Catholic dogmatic theology can be defined as "a special branch of theology, the object of which is to present a scientific and connected view of the accepted doctrines of the Christian faith.""Dogmatic Theology", The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. James Strong and John McClintock; Harper and Brothers; NY; 1880
Definition According to Joseph Pohle, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, "theology comprehends all those and only those doctrines which are to be found in the sources of faith, namely Scripture and Tradition...For, just as the Bible,...was written under the immediate inspiration of the Holy [Spirit], so Tradition was, and is, guided in a special manner by God, Who preserves it from being curtailed, mutilated, or falsified."Pohle, Joseph. "Dogmatic Theology." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 8 May 2022 The scientific character of dogmatic theology does not rest so much on the exactness of its exegetical and historical proofs as on the philosophical grasp of the content of dogma.
The functions of dogmatic theology are twofold: first, to establish what constitutes a doctrine of the Christian faith, and to elucidate it in both its religious and its philosophical aspects; secondly, to connect the individual doctrines into a system. “In current Catholic usage, the term ‘dogma’ means a divinely revealed truth, proclaimed as such by the infallible teaching authority of the Church, and hence binding on all the faithful without exception, now and forever."Dulles, Avery. The Survival of Dogma, Image Books, 1973, p. 156
Subjects Dogmatic theology begins with the doctrine of God, whose existence, essence, and attributes are to be investigated. A philosophical understanding of the dogma of the Trinity was attempted by the Fathers. The theologian investigates the activity of creation. As the beginning of the world supposes creation out of nothing, so its continuation supposes Divine conservation, which is nothing less than a continued creation. However, God's creative activity is not thereby exhausted. The topics of Original Sin and Angelology come under Creation.
The subject of Redemption includes Christology, Soteriology, Mariology. The Redeemer's activity as Mediator stands out most prominently in His triple office of high priest, prophet, and king. For the most part, dogmatic theologians prefer to treat Mariology and the veneration paid to relics and images under Eschatology, together with the Communion of Saints.
History
Patristic period (about A.D. 100–800) At first, Dogmatic theology comprised apologetics, dogmatic and moral theology, and canon law. The Fathers of the Church are honoured by the Church as her principal theologians. It was not so much in the catechetical schools of Alexandria, Antioch, and Edessa as in the struggle with the great heresies of the age that patristic theology developed. This serves to explain the character of the patristic literature, which is apologetical and polemical, parenetical and ascetic. It was not the intention of the Fathers to give a systematic treatment of theology. It may be said in general that the apologetic style predominated up to the time of Constantine the Great.
Christian writers had to explain the truths of natural religion, such as God, the soul, creation, immortality, and freedom of the will; at the same time they had to defend the chief mysteries of the Christian faith. The efforts of the Fathers to define and combat heresy brought writings against Gnosticism, Manichæism, and Priscillianism. Those who wrote against pagan polytheism include: Justin Martyr, Lactantius, and Eusebius of Cæsarea. Prominent writers against the practices of Judaizing Christians were: Hippolytus of Rome, Epiphanius of Salamis, and Chrysostom. At the First Council of Nicaea, the Church took steps to define revealed doctrine more precisely in response to a challenge from a heretical theology."Carroll, Warren (1987), The Building of Christendom, Christendom College Press, p. 12,
Eastern Christians in this dispute on the Trinity and Christology included: the Alexandrines, and Didymus the Blind; Athanasius and the three Cappadocians; Cyril of Alexandria and Leontius of Byzantium; and Maximus the Confessor. In the West the leaders were: Cyprian, Jerome, Fulgentius of Ruspe, Pope Leo I and Pope Gregory I. As the contest with Pelagianism and Semi-pelagianism clarified the dogmas of grace and liberty, providence and predestination, original sin and the condition of our first parents in Paradise, so also the contests with the Donatists brought codification to the doctrine of the sacraments (baptism), the hierarchical constitution of the Church her magisterium or teaching authority, and her infallibility. A culminating contest was decided by the Second Council of Nicæa (787).
These developments left the dogmatic teachings of the Fathers as a collection of monographs rather than a systematic exposition. IrenæusAdversus haereses, III–V. shows attempts at synthesis; the trilogy of Clement of Alexandria (d. 217) marks an advance in the same direction. Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394) then endeavoured in his "Large Catechetical Treatise" (logos katechetikos ho megas) to correlate in a broad synthetic view the fundamental dogmas of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Sacraments. In the same manner, though somewhat fragmentarily, Hilary of Poitiers (d. 366) developed in his work "De Trinitate" the principal truths of Christianity.
The catechetical instructions of Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) especially his five mystagogical treatises, on the Apostles' Creed and the three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist, contain an almost complete dogmatic treatise. Ambrose (d. 397) in his chief works: "De fide", "De Spiritu S.", "De incarnatione", "De mysteriis", "De poenitentia", treated the main points of dogma in classic Latin, though without any attempt at a unifying synthesis. Augustine of Hippo (d. 430) wrote one or two works, as the "De fide et symbolo" and the "Enchiridium", which are compendia of dogmatic and moral theology, as well as his speculative work De Trinitate.
Cyril of Alexandria was a model for later dogmatic theologians on the topics of Trinity and Christology.
Towards the end of the Patristic Age, Isidore of Seville collected the writings of Western church fathers in his , and John Damascene did the same in the East with his .
Other notable theologians of the period
Middle Ages (800–1500)
Beginning of Scholasticism (800–1200)
The scope of the scholastic method is to analyze the content of dogma by means of dialectics. Scholasticism did not take its guidance from John Damascene or Pseudo-Dionysius, but from Augustine. Augustinian thought runs through the whole progress of Western Catholic philosophy and theology. The Venerable Bede (d. 735), is the link which joins the patristic with the medieval history of theology.
Up to the time of Anselm of Canterbury, the theologians were more concerned with preserving than with developing the writings of the Fathers. The beginnings of Scholasticism may be traced back to the days of Charlemagne (d. 814). Theology was cultivated nowhere with greater industry than in the cathedral and monastic schools, founded and fostered by Charlemagne. The earliest signs of a new approach appeared in the ninth century in the work of Paschasius Radbertus, and Rabanus Maurus. These speculations were carried to a greater depth by (Lanfranc, Hugh of Langres, etc.).
Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109) was the first to bring a sharp logic to bear upon the principal dogmas of Christianity, and to draw up a plan for dogmatic theology. Taking the substance of his doctrine from Augustine, Anselm, as a philosopher, was not so much a disciple of Aristotle as of Plato, in whose dialogues he had been schooled.
The great mystics, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Bonaventure, were at the same time distinguished Scholastics. It is upon the doctrine of Anselm and Bernard that the Scholastics of succeeding generations took their stand, and it was their spirit which lived in the theological efforts of the University of Paris.
The first attempts at a theological system may be seen in the so-called Books of Sentences, collections and interpretations of quotations from the Fathers, more especially of Augustine. One of the earliest of these books is the Summa sententiarum, an anonymous compilation created at the School of Loan some time after 1125. Another is The Sacraments of the Christian Faith written by Hugh of St. Victor around 1135. His works are characterized throughout by a close adherence to Augustine and may serve as guides for beginners in the theology of Augustine. Peter Lombard, called the "Magister Sententiarum" (d. 1164), stands above them all. What Gratian had done for canon law Lombard did for dogmatic and moral theology. He sifted and explained and paraphrased the patristic lore in his "Libri IV sententiarum", and the arrangement which he adopted was, in spite of the lacunæ, so excellent that up to the sixteenth century his work was the standard text-book of theology. The work of interpreting this text began in the thirteenth century, and there was no theologian of note in the Middle Ages who did not write a commentary on the Sentences of Lombard. No other work exerted such a powerful influence on the development of scholastic theology.
William of Auvergne (d. 1248), who died as bishop of Paris, deserves special mention. Though preferring the free, unscholastic method of an earlier age, he yet shows himself at once an original philosopher and a profound theologian. Inasmuch as in his numerous monographs on the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Sacraments, etc., he took into account the anti-Christian attacks of the Arabic writers on Aristotelianism, he is the connecting link between this age and the thirteenth century.
Other notable theologians of the period
Scholasticism at its zenith (1200–1300) The most brilliant period of Scholasticism embraces about 100 years, and with it are connected the names of Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, and Duns Scotus. This period of Scholasticism was marked by the appearance of the theological Summae, as well as the mendicant orders. In the thirteenth century the champions of Scholasticism were to be found in the Franciscans and Dominicans, beside whom worked also the Augustinians, Carmelites, and Servites.
Alexander of Hales (d. about 1245) was a Franciscan, while Albert the Great (d. 1280) was a Dominican. The Summa theologiæ of Alexander of Hales is the largest and most comprehensive work of its kind, flavoured with Platonism. Albert was an intellectual working not only in matters philosophical and theological but in the natural sciences as well. He made a first attempt to present the entire philosophy of Aristotle and to place it at the service of Catholic theology. The logic of Aristotle had been rendered into Latin by Boethius and had been used in the schools since the end of the sixth century; but his physics and metaphysics were made known to Western Christendom only through the Arabic philosophers of the thirteenth century. His works were prohibited by the Synod of Paris, in 1210, and again by a Bull of Pope Gregory IX in 1231. Later Scholastics, led by Albert the Great, went over the faulty Latin translation once more, and reconstructed the doctrine of Aristotle and its principles.