletian and Constantine, which has not only Roman and Greek, but also Oriental features. The history of ancient philosophy ends with the universal philosophy of Neoplatonism, which assimilated the elements of most of the previous systems, and embodied the result of the history of religion and civilisation in East and West. But as the Roman Byzantine Empire is at one and
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
NEIL BUCHANAN VOL. II.
NEIL BUCHANAN VOL. II.
CHAPTER I.—Historical Survey The Old and New Elements in the formation of the Catholic Church; The fixing of that which is Apostolic (Rule of Faith, Collection of Writings, Organization, Cultus); The Stages in the Genesis of the Catholic Rule of Faith, the Apologists; Irenæus, Tertullian, Hippolytus; Clement and Origen; Obscurities in reference to the origin of the most important Institutions; Difficulties in determining the importance of individual Personalities; Differences of development in t
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
HISTORICAL SURVEY.
HISTORICAL SURVEY.
The second century of the existence of Gentile-Christian communities was characterised by the victorious conflict with Gnosticism and the Marcionite Church, by the gradual development of an ecclesiastical doctrine, and by the decay of the early Christian enthusiasm. The general result was the establishment of a great ecclesiastical association, which, forming at one and the same time a political commonwealth, school and union for worship, was based on the firm foundation of an "apostolic" law of
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE SETTING UP OF THE APOSTOLIC STANDARDS FOR ECCLESIASTICAL CHRISTIANITY. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.20
THE SETTING UP OF THE APOSTOLIC STANDARDS FOR ECCLESIASTICAL CHRISTIANITY. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.20
We may take as preface to this chapter three celebrated passages from Tertullian's "de præscriptione hæreticorum." In chap. 21 we find: "It is plain that all teaching that agrees with those apostolic Churches which are the wombs and origins of the faith must be set down as truth, it being certain that such doctrine contains that which the Church received from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, and Christ from God." In chap. 36 we read: "Let us see what it (the Roman Church) has learned, wha
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
A. The Transformation of the Baptismal Confession into the Apostolic Rule of Faith.
A. The Transformation of the Baptismal Confession into the Apostolic Rule of Faith.
It has been explained (vol. I. p. 157) that the idea of the complete identity of what the Churches possessed as Christian communities with the doctrine or regulations of the twelve Apostles can already be shown in the earliest Gentile-Christian literature. In the widest sense the expression, κανων τησ παραδοσεως (canon of tradition), originally included all that was traced back to Christ himself through the medium of the Apostles and was of value for the faith and life of the Church, together wi
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
B. The designation of selected writings read in the churches as New Testament Scriptures or, in other words, as a collection of apostolic writings.67
B. The designation of selected writings read in the churches as New Testament Scriptures or, in other words, as a collection of apostolic writings.67
Every word and every writing which testified of the κυριος (Lord) was originally regarded as emanating from him, that is, from his spirit: 'Οθεν 'η κυριοτης λαλειται εκει Κυριος εστιν. (Didache IV. 1; see also 1 Cor. XII. 3). Hence the contents were holy. 68 In this sense the New Testament is a "residuary product," just as the idea of its inspiration is a remnant of a much broader view. But on the other hand, the New Testament is a new creation of the Church, 69 inasmuch as it takes its place al
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
C. The transformation of the episcopal office in the Church into an apostolic office. The history of the remodelling of the conception of the Church.130
C. The transformation of the episcopal office in the Church into an apostolic office. The history of the remodelling of the conception of the Church.130
1. It was not sufficient to prove that the rule of faith was of apostolic origin, i.e. , that the Apostles had set up a rule of faith. It had further to be shown that, up to the present, the Church had always maintained it unchanged. This demonstration was all the more necessary because the heretics also claimed an apostolic origin for their regulæ , and in different ways tried to adduce proof that they alone possessed a guarantee of inheriting the Apostles' doctrine in all its purity. 131 An hi
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CONTINUATION. THE OLD CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW CHURCH.
CONTINUATION. THE OLD CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW CHURCH.
1. The legal and political forms by which the Church secured herself against the secular power and heresy, and still more the lower moral standard exacted from her members in consequence of the naturalisation of Christianity in the world, called forth a reaction soon after the middle of the second century. This movement, which first began in Asia Minor and then spread into other regions of Christendom, aimed at preserving or restoring the old feelings and conditions, and preventing Christendom f
32 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ADDENDA.
ADDENDA.
I. THE PRIESTHOOD. The completion of the old Catholic conception of the Church, as this idea was developed in the latter half of the third century, is perhaps most clearly shown in the attribute of priesthood, with which the clergy were invested and which conferred on them the greatest importance. 259 The development of this conception, whose adoption is a proof that the Church had assumed a heathen complexion, cannot be more particularly treated of here. 260 What meaning it has is shown by its
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
EXCURSUS TO CHAPTERS II. AND III. CATHOLIC AND ROMAN.299
EXCURSUS TO CHAPTERS II. AND III. CATHOLIC AND ROMAN.299
In investigating the development of Christianity up till about the year 270 the following facts must be specially kept in mind: In the regions subject to Rome, apart from the Judæo-Christian districts and passing disturbances, Christianity had yet an undivided history in vital questions; 300 the independence of individual congregations and of the provincial groups of Churches was very great; and every advance in the development of the communities at the same time denoted a forward step in their
57 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ECCLESIASTICAL CHRISTIANITY AND PHILOSOPHY. THE APOLOGISTS. 1. Introduction.340
ECCLESIASTICAL CHRISTIANITY AND PHILOSOPHY. THE APOLOGISTS. 1. Introduction.340
The object of the Christian Apologists, some of whom filled ecclesiastical offices and in various ways promoted spiritual progress, 341 was, as they themselves explained, to uphold the Christianity professed by the Christian Churches and publicly preached. They were convinced that the Christian faith was founded on revelation and that only a mind enlightened by God could grasp and maintain the faith. They acknowledged the Old Testament to be the authoritative source of God's revelation, maintain
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
2. Christianity as Philosophy and as Revelation.
2. Christianity as Philosophy and as Revelation.
It was a new undertaking and one of permanent importance to a tradition hitherto so little concerned for its own vindication, when Quadratus and the Athenian philosopher, Aristides, presented treatises in defence of Christianity to the emperor. 349 About a century had elapsed since the Gospel of Christ had begun to be preached. It may be said that the Apology of Aristides was a most significant opening to the second century, whilst we find Origen at its close. Marcianus Aristides expressly desig
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
3. The doctrines of Christianity as the revealed and rational religion.
3. The doctrines of Christianity as the revealed and rational religion.
The Apologists frequently spoke of the doctrines or "dogmas" of Christianity; and the whole content of this religion as philosophy is included in these dogmas. 418 According to what we have already set forth there can be no doubt about the character of Christian dogmas. They are the rational truths, revealed by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures, and summarised in Christ (χριστος λογος και νομος), which in their unity represent the divine wisdom, and the recognition of which leads to virtue and
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Interpretation and Criticism, especially of Justin's Doctrines.
Interpretation and Criticism, especially of Justin's Doctrines.
1. The fundamental assumption of all the Apologists is that there can only be one and the same relation on earth between God and free man, and that it has been conditioned by the creation. This thought, which presupposes the idea of God's unchangeableness, at bottom neutralises every quasi-historical and mythological consideration. According to it grace can be nothing else than the stimulation of the powers of reason existent in man; revelation is supernatural only in respect of its form, and th
56 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE BEGINNINGS OF AN ECCLESIASTICO-THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION AND REVISION OF THE RULE OF FAITH IN OPPOSITION TO GNOSTICISM ON THE BASIS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF THE APOLOGISTS: MELITO, IRENÆUS, TERTULLIAN, HIPPOLYTUS, NOVATIAN.460 1. The theological position of Irenæus and the later contemporary Church teachers.
THE BEGINNINGS OF AN ECCLESIASTICO-THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION AND REVISION OF THE RULE OF FAITH IN OPPOSITION TO GNOSTICISM ON THE BASIS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF THE APOLOGISTS: MELITO, IRENÆUS, TERTULLIAN, HIPPOLYTUS, NOVATIAN.460 1. The theological position of Irenæus and the later contemporary Church teachers.
Gnosticism and the Marcionite Church had compelled orthodox Christianity to make a selection from tradition and to make this binding on Christians as an apostolical law. Everything that laid claim to validity had henceforth to be legitimised by the faith, i.e. , the baptismal confession and the New Testament canon of Scripture (see above, chap. 2, under A and B). However, mere "prescriptions" could no longer suffice here. But the baptismal confession was no "doctrine;" if it was to be transforme
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
2. The Doctrines of the Church.
2. The Doctrines of the Church.
In the following section we do not intend to give a presentation of the theology of Irenæus and the other Antignostic Church teachers, but merely to set forth those points of doctrine to which the teachings of these men gave currency in succeeding times. Against the Gnostic theses 497 Irenæus and his successors, apart from the proof from prescription, adduced the following intrinsic considerations: (1) In the case of the Gnostics and Marcion the Deity lacks absoluteness, because he does not embr
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
3. Results to ecclesiastical Christianity.
3. Results to ecclesiastical Christianity.
As we have shown, Irenæus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus had no strictly systematised theology; they formulated theological propositions because their opponents were theologians. Hence the result of their labours, so far as this was accepted by the Western Church of the third century, does not appear in the adoption of a systematic philosophical dogmatic, but in theological fragments, namely, the rule of faith fixed and interpreted in an antignostic sense 650 . As yet the rule of faith and theology
59 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION INTO A PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, OR THE ORIGIN OF THE SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY AND DOGMATIC OF THE CHURCH.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION INTO A PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, OR THE ORIGIN OF THE SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY AND DOGMATIC OF THE CHURCH.
The Alexandrian school of catechists was of inestimable importance for the transformation of the heathen empire into a Christian one, and of Greek philosophy into ecclesiastical philosophy. In the third century this school overthrew polytheism by scientific means whilst at the same time preserving everything of any value in Greek science and culture. These Alexandrians wrote for the educated people of the whole earth; they made Christianity a part of the civilisation of the world. The saying tha
38 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
1. The Alexandrian Catechetical School. Clement of Alexandria.656
1. The Alexandrian Catechetical School. Clement of Alexandria.656
"The work of Irenæus still leaves it undecided whether the form of the world's literature, as found in the Christian Church, is destined only to remain a weapon to combat its enemies, or is to become an instrument of peaceful labour within its own territory." With these words Overbeck has introduced his examination of Clement of Alexandria's great masterpiece from the standpoint of the historian of literature. They may be also applied to the history of theology. As we have shown, Irenæus, Tertul
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
2. The system of Origen.679
2. The system of Origen.679
Among the theologians of ecclesiastical antiquity Origen was the most important and influential alongside of Augustine. He proved the father of ecclesiastical science in the widest sense of the word, and at the same time became the founder of that theology which reached its complete development in the fourth and fifth centuries, and which in the sixth definitely denied its author, without, however, losing the form he had impressed on it. Origen created the ecclesiastical dogmatic and made the so
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter