OUTLINES OF THE
HISTORY OF DOGMA BY Dr.
ADOLF HARNACK
Professor of Church History in the University of Berlin
TRANSLATED BY
EDWIN KNOX MITCHELL,
M.A.
Professor of Grceco-Roman and Eastern Church History in Hartford Theological Seminary
NEW YORK
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY LONDON
and
TORONTO
1893 Printed in the United States
/
.
Copyright,
1893,
by the
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY [Registered at Stationers' Hall, London, Eng. ] 1
*fe
Hai
•
PREFACE. THE
English translation of
my
^
'
"Grundriss
der Dogmengeschichte" has been made, in accordance
with
my
expressed wish, by
my
former pupil and esteemed friend, Mr. Edwin
Knox
Mitchell.
It is
my
pleasant duty to ex-
him here my heartiest thanks. English and American theological literature
press to
possess excellent works, but they are in products within the
Dogma.
my
I
may
not rich
realm of the History of
therefore perhaps hope
"Grundriss" will supply a want.
be most happy,
if I
I
that shall
can with this book do
my
English and American friends and fellow-workers
some
benefit
service
which
I
—a
small return for the rich
have reaped from their
labors.
In reality, however, there no longer exists any distinction
between German and English theo-
logical science.
that
scientific
The exchange theologians
of
is
now
all
so brisk
evangelical
lands form already one Concilium.
Adolf Harnack. Wilmersdorf near Berlin, March 17th, 1892,
*
CONTENTS. PAGE
Prolegomena to the Discipline I. Idea and Aim of the History of Dogma
1
... .... .
.
Narrative of the History of Dogma Presuppositions of the History of Dogma III. Introductory IV. The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to His II.
1
8 10 10
Own
Testimony
1£
Proclamation concerning Jesus Christ in the First Generation of His Adherents VI. The Current Exposition of the Old Testament and the Jewish Future Hope, in their Bearing on the Earliest Formulation of the Christian Message VII. The Religious Conceptions and the Religious Philosophy of the Hellenistic Jews in their Bearing on the Transformation of the Gospel Message VIII. The Religious Disposition of the Greeks and RoV. The General
.
18
.
23
.
28
in the First Two Centuries and the Contemporary Greeco-Roman Philosophy of Religion
mans
.
PAKT
.
32
I.
THE RISE OF ECCLESIASTICAL DOGMA. Book
I.
THE PREPARATION.
—
Chapter I. Historical Survey Chapter II.— Ground Common to Christians and Attitude Taken toward Judaism Chapter III.— The Common Faith and the Beginnings of Self- Recognition in that Gentile Christianity which was to Develop into Catholicism .
)
.
39
40
43
CONTENTS.
vili
PAGE
Chapter IV.
—Attempt
of the Gnostics to Construct
an
Apostolic Doctrine of Faith and to Produce a Christian Theology or, the Acute Secularization of Christianity Chapter V. Marcion's Attempt to Set Aside the Old Testament as the Foundation of the Gospel, to Purify Tradition, and to Reform Christianity on the ;
58
—
Basis of the Pauline Gospel Chapter VI. —Supplement The Christianity of the Jewish
70
:
74
Christians
Book
II.
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. Chapter Section
Chapter
I.
— Historical Survey
I.
II.
81
Establishment of Christianity as a Church and its Gradual Secidarization.
—The
Forth of the Apostolic Rules
Setting
(Norms) for
Ecclesiastical
The
Christianity.
Catholic Church A. The Recasting of the Baptismal Confession into the Apostolic Rule of Faith B. The Recognition of a Selection of Well-known Scriptures as Virtually Belonging to the Old as a Compilation of Apostolic i. e. Testament
84
85
,
;
88
Scriptures
The Transformation of the Episcopal Office in the Church into the Apostolic Office. History of the 95 Transformation of the Idea of the Church Chapter III. Continuation: The Old Christianity and 100 the New Church C.
.
.
—
Establishment of Christianity as Doctrine and
Section II.
its
Chapter IV.
Gradual Secidarization.
— Ecclesiastical Christianity
The Apologists
and Philosophy. 117
,
—
Chapter V. Beginnings of an Ecclesiastico-Theological Exposition and Revision of the Rule of Faith in Opposition to Gnosticism on the Presupposition of the New Testament and the Christian Philosophy of the Apologists Irenaaus, Tertullian, Hippoly130 tus, Cyprian, Novatian :
:
CONTENTS. Chapter VI.
— Transformation
IX PACE
of Ecclesiastical Tradition
into a Philosophy of Religion, or the Origin of Scientific Ecclesiastical Theology
and Dogmatics
Clement and Origen
149
—
Chapter VII. Decisive Result of Theological Speculation within the Realm of the Rule of Faith, or the Defining of the Ecclesiastical Doctrinal Norm through the Acceptance of the Logos- Christology 166 .
PART
.
II.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECCLESIASTICAL DOGMA. Book
I.
HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOGMA AS DOCTRINE OF THE GOD-MAN UPON THE BASIS OF NATURAL THEOLOGY. Chapter Chapter
I.
— Historical Survey
IL— The
193
Fundamental Conception of Salvation
and a General Sketch of the Doctrine of Faith 206 The Sources of Knowledge and the Authorities, or Scripture, Tradition, and the Church 212 .
Chapter HI.
—
.
A.
TJie
Presuppositions of the Doctrine of Salvation, or Natural TJieology.
—
Chapter IV. The Presuppositions and Conceptions of God, the Creator, as the Dispenser of Salvation 225 Chapter V. The Presuppositions and Conceptions of Man 229 as the Recipient of Salvation .
—
B.
....
The Doctrine of Redemption through the Person of the
God-Man Chapter
in its Historical Development.
Doctrine of the Necessity and Reality of Redemption through the Incarnation of the Son
VI.— The
God Chapter VII.— The Doctrine of the Homousion of God with God Himself
235
of
I.
II.
III.
of the
Son
.....
242
242 Until Council of Nicsea 253 Until Death of Constantius 259 Until Councils of Constantinople, 381, 383 Supplement The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit 266 and of the Trinity .
:
.
CONTENTS.
X
PAGE
— The
Doctrine of the Perfect Equality as to Nature of the Incarnate Son of God and
Chapter VIII.
Humanity
*
I.
^
II.
III.
274
— Continuation
The Doctrine of the Personal Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Incarnate Son of God 280 The Nestorian Controversy 280 287 The Eutychian Controversy The Monophysite Controversies and the 5th
Chapter IX.
:
294 Council IV. The Monergistic and Monothelitic Controversies, 300 the 6th Council and John of Damascus .
C.
TJie
.
Temporal Enjoyment of Redemption.
— —
305 Chapter X. The Mysteries, and Matters Akin to Them Chapter XI. Conclusion Sketch of. the Historic Begin318 nings of the Orthodox System .
....
:
Book
II.
EXPANSION AND RECASTING OF THE DOGMA INTO A DOCTRINE CONCERNING SIN, GRACE AND THE MEANS OF GRACE UPON THE BASIS OF THE CHURCH. Chapter Chapter
I.
— Historical Survey — Occidental Christianity and Occidental The-
ologians before Augustine
Chapter HI.
III.
—The
.... ....
335
World-Historical Position of Augus342 tine as Teacher of the Church Augustine's Doctrine of the First and Last Things 345 The Donatist Contest. The Work " De Civitate Dei. " The Doctrine of the Church and of the
Chapter IV. I.
329
—The World-Historical Position of Augustine
as Reformer of Christian Piety
II.
326
II.
Means of Grace The Pelagian Contest.
354
Doctrine of Grace and
of Sin
363
Exposition of the Symbol. The New Doctrine of Religion 376 in the Occident till the Chapter V. History of Dogma Beginning of the Middle Ages (430-604) 382 IV. Augustine's
—
.
.
CONTENTS.
XI PAGE
Contest between Semi-Pelagianism and Augustini
I.
anism 387 Gregory the Great (590-604) Chapter VI. History of Dogma in the Time of the Carlo vingian Renaissance 392 394 I. A. The Adoption Controversy II.
.
—
395 The Predestination Controversy Controversy about the Filioque and about Images 397 The Development, in Practice and in Theory, of
B.
I.
II.
III.
the Mass
Chapter VII.
(Dogma
of the Eucharist) and of Penance 399
— History of Dogma in the Time
of Clugny,
III.
Anselm and Bernard to the End of the 12th .406 Century 407 The Revival of Piety 412 On the History of Ecclesiastical Law 414 The Revival of Science
IV.
Work upon
I.
II.
.
the
Dogma
422
.
A. The Berengar Controversy B. Anselm 's Doctrine of Satisfaction and the Doctrines of the Atonement of the Theologians of the 12th Century Chapter VIII. History of Dogma in the Time of the Mendicant Orders till the Beginning of the 16th Century I. On the History of Piety II. On the History of Ecclesiastical Law. The Doc.
423
427
—
trine of the
Church
442
On
the History of Ecclesiastical Science IV. The Reminting of Dogmatics into Scholastics III.
433
434
.
.
452
.
461
A. The Working Over of the Traditional Articuli Fidei 462 B. The Scholastic Doctrine of the Sacraments 468 C. The Revising of Augustinianism in the Direction of the Doctrine of Meritorious Works 488 .
Book
.
.
.
.
III.
THE THREE-FOLD ISSUING OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA. Chapter Chapter
I.
— Historical Survey — The Issuing of the
II.
tholicism
501
Dogma
in
Roman
Ca510
CONTENTS.
Xll
I.
PAGE Codification of the Mediaeval Doctrines in Opposi510 tion to Protestantism (Tridentine Decrees) .
.
Post-Tridentine Development as a Preparation for 518 the Vatican Council 527 III. The Vatican Council Chapter III. The Issuing of the Dogma in Anti-Trinita529 rianism and Socinianism II.
—
I.
Historical Introduction
529
535 The Socinian Doctrine Chapter IV. The Issuing of the Dogma in Protestantism 541 II.
—
I.
II.
541
Introduction Luther's Christianity
545
Luther's Strictures on the Dominating Ecclesi551 astical Tradition and on the Dogma IV. The Catholic Elements Retained with and within 557 Luther's Christianity
III.
.
.
.
—
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
PROLEGOMENA TO THE
DISCIPLINE.
Idea and Aim of the History of Dogma.
I.
Religion
1.
since
it
is
a practical affair with mankind,
has to do with our highest happiness and
with those faculties which pertain to a holy
But
Religion,
life.
in every religion these faculties are closely con-
nected with some definite faith or with some
which are referred back
nite cult,
Christianity
lation.
is
Divine Reve-
to
that religion in
impulse and power to a blessed and holy
up with
which the
life is
bound
God as the Father of Jesus Christ. God is believed to be the omnipotent
faith in
So far as this
Lord
defi-
of
heaven and earth, the Christian religion
includes a particular knowledge of God, of the world so far,
how-
ever, as this religion teaches that
God can be
truly
known only
inseparable from
and
of the purpose of created things
historical 2.
The
in Jesus Christ,
it is
;
knowledge. inclination to formulate
religion in Articles
of Faith
tianity as the effort to
is
f the content of ArFaith.°
as natural to Chris-
verify these articles with
reference to science and to history.
On
the other
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
2
hand the universal and supernatural character of the Christian religion imposes upon its adherents the duty of finding a statement of
it
which
will not be
impaired by our wavering knowledge of nature and history
before every possible theory of nature or of
itself
Problem
and, indeed, which will be able to maintain
;
The problem which thus
history.
arises permits,
Insoluble.
indeed, of no absolute solution, since is relative
and yet religion essays
;
all
to bring her ab-
solute truth into the sphere of relative
and
and every thinking Christian
come
the problem does not
testifies,
to its solution
that account the progressive efforts
been Attempts at
Solution.
made
to solve
it
knowledge
But history
to reduce it to statement there.
teaches,
knowledge
;
that
even on
which have
are of value.
The most thorough-going attempt at solution hitherto is that which the Catholic Church made, and which the churches of the Reformation (with more or less restrictions) have continued to make, viz. Accepting a collection of Christian and Pre3.
:
Christian writings and oral traditions as of Divine origin, to
deduce from them a system of doctrine,
arranged in
form
scientific
which should have as
God and
of the world
its
and
for apologetic purposes,
content the knowledge of of the
means
of salvation;
then to proclaim this complex system {of dogma)
compendium of Christianity, to demand of every mature member of the Church a faithful acas the
ceptance of the
same
is
it,
and at the same time
to
maintain thai
a necessary preparation for the blessed-
;
PROLEGOMENA.
With
ness promised by the religion.
Church
augmen-
brotherhood, whose character
tation the Christian
as " Catholic
this
" is essentially
indicated under
this conception of Christianity, took a definite and,
was supposed,
as
science of nature ious faith in
much
as
it
incontestable attitude toward the
and
of history, expressed its relig-
God and
required of
and yet gave
Christ,
(inas-
members an acceptance
all its
of these articles of faith) to the thinking part of the
community a system which
is
capable of a wider and
Thus arose dog-
indeed boundless development.
matic Christianity. 4.
The aim
of the history
of dogma
is,
(1)
To
ex-
plain the origin of this dogmatic Christianity, and,
To describe its development. 5. The history of the rise of dogmatic Christianity would seem to close when a well-formulated sys-
Aim
of
History of
Dogma
(2)
tem
of
belief
had been established by
means, and had been made the
"
Rise
of
Dogma.
scientific
articulus constitu-
tivus ecelesiw" and as such had been imposed upon the entire Church.
from the 3d Christology
dogma creto
is
it
This took place in the transition
to the 4th century
was
established.
when
the Logos-
The development
of
in abstracto without limit, but in con-
has come to an end.
For, (a) the Greek
Develop-
ment of Dogma. Greek Church.
Church maintains that
its
system of dogma has been
complete since the end of the " Image Controversy (b)
the
Roman
ity of the
"
Catholic Church leaves the possibil-
formulating of
the Tridentine Council
new dogmas
and
still
more
open, but in
in the Vatican
Roman Church..
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
4
has
in fact on political
it
dogma
as a legal system
grounds rounded out
which above
all
demands
obedience and only secondarily conscious faith
Roman
its
;
the
Catholic Church has consequently abandoned
the original motive of dogmatic Christianity and
has placed a wholly EvanepiChurches,
new motive
in its stead, retain-
ing the mere semblance of the old
;
(c)
The Evan-
gelical churches have, on the one hand, accepted a
greater part of the formulated doctrines of dogmatic
Christianity and seek to ground them, like the Catholic
Church, in the Holy Scriptures.
But, on the
other hand, they took a different view of the authority of the
Holy
Scriptures, they put aside tradition
as a source in matters of belief, they questioned the significance of the empirical
dogma, and above
all
Church as regards the
they tried to put forward a
formulation of the Christian religion, which goes directly
Word
"
true understanding of the
Thus
in principle the ancient dog-
back to the
of God."
matic conception of Christianity was set aside, while
however in certain matters no
fixed attitude
was
taken toward the same and reactions began at once
and
still
continue.
Therefore
is it
announced that
Protestant
the history of Protestant doctrine will be excluded
Excluded,
from the history of dogma, and within the former will be indicated only the position of the
and
Reformers
of the churches of the Reformation, out of
the later complicated development grew.
history of
dogma can be
pleted discipline.
which
Hence the
treated as relatively a com-
PROLEGOMENA. The claim
0.
Church that the dogmas are
of the
simply the exposition of the Christian revelation, because deduced from the Holy Scriptures,
On
confirmed by historical investigation. trary,
it
is
not
Expo-
^j?gti
^
a uon.
the con-
becomes clear that dogmatic Christianity
dogmas) in
(the
Dogmas not
its
conception and in
its
construc-
work of the Hellenic spirit upon the Gospel soil. The intellectual medium by which in early times men sought to make the Gospel comprewas
tion
the
became
insep-
arably blended with the content of the same.
Thus
hensible and to establish
arose the dogma, in
it
securely,
whose formation,
to be sure,
other factors (the words of Sacred Scripture, require-
ments of the
and
cult,
and
of the organization, political
social environment, the impulse to
to their logical
push things
consequences, blind custom,
etc.)
played a part, yet so that the desire and effort to
formulate the main principles of the Christian re-
demption, and to explain and develop them, secured the upper hand, at least in the earlier times.
dogma proved to 2?^?^. same was to be the pure Dogma,
Just as the formulating of the
7.
be an illusion, so far as the
exposition of the Gospel, so also does historical investigation destroy the other illusion of the Church, viz.
:
that the dogma, always having been the
same
have simply been explained, and that
eccle-
therein,
siastical theology
to explain the
has never had any other aim than
unchanging dogma and
heretical teaching pressing in
formulating of the
dogma
to refute the
from without.
The
indicates rather that the-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
6
ology constructed the dogma, but that the Church
must ever conceal the labor of the theologians, which thus places them in an unfortunate plight. In each favorable case the result of their labor has
been declared to be a reproduction and they themselves
have been robbed of their best service; as a under the
rule in the progress of history they fell
condemnation of the dogmatic scheme, whose foundation they themselves had laid, and so entire generrations of theologians, as well as the chief leaders thereof, have, in the further
development of dogma,
been afterwards marked and declared to be heretics
Dogma
or held in suspicion. ress of history Augustine,
g.
devoured
its
has ever in the prog-
own
progenitors.
Although dogmatic Christianity has never,
the process of
its
development, lost
and character as a work
and of Origin),
through Augustine and
original style
of the spirit of perishing
antiquity upon Gospel soil
apologists
its
of the Greek
{style
yet
later
it
experienced
through
pioned a
new and more evangelical
by Paulinism; Augus-
it
of the tra-
dogma, rather did he co-ordinate the old and
the new; Luther, indeed, attempted
carry
of
conception of
however hardly attempted a revision
ditional
Both
more than the former, cham-
Christianity, guided chiefly tine
first
Luther a
deeper and more thorough transformation. these men, the latter
in
through.
The Christian
dogma gained through
it,
but did not
quality of
the
the influence of each, and the
old traditional system of
dogma was
relaxed some-
.
.
PROLEGOMENA. what
— this was
much
so
7
the case in Protestantism
that one does well, as remarked above, no longer to
consider the symbolical teaching of the Protestant
churches as wholly a recasting of the old dogma. 9.
An
understanding of
process cannot be secured doctrines
the dogmatico-historic
by
isolating the special
Periods in History of
Dogma-
and considering them separately (Special
History of Dogma) after that the epochs have been previously characterized (General History of It is
much
better to consider the " general "
" special " in
arately,
Dogma) and the
each period and to treat the periods sep-
and as much as possible
to prove the special
doctrines to be the outcome of the fundamental ideas
and motives.
It is
not possible, however, to
more than four principal gin of
Dogma.
II.
a.
divisions, viz.
:
I.
The Development
make
The
of
Ori-
Dogma
in accordance with the principles of its original con-
ception (Oriental Development from Arianism to the
Image-Controversy).
opment
of
Dogma
II.
b.
The Occidental Devel-
under the influence of Augustine's
Roman papal politics. II. c. Issuing of Dogma (in the churches
Christianity and the
The Three-fold of the
Reformation
— in Tridentine Catholicism — and
in the criticism of the rationalistic age,
i.e.,
of So-
cinianism) 10.
The
history of dogma, in that
it
sets forth the
process of the origin and development of the dogma, offers the
very best means and methods of freeing
the Church from dogmatic Christianity, and of hast-
ening the inevitable process of emancipation, which
value of
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
8
But the history
began with Augustine. testifies
also to the unity
it
dogma
and continuity of the
Christian faith in the progress of far as
of
its history, in
so
proves that certain fundamental ideas of the
Gospel have never been
lost
and have
defied all
attacks.
II.— History of the History of Dogma. Mosheim,
The narrative
of the History of
Dogma begins
first
etc.
in the 18th century with
Mosheim, Walch, Ernesti,
Lessing, and Semler, since Catholicism in general
not fitted for a critical handling of the subject,
is
al-
though learned works have been written by individBaronius,
ual Catholic theologians (Baronius Bellarmin, Peta-
etc.
vius,
Thomassin, Kuhn, Schwane, Bach,
etc.),
and
since the Protestant churches remained until the
18th century under the ban of confessionalism,
al-
though important contributions were made in the Luther,
time of the Reformation (Luther, Okolampad, Mel-
etc.
anchthon, Flacius, Hyperius, Chemnitz) to the cal treatment of the
upon the labors Erasmus, etc.
(L. Valla;
criti-
History of Dogma, based in part
of the critically disposed humanists
Erasmus,
etc.).
But without the learned
material, which, on the one band, the Benedictine Benedictine, etc.
and other Orders had gathered together, and, on the other, the Protestant Casaubonus, Vossius, Pearson,
Dalläus, Spanheim, Grabe, Basnage, etc., and withGottfried Arnold.
out the grand impulse which fried Arnold), the
work
pietism gave (Gott-
of the 18th century
would
PROLEGOMENA. have been inconsiderable.
dogma
history of
gave
it
9
Rationalism robbed the
of its ecclesiastical interest
over to a critical treatment in which
and its
darkness was lighted up in part by the lamp of
common understanding and
of general historical contemplation
Dogma by
History of
(first
Lange, 1796, previous works by Semler,
Rössler, Löffler, etc., then the
Lehrbuch,
Aufl.
1.
Bdd. 1802
1811,
3.
an excellent
f.,
Aufl.
Lange.
Dogma
History of
by Mimscher, Handb. 4 Bdd. 1797 2
by the torch
in part
Münscher.
Munter
1832,
Stäudlin 1800 and 1822, Augusti
f,
1805 and 1835, Gieseler, edited by Redepenning 2
The valuable handbooks of Baumgarten-Crusius 1832, i.e. 1840 and 1846, and of Meier Bdd. 1855).
1840,
i.e.
mark
1854,
Baume:arten-Crusius.
the transition to a class of
works in which an inner understanding of the proof the History of
cess
Dogma
which Lessing had already
has been won, for
and
which
Lessing,
Herder, Schleiermacher and the Romanticists on the
Schleier-
one side, and Hegel and Schelling on the other, had
Schelling.
striven,
for
Herder,
prepared the way. of
F. Chr.
3.
Thl. 1865
in
1847,
Glaubenslehre 2 Bdd.
a one-sided way,
1840
f.
(cf
.
also Strauss,
Marheineke 1849).
the Schleiermacher point of view,
Thl.
1857)
Baur.
which the dogmatico-historic
was, so to speak, lived over again
(2.
Vorles.
1867,
i.e.
process, conceived to be sure in
From
Hegel,
Epoch-making were the writings
Baur (Lehrb. f.),
macher,
and Hagenbach
(1840,
is
Neander
i.e.
1867).
Dorner (History of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ, 1839 i.e. 1845-53) attempted to unite
Neander.
Hegel
Dorner.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
10
From
and Schleiermacher.
the Lutheran Confes-
standpoint Kliefoth (Einl. in
sional
Thomasius
(2
Bdd. 1874
f.
d.
D. G. 1839),
and 1887 edited by Bon-
Schmid (1859 i.e. 1887 ed. by Hauck) and, with reservations, Kahnis (The Faith of the wetsch
1
Bd.),
A
Church, 18G4). Nitzsch.
the History of
marked advance
Dogma by
Nitzsch
(1
is
indicated in
For
Bd. 1870).
a correct understanding especially of the origin of
dogma beck,
the labors of Rothe, Ritschi, Renan, Overv.
Engelhardt,
Weizsäcker and Reville are
valuable.
PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA. Introductory.
III. Gospel
is
chnst.
i
in the " fulness of time.
The gospel appeared
.
^ n( ^ e Q 0Sp e j
i js
Jesus Christ.
the announcement
is
made
In these sentences
that the Gospel
is
the
climax of an universal development and yet that has
its
power in a personal
stroyed not," but "fulfilled." life
before
God and
of Judaism,
in
Jesus
Life.
He
witnessed a
new
God, but within the confines
and upon the
soil of
the Old Testament
whose hidden treasures he uncovered. shown, that everything that in the
it
Christ " de-
is
It
can be
"lofty and spiritual"
Psalms and Prophets, and everything that had
been gained through the development of Grecian ethics, is reaffirmed in the plain
but
it
obtained
its
power
and simple Gospel
there, because
it
became
— PROLEGOMENA.
11
and deed in a Person, whose greatness consists also in this, that he did not remould his earthly enlife
vironment, nor encounter any subsequent rebuff, in other words, that he did not
become entangled
in
his times. 2.
Two
generations later there existed, to be sure, confeder° ated Conunited and homogeneous Church, but there £ re s atlons '
no
were scattered throughout the wide confederated congregations
of
Roman
-
empire
Christian believers
(churches) who, for the most part, were Gentile-
born and condemned the Jewish nation and religion as apostate; they appropriated the
Old Testament as
by right and considered themselves a "new nation", and yet as the "ancient creation of God", theirs
while in sacred
departments of
all
communities
is
these confederated Gentile Christian v
the preliminary condition to the rise
dogmatic Christianity.
The organization
of these churches began, indeed,
in the apostolic times is
and thought certain
forms were gradually being put forward.
The existence of of
life
and their peculiar constitution
negatively indicated by the freeing of the Gospel
While
from the Jewish church.
in Islamism the
Arabic nation remained for centuries the main trunk of the
new
religion, it is
an astonishing fact in the
history of the Gospel, that
it
soon
left its
native soil
and went forth into the wide world and realized
its
universal character, not through the transformation of the
Jewish
world-religion
religion,
but by developing into a
upon Grceco- Roman
soil.
The Gos-
Freeing of Gospel fr0,n
Jew "
h Church
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
12 Gospel
became a world-religion in
pel
having a
that,
World-Religion.
message for
all
mankind,
it
preached
it to
Greek
and barbarian, and accordingly attached itself to the spiritual and political life of the ivorld-
Roman
wide Classical Epoch of
Gospel History.
3.
empire.
Since the Gospel in
its
and was preached only
ish
this transition,
original form
was Jew-
to the Jews, there lay in
which was brought about,
in part
gradually and without
disturbance,
through a severe
consequences of the most
From
stringent kind.
Church and
of the
crisis,
of
and in part
the standpoint of the history
dogma, the
brief history of the
Gospel within the bounds of Palestinian Judaism
And
accordingly a paleontological epoch.
is
yet this
remains the classical epoch, not only on account of the Founder and of the original testimony, but quite Paul's Mis-
as
much
because a Jewish Christian (Paul) recog-
sion.
nized the Gospel as the power of God, which able to save both
Jew and
was
Greek, and because he
designedly severed the Gospel from the Jewish national religion of the
Law.
and proclaimed the Christ as the end
Then other Jewish
Christians, personal
disciples of Jesus, indeed, followed (see
also the 4th
him
in all this
Gospel and the Epistle to the
Hebrews) No Chasm Between Earlier
Yet there
Epoch and brief Succeeding Period.
is
in reality
no chasm between the older
epoch and the succeeding period, so far as the
Gospel
is
in itself universalistic,
very soon became manifest.
which Paul and
and
this character
But the means by
his sympathizers set forth the uni-
PROLEGOMENA.
13
versal character of the Gospel (proving that the Old
Testament religion had been with) was
fulfilled
and done away
understood, and, vice versa, the
little
manner and means by which the Gentile Christians came to an acceptance of the Gospel, can only in part be attributed to the preaching of Paul.
we now
as
New
possess in the
Testament substan-
tial writings in
which the Gospel
thought out that
it is
Old Testament
So far
is
so thoroughly
prized as the supplantei" of the
religion,
and writings which
at the
same time are not deeply touched with the Greek spirit,
does this literature differ radically from
all
that follows. 4.
00
The growing Gentile Church, notwithstanding ° 7
Paul's significant relation toward
prehend,
nor
it,
did not com-
really experience the crisis,
which the Pauline conception
out of
of the Gospel arose.
In the Jewish propaganda, within which the Old
Testament had long since become liberalized and spiritualized, the Gentile
ually subjecting the
Church, entering and grad-
same
to itself,
seldom
felt
the
problem of the reconciliation of the Old Testament with the Gospel, since by means of the allegorical
method the propaganda had freed themselves from the letter of the law, but its
spirit;
indeed they had simply cast
national character. the
had not entirely overcome
Jews and
Moved by
later also of the Gentiles
people
" for itself,
the
their
the hostile power of
consciousness of inherent strength to "
off
and by the organize a
Church as a matter
of course
Gentile
Church did
^J^^ Problem,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
14
took on the form of the thought and
which
in
immoral and vulgar.
istic, Gentiie
R
lived, casting aside
it
ganizations,
ed
Many character^
mon y
which with
to their kinship
life of
the world
everything polythe-
Thus arose the new
all their
newness bore
or-
testi-
with the original Palestinian
churches, in so far as,
(1)
was
the Old Testament
istics
likewise recognized as a primitive revelation, and in so far as, (2) the strong spiritual
monotheism,
(3)
the outlines of the proclamation concerning Jesus Christ,
(4)
the consciousness of a direct and living
fellowship with (5)
God through
the gift of the Spirit,
the expectation of the approaching end of the
world, and the earnest conviction of the personal responsibility
and accountability
of each individual
To
soul were all likewise maintained.
be added
finally, that
these
is
to
the earliest Jewish-Christian
proclamation, yes, the Gospel
itself,
bears the stamp
of the spiritual epochs, out of
which
it
arose,
—of the
Hellenic age, in which the nations exchanged their
wares and religions were transformed, and the idea of the
worth and accountability of every soul became
widespread;
so
that
the
Hellenism which
soon
was not
abso-
pressed so mightily into the Church lutely strange iS
Do mahas ih
t
°Gent5e only.
^'
tile
^ie
and new.
hi^OTV of dogma has
do with the Gen-
—the history of theology begins, with Paul — but in order to understand his-
Church only
is true,
to
it
,
torically the basis of the formation of doctrine in the
Gentile Church,
it
must take
into consideration, as
already stated, the following as antecedent condi-
PROLEGOMENA.
15
The Gospel of Jesus Christ, (2) The general and simultaneous proclamation of Jesus Christ in the first generation of believers, (3) The tions:
(1) v '
Presuppositions.
current understanding and exposition of the Old
Testament and the Jewish anticipations of the fu-
and their speculations, (4) The religious conceptions and the religious philosophy of the Helture
The religious attitude of the Greeks and Romans during the first two centu-
lenistic Jews,
and
ries,
(5)
the current
Grceco-Boman philosophy
of religion.
IV.— The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to His (^The Gospel
is
Own
the good
Testimony.
news
of the reign of the
Almighty and Holy God, the Father and Judge the world and of each individual soul.
which makes men and gives them
God
is
man who
secure, even
if
who
seek to
kingdom
gives him-
win the world and
to
while those
keep their
life
fall
hands of the Judge, who condemns them to
This reign of God, in that
it
rises
above
all
ceremonies and statutes, places
men under
which
Whole-hearted love
to
is
old
God and
ever
it
Js
he should immediately
the world and his earthly life;
hell.
e
"oT
to realize their citizenship in the ap-
lose
into the
p
In this reign,
citizens of the heavenly
proaching eon, the life of every self to
of
^^
G
and Jyet new,
viz.
:
to one's neighbor.
a law,
In this love, wher-
controls the thoughts in their deepest springs,
that belter justice is exemplified
which corresponds
Love
to
God and
Man
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
16
perfection of God.
to the
The way
to secure this
by a change of heart, i.e. by selfdenial and humility before God and a heart-felt righteousness
is
In such humility and trust in
the soul realizes
own un worthiness. The Gospel, even sinners, who are so disposed,
however,
calls
its
unto the kingdom of God, in that
with his
satisfaction
justice, i.e.,
the forgiveness of the sins
separated them from God.
S V"
er1>
ty
La W Lo v e sri
For-
vctiGss of sin.
Word and Deed
in Jesus.
them
assures
guarantees them
In the three-fold form, is set forth,
(God's
sovereignty, higher justice [law of love] and for-
giveness of sin)
is
inseparably connected with
Jesus Christ everywhere called
In him
self.
his
it
For in the proclamation
Jesus Christ. pel,
Gospel
it
which have hitherto
however, in which the Gospel G
God
trust in him.
is
the Gospel
meat and drink and,
personal
He
men.
is
men
unto him-
word and deed;
therefore, is it
and into this
life,
of the Gos-
life
it is
become his
he would draw
all
who knows the Father. Men him how kind the Lord is; in him
the Son,
should see in
they
may
God
over the world and be comforted in this trust
experience the power and sovereignty of
him, the meek and gentle-hearted One, should they follow
;
and inasmuch as
calls sinners
sured that
he, the holy
and pure One,
unto himself, they should be fully as-
God through him
forgives siny'
This close connection of his Gospel with his person, Jesus
but
left
by no means made prominent
his disciples to experience
himself the Son of
Man and
led
it.
them on
in
He
words, called
to the con-
— PROLEGOMENA. he was their Master and
that
fession
17
Messiah.
Jesus Messiah.
them people a comprehensible expression, and
Thereby he gave
and
for his
to his lasting significance for
at the close of his life, in
an hour of great solemnity,
he said to them that his death also like his
life
an imperishable service which he rendered
"many"
By
for the forgiveness of sins.
was
to the
this
he
raised himself above the plane of all others, although
they
may
already be his brethren; he claimed for
himself an unique significance as the as the
Judge ;
Redeemer and
for he interpreted his death, like all
his suffering, as
a triumph, as the transition
ing in his disciples the conviction that he
Lord over the dead and the
is
ligion of the Gospel rests
Christ,
i.e.
upon
living.
lives
(The
re-
looking upon him, that historical Per-
God
and earth, and that God, the Judge,
and Kedeemer.
which
still
this faith in Jesus
son, the believer is convinced that
ligion
to his
and he proved his power by actually awaken-
glory,
and
The
frees
rules
heaven
is also
Father
religion of the Gospel is the re- Fr e e°sS from
men from
all legality,
which, how-
same time lays upon them the highest moral obligations the simplest and the severest and lays bare the contradiction in which every man ever, at the
—
finds himself as regards them.
demption out
men
Redeemer,
and blessed
it
life
life of
it
leads
God, leaves them in his hands, into union with the inexhaustible
Jesus Christ,
who has overcome
the world and called sinners to himself.^ 2
brings re-
of such necessities, in that
to the gracious
and draws their
But
J
gal "
a11
ity
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
18
The General Proclamation concerning
V.
Jesus Christ in the First Generation of His Adherents. Jesus Risen Lord.
i
]\j;
know Jesus
en had learned to
found him to be the Messiah.
Christ and bad
In the
first
him everything was
erations following
two gen-
said about
him which men were in any way able to say. Inasmuch as they knew him to be the Risen One, they exalted him as the Lord of the world and of history, hand
God, as the Way, the
way,
sitting at the right
Life.
Truth and the Life, as the Prince of Life and the living
Power
and the
of death
King.
new King
of a
of
existence, as the of a
Although strong individual ence, Scriptural learning
coming new kingdom. feeling, special experi-
and a fantastic tendency
gave from the beginning a form him, yet
common
Conqueror
to the confession of
characteristics of the proclamation
can be definitely pointed out. f
SSsc!pies°'
The content
2.
of the disciples' belief
eral proclamation of
it
on the ground of the certainty
of the resurrection of Jesus,
lows
:
Jesus
— he will dom,
is
come again and
God and
new community raei.
set forth as fol-
establish a visible king-
—they who believe on him and surrender them-
grace of
itself
can be
the Messiah promised by the prophets
selves entirely to this belief,
church
and the gen-
may
assured of the
of a share in his future glory.
A
of Christian believers thus organized
within the Jewish nation.
munity believed
feel
itself to
And
this
new com-
be the true Israel of the
PROLEGOMENA.
19
Messianic times and lived, accordingly, in
all their
Thus could
thoughts and feelings in the future.
all
the Jewish apocalyptic expectations retain their pow-
time of the second coming of Christ.
er for the
the fulfilment of these hopes the
For
new community pos-
sessed a guarantee in the sacrificial death of Christ,
as also in the manifold manifestations of the Spirit,
which were
upon the members upon
visible
their
entrance into the brother-hood (from the beginning
seems
this introduction
to
by have been accompanied J r
The
baptism) and in their gathering together. session of the Spirit
vidual that he
was an assurance
was not only a
God.
God
Faith in the the
Father
God
added
:
of
to each indi-
" disciple "
"called saint," and, as such, a priest Israel
to this
of Spirit,
*jjFg23f P leshl P-
but also a
and king
became
was
pos-
Possession
of
faith in
faith in Jesus,
the Christ and Son of God, and the witness of the gift of the
Christ.
Holy
Spirit, i.e. of the Spirit of
men
In the strength of this faith
the fear of the
Judge and
in trust in
rested first of all
yet
it
had
its
lived in
who had own people.
God,
already begun the redemption of his
The rproclamation
God and
concerning ° Jesus, the Christ, Preaching Based Enentirely upon the Old Testament, Old owTesta Testa'
'
starting-point in the exaltation of
Jesus through his resurrection from the dead.
To
prove that the entire Old Testament pointed toward
him, and that his person, his work, his fate were the actual
and verbal fulfilment
prophecies,
was the
of the
Old Testament
chief interest of believers, in so
far as they did not give themselves entirely to ex-
ment.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
20
This reference did not
pectations of the future.
make clear the meaning and worth Messianic work this it did not seem to need
serve at once to of the
—
— but rather to establish
the Messiah-ship of Jesus.
However, the Old Testament, as stood,
it
was then under-
gave occasion, through the fixing of the per-
son and dignity of Christ, for widening the scope of the thought of Israel's perfected theocracy.
And,
in addition, faith in the exaltation of Jesus to the
right
hand
of
Gcd caused men
to think of the begin-
ning of his existence in harmony therewith.
Then
the fact of the successful Gentile conversion threw a
new
light
upon the scope of
significance for all
mankind.
sonal claims of Jesus led liar relation la
e<
Be an
tion
m
A
ic
o1
Ages
to
his work,
men
And
i.e.
upon
its
finally the per-
to reflect
on his pecu-
On
God, the Father.
these four
P om ^ s speculation began already in the apostolic age an(^ i* wen t on to formulate new statements concerning the person and dignity of Christ. ing Jesus to be the Christ
men
ceased thereby to
proclaim the Gospel, because the iversUaTo 6 'Irjeovs
was
In proclaim-
rrjpsiv
-dvra
oaa
to be included as a matter of
course and so did not especially engage the thoughts.
That
this
digression
must be is
for
the future a questionable
plain enough;
for since
everything
depends upon the appropriation of the Person of Jesus,
it is
not possible for a personal
life to
be
appropriated through opinions about the Person,
but only through the record of the concrete Personality.
PROLEGOMENA.
Upon x
3.
21
the basis of the plain words of Jesus and x
ot 1 orgive-
men
R?|hteouL
in the consciousness of the possession of the Spirit ,
-,
£
,
were already assured
or
•
,
a.
p ,i
present possession of the
Assurance
ness Before God.
forgiveness of sin, of righteousness before God, of
the full knowledge of the Divine Will and of the call into the future
kingdom.
blessings, surely not a
of the first
coming
In the acquiring of these
few realized the consequences
of the Messiah, i.e. his work,
and
they referred especially the forgiveness of sin to the death of Christ, and eternal
But no
tion.
life to
his resurrec
theories touching the relation of the
blessings of the Gospel to the history of Christ were
propounded
Paul was the
;
first to
develop a theology
upon the basis of the death and resurrection and
to bring
ment
it
into relations with the
of Christ
Old Testa-
religion.
This theology was constructed in opposition to
4.
the legalistic righteousness of the pharisees,
the
official religion of
i.e.,
While
the Old Testament.
form was thereby somewhat conditioned,
its
to its
power
new life of the Spirit, which the Risen One offered, who through his death overcame the world of the flesh and of sin. With the thought that righteousness comes through faith
God who
the
Law by
raised Jesus from the dead
the legal
way
and
fulfilled
of the crucifixion of the
Christ upon the cross, Paul wrenched the Gospel
from
its
native soil and gave
it
at the
same time
through his Christological speculation and his carrying out of the contrast of
flesh
and
spirit,
h !"
o
LeSlsUc PlI O."lit CO US"
rested in the certainty of the
in
üs ^}
a charac-
ness.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
22
teristic
stamp which was comprehensible
Greeks, although they were his special
manner
illy
question of the
prepared to accept
of reconciling
Through Paul, who was the
Law
(in
the
to
it
first
with the Law. theologian, the
theory and practice) and
the principles of missionary activity accordingly be-
came the absorbing themes in the Christian communities. While he proclaimed freedom from the Law and baptized the heathen, forbidding them to become Jews, others now for the first time consciously made the righteousness of Christian believers dependent
upon the punctilious observance Heathen to
°Become
jected Paul as ^ ne
little
Law and
an apostle and as a Christian.
chief disciples of Jesus
not a
of the
re-
Yet
were convinced, perhaps
influenced by the success of Paul, and
conceded to the heathen the right to become Christians without first tested fact
is
at-
had
his personal disciples a faith in
which was dearer
ditions of the fathers.
who
This well
the strongest evidence that Christ
awakened among himself,
becoming Jews.
to
them than
all
the tra-
Yet there were among those
accepted the Pauline mission various opinions
as to the attitude which one should take toward
heathen Christians in ordinary
life
and intercourse.
These opinions held out for a long time. -^- s
mXicmof ls
ity oe^" curreil
sure ty as Paul had fought his fight for the
ivhole of Christendom, so sure also is
it
that the
Apart
transformation of the original form of Christianity
Paul.
j
n^
j^g
universal form took place outside of his
activity (proof/ the
Church
at
Rome).
The Juda-
— PROLEGOMENA.
23
ism of the diaspora was long since surrounded by a
whom
retinue of half-bred Grecian brethren, for
and national forms
particular
were hardly existent
religion
ther, this
Judaism
Jews the
itself
of the Old
Testament
And,
(see VII.).
had begun
the
far-
to transform for
and
spirit-
ual religion without casting aside its forms,
which
the
old religion into a universal
were rather considered significant symbols (myster-
The Gospel, being received
ies).
into these circles,
completed simply and almost suddenly the process of
and
spiritualizing the old religion,
old forms as shells, replacing
new forms
(e.g.,
them
circumcision
heart, likewise also baptism
kingdom
glorious
of Christ,
stripped off the
the Sabbath etc.).
withdrawal from the synagogue
is
The same developed
is also
itself
sequence of the hatred of the Jews, the old faith.
the
The outward here a clear
proof of the power and self -consciousness of the religion.
by
at once in part
circumcision of the
is ;
it
new
rapidly in con-
who adhered
to
Paul exerted an influence, and the
destruction of Jerusalem cleared up entirely the obscurities
which
still
remained.
The Current Exposition of the Old Testament and the jewish future hope, in
VI.
their Bearing on the Earliest Formulation of the Christian Message.
Although the method of the pedant, the casuis-
1. .
tic
_
handling of the
Law and
.
the extortion of the
Exegesis" Retained by church.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
24
deepest meaning of the prophecies, had been in prin-
done away with by Jesus Christ, the old
ciple
school-exegesis tian churches,
method
still
and
remained active in the Chrisespecially the unhistorical local-
in the exposition of the Old
Haggada for a sacred Old Testament was considered
well as the allegoristic and the
—and as such the
text
— ever gard
invites
men
its historical
Testament, as ;
in the exposition of it to disre-
conditions and interpret
ing to the needs of the time.
accord-
it
Especially wherever
the proofs of the fulfilment prophecy,
i.e.,
of the
Messiah-ship of Jesus was concerned, the received point of view exercised
its influence,
as well upon
the exposition of the Old Testament as upon the
conception of the person, fate and deeds of Jesus. It gave,
under the strong impression of the history
of Jesus, to
many Old Testament
passages a foreign
sense and enriched, on the other hand, the
Jesus with details,
new
facts,
life of
throwing the emphasis upon
which were often unreal and seldom
of prime
importance. Jewish Apo^alypt
i
ture
S
r
2. i
The Jewish apocalyptic J r r
literature, as it flour-
sne d after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes,
forbidden within the circles of the the Gospel, but rather
was
it
first
was not
believers of
retained and read as
an explanation of the prophecies of Jesus and, as were, cultivated.
it
Although the content of the same
appeared modified and the uncertainty regarding the person of the Messiah
who was
to
appear in judg-
ment was done away with, the earthly sensuous
PROLEGOMENA.
25
hopes were by no means wholly repressed.
Confused
pictures filled the fancy, threatened to obscure the
plain
and earnest description
every individual soul
is
judgment which
of the
sure
and drove many
of,
friends of the Gospel into a restless turmoil
a detestation of the
state.
and into
Consequently the repro-
duction of the eschatological discourses of Jesus be-
came
indefinite;
even things wholly foreign were
mingled therewith, and the true aim of the Christian life 3.
and hope began
to waver.
Through the apocalyptic
literature, the artificial Mythological
exegesis and the
Haggada, a mass
of mythological
and poetical ideas crowded into the Christian com-
and
Poetical Ideas Legitimized.
The most impor-
munities and were legitimized.
tant for the succeeding times were the speculations in
regard to the Messiah, which were drawn in part
from the Old Testament and the apocalypses and
in
part were constructed in accordance with methods
whose right no one questioned and whose adoption seemed to give security to the faith. Long since in the Jewish religion
men had
given to everything
that is and that happens an existence within the
knowledge of God, but they had in this representation to that only
portant.
reality confined
which
is really
im-
The advancing religious thought had above
Pre-Exist-
ence As-
all
included individuals also, that
nent, within
this speculation
is,
the most promi-
which should
glorify
God, and so a pre-existence was ascribed also to the Messiah, but of such a nature that by virtue of
he abides with
God daring
it
his earthly manifesta-
cribed to Messiah.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
26
In opposition to
tion.
this, the
Hellenic ideas of
pre-existence rooted themselves in the distinguishing of
God and
the
matter; spirit and
same the
and
Spirit is pre-existent
ture is only a shell
which
it
According
flesh.
to
visible na-
Here was
assumes.
the soil for ideas about the incarnation, the assumption of a second nature, etc.
In the time of Christ
these Hellenic ideas influenced the Jewish and thus
both were so spread abroad that even the most prominent Christian teachers adopted them. ious convictions (see V.
ment
of the
kingdom
of
2), that, (1)
God upon
The
relig-
the establish-
the earth and the
sending of Jesus as the perfect Mediator was from eternity the highest purpose in God's plan of salvation, that, (2) the glorified Christ
his
own
(3)
in Jesus
has entered into
proper position of God-like dominion, that,
God has
revealed himself, and that he
therefore excels all Old Testament mediators, yes,
the angel-powers themselves so fixed
(not
without
—these convictions were
the
influence of
thought) that Jesus pre-existed,
i.e.
Hellenic
that in
him a
heavenly Being of like rank with God, older than the world, yes even ßeiigious
its
peared and assumed our
creating Principle, has apflesh.
The
religious root of
Root of speculation.
this speculation lay in sentences such as
20
;
its
I.
Pet.
1,
forms of statement were varied even accord-
ing to the intelligence of the teacher and his familiarity
with the apocalyptic theology or with the
Hellenic philosophy of religion, in which intermediate beings (above all the Logos) played a great role.
PROLEGOMENA.
27
—he
hardly belongs to
Only the Fourth Evangelist the 1st century
— saw with
pre-earthly Christ äpffl itpo$ rov &e6v,
must be
perfect clearness that the
established as #eo? wv
in order not to
iv
endanger the content
and significance of the revelation
of
God
in Christ.
In addition there prevailed in wide circles such con-
communi-
ceptions also as recognized in a spiritual
cation at his baptism the equipment of the
man
Jesus (see the genealogies, the beginning of the
Gospel of Mark) for his
or found upon the
office,
basis of Isa. vii. in his miraculous birth (from a
germ
virgin) the
and spread of to us
;
unique being.
of his
this representation is
On
the other hand,
every teacher
who
it
is
it
is
rise
wholly indistinct
Paul seems not to have known
ginning of the 2d century
(The
it
;
Rise and
Spread Indistinct.
in the be-
almost universal.)
of great significance that
recognized the
new
in Christian
ity as religion ascribed pre-existence to Christ.
Supplement.
— A reference to the witness of proph-
ecy, to the current exposition of the to apocalyptic writings
lation
was not
Old Testament,
and valid methods
sufficient to clear
of specu-
up every new point
which cropped out in the statement of the Christian message. tic,
The earliest brother-hoods were enthusias-
had prophets
in the
midst of them,
etc.
Under
Earliest
Brotherhoods Enthusiastic.
such conditions facts were produced outright continually in the history (e.g., as particularly weighty,
the ascension of Christ and his descent into hell). It is farther
not possible to point out the motive to
such productions, which
first
only by the creation of
Facts Pro-
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
28 the
New
Testament Canon reached a by no means
complete end,
i.e.,
now became
enriched by compre-
hensible mythologumena.
VII.— The Religious Conceptions and the RePhilosophy of the Hellenistic Jews in Their Bearing on the Transformation of the Gospel Message. ligious
Religion of Diaspora, a
and cos-
i.
From
erature
the remnants of Jewish- Alexandrian
(reference
also
is
made
to
the
lit-
Sibylline
Oracles as well as to Josephus) and from the great
propaganda of Judaism in the Grseco-Roman world, it
may
be inferred that there was a Judaism in the
diaspora to whose consciousness the cultus and the
ceremonial law disappeared entirely behind the monotheistic
worship of
God without
images, behind the
moral instruction and the faith in a future reward
was no longer absolutely required of those converted to Judaism one was also satisfied with the cleansing bath. The beyond.
Circumcision
itself
;
Jewish religion seemed here transformed into a com-
mon human morality and mology.
into a monotheistic cos-
Accordingly the thought of the theocracy
as well as the Messianic hope
did not entirely
were valued
fail,
grew dim.
The
latter
however, but the prophecies
chiefly for the proof of the antiquity of the
Jewish monotheism, and the thought of the future spent itself in the expectation of the destruction of the
Roman
empire, of the burning of the world and
PROLEGOMENA.
— the
what
is
which
is specifically
weightiest
29
general judgment.
Jewish preserved
itself
That
under a
high regard for the Old Testament, which was con-
wisdom
sidered as the fountain of all
(also for the
Greek philosophy and the elements of truth in the
Many
non- Jewish religions).
observed punctiliously the symbolical significance. their converts
intelligent
Law
also
for the sake of its
Such Jews, together with
from the Greeks, formed a new Juda-
ism upon the foundation of the pared the
men
soil for
old.
And
Prepara-
ch
n" [*fng
these pre-
the Christianizing of the Greeks,
as well as for the establishment within the empire of a great Gentile
Church
free
from the
the influence of Greek culture
it
Law
;
under
developed into a
kind of universal society with a monotheistic background.
As religion it
put
forward as the most perfect form of that
itself
laid aside the national forms,
"natural" religion, which the Stoa had discovered.
But
in that
way
it
became more moralistic and
lost
a part of the religious energy, which the prophets
and psalmists possessed.
The inner union
of Juda-
ism and the Hellenistic philosophy of religion indicates a great advance in the history of religion
and
culture, but the
same did not lead
creations.
productions passed over into " Chris-
Its
to strong religious
tianity."
The Jewish- Alexandrian philosophy of religion had its most noted defender in Philo, the perfect Greek and the sincere Jew, who turned the religious 2.
—
philosophy of his time in the direction of Neo-
Jewish-
JSSphy^of D
phfia
'
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
30
way
Platonism and prepared the
which was able
theology,
for
to rival the
a Christian philosophy.
Philo was a Platonist and a Stoic, but at the same
time a revelation-philosopher; he placed the
end in that which
is
final
above reason and therefore the
On
highest power in the Divine communication. the other hand, he
saw
in the
human
spirit some-
thing Divine and bridged over the contrast between
God and creature-spirit, between by means
of the personal-impersonal Logos, out of
which he explained material, Ascetic
able
and
nature and history,
it is
evil.
religion
and the world whose
true,
remained to him wholly perish-
His
ethical tendencies had, therefore,
Virtue.
in principle a strong ascetic character,
however much
he might guard the earthly virtues as
relative.
tue fect
is
freedom from the sensuous and
through the touch of Divinity.
passes
all
knowledge; the
latter,
highly prized as the way.
world
is
it is
made
One may say
that Philo
however,
is to
be
Meditation upon the
is
is
per-
This touch sur-
by Philo dependent upon the need
piness and freedom, which
Vir-
higher than
therefore the
all
of hap-
reason.
first
who,
as a philosopher, gave to this need a clear expression,
because he was not only a Greek, but also a
Jew
imbued with the Old Testament within whose view, it is true, Influence of Alexandrian Philosophy of
Religion
Upon Christianity.
the synthesis of the Messiah and of the
Logos did not 3.
The
lay.
practical
fundamental conceptions of the
Alexandrian philosophy of religion must, in different degrees, have
found an entrance very early into
PROLEGOMENA. the Jewish-Christian
31
the diaspora, and
circles of
through the same also into the Gentile-Christian rather the soil
was already prepared wherever
thoughts became widespread.
;
or
these
After the beginning
2d century the philosophy of Philo also be-
of the
came
influential
through Christian teachers, espe-
Logos-doctrine, as the expression of the
cially his
unity of religion, nature and history; and above all his fundamental hermeneutic principles.
Thesys-
vaientinus
Valentine and Orie:en presuppose the system r rsr J ° His fine dualism and allegorical art ("the of Philo.
Presuppose Philo.
terns of
alchemy
Biblical
learned
men
meaning letter
became acceptable Church;
of the
also to the
to find the spiritual
of the sacred text, in part alongside the
and
scientific
")
in
part outside,
was
the
watchword
Christian theology, which in general
possible only
upon such a
basis, since
it
of
was
strove, with-
out recognizing a relative standard, to unify the
monstrous and discordant material of the Old Testa-
ment and the Gospel, and to reconcile both with the religion and scientific culture of the Greeks. Here
was a master, poured the new wine Philo
cedure in tory
is
its
first
in the largest sense
into the old wine-skins
a unit; but in
and
he
— a pro-
ultimate intention justified, since his-
execution the same reality
for
its
pedantic and scholastic
was a source
of illusions, of un-
finally of stultification.
— 32
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
VIII.
— The
Religious
Disposition
the
of
Greeks and Romans in the First Two Centuries and the Contemporary Gr.ecoRoman Philosophy of Religion. SaoWorid
^ügiOTs in
3d and
;3dCentu-
In
tne a S e °f Cicero and Augustus the people's
religion
and the religious sense in general was almost
!•
.
.
entirely
wanting
m
cultured circles, but atter the
ries.
end of the
1st
century of our era a revival of the relig-
ious sense
is
noticeable in the Grseco-Roman world,
which
affected all grades of society
the middle of the 2d century to
decennium
to
decennium.
and seemed
after
grow stronger from
Parallel with
it
went the
not fruitless attempt to restore the old national cults, religious usages, oracles, et cetera.
new
Meanwhile the
religious needs of the time did not reach a vig-
orous or untroubled expression through this
which was made artificial
means.
in part
effort,
from above and in part by
The same sought,
far
more
in ac-
cordance with the wholly changed conditions of the times, to find 'gling
new forms
and intercourse
of gratification (intermin-
of nations —downfall of the old
republican constitutions, institutions and classes
monarchy and absolutism
— social
crises
and pauper-
— influence of philosophy, religion, morality and law — cosmopolitanism and human rights — influx of Oriental cults — knowledge of the world and saism
tiety).
sition
Under the influence of philosophy a toward monotheism was developed out
dispoof the
downfall of the political cults and the syncretism.
PROLEGOMENA. Religion and
33
individual morality became more
closely united: Spiritualization
of the
cults,
en-
Religion
and Moral {
^n f^
-
e
nobling of man, idea of ethical personality, of con-
Repentance and pardon
science
and of purity.
became
of importance, also inner union
with the
Divinity, longing for revelation {asceticism
and
mysterious rites as a means of appropriating the Divine), yearning after a painless, eternal
yond the grave (apotheosis); the earthly
phantom
life (tyxpdreia
and
wma-aati).
life be-
life
as a
Just as in the
2d century the moral swing was the stronger, so in the 3d century the religious increased
—thirst for
more and more
Polytheism was not thereby over-
life.
come, but only shoved aside upon a lower plane,
where
it
was as
mum revealed going
gods),
active as ever.
The numen supre-
fulness in a thousand forms (demi-
its
upward
(apotheosis,
emperor
cult,
dominus ac deus noster ") and downward (maniThe soul itself festations in nature and in history) "
.
is
a super-earthly being
and
of the
;
the ideal of the perfect
man
Leader (Redeemer) was developed and
The new remained in part concealed by the old cultus forms, which the state and piety protected or restored; there was a feeling-around
sought
after
after.
forms of expression, and yet the wise, the
and the
skeptic, the pious
patriot capitulated to the
cultish traditions. Social Or-
2.
The formation
one hand,
and
of social organizations,
on the
the founding of the monarchical
^^ iz
t
it
£??«? cos-
mopolitan-
world-wide
Roman
empire, on the other, had the
ism.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
34
greatest significance as regards the development of
Everywhere there sprang up that cosmopolitan feeling, which points beyond itself, something new.
there toward the practice of charity, here toward
mankind under one head and the wipThe Church appropriated, national lines.
the uniting of
ing out of
piece for piece, the great apparatus of the earthly
Roman
empire; in
saw the portrayal Stoicism, Platonism.
its
constitution, perhaps,
of the Divine
it
also
economy.
Perhaps the most decisive factor in the change
3.
of the religious-ethical attitude
which
in almost all its schools
was the philosophy, had more and more
brought ethics forward and deepened the same.
Upon
the soil of Stoicism, Posidonius, Seneca, Epic-
tetus
and Marcus Aurelius, and upon the
men
Platonism, cal-outlook,
like Plutarch
which
soil
had achieved an
was
obscure, yet in
particulars scarcely admits of improvement.
Neo-Platonism.
A for
to
them
all is
ethi-
in its principles (knowledge, res-
ignation, trust in God)
mon
of
some
Com-
the great value put upon the soul.
religious bent, the desire for Divine assistance,
redemption and for a
tinctly in
Platonists
some
of
them
;
life
beyond, comes out dis-
most clearly
and those who anticipated them
century (preparation by Philo). this
mode
in the Neo-
in the 2d
Characteristics of
of thought are the dualistic contrasting of
the Divine and the earthly, the abstract idea of God, the assertion of the unknowableness of God, skepti-
cism in regard to sense-experience and distrust of the powers of reason
;
at the
same time great
readi-
PROLEGOMENA. ness to investigate
and
35
to utilize the results of the
previous scientific labors; and farther, the
demand
for
freedom from the sensuous through asceticism,
the
want
tion
an authority,
and the fusing Already
ogy. ious
of
belief in
a higher revela-
of religion, science
men began
fantaste within
and mythol-
to legitimize the relig-
Religions
the realm of philosophy, by
Legiti-
mized.
reaching back and seizing the myths as the vehicle of the
sophical
wisdom (romanticism). The philosophy which had thus equipped
deepest
was from the standpoint thinking in
many ways
all particulars, e.g.
of natural science
itself
clear
a retrogression (yet not in
the Neo-Platonic psychology
far better than the Stoic)
;
but
for the deeper religious needs
knowledge.
and
theo-
The inner
life
with
it
is
was an expression
and the better its desires
self-
was now
altogether the starting-point for all thought concern-
ing the world.
Thoughts
of the divine,
Providence, of the kinship of fraternal love, of the ready of
all
men,
gracious
of the
common
and willing forgiveness
wrong, of the indulgent patience, of the insight
into their
own weaknesses were no
of the practical philosophy of the circles,
less the
product
Greeks for wide
than the conviction of the inherent sinful-
ness, of the
need of redemption and of the value of a
human soul which finds its rest only But ^ in God. men possessed no sure revelation, no comprehensive and satisfactory religious communion, no vigorous and religious genius and no conception of history,
which could take the place of the no longer valuable
Revelation
and Relig j
1
^fi^on
"
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
36
political history;
men
possessed no certitude
and
they did not get beyond the wavering between the
God and
fear of
had
this philosophy, the highest the age
Gospel allied
the
and
itself,
Ecclesiastical History of
Hellenistic Philosophy of
to offer,
the stages of the
Dogma during
centuries correspond to
five
Yet with
the deification of nature.
the first
the stages
of the
Religion ivithin
the
same period.
introductory Works to History of Dogma.
As an introduction to the study of the history of dogma the following com° works are to be especially ° * y mended: Schürer, Geschichte des jüdischen Volks
im
Zeitalter
Jesu Christi,
translation published
by T.
2.
&
Bd.
1885
(English
T. Clark).
Weber,
System der altsynagogalen palästinensischen Theologie, 1880.
1883.
ligion, Israel's
Heft,
Wellhausen, Abriss der
Geschichte
und Juda's (Skizzen und Vorarbeiten,
1884).
gie, 4.
Kuenen, Volksreligion und Weltre-
Weiss,
Aufl., 1884.
Lehrbuch der
bibl.
Baldensperger, Das
TheoloSelbstbe-
wustsein Jesu im Licht der messianischen
nungen
seiner Zeit, 1888.
Hoff-
Leben Jesu von Keim,
Weiss and others and the Einleitungen T.
1.
in das
N.
von Reuss, Hilgenfeld, Mangold, Holtzmann und
Weiss.
Weizsäcker, Apostolisches Zeitalter, 1886.
Renan, Hist, des Orig. du Christianisme, T. II.IV. tel,
Pfleiderer,
Das Urchristendum,
Geschichte des A.
T.
i.
1887,
der christl.
Dies-
Kirche,
PROLEGOMENA. 1869,
Philo
Siegfried,
Christian
Platonists
Alex.
v.
37
Alexandria,
of
Untersuchungen von Freudenthal Studien
and
')
Romaine Reville,
d' Auguste
La
('
Boi ssier,
Bernays.
aux Antonins,
Religion ä
Rome
1886 (German by Krüger 1888).
Bigg, The
1875.
sous
1886.
Hellenistische
La
Religion
2 vols., 1874. les
Roms
in der Zeit
von August bis zu Ausgang der Antonine,
3.
Bdd.
Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung,
Aufl.
Bdd. 1878. Griechen,
3.
Leopold Schmidt, Die Ethik der alten 2
Logos, 1872. philos.
Severes,
Friedländer, Dar-
stellungen aus der Sittengeschichte
5.
Die
Bdd. 1882. Hirzel,
Schriften,
3
Heinze, Die Lehre
vom
LTntersuchungen zu Cicero's Thle.
1877.
Die Lehrbücher
der Geschichte der Philosophie von Zeller, Ueber-
weg, Strümpell and others,
part
t,
THE RISE OF ECCLESIASTICAL DOGMA.
BOOK
I.
THE PREPARATION.
CHAPTER
I.
HISTORICAL SURVEY.
THE
first
century of the existence of Gentile
Christian communities
hope,
(3)
characterized,
Jewish Christianity,
the rapid retirement of religious
is
(1)
by
(2)
by
°S
enthusiasm and the strength of the future
by a severe morality deduced from the
Masters' teaching,
(4)
by the manifold form and
freedom of expression of
belief,
on the basis of plain
formulas and ever increasing tradition,
(5)
by the ,
lack of a definite authority, in the transition to a
recognized outward authority (6)
GentileChristiau c uni
by the lack of a
among
the churches,
political connection
among
the
various communities, and by an organization which
was firm and yet permitted individual
liberty, (7)
by the development of a peculiar literary claiming assent to
its
newly produced
the reproduction of detached phrases 39
activity,
facts, (8)
by
and individual
)(
;
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
40
inferences from the
apostolical teaching,
a clear understanding of the same,
(9)
without
by the
crop-
ping out of those tendencies which served in every
way
to hasten the process already
begun
of fusing
the Gospel with the spiritual and religious interests
—with Hellenism, —as well as by numer-
of the time,
ous attempts to wrench the Gospel free from
its
native setting and to introduce elements foreign to
And
it.
finally,
above
all, it
belonged to the (Hel-
lenic) representation to consider
a (charismatic) supplement to /
essence with
knowledge, not as
faith,
but as of like
it.
CHAPTER
II.
GROUND COMMON TO CHRISTIANS AND ATTITUDE TAKEN TOWARD JUDAISM. Beliefs
Common is to tians
That the great majority of Christians had common De^ e ^ s * s indicated by this fact, among others, that gnosticism
churches.
was gradually
expelled from the
Assurance of the knowledge of the true
God, consciousness of responsibility Christ, hope in eternal
ent world,
we
—these
life,
to
him, faith in
exaltation above the pres-
were fundamental thoughts.
enter into details the following points
may
If
be
noted Gospel.
l.
is
The Gospel, being founded upon a
revelation,
the reliable message of the true God, the faithful
acceptance of which guarantees salvation
;
;
THE PREPARATION. The
2.
real content of this
41
message
is
spiritual Content
of
Message.
monotheism, the announcement of the resurrection
and eternal
life,
as well as the proclamation of moral
purity and abstinence on the ground of repentance
toward God and of attested cleansing through baptism in remembrance of the reward of good and evil;
This message comes to us through Jesus Christ,
3.
who
" in these last
days
"
is
through
the commissioned Sa-
viour and stands in a peculiar relationship with God.
He full
Redeemer
the
is
knowledge
(;pa>
and
God and
of
and
£<*>yj,
pression for the
(<7torrj{))
because he has brought the gift of eternal
life
especially yvtoavs r^? £^7^ the ex-
summa
of the Gospel).
He
is also
the highest Prototype of every ethical virtue, the
Law-Giver and the
Law
of the perfect
and
life,
accordingly the Conqueror of demons and the Judge of the world 4.
Virtue
is
abstinence (a renunciation of the good
things of this world, in which the Christian stranger,
and whose destruction
is
is
awaited)
a
virtue is Abstinence and Love,
and
brotherly love; 5.
The message
of
the Christ
is
entrusted
to
chosen men, to apostles, and more especially to one
preaching
their
Christ.
Moreover, the Spirit of God reproduces his
gifts
and graces
special "prophets
os "
to
ti^
the preaching of the
apostle;
is
E^Sfed
in the " saints, "
and thus equips
and teachers," who receive com
munications for the edification of others 6.
Christian worship
is
the offering of spiritual
worship.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
42
sacrifice
without regard to statutory
monies; the holy
offices
rites
and
cere-
and anointings, which are
connected with the Christian
cult,
have their virtue
in this, that spiritual blessings are therewith im-
parted Basis of Brotherhood.
;
The
7.
ality
barriers of sex, age, position
and nation-
vanish entirely for Christians, as Christians;
the Christian brotherhood rests upon the Divine election Spirit;
and
is
organized through the gifts of the
in regard
ground of election there
to the
were divers views Christianity
8.
and
Judaism.
is
Since Christianity
is
the only true religion and
not a national religion, but belongs to
and pertains
to our inmost
life, it
all
mankind
follows that
it
can
have no special alliance with the Jewish people, or with their peculiar
cult.
The Jewish people
of to-
day, at least, stand in no favored relationship with the
God whom Jesus has
formerly did that
is
God has
revealed; whether they
doubtful; this, however, cast
them
off,
is certain,
and that the whole
Divine revelation, so far as there was any revelation prior to Christ (the majority believed in one
and
looked upon the Old Testament as Holy Scripture)
had as
its
end the calling of a
the spreading of the revelation Son.
new nation " and of God through his "
THE PREPARATION.
CHAPTER
43
III.
THE COMMON FAITH AND THE BEGINNINGS OF SELFRECOGNITION IN THAT GENTILE CHRISTIANITY WHICH WAS TO DEVELOP INTO CATHOLICISM. Sources: The writings of the so-called Apostolic Fathers, drawn from the Works of the Apologists of the 2d century Ritschi, Entstehung der alt-kath. Kirche, 2. Ed. 1857; Engelhardt, Das Christenthum Justins, 1878; Pfleiderer, Das Urchristenthum, 1887. inferences ;
The Christian Communities and the Church.
1.
— Both the outlines and the character of the foundations of Christianity
were
fixed
by those
disciples of
who were members of well-ordered communities, and who accepted the Old
the faith,
Chris-
tian
Testa-
ment as an
and prized
original Divine revelation
the Gospel tradition as a free message for
should be kept faithfully pure.
Each
little
hood should, through the strength of certainty of its hope
the holy
Church
of
which
brother-
its faith,
and the holy ordering
as well as through love
all,
of its
the life,
and peace, be an image
God, which
is in
heaven and
whose members are scattered over the earth; should, also, in the purity of its daily life
genuineness of to those
who
its
of
and
it
in the
brotherly kindness be an ensample
are "without,"
In the recently discovered
"
i.e.
to the alien world.
Teaching of the Apos-
we come upon the sphere of interest in those communities who had not yet been influenced by
tles "
philosophical speculation.
They awaited the return
Fixing of Outlines h a
act£ of an ity!
":
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
44
of the Christ,
and urged a holy
dependence of
its
ethical rules
Two Ways,
life ("
upon the Jewish- Alex-
andrian gnomic and the Sermon on the Mount) and,
without outward union and a
common
polity, they
recognized themselves as belonging to the
new and
yet original creation of God, to the Church, which the true Eve, the Bride of the heavenly Christ
is
Apolog. 39
(Tertull.
corpus sumns de conscientia
:
religionis et disciplinae imitate et spei foedere ;
Clem. 14
II. £/.
ffzoo
'
Xiyei
xai $7jXu tions of
the Faith.
sta "
zT q -fiwz-qs zT^ t
£xzt(T;j.ivr)$
yap y
.
.
.
nazpus
ixxXrjffia
^axra
iitofyffev 6 d-su<$
ypacpij
ijfiwv iffo/iefta
irpu
Trvso/iazixrjs, zrjs ffäi/id
r^Xioo
eazi Xpi-
zuv avOpwizov apffev
zu apazv lazXv 6 XptffröSj zu ft^Xo
•
ixxX^trcaY
rj
The Foundations of the Faith, i.e. of the J con f ess i ons respecting the One God and Jesus and 2.
Holy
also the
°ment
~<>l<wvzs$ zo fttXrjtia zoo
T7JS t/r/.Xrjdiaq
xa\ ffeXri^r^
Founda-
:
^ ze(^
"
O^
Spirit,
were
laid
by the
"
Christian-
Testament Scriptures, together with the
apocalypses and the ever increasing traditions con-
cerning the Christ (his ethical and eschatological dis-
and the proclamation
courses, on the one side,
Prophecy was
the history of Jesus on the other).
proven by theology. Ar
°f
Fa!th
didder},
at 6
^reed^
Already at an early date short
ar ^ c l es °f faith had been formulated 7zapadoftz\s
*
7)
X6yo$, 6
nS
cree(l,
TiMTZsuu)
xavibv
zfjs
xi(Jzi$, 6 xavcov zrj?
Rome had ete
'IyfTouv, uiuv
of
(y
-apadoGeio?, zu
izicrzsios,
etc.).
icapddom^ 6 X7jpuyrj.a,
ij
The church
formulated before a.D. 150 the follow-
which was the basis 0suv
Ttazipa
for all future creeds
itavzoxpazopa
•
xai
ei$
Xpiazuv
aozou zuv fxuvayev^ zöv xuptov yjpwv, zöv yewy-
THE PREPARATION. üivra ix 7zv£up.aTos dytoo xat Mapla$ IIovtioo
GTaüpioftlvTa
IJiXaTiw
ävaardvTa
ix vexpwv,
ävaßävza
xapftivou, tov
zpfari i^xipa
rou? obpavobs,
xaftrjfi^vov iv
8s^ca too -arp6<$, o?9ev epyerat xplvat £wvras xat vsxpous eis
ay tov
ftveufia
,
ayiav
im
ra^hza^ ry
xat
ei$
rrfi
45
ixxXijetav,
a
xai
apapriwy, uapxös
Everything that had been prophesied con-
mse of
cerning the Christ in the Old Testament, and that
Appeal.
ävdaraffiv.
had been Gospel,
testified
was
concerning him in the primitive
referred back to the concurrent teach-
ing and testimony of the twelve apostles xupiou ocd ru)v
appeal,
ift
d-oGTöhov)
The
.
rise of this court of
which was the beginning
Catholic tradition,
upon an a priori. identified
with
it,
Of is
of the idea of
historically obscure
is
like
{prfa-xy
and
rests
authority, though not
Paul with his Epistles, which
were, moreover, diligently read. 3.
faith
The Principal Elements of Christianity were in God, the $£0x6™$ and in his Son, on the '
'
'
ity.
ground of the fulfilment of prophecy and of the apostolic attested
teaching of the Lord, the discipline in
down by the Masa common sacrificial
accordance with the standard laid ter,
baptism culminating in
prayer, the of the near
communion meal, and coming
the certain hope
of Christ's glorious
kingdom.
The confessions of faith were very manifold there was not as yet any definite doctrine of faith imagi;
;
nation,
speculation
and the exclusively
interpretation of the Old Testament
range
;
for
man must
spiritual
had the widest
not quench the Spirit.
Main Eiecnnstian-
In the
exercise of prayer the congregations expressed that
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
46
which they possessed
God and
in
in Christ
;
and the
duty of sacrificing this world for the hoped-for future Conccptions of salvation.
side of faith appeared as the nractical * L r
vaiy
m g conceptions of
The
itself.
salvation grouped themselves
about two centres, which were only loosely connected cinhasm.
;
^ie
an( j
was
the one
fixed chiefly
by the disposition
imagination, the other by the
On
intellect.
was believed to consist in the approaching glorious kingdom of Christ, which should bring joy upon the earth to the righteous (this realistic Jewish conception was dethe one side, accordingly, salvation
rived directly from the apocalypses
:
Chiliasm, and
hence the interest in the resurrection of the physical
On
body).
K
ge of
God
s * s^
i
n a
the other side, salvation
definite
and
full
was held
knowledge of God (and the
world) as against the errors of heathenism ,
knowledge disclosed
and
gift of life
all
to
to con-
faith (rwres)
and
;
this
and hope the
imaginable blessings
(less
em-
was accoidingly placed on the resurrection of Of these blessings the brotherthe physical body). phasis
hood was already in possession of the forgiveness sin view!
and
of righteousness, in so far as theirs
brotherhood of saints.
of
was a
But these two blessings ap-
peared to be endangered as to their worth by emphasizing the
moral point
of view, in accordance with
which
eternal life is looked upon, for the
as the
wages and the reward
lived in one's
thought was a
new moral
own
still
most
of a perfect moral life
strength.
It is
true that the
present, that sinlessness rests
creation (the
part,
new
birth)
which
upon
is real-
THE PREPARATION. ized in
baptism
but
;
was ever
it
47
in danger of being
crowded out by the other thought, that there are no blessings in salvation save revealed knowledge
the eternal in
life,
but rather only a catalogue of duties,
which the Gospel
cetic holiness
and
forth as the
is set
and love)
New
Laiv
The " Christianizing "
.
(as
of the
Gospel as
New Law.
Old Testament served tion.
The
idea,
it is
tteuftepia?
— Christ
was already present
true,
the Gospel, in so far as gift of salvation
promote this Greek concep-
to
law
it is
(v6fj.o$
olvsu
himself
is
(v6/io$)
includes the
ävdyxyjg
fyyou
the
,
Law)
;
that
—
vofiog
r^g
but this rep-
was always doubtful and was gradually abandoned. The setting forth of the Gospel under resentation
the conceptions: yvdxr^
(God and world),
Ixayyzlia
(eternal life), v6/io? (moral duty), appeared as plain as it
was exhaustive, and
in every relation the mates
held to be confirmed, since
it
exhibits itself in knowl-
edge as well as in hope and in obedience reality
it
is
only mans t^?
was
zA^Vco»?,
;
but in
a preparation, be-
cause the blessings of salvation (the
ßa
as well as the ä
la this hope of the future, salvation as realizing
itself in
moral-gnostic view
ual possession,
it
considered as an individ-
is
and reward and punishment are
emptying r J ° the conception 1
of
God
it,
which
results in
of its content.
The
sin, forgiveness and righteousness in
Clement, Barnabas and Polycarp line phrases
forth
a brotherhood, while in the
represented as co-ordinated with
moral view of
is set
and formulas
;
is
overlaid by Pau-
but the uncertainty with
Transition to Moral -
lsm
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
48
which these are quoted indicates that they were not In Her mas and
really understood.
ground of the forgiveness energizing
fierdvota.
Clement the
II.
of sin is the spontaneous
The wide-spread idea that griev-
ous sins could not be forgiven those baptized, but that light sins
who had been
might be condoned,
indicates the complete transition to a barren, theoretical
moralism, which was, however,
still
overlaid
by an apocalyptic enthusiasm, influence of Old
Testament.
4.
The Old Testament as the Soiwce of J the Knowl-
ea\ge of Faith contributed,
(1) to
the monotheistic cosmology,
the development of
(2) to.
the setting forth of
the proofs of prophecy and of the antiquity of Christianity ("older than the world"), (3) to the establish-
ing of
and
the ecclesiastical ideas, rights
all
monies, which were considered necessary,
deepening of the
life of faith
fragments),
to the
nation, cast off
i.e.
(5)
(4)
cere-
to the
(Psalms and prophetical
refuting of
Judaism as a
to the proving that this people
had been
by God, and that they had either never had
any covenant with him (Barnabas), or had had a covenant of wrath, or had forfeited their covenant; that they had never understood the Old Testament and
were therefore now deprived of
it,
had ever been
(the attitude of the
in possession of
it
if,
indeed, they
Church as a whole toward the Jewish people and their history appears to
have been originally as
definite as the attitude of the gnostics
Old Testament)
ment and
.
to give
Attempts it
to correct the
in-
toward the Old Testa-
a Christian sense were not want-
THE PREPARATION. ing
;
in the formation of the
were rudimentary 5.
efforts
New
toward
49
Testament there
this end.
Faith Knowledge was above
all
a knowledge
God
is
Creator,
God
as the only spiritual and al1 J supernatural, r r mighty Being: God is the Creator and Ruler of
of
the world and is therefore the Lord.
much
But
and ^Redeemer. ul r ?
'
inas-
as he created the world as a beautiful, well-
ordered whole (monotheistic theory of nature) for the sake of
man, he
of goodness
and
the same time the
is at
of redemption
(#eos
aiuT-qp),
God and
only through the knowledge of the identity of the
Creator and Redeemer
God
does faith in
the Father reach its perfection. ever,
was
necessary, because
in the very beginning fell
A
demons.
God
as
Redemption, how-
mankind and
the world
under the dominion of
general and acceptable theory in re-
Dominion
gard to the origin of this dominion did by no means exist;
but the conviction was fixed and universal,
that the present condition
and course
not of God, but of the devil.
mighty Creator, and hope
Still,
of the world is faith in the al-
in the restoration of the
make any headway and practical dualism dominated. The
earth did not allow theoretical dualism to
practical
Dualism.
world
is
course of cillated
good and belongs to God, but the present it is
of the devil.
Thus men's thoughts
os-
between the conception of the world as a
beautiful and orderly whole, and the impression of the present evil course of things, of the baseness of the sensuous
the world. 4
and of the dominion
of
demons
in
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
50 Jesus
is
G.
Lord and Saviour like God.
Faith in Jesus Christ as the Redeemer was
closely identified
Jesus
zvpto$
is
with faith in
and
awrrjp
God
like
as the Redeemer.
God, and the same
words were often used without indicating whether the reference
was
to
vealer
and Mediator
(God)
is
him
or to
God
;
for in the Re-
of salvation (Jesus)
,
the Author
represented (the purpose of salvation and
the revelation of
it
coincide)
;
prayer, however,
was
made to God through Christ. This title given to Jesus ("
Christ
")
became indeed a mere name, since there
was no real knowledge of the meaning of Titles
Therefore
Gentile
the
Christians
"
Messiah."
were
obliged
Given to Jesus.
through other means to find expressions for the dignity of Jesus
;
but they possessed in the
full eschato-
logical traditions valuable reminiscences of the orig-
inal apprehension of the Person of Jesus.
confession that
God has chosen and
pared Jesus, that he of God,
and that he
is
the
shall
In the
specially pre-
"Angel" and "Servant"
judge mankind, and simi-
lar expressions, other utterances
were made concern-
ing Jesus, which sprang from the fundamental idea that he
was
the " Christ " called of
trusted with an traditional,
Son of God.
office.
God and
en-
In addition there was a
though not common, reference
to
him
as
"The Teacher." The title " Son of God " (not " Son of Man ") was traditional, and was maintained without any wavering. Out of this grew directly the conception that Jesus belongs to the sphere of God and that one must think of him " ws itepi fteou " (II. Clem. 1). In
THE PREPARATION.
51
this phrasing of it the indirect theologia Christi, in
regard
to
which there was no wavering, found ex-
pression in classical forms.
It is
God,
of Jesus as one thinks of
God-exalted Lord and Judge,
knowledge and
true
life
necessary to think
(1)
(2)
because he
is
the
because he brought
and has delivered mankind
from the dominion of demons, from error and sin, or will deliver them. Therefore he is ^nj>, zvpw$, &ed$ fjfiaiv,
dei filins ac dens, dominus ac deus, but not
He
«e
is
6
"our Hope," "our Faith," the High-
Priest of our prayers,
and "our Life."
Starting from this basis there were divers theories in regard to the Person of Jesus,
which however
all
Theories of Person of Jesus,
bore a certain analogy to the naive and the philo" theologies",
Greek
sophical
but there were no uni-
We may distinguish
versally accepted "doctrines".
here two principal types the
:
Jesus was looked upon as
man whom God had
Spirit of
God
in accordance
(the
chosen and in
Godhead
itself)
whom
the
dwelt; he was,
with his own testimony, adopted by
God and
clothed with authority (Adoption Chris-
tology)
or Jesus
;
spiritual
Being
Being next
to
was looked upon (the
God),
highest
heavenly
who became
after the completion of his
as a heavenly spiritual
incarnate and
work upon the earth
returned to the heavens (Pneumatic Christology
;
Two
chris-
tolotrics
the transition here to the easy). fied
Logos Christology was
These two different Christologies (the Dei-
man and
the Divine Being appearing in the
form of a man) were however brought closely
to-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
52
God
gether so soon as the implanted Spirit of
in
man Jesus was looked upon as the pre-existent Son of God (Hennas) and so soon as the title " Son
the
,
of God," as applied to that spiritual Being,
derived from his (miraculous)
however, were maintained. transition forms the
distinguished
:
incarnation
was
— both,
Notwithstanding these
two Christologies may be
clearly
In the one case the election (emphasis
upon the miraculous occurrence at the baptism) and the exaltation to Naive do-
God are
a naive docetism
;
characteristic
human form
or else his
gift,
nacle).
The
was no twowas looked upon as
as a temporary taber-
was undoubtedly from
and always highly objectionable denial of the " N
l0
daHsm
tifi^cl
was a mere man
declaration: Jesus
(
&
in the other,
for as yet there
nature theory (Jesus' divinity
a
;
;
;
the beginning
was the which iden-
likewise
but the theories
Godhead (naive aside with the same assur-
the Person of Jesus with the
modalism) were not cast ance.
A formal
theory of the identity of
God and
Jesus does not seem to have been wide-spread in the
The acceptance
Church
at large.
least of
one heavenly, eternal, spiritual Being close
of the existence at
God was demanded outright by the Old Testament Scriptures, as men understood them, so that all to
were constrained
to recognize this,
whether or not
they had any basis for reconciling their Christology
with that heavenly Being. Pneumatic ogy.
The pneumatic Christology was always found wherever
men gave
themselves to the study of the
THE PREPARATION.
53
Old Testament and wherever faith in Christ as the complete revelation of i.e.
it
is
God was the foremost
thought,
found in all the important and educated
Christian writers (not in Hermas, but in Clement,
Barnabas, Ignatius,
ogy seemed
etc.
to be directly
).
Because this Christol-
demanded by the Old Tes-
tament as then expounded, because
it
alone united
and reconciled creation and redemption, because
it
furnished the proof that the world and religion have
same Divine Source, because the most esteemed primitive Scriptures championed it, and, finally, be-
the
cause
it
gave room for the introduction
speculation,
it
was the Christology
of the Logos-
of the future.
The adoption Christology, however, proved
itself
insufficient over against the consideration of the re-
lation of religion to the cosmos, to its
And
-
Old Testa-
the advocates of the pneumatic Chris-
tology did not set
menon;
ogy
humanity and
history, as well as over against the
ment.
Adoption
forth as a doubtful theologu-
it
their expositions of
(Clement, Ignatius,
it
Barnabas, Justin), on the contrary, indicate that they could not conceive of a Christianity without
On
faith in the divine spiritual Being, Christ.
the
other hand, in the liturgical fragments and prayers that have
come down
to the pre-existence
the xupiog to
whom
prayer
Giving
we
it sufficed
;
The representations r as teacher:
to us,
may
of the
of
find little reference
that Jesus
is
now
be addressed.
work
of Christ. (Christ x
knowledge, proclaiming of
the new law; Christ as Saviour: Giving of
life,
con
Christ as
Teacher an av "
^
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
54
quering of demons, forgiving of past sins in the time of error) were connected
by some (following current
tradition, using the Pauline Epistles)
with his death
and resurrection, by others they were affirmed withIndependent
out direct reference to these facts. flections
upon the
close
re-
union of the saving work of
Christ with the facts set forth in his preaching are
nowhere found; and yet the representation free
endurance of suffering, of the
blood of Christ,
was accepted
as a holy mysterium, in
and power
in
cross,
and
of the of the
many communities
which the deepest wisdom
of the Gospel
is
concealed (Ignatius),
although the death on the cross and the forgiveness of sin
were by no means everywhere
(as in
Clement,
Polycarp and Barnabas) inseparably joined together
(Hermas knows nothing whatever about such a The peculiarity and the individuality of the union).
work of the historical Christ were moreover menaced by the idea that Christ had been the revealer of God in the Old Testament, ateffni-
n G°iven to Facts.
-^
* ne
^ ac ^ s
pertaining to the history of Jesus,
the real and the imagined, received an exaggerated
when reiterated in the work and when attacked by heretics. To
significance
of instruc-
tion
the mirac-
ulous birth, death, resurrection, exaltation and return,
was added day and,
definitely
now
the ascension on the 40th
less definitely, the
descent into
hell,
while
was more and more ignored. The reality of these occurrences was strongly emphasized but they had not yet become " dogmas" the history of the baptism
;
THE PREPARATION. for they
55
were neither inseparably connected with the
idea of salvation, nor were they definitely outlined,
nor was the
fantaste
restricted in its artistic exuber-
ance. 7.
That the Worship of God should be a pure,
spiritual exercise, without ceremonies,
was taken
for
Every divine service was looked upon as
granted.
a spiritual offering
(of
thanks) accompanied with
and deeds of compassionate
fasting
worship,
The
love.
Lord's Supper (eucharist) was held to be an offering in the strictest sense of the word,
which was associated with the poor)
(e.g.
it
gi£?e?
and everything assistance of
became imbued with the idea
of sacrifice.
Thenceforward the institutional idea found a wide range, notwithstanding the essential spirituality of
worship. "
Starting with the idea of the symbolical,
mysteries " which were so necessary to the Greeks
were soon established. Father, Son and Spirit
Baptism in the name of the was esteemed as the mystery
through which the sins of blindness are wholly aside,
set
and which only thenceforward, however,
imposes obligations (mortal baptism,
sins,
committed
were considered unpardonable, and yet
who
pardoning power was reserved for God
and there exercises spired men.
it
here
upon the earth through
The idea and
practice of
ond repentance" were born through the necessity,
after
in-
a "secstress
of
became however wide-spread, and were
then established by the prophetical book of Hermas).
Baptism was
called
and
<pa>Tt
(no infant
Baptism
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
56
baptism); the uniting of baptism with the gift of the
Holy
Spirit
became somewhat uncertain.
Lord's Supper was viewed as
<pa.pii.axov
Didache; the
for-
is
not there mentioned)
once a communion meal and a
it
was
sacrificial
were the ideas of grace and of
just as
at
meal.
sacrificial
Hellenic conceptions early crowded in here
(see Ignatius, Justin, ganization.
;
Realism and symbolism were here mingled together,
offering.
Church Or-
as
life
giveness of sins
bolism.
äftovaaLas,
a mysterious communication of gnosis and of (see the eucharistic prayer in the
Realism and Sym-
The
Apol.
I.,
the close).
Church organization, as such, exercised no fluence
upon the form
about the year 150.
which the
in-
of the statement of belief until
And
yet the high esteem in
apostles, prophets
and teachers were held
laid the foundation for future developments
Ignatius had already declared
that
;
the
besides,
attitude
toward the bishop determined the attitude toward
God and toward that one
Christ,
and other teachers
must follow the "ancients", the
insisted disciples
of the apostles, in all things.
11
system !*
inEmbryo.
This survey indicates that the decisive premises for the evolution of the Catholic
were already
system of doctrine
in existence before the
middle of the 2d
century and before the heated contest with gnosticism.
The
records
which have come down
the 1st century of the Gentile
to us
Church are
from
of a very
THE PREPARATION.
57
varied character from the point of view of the history of dogma.
In the Diclache
for the Christian
life,
we have a catechism
Didache.
dependent upon a Jewish-
Greek catechism, and bringing out in the prayers and
ecclesiastical discipline that
is specifically
The Barnabas-Epistle, probably
Christian.
exandrian
which
of Al-
BarnabasEpistle.
teaches the correct (Christian)
origin,
interpretation of the Old
Testament, casts
aside
verbal interpretation and Judaism as of the devil,
and follows Paul
essentially as regards Christology.
The same Christology is represented in the Roman 1. Clement- Epistle, which also contains Pauline reminiscences (in regard to atonement and
Cle-
ment.
justifi-
but these are conceived from the moral
cation),
It is classically represented in
standpoint.
Pasto?*
I.
and in the
11.
eschatological element
Christology of
author of the
the II.
Her mas
Clement- Epistle, where the is
also very prominent.
former
Clem.
is
ment.
the
no consistent
Christology, but follows various motives.
The
the-
the most advanced, in so far as
ology of Ignatius
is
he, in the contest
with the gnostics, made the facts
of salvation
Pastor, II. Cle-
The
the adoption;
Epist. has
Hernias
Jp+Äir
prominent and drew his own gnosis
from the history of Christ rather than from the Old Testament. xvsußa
He
and xarä
sought to
make Jesus
Christ, xarä
adpxa, the centre of Christianity.
The
Epistle of Polycarp is characteristic on account of
its
dependence upon earlier Christian writings (Paul's Epistles,
I.
Peter,
I.
John), and on account of
its
conservative attitude toward the most valuable tra
Polycarp Epistle.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
58 Praedicatio
The Prcedicatio Petri marks
ditions.
the transition
Petri.
from the primitive Christian
literary activity to the
apologetic writers (Christ as v6ßo$
CHAPTER
and
Aopo?).
IV.
THE ATTEMPT OF THE GNOSTICS TO CONSTRUCT AN APOSTOLIC DOCTRINE OF FAITH AND TO PRODUCE A CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY OR, THE ACUTE SECULARIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY. ;
of Justin and the early Catholic with Epiphanius and Theodoret. Fragments collected by Hilgenfeld, Ketzergesch, 1884. Descriptions by Neander, Gnostische System, 1818, Baur, Gnosis, 1835, Lipsius, Gnosticismus, 1860, Moeller, Kosmologie in der griech. Kirche, 1860 vide also Renan, Hist. des. Orig. du Christian isme ", T. V.-VII.
Sources
:
The writings
Fathers, together
;
1-
Gnosti-
w^
Gnosticism
m
'
movement
cretic
is
of the 2d
was occasioned by ions,
a manifestation of the great syn-
and 3d
centuries,
which
the interchange of national relig-
by the contact
of Orient
and Occident, and by
the influence of Greek philosophy upon religion in Aims at a World-Religion.
general.
°
{ on ^
j
n
It
aimed
which
men
at the
winning
of a world-reliq.
should be rated, not on the basis
of citizenship, but according to the standard of their intellectual
and moral aptitude.
The Gospel was
ognized as a world-religion only in so far as
it
rec-
could
be severed from the Old Testament religion and the
Old Testament, and be moulded by the religious philosophy of
the Greeks and
grafted upon
the
existing cultus-wisdom and practice of occult mys-
THE PREPARATION. The means by which
teries.
was
to be
this artificial
The
by the Greek
possibility of the rise of a
had everywhere
Christian
commu-
where there was already an
exuberant tendency to spiritualize the Old Testament
and where the
cla
-
Besides, the Gospel of
and especially Christ himself, had made such
men were
an overwhelming impression that sessed
Jewish
intellectual interest in relig-
ion had long been unbridled. Christ,
Method
fallen heir to the heritage of
the Jewish propaganda,
religion,
Allegorical A
religious philoso
gnosticism lay in this, that the Christian nities
union
brought about was the allegorical method
as used long since phers.
50
by the strongest impulse
pos-
to subordinate their
highest conceptions to him, whence, as so often, the
"victus victori legem dat" attained nally the Christian preaching
christian
Fi-
its right.
from the beginning
promised a gnosis of the wisdom of God, espe cially that of
churches in
wisdom as
Paul an antinomian gnosis, and the the empire
Xoftxi)
conceived
Xarpzia, in
the Christian
accordance with their
Greek conceptions; they combined the mysterious with a marvellous openness, the spiritual with the
most significant
rites,
and sought
in
this
way,
through their organization and through their "philosophical life", to realize that ideal for
Hellenic religious spirit
was then
striving,
which the
—namely,
a communion, or fellowship, which, upon the basis of a
Divine revelation, comes into the possession of
the highest holiest life,
knowledge and therefore
and which communicates
realizes
the
this knowledge,
Mysterious Rites
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
60
not through rational discussion, but through mysterious, efficacious consecrations
and revealed doc-
trines, 2-
stageof
We
are
now
prepared to assert, that in gnos-
was reached, Church and which under-
ticism the acute stage of a process
which began early
went a slow and
distinct evolution under the Catho-
The
system.
lic
the 1st century;
in the
gnostics were the theologians of
they were the
to transform
first
Christianity into a system of doctrines (dogmas);
they were the
first to treat
tradition
and the primitive
Christian Scriptures systematically
;
they undertook
to set forth Christianity as the absolute religion,
they therefore placed
Judaism)
;
in opposition to the other re-
Old Testament as well (not alone
ligions, to that of the
to
it
and
but the absolute religion, which they
coupled with Christ, was to them essentially identical
with the results of the philosophy of religion, for which they had Attempt to Fuse n" C ri it and Hellenism,
now found
were accordingly a
the basis in a revelation class of
jjelleiiic culture,
and Hellenic culture
essayed
for Christian-
and they thereby abandoned the Old Testament
in order to fitly close
opposing forces.
°phy (revealed cukTneos- os ophy *
who
They
through a sharp onset to conquer Christianity for
ity,
christian-
Christians
:
up the breach between the two
Christianity
became an
occult the-
metaphysics and apparition philos-
ophy, permeated with the Platonic spirit and with
Pauline ideas, constructed out of the material of
an old cultus-wisdom which was acquired through mysteries and the illumined understanding, defined
THE PREPARATION.
61
by a keen and, in part, true criticism of the Old Testament religion and the scant faith of the Church. Consequently one
obliged to verify in the promi-
is
nent gnostic schools the Semitic cosmological prinHellenic
the
ciples,
philosophical ideas
knowledge of the redemption
And
Christ.
of the
and the
world through
one must also take account of these
The speculative philosophical, the cultish-mystical and the dualistic -ascetic. The con-
three factors:
Three x
sictjors.
junction of these elements, the entire transformation of every ethical
lemand,
problem into a cosmoloencal prob-
view that human history
nnally, the
is
but a continuation of natural history, especially that
redemption
had
its
ment
is
but the last act in the drama which
Godhead
origin in the
in the world
—
all
itself
and
its
develop-
these are not peculiar to
gnosticism, but a stage in the general development
which was
in
many ways
related to Philonism
and
which anticipated Neo-Platonism and Catholicism. Out of the crass mythology of an Oriental religion, by the transformation of the concrete forms into speculative and ethical ideas, such as " Abyss", " Silence",
"Logos", "Wisdom", "Life" (the Semitic
names were
often retained), there
was formed a my-
thology of notions in which the juxtaposition and the
number
of these ideas
pounding of a scheme.
were determined by the pro-
Thus was produced a
philo-
sophical, dramatico-poetic representation similar to
the Platonic, but far
more
fantastical, in
more complicated and therefore
which those mighty powers, the
philosophic ic
Dramat-
^^
c
.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
62
spiritual
and the good, appeared
to
have been brought
and the
into an unholy alliance with the material base,
from which however
sisted
by kindred powers which are too exalted ever
finally the spiritual, as-
The good
to be abased, is after all rendered free.
and the heavenly which is
human
the
is
and the sublime Power which
spirit;
sets it free is the Christ.
Gospel HistoryAllegorical
degraded to the material
.The Gospel history
is
not
the history of Christ, but a collection of allegorical representations of the great Divine world-history.
Christ has in truth no history; his appearance in this
world of confusion and delusion
and the enlightenment is
but
it is
act
of the £ pirit, as regards itself,
_This illumination itself
the effect of this act.
life,
own
his
is
is
dependent upon asceticism and upon a
surrender to the mysteries ordained by Christ, in
which one comes into communion with a praesens numen, and which in a mysterious way gradually free the spirit from the world of sense.
This spiritualiz-
ing process should also be actively cultivated.
Absti-
nence the Watch-cry.
ence 1
therefore the watch-cry.
jg
Absti-
Christianity
is
accordingly a speculative philosophy which redeems the spirit (yväais ao^pla^)^ inasmuch as
ens and consecrates
way
istic interest of
world.
and
The gnosis
of life.
vigor and
it
life to
the stoa.
directs
is free
from the
rational-
the spirit rule in the supersensible
The only guide
with
unto the true
The powers which give to this
(not exact philosophy) resting allied
it
enlight-
it
;w<7raycoyia.
world
is
a
pdftrjats
upon a revelation and
The fundamental
principles
THE PREPARATION. are accordingly the following:
(1)
and eternal nature
ble, indefinite
mordial Being,
(2)
63
The
supersensi-
of the divine pri-
Fundamental Prin cipies.
the evil (not real) matter opposed
to the divine Being, (3) the plenitude of the divine
powers (eons) which, viewed partly as powers, partly as real ideas, partly as relatively independent beings,
represent in stages the development of the Divinity, but
intended to
make
which
at the
and revelation
same time are
possible the transition
higher to the lower,
(I)
from the
the cosmos as a mixture of
matter with sparks of the divine Being, and which originated from the descent of the latter into the
former,
i.e.
subordinate
from a reprehensible undertaking spirit,
merely through the Divine suf-
ferance, (5) the freeing of the spiritual elements their
of a
from
union with matter, or the separation of the
good from the sensuous world through the ChristSpirit,
which
is
active in holy consecrations, knowl-
edge and asceticism tic,
—thus
arises the complete gnos-
the independent world-free spirit,
God and
prepares himself for eternity.
mankind are earth-born
(hylikers).
who
lives in
The rest of Yet leading
teachers (School of Valentinus) distinguish also be-
tween hylikers and psyohikers
;
the latter were the
who lived by law and faith, common faith is good enough, that
doers of the law,
whom
the
necessary.
The
is,
centre of gravity of the gnostic
system did not rest in are so imperfectly in its postulates.
for
its
known
changing
details,
to us, but in its
which
aim and
8
^ndP? chikers.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
64 Phases of
The phases
3.
were as variegated as
of gnosticism
Gnosti-
possible (brotherhoods, ascetic orders, cultus of teries, secret
schools, free devotional
mys-
associations,
performances by Christian swindlers and betrayed betrayers, attempts to establish
new
religions after
the pattern and under the influence of the Christian
Accordingly the relation of gnosticism
religion).
which was common
to that
On
to
was exceed-
the individual Christian communities
ingly varied.
and
to all Christians
the one hand, gnosticism pene-
trated to the very heart of those Christian churches
in which docetic and dualistic-ascetic
influences
were largely at work and where there was a strong tendency to vary the original form of the kerygma
on the other hand, there were gnostic communities that remained apart and indeed abhorred
with others.
wing BasilidI i
ians, Val-
entinians.
For the history and the
of gnosticism
of
all alliances
dogma
the right
real stem, the great
gnostic school sects (Basilidians, Valentinians) especially under consideration.
The
latter
come
wished
to establish a higher order of Christians above the
common contest 'The First
gians.
psychikers,
who were barely
was mainly with
theologians from ancj were
$ie
fi rs t
whom
these
endured.
and they were the
later generations
to write
The
learned
elementary works on
dogmatics, ethics, and scientific and exegetical treatises; in short,
they laid the foundations of Chris-
tian theological literature of Christian tradition. tics
and of the right
and began the elaboration
The expulsion of these gnoswing (Encratites, "Docetse,"
THE PREPARATION. Tatian)
was a
65
could be accomplished only slowly and
it
Encratites,
Tati an.
result of the consolidating of the Christian
communities into the Catholic Church which was by this gnostic movement.
called forth
The
gnosticism
rise of
is fully
explained from the
Expiana|
general conditions under which Christian preaching
Roman
flourished
on
as a sure
announcement
soil
and from of
its
and
life
a Divine Person
The Church
had appeared upon the earth.
# JS^.
own attraction
knowledge,
cipline, attributed directly to
tionsof
dis-
who
fathers
hold distracted Judaism, together with the demons, responsible for
its rise
;
later they attribute it to the
Samaritan messiah, Simon, then to the Greek phi* 7
and
losophers,
7
who show
finally to those
disobedient to ecclesiastical discipline.
was aparticula veri syncretism which led
may
In
all
the
to this Christian
in Samaritan-Syrian territory j *
andria ditions
;
but
it
this
be easily shown;
as
its
gus.
themselves
there
ticism undoubtedly had one of
Simon Ma-
gnos-
principal centres
and the other
in Alex-
must not be overlooked that the con-
Samaria ana Alexandria
-
were everywhere present in the empire for a
spontaneous development. possible to
On
that account
it is
im-
write a history of the development of
gnosticism, and
it
would be
so,
even
if
we knew
We
^'Juan
can distinguish only between Jewish-Christian and
tne-cnrFs-
more than we do about the particular systems. Gentile- Christian gnostics,
and can group the
latter
only according to their greater or less departure from the
common
Christian faith as exemplified in their
varying attitude toward the Old Testament and the
tics.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
66
demiurge, and then seek out of this to form from an
unbiased reading of the Christian writings an idea "gnostic."
of Heiienism.
That the entire many-sided move-
ment, in which Hellenism, with qualities,
ally
all its
good and bad
sought to adapt the Gospel, should gradu-
become a Christian,
or, rather,
movement, lay in the nature
an
ecclesiastical
of the case.
But
it is
not therefore possible to group the systems in the
2d century chronologically according to a Christian standard, since attempts like that of Carpocrates be-
long to the earlier and not to the later times. 4.
Difference
Although the differences between gnostic Chris-
between Gnostic
and the common
Christian-
tianity J
common
as the later ecclesiastical theology, appear in part
ecclesiastical faith, as well
fleeting, in so far as in the latter also the question
of
knowledge was especially emphasized and the
Gospel was being transformed into a system of com-
knowledge in order to subdue the world, and in so far as the manq was made subordinate to the plete
yvajfft?
and Greek philosophy was more and more
employed, and in so far as eschatology was restricted, docetic views allowed free play
prized;
yet
it
is true,
(1)
and a rigid ascetism
that at the time
gnosticism was most flourishing in the
Church
mentary form,
all
when
these were found
at large only in germinal, or frag(2)
that the Church at large held fast
to the settled facts contained in the baptismal con-
fession
ing
and
to the eschatological expectations, retain-
its belief
also in the Creator as the
Supreme
God, in the oneness of Jesus Christ and in the Old
THE PREPARATION. Testament,
thus
67
dualism,
rejecting
that
(3)
Church maintained the unity and the parity
man
the
of hu-
kind and therefore the simplicity and universal
tendency of the Christian salvation, and
(4) that it
opposed ever}" attempt to introduce new, Oriental mythologies, guided in this by the early Christian consciousness and a certain independent judgment.
However, the Church in
learned a great deal from
it were under
•
WlllCn
contest with gnosticism
its
The
it. •
discussion
marized as follows (the word
may J
principal points n
•
be briefly sumJ
" positive "
appended
to
a gnostic proposition indicates that the doctrine had
a positive
Church view and doctrine) is
development
in the
influence
(1)
:
of
Christianity,
the
which
the only true and absolute religion, contains a re-
vealed system of doctrine (pos.), Christ (pos.), but Christ alone, far as
(2)
the Revealer
is
and Christ, only so
he was made manifest (no O. T. Christ).
This manifestation teaching
is
itself
the redemption,
—the
the proclamation of this and of the nec-
is
essary presuppositions (pos.), (3) the Christian teach-
ing
is
to
be deduced from the apostolic tradition
critically treated
;
the
same
is
found in the apostolic
writings and in an esoteric doctrine transmitted
by the apostles (pos.); as an open doctrine densed in the regula ficlei trine
it is
(pos.), as
an
it is
transmitted by appointed teachers, ,
(4)
the
even be-
must be expounded by means of the order to draw out its deeper meaning
such,
allegory, in
con-
esoteric doc-
primitive revelation (apostolic Scriptures)
cause
it is
principal Points under Discussion.
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
68
separate portions of the regula
(pos.), (5) as to the
as the gnostics understood them, the following are to be especially noted Disparity
The
(a)
between
Supreme God and
disparity between the supreme
God and
the Creator of the world, and the consequent contrast
Creator.
of redemption
and
creation, i.e., the separation of
the mediator of revelation and the mediator of creation, Distin-
the distinguishing of the
(b)
Supreme God from
guishing
Supreme God from God of O. T.
the
God
of the Old Testament,
rejection of the O. T.
;
and the consequent
the declaration that the
i.e.
O. T. does not contain a revelation of the Supreme
God, unless
be in certain parts,
the doctrine of the absoluteness and eternity of
(c)
Eternity of Matter.
it
matter, World
(d)
Product of Intermediate or Evil Being.
the affirmation that the present world
came
into existence through a fall into sin, i.e. through
an undertaking antagonistic
to
God, and that
it is
therefore the product of an evil, or intermediate
being, Evil Inherent in
Matter and a Physical Agency.
(e)
is
the acceptance of eons,
heavenly persons, in Divinity unfolds
Christ Reveal er of
Unknown God.
Heavenly Eon.
inherent in matter and
whom
i.e.
erto
unknown
Eon
of real
powers and
the absoluteness of the
itself,
(g) the affirmation that Christ
(h) Jesus,
is
a physical agency, (f)
Eons.
the doctrine that evil
proclaimed a hith-
Divinity,
the doctrine that in Jesus Christ, the heavenly
— the
saw redemption in his Person, but they reduced his Person to a mere selfgnostics rightly
THE PREPARATION. existent of
him
Being
69
— Christ and the human manifestation
are to be clearly distinguished and to each
nature a
"
was
distincte agere"
to be
docetism, but the two-nature doctrine
character-
Accordingly some, as Basilides, recognized
istic).
no
is
given (not
real
they otherwise accepted as a real man.
Others, as a portion of the Valentinians L
was exceedingly complicated
tology
man
union whatever between Christ and the
whom
Jesus,
Basiiides.
— their Chrisand varied —
vaientinians. \
taught that the body of Jesus was a heavenly-psychical form,
from the nil,
and that
womb
of
it
only apparently came forth
Mary.
Others
finally, like Sator-
satomii.
explained that the entire visible manifestation of
Christ
was only a phantasma, and hence they
ques-
tioned the reality of his birth, (i)
the transformation of the kxztyaia (that the
heavenly Church was looked upon as an eon was
ggJ^JJJ matikeS.
nothing new) into the collegium of the pneumatikers,
who
alone shall enjoy the highest blessedness,
while the hylikers shall suffer destruction and the psychikers with their
4>di) ictmtf
an
shall obtain only
inferior blessedness, (k)
the rejection of the whole of primitive Chris-
tian eschatology, especially the return of Christ
the resurrection of the
body
;
with this was
and
coupled
the affirmation that in the future one should expect
only the freeing of the spirit from the veiled
life
the senses, while the spirit itself is enlightened
assured of
God and
of
and
already possesses immortality
and only awaits an entrance into the pleroma,
Re f
11
f fj^
J}™ Eschatology.
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
70 Dualistic Ethics.
the dualistic ethics (rigid ascetism)
(1)
which here
and there may have veered over into libertinism.
How
strongly gnosticism anticipated Catholicism
becomes apparent especially from
its
Christology and
its
doctrine of redemption, from
its
magic-cult and
its
doctrine of the sacraments, and from
its scientific
literature.
CHAPTER
V.
MARCION'S ATTEMPT TO SET ASIDE THE OLD TES-
TAMENT AS THE FOUNDATION OF THE GOSPEL, TO PURIFY TRADITION, AND TO REFORM CHRISTIANITY ON THE BASIS OF THE PAULINE GOSPEL. Marcion's
Guiding Principles.
Marcion should not be
classed with ° gnostics like
Basilides and Valentinus; for
he was guided by
(1)
no metaphysical, also by no apologetical, but only
by a purely
soteriological interest, (2) he therefore
placed the whole emphasis upon the pure Gospel and
upon
faith (not
ploy philosophy
upon knowledge),
— at
(3)
least not as a
he did not em-
main
principle
in his conception of Christianity, (4) he did not en-
deavor to found schools of philosophers, but to
re-
form, in accordance with the true Pauline Gospel, the churches whose Christianity he believed to be legalistic (Judaistic)
F
d
chu rch.
a
free
g ra ce.
When
church of his own. elty,
and who, as he thought, denied he failed in
this,
he formed a
Wholly captivated by the nov-
uniqueness and glory of the grace of
God
in
:
THE PREPARATION. he
Christ,
believed that
71
the sharp antitheses
Paul (Law and Gospel, works and sin
spirit,
faith, flesh
of
and
and righteousness) must be made the
foundation of religious conceptions, and that these
eous,
must be apportioned between the rightangry God of the Old Testament, who is iden-
tical
with the Creator of the world, and the God of
antitheses
who was unknown
the Gospel,
who
before Christ, and
nothing but Love and Mercy.
is
This crass
— a Paulinism without dialectics, Old Testaor the Jewish-Christian view of history — was
crass Dualism.
dualism ment,
put forth by Marcion, not without his being
enced by the Syrian gnosis (Cerdo) cal contrast of the sublime
and the
petty, just
With
.
influ-
the ethi-
and good on the one
and hard on the
other, there
side,
was
joined the contrast between the eternal, spiritual and the limited, sentient, in a
way which
threatened to
debase the problem again to a question of cosmology. In detail, the following points are especially important
The Old Testament was expounded by r J Marcion
1.
according to all
its
allegorical
verbal sense and with a rejection of
interpretations;
he accepted
revelation of the Creator of the world of the
Jews
;
and
it
of the
Exposition of Old Tes-
tament
-
as a
God
but even on this account he placed
it
in sharp antithesis to the Gospel (see the " Antithe-
ses") the content of which he discovered solely in the utterances of Jesus and in the Pauline Epistles, WoJ/dssu | nd after that he had purified them from supposed JewEpistles .
ish
.
interpolations.
These interpolations were, ac-
the Sole Gospel.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
72
standing,
of long
cording to his idea,
since the
twelve apostles did not understand Jesus and misconstrued his Gospel, Paul Alone
Understood Jesus.
the Old Testament.
making it to correspond with Paul, who was called b}> Christ
was the only one who perceived that Jesus had proclaimed a hitherto unknown to restore the true Gospel,
God
of grace
in opposition
As
Jehovah.
to
his
preaching has also been obscured, he, Marcion, has
been authorized to restore the pure Gospel.
This
was the mission which Marcion's church attributed to him, and it gave his " Antitheses " a sort of canonical authority. Marc ion's Theology. Christof-
ogy.
2.
Marcion's conception of
God and
ogy resemble the gnostic in so far as he sized
his Christol-
empha-
also
most clearly the newness, uniqueness and abso-
luteness of Christianity in opposition to the at large;
Church
he surpassed the gnostics, however, in so
far as he conceived
mankind
to be
wholly the
off-
spring of the Creator of the world and found in
man's nature nothing akin
But love and grace are according entire substance of the
Godhead
God
the
to
;
to
of
Love.
Marcion the
redemption
is
the
most incomprehensible act of the Divine mercy, and everything that the Christian possesses he owes to Christ alone,
God Docetism.
who
himself.
is
the manifestation of the good
Through his suffering he purchased
from the Creator of the world those who believe on him, and won them for himself. The rigid docetism, however,
—the declarabe saved, — the
which Marcion taught,
tion that the souls only of
men
will
THE PREPARATION. renunciation of the return of Christ and the increasingly hard asceticism, even to the prohibition of mar-
Asceticism,
riage (in spite of the thought that God's k>ve should control the
"
new "
life),
are proofs that Marcion
to a certain extent defenceless against
Hellenism
was ;
on
the other hand, his eschatological ideas indicate that
he was seeking to return to the monarchy of the
good God. "With the view of restoring the Church of the
3.
pure Gospel and of gathering together the redeemed
who
are hated by the
God
Marcion's Biblical
c^DOn
-
Marcion
of this world,
caused certain evangelical writings of a particular character to
be collected
Pauline Epistles), laid their interpretation
a closer, though
(Luke's Gospel and 10
down
certain principles for
and drew the communities into
freer, organization.
Inasmuch as
he rejected the Old Testament, together with B
natural
" religion,
all
philosophy and secret tradition,
he was obliged to answer the question,
What
Christian? out of the historical records.
Here, as
in
many
olic -4.
is
other respects, did he anticipate the Cath-
Church.
The profound conception
rule in nature
that the laws
and historv and the course
which
of
civil
conception of Nature, History, .
righteousness are a reflection of the acts of Divine
mercy, and that humble faith and fervent love are the very opposite of self-complacent virtue and self-
righteousness
—this conception, which dominated the
Christianity of Marcion, and which restrained
from every rationalistic attempt
at a system,
him
was not
.n.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
74
clearly
maintained by his church as time went on.
In order to close up the breaches and to remove the inconsistencies of his conceptions,
advanced
some
of his pupils
to a doctrine of three principles, others to
a vulgar dualism, without however surrendering enApeiies.
tirely the
fundamental ideas of their master. Apelles,
however, Marcion 's greatest pupil, returned to the confession of the one God, without in other respects
surrendering the master's conceptions
;
and, indeed,
he further developed some valuable ideas, at which
Marcion had only hinted.
The Church
fathers strenuously opposed Marcion
him
the
Church doctrine was developed
in
as the worst of heretics. early Catholic
In
its
contest with
special directions.
CHAPTER
VI.
SUPPLEMENT: THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE JEWISH CHRISTIANS. Primitive v»/iiri stiel ii~ ifc
y-
Primitive Christianity appeared simply as a Christian Judaism, the establishment of a universal 1.
religion upon the Old Testament basis; accordingly it
retained in so far as
that
was never
it
was not
fully accomplished
press of its origin
;
above
all it
hellen ized—and
—the
Jewish im-
retained the Old Tes-
tament as a primitive revelation. sition
made
of
Hence the dispothe Old Testament was wholly Chris-
tian, proceeding on the assumption that the Chris-
tians are the true Israel, that the Old Testament
THE PREPARATION.
75
and teaching,
refers to the Christian organization
and
this,
whether a more or
was
less realistic or spiritual
The question as to the principles of interpretation was a problem within the Church, so long as no superiority was interpretation of
it
in vogue.
conceded to the Jewish nation as such, and until the abrogation of the Jewish ceremonies and laws was
Therefore the term
insisted upon. x
tianity "
who
is
"
Jewish- Chris-
Jewish Christian-
applicable exclusively to those Christians
lty
-
really retained, entirely or in the smallest part,
the national and political forms of Judaism and
upon the observance
insisted
of the
Law
Mosaic
without modification as essential to Christianity, at least to the Christianity of the
or
who
Jewish-born converts,
indeed rejected these forms, but acknowl-
edged the prerogative of the Jewish people also in Christianity (Papias in spite of his chiliasm
;
the p ap ias,
Di-
author of the Didache, in spite of his transference of the Old
Testament priestly rights to the Chris-
tian prophets;
Hermas, in
spite of the
waning
an-
Hermas, Paul.
cient
in
Greek philosophy
spite of
;
the adoption Christologists,
their rejection of the Logos,
Jewish Christians; Paul, however,
Romans XL).
The strong
draft
is
so
because of
made upon
Testament in favor of the Catholic
and discipline-system,
is
little
are not
the Old
cultus-, doctrine-
a sign of the ad-
vance of Jewish Christianity in the Church at large, that
it
rather runs parallel to the advancing Hellen-
ism, and
new
was
law," in
The formula, " the the Catholic Church is not Jewish,
called forth
by
it,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA
76
but anti-Jewish, yet of
more and more
of
room for the slipping in the Old Testament commandit left
ments into the Church. cStiSir"
l
oo£ef
Jewish Christianity, once a mighty antagonist of Paul, was, through his labors and the labors of other teachers, as well as through the native force 2-
of the Gospel, overcome. this
In the
conquest was completed.
fall of
Since
Jerusalem
then Jewish
Christianity has not been a factor in the history of
the Church, while
Judaism has remained such
(in-
Judaism upon the churches of the farthest However, in the 4th and 5th centuries).
fluence of Ebionites,
Nazareues
Sorsome
Orient,
Jewish Christians (Ebionites, Nazarenes) existed for
some time, and among them the
distinctions re-
mained which were already formulated in the aposSeparated from the main Church origi-
tolic age.
nally, not
on account of
of principles of social
"
doctrine
Church
missionary practice, there were Pointsin Controverug sy
Th^
lowing points in controversy ance °f the
Law was
:
(1)
",
life,
but on account
and
of morals
among them
the
fol-
Whether the observ-
a condition, or the determining
condition, of the reception of the Messianic salvation, (2)
whether the same was to be required also of
Gentile-born converts, in order to their recognition as Christians,
(3)
whether and to what extent one
might hold fellowship with Gentile Christians who do not observe the Law, (4) whether Paul was a chosen servaut of Christ, or a God-hated interloper, (5)
whether Jesus was a son of Joseph, or was mirac-
ulously
begotten of the Holy Spirit.
Thus
there
THE PREPARATION. were shades (not to
two
of
77
within Jewish Christianity
belief
clearly distinguished parties).
have been
little
ish Christians,
literary activity
who were
however, Symmachus)
among these Jew-
expelled by the Jews,
their Gospel
;
There seems
(see,
was the Hebrew
Gospel which was related to the Synoptics (testimony
Accepted
Hebrew Gospel,
of Justin, Origen, Eusebius, Jerome, Epiphanius).
Justin tians
still
who
recognized
Jewish Chris-
the liberal
observed the
Law
for themselves alone,
and were friendly toward the Gentile Christians, as Christian brethren. As yet no Christological creed, no iTew Testament, divided them, and even in their eschatological
Gentile
expectations,
Christians could
come
still
to
and
Jewish
an understanding.
But the more Jewish Christianity withdrew from the world in general and the more firmly the Catholic »
/~h
Church
fixed its doctrine
and
/
Gradually Expelled
discipline (add to this from v x
cath-
olic
the formation of the
formulated
and
its
Testament canon) and
it
was even placed
in the
Judaism was
same
cate-
Certain Oriental fathers,
however, pass a better judgment upon
it.
in the 1st century a very compli-
cated affair on account of foreign influences (Hellenistic
Judaism, Samaritans,
there were already (" false
" Sects ")
.
teachers " at Colosse, see also the Pastoral
who
Judaism Very ComPleated
Accordingly
"gnostic" Jewish Christians,
Epistles; on the other hand, der)
-
Jewish Christianity appear; and
gory with gnosticism.
3.
church
Logos-Christology, the more foreign
heretical did
after Irenaeus
New
Simon Magus, Menan-
introduced into Christianity angelological
Gnostic christians.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
78
Simon Ägr speculations nander. j
t ke
gees an(j
were
(these
also familiar to the phar-
writers of apocalypses) and gave cur-
rency to cosmological ideas and myths, through both of
which they sublimated the idea
of God, bisected,
Law
(rejection of the
corrected or transformed the
blood offering) and gave an impulse to a peculiar asceticism and cultus of mysteries. cerinth.
unt ji
f ar
j
nt
the Byzantine age.
They continued Cerinth
100)
(c.
retained certain established laws (circumcision) and
preached a grossly sensuous, realistic future king-
dom;
but,
on the other hand, he distinguished the
supreme God from the Creator
of the world, freely
Law and distinguished in the Redeemer man Jesus from the Christ whom he identified
criticised the
the
with the Holy PseudoClemeritme a\
nrmgs.
ish
Another branch
Spirit.
Christianity is ^
to
dementine Writings.
found
be
of this
in the
Jew-
Pseudo-
Therein, as appears from their
sources, the attempt is
made by means
tionalism, on the one side,
of stoic ra-
and Oriental mythologic
cosmology on the other, to fortify apologetically the conception that the Gospel
pure Mosaic doctrine.
is
the restoration of the
The contradictory
tations of stoic naturalism
represen-
and a positive revelation
through prophets are to be united through the idea of the
who from Adam down has
one Prophet,
ap-
m
different forms. The Gospel was believed HH.Tufbe P eare d to be the restoration of the primitive and universal nun of Primitive Religion,
.
religion,
.
which
_
.
is
simply Mosaism freed from
peculiar characteristics
specting offerings)
.
all its
(circumcision, statutes re-
Christ
is
the one true Prophet,
THE PREPARATION. who, as
The
seems, was identified with the
it
stoic idea of the Myoi
justified
79
was
Adam. but it was j^fsl10
first
accepted,
through a dualistically-conceived eon-spec-
ulation, in
which the early Semitic
latl0n
-
principles cropped
out (masculine-feminine; neutralization of the ethi-
supreme God).
cal contradictions in the
But along with
elements are hardly discernible.
the apologetical tendency, the polemical
marked. tion of
This
is
directed,
Platonic
is
strongly
under the form of a refuta-
Simon Magus, against every phase
of Gentile-
Christian gnosticism (also against Marcion), while the primitive writings doubtless contained a polemic
The polemic and the means made use prove that the Catholic Church was already in ex-
against Paul. of
Therefore the Pseudo-Clementine Writings
istence.
belong to the 3d century. that the compilers ine writings.
i
•
had before them
Moreover
i
Accordingly
it is
•
•
it is
probable
earlier, anti-Paul-
probable that the last
redactors were in no sense Jewish Christians, that,
the above-mentioned characteristics
also,
are not
ascribable to a group of writers, as such, but that
they belong to them only accidentally, that primitive
Jewish Christian writings passed through vari-
ous hands and were innocently transmitted and vised.
This being
so,
Clementine System"
were better
is
re-
the seeking for a "Pseudo-
a fruitless undertaking;
it
to accept the last narrator as a Catholic
who made use of whatever interested him and others, but who was by no means a disciple of Christian
Irenseus or Origen.
Whether under such
conditions
pseudoClementine writ-
c entury-
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
80 it
is
possible to distinguish
the gnostic, Jewish-
Christian, and anti-Pauline sources
A third
is
group which did not have in a true sense,
like the former, a literary existence is Eikesaites.
^
questionable.
composed
of
Rome
at
Elkesaites (in Syria, pushing toward
the beginning of the 3d century)
.
These were such
Jewish-Christians as wholly set aside the Old Testa-
ment through
their " nature-speculations "
;
who did,
however, retain the idea of prophecy, especially of Jesus as a Prophet, but
who
followed a
new prophet
that had perfected religion through penitential and cultus ordinances (washings) on the basis of a scripture revelation.
A
series of
new
elements belong-
ing to this no longer Christian Jewish-Christianity (sources: Hippolytus, Eusebius, Epiphanius),
rigid monotheism, partial criticism of the
—
viz.
Old Tes-
tament, rejection of blood offering, prohibition of wine, frequent washings, connivance in respect to
marriage, perversion of the Messianic idea in the interests of their prophet, discarding of
idea and, as
it
atonement
seems, also of the idea of a king-
dom, high regard for the relatives of their prophet
—reappear again in Islamism, that was in a measure influenced by this "Jewish-Christianity", related to the Sabier. itself
very
little
which
is
The main Church troubled
about this aberration.
BOOK
IL
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
CHAPTER
I.
HISTORICAL SURVEY. Ritschi,
Entstehung der altkathl. Kirche,
1857.
Renan,
Origines, T. V-VII.
THE
second century of the existence of Gentile-
Christian Churches
is
characterized by the ffl 2d Century.
victorious contest with the gnostics, Marcion and
the early Christian enthusiasm; that
is,
by the
de-
clining of the acute hellenizing tendency on the one side,
and by the suppression
of the primitive Chris-
tian freedom of expression, discipline and, in part,
hope also on the other. itive Christianity
of tradition
God)
;
but
the world and
important part of prim-
was rescued by
(faith
men
An
in the
speculated its
the conserving force
Creator and Redeemer all
the more freely about
wisdom, since they believed that
they possessed in the apostolic Scriptures, in the apostolic creed, in the apostolic
assurance of what
is "
of Christian piety
was curbed and
6
Christian".
81
Gentile Christian-
office,
the definite
The subjectivism the fanciful myth-
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
82
was
creating tendency
restrained, likewise also the
acceptance of wholly foreign material as doctrinal
teaching
;
but the individual was
made
subject to a
sacred primitive record and to the priest, since he
was put under the
rigid episcopal restraint of the
one, holy, apostolic, identified Gnostic
Systems Refuted.
Catholic Church, which
men
with the kingdom of Christ as a prepara-
The gnostic systems were finally refuted but men then made for themselves out of the kerygma and with the help of Greek philosophy a scientific system of faith, which was a superlative medium for commending the Church to the intellectual world, but which was nothing but a tion for blessedness. ;
mystery
to the laity, obscuring their faith, or inter-
preting the Gospel in the language of the Greek phi-
losophy of religion. Double Problem. First: Origin of
Catholicism as
2.
The problem
of the history of
period from about 150-300 A.D., First,
it
is
dogma
for the
a double one:
has to describe the origin of Catholicism as
a Church.
a Church,
i.e.
the rise
and development
tolic-Catholic standards (Rule of Faith,
ment, Ecclesiastical Office holiness of the Church),
;
of the apos-
New
Testa-
standards regarding the
by which the scattered
churches were gradually fused into one empirical
Church, which, however, was held to be the aposSecond Origin of Scientific
System of
tolic,
true
and Holy Church.
describe the rise
Second,
and development
it
has to
of the scientific
Faith.
system of faith, as this grew up on the circumference of the Church for apologetical purposes, not is
it
true as a foreign growth, but rather in closest
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
83
connection with the aims of the earliest Gentile Christianity (see this,
Book
I.
Chap.
3)
how
to describe
;
which was originally through revelation sim-
ply an assured monotheistic cosmology, Logos-doctrine
and moral theology, became in the contest with
gnosticism amalgamated with the ideas of salvation in the ancient mysteries, on the one side, with the
Church kerygma and the Old Testament ideas on
was
the other (Irenseus, Hipporytus, Tertullian) and ,
thus transformed into a complicated system (philosophical, kerygmatical, Biblical
and primitive-Chris-
tian -eschatological elements)
how, farther, under
;
the influence of the Alexandrians, 7
was
it
an Hellenic, syncretic system in the
recast into
matics and the traditional faith was
which already
in the 3d century
made
of
dog-
manifest,
had received such a scientific
matics and a part of
(above
teaching
dog-
all
its
Logos-doctrine) were adopted as the faith of the
Church; while other things were cast aside or contested,
the realistic propositions of
the
kerygma
were shielded from the spiritualizing tendency that
would transform them, and the right
of distinguish-
ing between a system of faith for thinking minds
and a
faith for unthinking
fundamentally denied.
velopment of Fathers,
dogma
Alexandrines,
Aiexan-
and
,
scientific
thorough solution that the aims of its
tä^aiv
drians.
interest
Catholic gnostics (type of Philo and Valentine)
how, then, the great breach between
irenaeus,
minds
The four
(thus Origen)
was
stages of the de-
(Apologists,
Methodius
early
Catholic
together
with
jj^gJne Accepted.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
84
correspond to the progressive relig-
his followers)
and philosophical development of paganism dur-
ious
ing that time of salvation
:
Philosophical theory of morals, idea
(theology and practice of mysteries),
Neo-Platonism and reactionary sjmcretism.
I.
ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY AS A CHURCH AND ITS GRADUAL SECULARIZATION.
CHAPTER
II.
THE SETTING FORTH OF THE APOSTOLIC RULES (NORMS) FOR ECCLESIASTICAL CHRISTIANITY. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
The
Rule of lith, 1st
Testament^ istamei
three apostolic
—see Irenseus, T. 21. 32. 36.*) — found
Testament, Office)
Office.
lian,
de praesc.
norms (Rule ]
of Faith, 1 sq.,
:
their
New
Tertul-
way
into
the different provincial churches at different times,
but the three always went together.
They had
their
preparatory stages in the brief kerygmatic confes21: "Constat omnem doctrinam quae cum ecclesiis aposmatricibus et originalibus fidei conspiret veritati deputandam, id sine dubio tenentem quod ecclesiae ab apostolis, apostoli a Christo, Christus a deo accepit. " 36 " Videamus qiiid (ecclcsia Romano) didicerit, quid docuerit, cum Africanis quoque ecclesiis contesserarit. Unumdeum dominum novit, creatorem universitatis, et Christum Jesum ex virgine Maria filium dei ereatoris, et carnis resurrect ionem; legem et prophetos cum evangel iris et apostolicis litteris miscet, hide potat fidem, earn aqua signal sancto spiritu vestit, eucharistia pascit, martyrium exhortatur, et itaadversus haue in st i tut ionem nominem recipit." 32: " Evolvant ordi*
De praescr.
tolicis
:
nal) episcoporum suorum, ita per successionem ah initio decurrentem, ut
primus
cum
ille episcopus aliquem ex apostolis vel apostolicis viris, qui tarnen apostolis perseveravit, habuerit auctorem et antecesseorem."
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. and
sions, in the authority of the xoptog
of the apos-
tolic tradition, as well as in the epistles
and
churches,
finally
apostles, prophets
and leaders
and
read in-the
shown
the deference
in
teachers,
85
to
to the "elders"
i.e.
of the individual churches.
A. The Recasting of the Baptismal Confession into the Apostolic Rule of Faith (Caspari, Quellen z.
From
Gesch. des Tauf symbols, 4 Bdd.).
was
there
in the
Book
Christ (see
I.,
Chap.
sub
3
Son and
Roman church,
and
2)
sion.
first
Church a kerygma (preaching)
sional formulas (Father, cially in the
the
Baptismal
of
brief confes-
Spirit)
;
and
±
at least since
espe-
140 A.D.,
a definite baptismal confession (probably also in Asia Minor).
These confessions were "the faith" and
were considered the quintessence of the apostolic
and were,
preaching
therefore,
God
Christ and ultimately to
back to
referred
But every-
himself.
thing indeed which seemed inalienable was looked
upon as an apostolic rule interpretation
of
of faith, e.g. the Christian
the Old
However,
Testament.
probably nothing was fixed, save that the
Roman
Roman Symbol.
symbol and the ethical rules
upon the same plane as the kerygma
least
From
the beginning, however, in the
struction, in exhortations and, tests
with
false teachings
ra? xev&s xal xal
(dtda%i} xuptou)
(tzixvov
//.araia?
Polyc. epist.
men
2.
7;
(I.
of in-
in the con-
enjoined
xavöva
of Christ.
work
all,
(ppovrldas^ xal eX&atftsv
izapaböaeioq Tjtiwv
ryjs
above
stood at
:
ä7coXi7carßev
iz\ tov svxXstj
Clem. 7;
cf.
the Pastoral Epistles, Jude, Ig-
natian Letters, also Justin).
As
the danger from
OUTLINES OP THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
86
Exteraii standard.
g nos ticism became acute, men necessarily came rea ij ze that neither the content and compass
to
of
"the received faith" ("the sound doctrine"), nor There was its interpretation was secured to them. need,
seemed, of a fixed outward standard, in
it
order to be able to disprove doctrines such as that
between the supreme God and the
of the difference
Creator-God, or such as that of docetism, and to be able to maintain the true conception as apostolic doctrine
—they needed a definitely interpreted apos-
Under these circumstances the particallied churches of Asia Minor and closely J
tolic creed. churches of Asia
^Romele? ap" t5m a i Confession as Aposce
ularly J
R° me whose >
Irenseus (he 1
is
experience
is
hardly the
first
'
/»
-i
-i
accepted the fixed
tolic.
apostolic in such
known
to us
through
writer on the subject),
c as Roman baptismal confession a way that they proclaimed the t-»
•
i
i
current anti-gnostic interpretation of
it
as its self-
evident content, and the expounded confession as "
fides catholica";
i.e.
they set
of truth in matters of faith
the condition of
it
up as a standard
and made
membership
its
acceptance
in the Church.
This
procedure, by which the centre of gravity of Christianity
was
shifted,
(the latter,
however, was pre-
served from entire dissolution) rests upon two un-
proven assertions and an exchange.
It is
not proven
that any confession of this kind emanated from the
and that the churches founded by the aposalways preserved their teaching without modi-
apostles tles
fications;
for
and the confession
an exposition of
it.
itself
was exchanged
Finally, the conclusion that
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
87
from the virtual agreement in doctrine of a group of churches (bishops) there existed a fides catholica
was
This action established the Cath-
unjustified.
argument from tradition and has determined its fundamental significance until the present time : The equivocal right, on the one side, to announce the creed as complete and plain, and, on the olic
other side, to
make
it
is to
characteristic of Catholicism.
It is also characteris-
that
faith
men
T dulon Es" tabllshed
-
so elastic that one can reject
every uncomfortable meaning,
tic
catholic
Argument
the present day
identify Christianity with a system of
which the
laity
cannot understand.
ter are therefore oppressed
The
and referred back
lat-
to the
authority. Tertullian developed the x farther.
As
the
latter
method
found
of IrensBus
the
still
while as yet only the
common
sense of the
Church protested against them; so the former, embracing the confession
all
the
more firmly as au-
thority for the faith, found in the regula already the
creation of the universe from nothing, the mediator-
ship of the Logos in creation, the existence of the
same before
all creatures,
a definite theory in regard
to his incarnation, the preaching of
a nova lex and
nova promissio, and finally also the trinitarian economy and the correct teaching in respect to the
of a
natures of Christ (de praescr. Id; de virg. 1; adv.
Prax.,
2, etc.).
His "regula"
is
Makes an
chief gnostic A£Sus. n
teachings already refuted in the baptismal confession,
Tertuiiian
an apostolic lex
doctrina, inviolable for every Christian.
et
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
S8 Not wideSpread till d
cSy
Only J in the course
of the 3d century ^ did this Cath-
standard become wide-spread in the Church.
olic
Clement of Alexandria did not yet know
him
the xavwv
r/.-Arj<j>a$
rrjs
terpretation of the ever,
was the
praef.),
it
(for
anti-gnostic in-
Holy Scriptures)
came very near accepting
it
Origen, how-
;
(see,
de princip.
in the beginning of the 3d century the
i.e.
Alexandrian Church was following the Roman, and gradually became
" Catholic".
Later
still
the Syrian
churches also followed, as the documentary source of the Apostolic Constitutions proves,
nothing of the "apostolic
Only
Occidental sense.
which knows
rule of faith"
at the
in
the
end of the 3d century
did the Catholic Church become a reality through
common
the
apostolic
lex
and distinguish
sharply from the heretical parties
came
indeed, probably
first
;
itself
remote churches,
through Nicea to an ac-
ceptance of an "apostolic rule of faith."
But even
was not accepted at a single stroke. The Recognition of a Selection of Well-
the Nicene creed mtntwfuognfzed'as
B
*
knoiun Scriptures as Virtually Belonging to the
Old Testament; Scriptures
i.e.
(see
as a Compilation of Apostolic
the "Introductions to the N. T."
by Reuss, Holtzmann, Weiss)
Law and
the Prophets
churches the
Word
.
By
(rd ßißXid)
the side of the
there
was
of the Lord, or briefly "
in the
6 xuptos",
which was indisputable. The words and deeds of the Lord ("the Gospel") were recorded in numerous,
oft-revised scriptures closely related to each
other, which
were
called the
"Lord's Writings", also
— THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. " köyia",
then
—yet not
80
after the middle of the 2d
till
— Century
" evayyiXia "
GTokmv "
these were publicly read at least after c.
;
140 (Justin).
The
and
" oxo;jyqiJ.oveo;j.ara
named
last
title
rmv
ano-
expresses the
judgment, that everything which was reported of the Lord could be traced directly or indirectly to the apostles.
Out
of these
numerous evangelical
Tatians Diatessa-
writings there were in certain churches,
already
before the middle of the 2d century, four that were
prominent
our present Gospels
—which,
e.g.,
very
soon after 160 were worked over by Tatian into a
About the same time form, more than likety in
single Gospel (Diatessaron)
they took on their
Rome.
final
.
Together with these writings the Epistles
of the apostle Paul,
which had been
were read in the churches,
i.e.
collected earlier,
by the
leaders, as
the Epistles of Clement, Barnabas, Ignatius and particularly
Poly carp
had a
pels
testify.
direct relation
While however the Gosto the kerygma and met
the requirements of tradition (Ignatius, Justin), such
was not
the case with the Pauline Epistles.
all definite
Finally
scriptural productions of prophetic spirits
(irvsufiaropopoi)
were revered as inspired Holy Scrip-
whether they were Jewish apocalypses with
tures,
high-sounding names, or the writings of Christian prophets and teachers. the Old Testament, but
The
ypa-<prf
or simply Uyei), apocalyptic verses
Of
like worth, but
tion
:
o
xbptos Xiyet
iv
was primarily
with, " 6 y.opios Xiyei" {fiypaitxat
were
different in kind,
also cited.
was the
roT evayyeXtai (fulfilling
cita-
of proph-
ron
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
90
ecy
—ethical rules).
Many
teachers gladly spoke in
the words of the apostle Paul, without according
them the same rank as the Scriptures and the Word of the
Lord (were the Epistles
in the churches before
Marcion,
Marcion's
who
180?).
c.
rejected the
and gave
little later,
collection of Scrip-
canonical rank (Luke's Gospel, 10
it
At
Pauline Epistles). a
Old Testament and the
new
prophetic proofs, formed a tures
Paul publicly read
of
same time probably,
the
the gnostic school leaders did the same,
favoring the writings in widest circulation
new
the churches, but with
Tatian, Encratites)
.
as dualistic.
in such circles the for they
to the front;
theological, soteriological,
The new
among
additions (Yalentinus,
Everywhere
came
Epistles of Paul
tions,
or
were
and could be interpreted
critically constituted collec-
which the gnostics
over against the Old
set
Testament, were clothed with the same authority as the Old Testament and were allegorically interpreted in
harmony with
it (still,
secret scriptures)
and the Forming
y.opto?
churches.
It
.
besides, secret tradition
Again, a reference to the
and
Ypa
did not suffice for the leaders of the
was
necessary,
(1) to
determine which
of N. T.
canon,
evangelical writings (in which recension) were to
be taken into consideration
;
it
was
necessary,
(2)
to
deprive the heretics of everything which could not
be discredited as (3) to
new and
false ; it
was
necessary,
put forth such a collection of writings as did
not overturn the evidence from tradition, but on the contrary by their
inherent qualities
even
added
;
.
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
At
weight.
91
they confined themselves to the
first
proclamation of the four Gospels as the only authentic
apostolic records of the Lord.
These were
al-
ready held in an esteem so nearly equal to that of
immense stride necesthe words and letters holy was
the Old Testament, that the
sary to declare
scarcely recognized as an innovation
the Master had said
ered holy.
Many
was from
;
besides,
what
the beginning consid-
and, indeed, most of the churches
abode by this decision until far into the 3d century example, the documentary basis of
see, for tolic
Constitutions
;
\,he
Apos-
some Oriental churches continued
to use the Diatessaron.
No
second collection came to
be esteemed, and the four Gospels were joined to the ßlßXia
((>'
y.opio$
dcd
—
6 xopto<$ kv toj sbayyeliifS
•
alongside of these stood the testimony of pneumatic scribblings, ever
however having decreasing dignity
(Montanist controversy)
But wherever the contest with heresy was most
PauPs Epistles
vehemently carried on and the consolidation of the churches upon stable principles was most gently undertaken
— in
(Asia Minor and) Rome, a
new Catholic-apostolic was opposed to the new
gnostic collection,
defence than in attack.
The
added
collection
to the four Gospels (not
in transforming scriptures special occasions
into
intelli-
of scriptures
more
in
Epistles of Paul were
without some scruples
which were written
for
Divine oracles and conceal-
ing the process even of transformation) and consequently included under the argument from tradition,
^
e
gJ? pels
'
92
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
so that through the
medium
of a very recent book,
the Acts of the Apostles, they were associated with the supposed preaching of the twelve apostles,
The Paul sanctioned by the twelve apostles in the Acts, and made hardly recognizable by the Pastoral Epistles, thus became a witness of the dtda/jj did. rcov iß' ä-oßröhnv, i.e. one Was under obligation and had the right to understand him in accordance with the Acts of the Apostles, which surely came into the collection only faute.de mieux and was obliged to support a tradition far bey oud its own words. The two-, more properly subordinated to
New
Testa-
i.e.
it.
ment placed on 1
old Testa? ment.
three-fold
new
apostolic collection
Pauline Epistles),
now
(Gospels,
placed as the
New
Acts,
Testa-
ment on the same plane with the Old Testament and presently raised above the latter, already recognized
by Iremeus and Tertullian
(in practice, not in theory,
the Gospels and the Pauline Epistles seemed to be of equal worth), gradually
came
into use in the
churches, beginning in the Occident, and
when
this
was once accomplished the result could hardly be disturbed. Whereas a fourth and fifth ingredient could never really win a perfectly firm form. First,
men
sought to strengthen the history of the apostles
by means tles.
It
of scriptures written
was natural
by the twelve apos-
that they should wish to have
such scriptures, and then there were highly esteemed scriptures
enough
from Christian prophets and teachers
to suggest their acceptance (they could not
be ignored)
,
but without any apostolic authority
(in
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. the strict sense)
Thus arose the group
.
93
of Catholic
Epistles, for the most part denominated apostolic,
Catholic Epistles
Added.
anonymous writings (most scholars held be pseudonymous), whose ancient authority
originally
them
to
could be rescued only by ascribing them to
the
This group, however, with the
twelve apostles.
exception of two epistles, did not become fixed as
regards
its
extent or
its dignit}^ until
and even
later,
dangering
— strange to say — the
and
entire collection.
the 4th century
this without thereby really en-
respect given to the
Second, the apocalypses presented
new collection. But time which produced them was wholly gone by
themselves for admission to the the
and indeed combated them, and the nature
new
required
collection
sanction
;
the latter rather excluded
lypses of Peter
not
apostolic,
and John could,
it.
therefore,
Apocalypses of Peter and John.
of the
prophetic
The apocaalone come
The former was quickly resome unknown reason and the latter was
under consideration. jected for finally
A
^>? did
closed
xop6$ rescued for the
New
collection.
Closed Testament there was not in the No N. T. in
churches in the 3d century
hand a second
new
collection, it
;
but where there was at
was used
virtually as the
Old Testament and no questions were raised.
The
incomplete collection served ad hoc every purpose
which, as one might think, the complete alone could serve.
Catholicism never came, however, to be a
religion of the book.
mained the standard
The words for the
of the
guidance of
the development of doctrine pursued
its
Lord life,
own
re-
and
course
3d Century.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
94
at all times, being influenced only in a secondary
way by
Results:
Results
which
the
fol-
ceptanctof
New
New
The
(1) v '
mos * valuable it
Testament.
Testament conserved the
part of the primitive literature; but
gave over to destruction almost
all
the remaining
literature as being arrogant or corrupt; (2) the
New
Testament made an end to the production of inspired writings, but
it
New
the
and the
ecclesiastically profane
and likewise
literature possible (3)
made an
also
set fixed limits to it;
Testament obscured the historic sense
historical origin of its
own documents,
same time occasioned the necessity thorough-going study of these documents and it
of a
at the
vided for their active influence in the Church the
New
that
all
the statements in
" facts "
spiritual,
its
own documents
it
new
facts
tions
New
Testament
(5)
the
(4)
ten-
should
clear, sufficient
necessitated the learned, theological
production of ;
;
but, in requiring
;
be considered entirely harmonious,
and
pro-
Testament repressed the enthusiastic
dency to the production of
but
and mythological concepset
boundaries to the
time of revelation, exalted the apostolic age and the apostles themselves to an unapproachable height
and thereby helped requirements, but
to lower the Christian ideal it
and
likewise preserved the knowl-
edge and power of the same, and became a goad for the conscience;
(6)
the
New
Testament guarded
effectively the hesitating canonical esteem for the
Testament; but
it
likewise
made
it
Old
an offence to
exalt the Christian revelation above that of the
Old
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
95
Testament, and to brood over the specific meaning of the former;
the fatal
(7)
the
New
Testament encouraged
tendency to identify the Master's words
with apostolic tradition (teaching of the apostles), but through the acceptance of the Pauline Epistles
a standard the loftiest expression of the con-
set as
sciousness of redemption,
Paulinism
tion of
it
and through the canoniza-
introduced most valuable leaven
into the history of the
Church
;
(8)
through the claim
Church that both Testaments
the Catholic
of
longed to her alone, she robbed
the
New
be-
other Christian
all
churches of their title-right to them
made
it
;
but while she
Testament a norm, she constructed
an armory from which in the time to come the sharpest weapons have been
drawn out against
'
her-
self.
The Transformation of the Episcopal Office in the Church into the Apostolic Office. History C.
Transfor-
Episcopal Office into
of the Transformation of the Idea of the Church.
The claim that the faith
that
apostles formulated a rule of
was not sufficient; it was necessary the Church had kept the same pure and
to
show
that she
possessed within herself a living court of appeal to
decide
all
points under controversy.
Originally
men
simply referred to the churches founded by the apostles,
in
which the true teaching was and the "ancients".
fered no absolute certaint}r tullian, influenced
and
with the disciples of the
to the connection of these
apostles
to be found,
;
But
this appeal of-
hence Irenseus and Ter-
by the imposing development
of
A
lic
£S° Office.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
96
the episcopate in
Rome and by
once' given to the apostles,
now
the ancient respect
prophets and teachers
transferred to the bishops, so conceived of the
same that the
"
ordo episcoporum per successioneni
ab initio decurrens " guaranteed
to
bility of the apostolic inheritance.
them the inviola-
With each
this
between an historical (the churches
thesis oscillated
are those founded by the apostles; the bishops are
the disciples of the disciples of the apostles)
dogmatic aspect. Apostoiic Succes sion
* er
clearly
*s
and a
Yet already with Irensßus the
prominent
:
"
episcopi
cum
lat-
episcopatus
successione cerium veritatis charisma acceperunt (the
charisma of truth depends upon the
office of
"
the
bishops which rests upon the apostolic succession)
.
is
simply a dogmatic expression for the
exalted
place
which the episcopate had already
actually
won
This thesis
inally
it
did not, moreover, orig-
any way entirely identify apostles and
in
bishops;
for itself;
it
remained also uncertain in
tion to the individual bishops for the ancient
parity:
and
its applica-
left
room
still
spiritus, ecclesia, fldeles.
Calixtus of Rome, however
(v. Tertull.,
de pudic.j
Hippol., Philos. IX.), claimed for himself full apostolic
regard and apostolic powers, while Tertullian
allowed to
him only
the locus magist er ii.
In the
Orient and in Alexandria the apostolic character
was quite late in gaining recogniIgnatius knew nothing about it (the bishop
of the bishops tion. is
the representative of
God unto
his
own
church)
and neither did Clement, and even the basal docu-
:
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. ment
97
of the Apost. Constitutions is silent.
Yet
in
the time of Origen the doctrine began to establish itself in
The idea
Alexandria.
Church was
of the
greatly influenced by this development.
the Church
was
claims rested upon
He who
its
its
belongs
blessedness
came the
God,
hope and
its
Christian
well-ordered life
Church
the
to
sure of
is
Then the Church
his be-
visible establishment of this confession of
faith (fides in regula
posita
salutem de observatione
its
its
possession of the Spirit, upon
{Holy Church).
the apostles, and
its
est,
legis)
;
habet legem et the legacy of
it is
Christian character rests upon
possession of the true apostolic teaching (Catholic
Church in the sense of doctrine,
universality and
of
—the form of
the 2d century)
.
pureness
expression since the end of
One must be a member
one apostolic Church in order
pirical,
of this
em-
to partake of
salvation, since here alone is found that
knowledge
The Church ceased to be salvation and of the saints
which gives blessedness. the sure
communion
of
and became the condition of salvation lowing chapter).
(v.
the
fol-
This conception of the Church
(Irenaaus, Tertullian, Origen)
which represents the
development of the churches into the one definite
—a creative act, to be sure, of spirit — not evangelic, neither Church
is
it
is
the Christian it
hierarchic;
has never entirely disappeared from the Catholic
churches.
Church
Originally ^"tEST 1 D p~ the heavenly Bride of Christ, the ment
abiding-place of the Holy Spirit; and
its faith in
idea of
But almost from the beginning
it
was
in-
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
98 iiierarchical Church
Idea
'
fl
hierarchical Church idea. ue nced by J the
The latter
was only hinted at by Irenaeus and Tertullian (the last named finally contended against it and in this contention he even reverted to the primitive Church idea it
spiritus equals ecclesia, universal priesthood)
:
was
and other
farther developed by Calixtus
Roman
especially
priests,
by Cyprian, while the
Alexandrians blended the earliest Church idea with a mystic-philosophical conception, and Origen,
al-
though greatly impressed by the empirical Church, never Cyprian.'
lost sight of its relative significance
and
office.
Calixtus and Cyprian constructed the hierarchical
Church idea out cies
of existing relations
which these imposed
;
and the exigen-
the latter rounded out the
standard of the former, but on one point, touching the justification
the earthly character of
of
the
Church, he lagged behind, while Calixtus had resolutely
advanced to
The
chapter).
tury that
it
completion
its
crises
sufficient,
—save in isolated
—to simply preserve the Catholic faith;
one must obey the bishops in order isting
ism
to
guard the
ex-
Church against the openly proclaimed heathen-
(in practical life)
,
heresy and enthusiasm (the
The idea of the Church became supreme
primitive Christian recollections)
one episcopally constituted
and the significance
was
the following
were so great in the 3d cen-
was nowhere
communities,
(v.
left in
.
of doctrine as a
the background:
bond
of
The Church,
upon the bishops, who are the successors apostles, the representatives of
God,
is
union
resting of the
by reason
of
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
99
these fundamental facts itself the apostolic legacy.
According
to
vation {extra
Cyprian the Church
quam nulla
ized confederation.
solus)
It rests
the seat of sal-
is
as a single, organ-
,
wholly and solely upon
the episcopate, which, as the continuation of the
The union
the bearer of these powers.
individual with
E
K;
"
with the powers of the apos-
apostolate, equipped tles, is
church Rests upon
God and
Christ
of tho
therefore con-
is
ceivable only in the form of subordination to the
The attribute, however, of the unity of the Church, which is of equal significance with that bishops.
comes only through
of its truth, since the unity
manifests
it
primarily in the unity of the epis-
This has been from the beginning a unit
copate.
and
itself
love,
remains a unit
are installed by
change.
in so far as the bishops
still,
God and
continue in brotherly inter-
The individual bishops are
not only as leaders of their
own
to be considered
particular churches,
but as the foundation of the one Church
Thence
in episcopo est").
("
ecclesia
follows farther, that
it
the bishops of those churches founded by the apostles possess
no longer any peculiar dignity
(all
bish-
ops are equal, since they are partakers of the one office). '
The Roman
chair, however, '
'
a peculiar significance, since apostle
upon
tolic gifts in
these gifts
whom
Christ
it
came
was the
first
to
have
Chair.
chair of the
conferred the apos-
order to indicate clearly the unity of
and of the Church
;
and farther
also, be-
cause historically the Church of this chair was the root
and mother
of the
Roman
one Catholic Church.
In a
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
100
severe Carthaginian crisis, Cyprian so appealed to
Rome
as
if
communion with
this
was the guarantee
of the truth
the claims of the
Roman
over other churches nally,
;
Church
(its
bishop)
but later he denied
bishop to special rights
(contest
with Stephen).
Fi-
although he placed the unity of the organiza-
Church above the unity in articles of faith, the essence of Christianity was guarded by him to this extent, that he demanded of the bishops tion of the
everywhere a Christian steadfastness, otherwise they ipso facto would forfeit their as yet
knew nothing
Cyprian also
office.
of a character indelibilis of the
bishops, while Calixtus
and other Roman bishops
vindicated the same to them.
A consequence of
his
theory was, that he closely identified heretics and schismatics, in
which the Church did not then
fol-
The great one episcopal Church, which he presupposed was by- the- bye a fiction such a homo-
low him.
;
geneous confederation did not in reality exist; Constantine himself could not complete
CHAPTER
it.
III.
CONTINUATION: THE OLD CHRISTIANITY AND
THE NEW CHURCH. [See the Literature on
Montanis
tmnism?"
*•
^ HE
Montanism and Novatianism.]
denial of the claims of the ethical
life,
the
paling of the primitive Christian hopes, the legal and political
forms under which the churches protected
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
101
themselves against the world and against heresies
middle of the 2d century,
called forth soon after the first
in
nities,
Asia Minor, then in other Christian commua reaction which sought to establish, or rather
and conditions
to re-establish, the primitive times
and
to protect
Christianity from the secularizing
tendency.
The
result of
Montanist
crisis
and the
asserted itself all the
this crisis
more strenuously as a its
truth in
and objective foundation, that
new
it
legal
its historical
accordingly gave a
significance to the attribute of holiness, that
expressly authorized a double state,
a secular, it
so-called
was, that the Church
like)
which has
organization
(the
—within
exchanged
its
itself,
it
— a spiritual and
and a double morality, that
character as the possessor of certain
salvation for that other, viz. to be an indispensable
condition for the transmission of salvation and to be
an institution
for education.
compelled to withdraw (the
The Montanists were
New
Testament had
already thereby done good service), as well as Christians
who made
the truth of the Church de-
pendent upon a rigid maintenance of
The consequence was that tury two great Christian
at the
its
moral claims.
end of the 3d cen-
communities put forth
claims to be the true Catholic Church tional
all
:
viz.
the na-
Church confederated by Constantine and the
Novatian churches which we refused with the remnant of Montanism.
schism in
The beginnings
Rome go back
and Calixtus.
to the
of the great
time of Hippolyt
/&
,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
102 M(
t
Ai
nus
^*
m
T ne Montanist
had undergone a
opposition
Originally
great transformation.
it
was
the stupen-
dous undertaking of a Christian prophet (Montanus)
who with upon
the assistance of prophetesses felt called
to realize for Christianity the rich prophetic
He interpreted these
promises of the Fourth Gospel.
in accordance with the Apocalypse,
and proclaimed
that the Paraclete had appeared in his in
whom
also Christ, yea, even
own
person,
God Almighty, had
come to his own in order to lead them into all truth and to gather together into one fold his scattered Accordingly it was Montanus' highest aim flocks. to lead the Christians forth
from their civic relations
and communial associations and
to
form a new,
homogeneous brotherhood which, separated from the world, should prepare itself for the descent of the
The opposition which
opposed by Leaders
heavenly Jerusalem.
of church,
orbitant prophetical message encountered from the leaders of the churches,
Marcus Aurelius,
and the persecutions under
intensified the already lively es-
chatological expectations
martyrdom.
this ex-
and increased the desire for
That which the movement
lost,
how-
ever, in definiteness (in so far as the realization of
the ideal of uniting all Christians plished, except for a brief period limits)
it
gained again after
the proclamation of
it
c.
was not accom-
and within narrow 180 inasmuch as
invested earnest souls with
greater power and courage,
which served
to retard
the growing secularizing tendency within the Church.
In Asia and Phrygia
many
Christian communities
;
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
103
acknowledged in corpore the Divine mission of the ^ujjfjtf prophets in other provinces assemblies were formed phry& ia -
;
in
which the current teachings
of these prophets
were considered as a Gospel, at the same time various modifications were going on (sympathies of the
The Roman bishops came near acknowledging the new prophecies). In the Montanist churches (c. 190) it was no longer a question confessors in Lyons.
of a
new
organization in the strict sense of the word,
or of a radical re-formation of the Christian organizations, but rather,
were these questions already pushed
clearly traced, aside,
The
wherever the movement can be
even when they were active and
original prophets
thusiasm
;
had
influential.
no bounds
set
to their en-
there were also no definite limits to their
high pretensions: God and Christ had appeared in
them
;
the Prisca
saw Christ
living in female form
these prophets
made the most extravagant prophecies
and spoke in a
loftier tone
tles;
than any one of the apos-
they subverted apostolic regulations; they set
forth, regardless of every tradition,
ments
for the Christian life
body of Christian believers to be the last
;
;
new command-
they railed at the great
they thought themselves
and therefore the highest prophets, the
But
bearers of the final revelation of God.
they had passed
off
after
the stage, their followers sought
an agreement with the common Christian churches.
They recognized recognized by
it.
the great
Church and begged
They were willing
selves to the apostolic regula
and
to
to be
bind them-
to the
New
Tes-
^J^d? Church.
8
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
104
tament;
they
no longer hesitated
to
ecclesiastical organization (the bishops).
accept
the
And
they
own commend as
accordingly demanded the recognition of their prophets,
whom
they
now sought
to
successors of the earlier prophets (prophetic succession)
;
the "
new " prophecy
is
really a later revela-
Church understands
tion, which, as the
it,
presup-
poses the earlier; and the later revelation pertains
simply and solely
which
it
(in addition to the
confirmation
gives to the Church teaching as opposed to
the gnostic) to the burning questions of Christian
discipline which
it
rigid observance.
the
new prophecy
more
decides in the interest of a
Therein lay the significance of for
its
adherents in the empire
and accordingly thej had bestowed their faith r
freely.
Through the belief that in Phrygia the Paraclete had given revelations for the entire Church in order to establish a relatively severe
from second marriage,
regimen (refraining
severer
fast
regulations,
mightier attestation of Christianity in daily
life,
«complete readiness for
martyrdom) the original en-
thusiasm received
death-blow.
was
after all a
its
,
But
this flame
mighty power, since Christendom
large made, between the years
at
190 and 220, the
greatest progress toward the secularization of the
Gospel.
The triumph
of
Montanism would have
been succeeded by a complete change in the ownership of the Church and in missionary operations: its
churches would have
cessions,
therefore,
(the
been
decimated.
Con-
New
Testament,
apos-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. tolica regula, episcopate)
did not help the Monta-
The bishops attacked the form
nists.
105
new
of the
prophecy as an innovation, threw suspicion on
ma-
content, interpreted the earlier future hopes as terialistic
mands
and sensuous, and declared the
ethical de-
to be extreme, legalistic, ceremonial, Jewish,
contrary to the
They
its
New Testament,
and even heathenish.
set over against the claims of the
to authentic divine oracles,
the
Montanists
newly formed
New
Testament, declared that every requirement was to be found in the declarations of the two Testaments
and thus clearly defined a revelation epoch, which extended to the present time only through the
New
Testament, the apostolic teaching and the apostolic office of
bishops (in this contest the
for the first time
made
tament contained
new
Testament was not prophetic, but
They began
the
New
apostolic, (2) that
apostolic dignity could not be reached .
Old Tes-
perfect, (1) that the
prophetical elements,
of the present day)
ideas were
by any person
finally to distin-
guish between the morality required of the clergy
and that required of one wife).
of the laity (thus in the question
In this
way
which had once been dear
they discredited that
to the
whole of Christen-
dom, but which they could no longer make use
of.
In so far as they repelled the alleged misuse, they rendered the thing
itself less
and
less
powerful
(chil-
iasm, prophecy, right of laity to speak, rigid sanctity)
,
without being able to entirely suppress
it.
The
most vehement contest between the parties was
in
AtÄ* Montan ism.
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
on
106 Heated Controver-
$&§?&!
<=>
Montanists, otherwise acknowledging the bishops,
HPSS of sin.
The
re gard to the question of the forgiveness of sin.
•
Holy
ascribed this right to the those
who possess the Holy
the Spirit
is
Spirit alone
Spirit)
,
(i.e., to
—for the power of
not necessarily attached to the
office
and recognized no human right in the forgiveness
which rested
sins,
of the Divine
donare
far
more on the
(rare)
laying hold
mercy {"potest ecclesia (spiritus)
They therefore who had committed souls to God. The
sed non faciam
delicto,,
expelled from their churches
all
mortal sins, committing their
")
.
bishops on the other hand, contrary to their principle,
of
were obliged
to
maintain that
own
baptism
alone cleanses from sin, and to vindicate the right
conveyed by the power of the keys by a reference to the apostolic
office in
order to protect the standing
of the ever less holy churches against the dissolu-
tion
which would have resulted from the
gime.
Calixtus
was the first
to
make
earlier re-
use of the right
of the bishops to forgive sins in the widest sense,
and
to extend this right
even to mortal
sins.
He
was opposed, not only by the Montanist, Tertullian, but in Rome itself by a very high ecclesiastical rival bishop (Hippolytus) The Montanists were compelled to withdraw with their "devil-prophecy", but .
they withdrew willingly from a Church which had
become
" unspiritual "
(psychic).
serted the stability of the its
Christianity.
which had the
The bishops
as-
Church at the expense of
In the place of the Christianity
Spirit in its midst,
came the Church
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. organization which possessed the
and the 3.
Testament
spiritual office.
Meanwhile the carrying out
of the bishops in part
New
107
of the pretensions
to the right to forgive sins (opposed
by the churches and the Christian
the confessors)
and the extension
of the
heroes,
same
Bishops
Assume
to
rgi
Si ns B
eveu Ul
sins
to
mortal sins (contrary to the early practice, the early conception of baptism and of the Church) was at-
tended by great
difficulties,
although the bishops
encountered not onty the early practice of the primitive rigid discipline, but also a wide-spread laxness.
The extension of the forgiveness of sins to adulterers was the occasion of the schism of Hippolytus. After the Decian persecution, however,
it
was necessary
to
declare even the greatest sin, apostasy, as pardonable,
likewise to enlarge the ancient concession that
one capital sin after baptism might ble (a practice
still
be pardona-
founded upon the Hennas Pastor) and
to abolish all rights of spiritual persons (confessors), i.e.
to
make
the forgiveness of sin dependent upon
a regular, casuistic, bishopry action
Rome and
Cyprian) Jtf '
(Cornelius of
then was the Church Only J
.
idea radically and totally changed.
The Church
eludes the pure and the impure (like Noah's ark)
;
inits
members are not collectively holy and every one is by no means sure of blessedness. The Church, solely in virtue of
its
endowments,
is
holy (objective), and
these have actually been conferred, together with the
pure teaching, upon the bishops (priests and judges in the
name
of
God)
;
it is
an indispensable salva-
idea of
Church
^aSaf
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
108
tion institute, so that no one will be blessed
remains without; fidelium, rather
is
also societas fidei, but not
is
it
it
who
a training-school and cultusIt possesses also, in addition
institute for salvation.
to baptism, a second cure for sin, at least in practice;
was
the theory, however,
Now
tain.
time were the clergy and
sharply distinguished religiously
laity
est
for the first
confused and uncer-
still
numerus episcoporum
")
,
("
ecclesia
and the Roman
bish-
ops stamped the clergy with a character indelibilis (not
Now
Cyprian).
also
began the theological
speculation in regard to the relation of the Church,
as a
communion
of saints, to the empirical holy
Church, to the milder secularizing of Christianity Novatian Opposition
tempered by the "means of grace."
But
all this
could not be accomplished without a great counteragitation
soon
which began
among
spread
all
at
Rome (Novatian) and
the
provincial
churches.
Novatian required only a minimum, the unpardonableness of the sin of apostasy (upon the earth) other,
wise the Church would no more be
holy.
This
minimum, however, had the same significance as the far more radical demands of the Montanists two generations before. of the ancient
that a
There was in
Church
idea,
a vital remnant
it
was strange pure (katharoi)
although
Church should consider
itself
it
and truly evangelical, merely because ingness to tolerate apostates second Catholic church,
mortal sinners)
.j,
a
mg from Spam
.
(later
A second Catholic
of its unwill-
perhaps other
Church, stretch-
>
to
Asia Minor,
arose,
whose archaic
.
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
109
fragments of the old discipline, however, did not help
to
it
of life
;
become a more independent earthly system
nor did
it
really distinguish itself
other Church, although of the
same invalid
With wisdom,
from the
declared the ministrations
it
(practice of re-baptism)
and
foresight
relative severity the
bishops in these crises brought their churches around
a new
to
attitude.
As
it
was, they could use only
one bishop's Church and they learned to consider themselves rightly as
At
the
form in
pupils and as its sheep.
same time the Church had taken on a which it could be a powerful support to Besides, its inner life
the state.
organized
image
was much
better
than formerly in the empire, and the
treasure of the Gospel (the
its
was
still
ever in
its
keeping
of Christ, the assurance of eternal life, the
monotheism and piety
exercise of mercy) as once the of the Psalmists
remained alive within the hard and
foreign shell of the Jewish Church.
Note
1.
The Priesthood.
old Catholic
Church idea
is
The rounding out of the clearly manifested in the
completed development of a priestly order. ourgical priests are found
(Marcion's followers)
;
first
in the
among
Hier-
the gnostics
Church the prophets
(Didache) and the local ministers
(I.
Clement) were
formerly likened to the Old Testament priests. tullian first calls the bishop a priest,
Ter-
and from that
time until about 250 the priestly character of the bishops and presbyters
was evolved very
rapidly in the
Orient, as well as in the Occident; so strong indeed
Tb
^
r est " {j
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
110
was
the influence of heathenism at this point that an
or do of priestly assistants (lower ordination) arose The completed idea of priest (in the Occident first).
meets us first in Cyprian, in the time,
and
in the
Roman bishops of that
document which
sentatives of the
the basis of
The bishops
the Apostolic Constitutions. arily also the presbyters)
lies at
were held
(second-
to be the repre-
Church before God (they alone are
permitted to bring the offering) and representatives of
God
Church (they alone grant or with-
before the
hold the Divine grace as judges in the place of
and Christ; they are the depositaries ies,
who
JuluÖ to
system!
of the myster-
dispense a grace which they thought to be
an anointing of a materialistic appeal
God
this claim, appeal
In support of
sort).
was made increasingly
to the
Old
Testament priests and the entire Jewish cultus sysDoors and
tem, naturally in a supplementary way.
windows were thus thrown open, rights
and duties
and Judaism,
of the priests,
after that they
as regards the
toward heathenism
had disregarded the
exhortation of the aging Tertullian to return to a
common
priesthood.
-
Tithes, cleansings
and
finally
Sabbath ordinances (transferred to Sunday) were gradually established. sacrifice.
Note 2. The Sacrificial Offering. Priesthood and sacrifice condition each other. The sacrificial idea had from the beginning the widest play in the Church the
new
(see
Book
I.
Chap.
3,
Sec. 7)
;
therefore
conception of the priest must of necessit}"
influence the conception of the sacrifice, even though
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
Ill
the old representation (pure sacrifice of the spirit,
whole
sacrifice of
praise, the
remained.
This influence manifested
ways,
within the
(1)
was introduced the
Christian
received
(see
significance (see Tertul.)
complete in Cyprian.
;
of
sacrifice
etc.
even
"satisfaction"
To him
it is
self-evident that
who cannot remain
to be erased, entitle
sacrifice)
must
sinless,
the
reconcile
one to a special reward.
to penitential exercises, the
effective
fruitless)
life
two
Deeds done, where special sins are not
angry God.
and
itself in
this development appears
through penance (atoning
most
still
more and more among others Hermas) and these
a meritorious, and
the Christian,
sacrifice)
special acts of fasting, of vol-
untary celibacy, of martyrdom,
prominently
a
life
giving of alms
means (prayer without alms
.
In the writing,
De opere
is
Next is
the
barren
et eleemos.,
Cyprian has given an elaborate theory, one might alms as a means of grace which a can provide and which God accepts. Follow-
say, concerning
man
ing the Decian persecution the opera et eleemosynae
crowded into the absolution system of the Church
and secured therein a firm footing One can :
God's indulgence
—win again for
tian standing through works.
wholly ity
satisfied
himself his Chris-
men had remained
this, the entire
system of moral-
would have been encompassed by
was necessary dei,
with
If
—through
it.
Hence
it
to enlarge the conception of gratia
and not as hitherto
upon the sacrament
to
of baptism
make .
it
depend
solely
This was first accom-
Me^° ri ous Works.
;
112
Pushed, however, by Augustine;
Re-SaSin
5
nflce of
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
"
sacrifice
Christ.
also is
underwent a change in the
He
Cyprian epoch-making.
the idea of
(2)
Here
cultus.
first
clearly as-
sociated the specific offering of the Lord's Supper
with the
specific priesthood;
he
declared the
first
passio domini, and also the sanguis Christi and the dominica hostia the object of the eucharistic offering,
and thereby reached the idea
of the priestly
re-enacting of the sacrifice of Christ awtxaros xa\ zoo alparos also in the
regulations)
;
(y
-paayopä too
Church
apostolic
he placed the Lord's Supper decidedly
under the point of view of the incorporation
Church and tified
of the individual
way
in a clear
commemoration
The
with Christ, and
for the first
cer-
time that the
of those taking part in the offering
(vivi et defuncti) nificance.
of the
had a
special {deprecatory) sig-
real effect of the sacrificial
those participating was,
meal
for
however, the making of
prayers for each other more efficacious
;
for unto the
forgiveness of sins in the fullest sense this act could,
notwithstanding
all
the enrichment and lofty repre-
sentations of the ceremony, not be referred.
There-
was the re-enactment Christ remained still a mere claim
fore the claim that the service of the sacrifice of
for against the conception so closely related to the
cultus of the times, that participation in the service
cleansed from sin as in the mysteries of the
mater and
of Mithras, the fundamental ecclesiastical
principle of baptism tion.
As
magna
and repentance stood
in opposi-
a sacrificial act the Lord's Supper never
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
113
attained to equal importance with baptism; but to
the popular imagination this solemn ritual, modelled after the ancient mysteries,
must have gained the
highest significance.
Note
3.
Means of Grace, Baptism and EuchaJ ±
That which since Augustine has been
rist.
"means
of grace
",
called
the Church of the 2d and 3d cen-
tury did not possess, save in baptism
:
According to
the strict theory the baptized could not expect any
new bestowal must rather
men
means
of
fulfil
of grace
from Christ, he
But
the law of Christ.
possessed in absolution, from the
in practice
moment when
mortal sins were absolved, a real means of grace,
whose significance was screened by baptism. upon
flection
this
means
of grace
remained as yet
wholly uncertain, in so far as the thought that absolves the sinner through the priest
by the other
(see
above)
,
Re-
was
God
crossed
that the penitential acts of
sinners the rather secure forgiveness.
The ideas con-
cerning baptism did not essentially change (Hoefling,
Sacrament der Taufe. of sins
Bdd. 1846).
2
was looked upon
Forgiveness
in general as the result of
baptism (however, here also a moral consideration entered ness
;
:
The
sins of the unbaptized are sins of blind-
therefore
it is fit
penitent from them)
necessary
now
of forgiveness.
;
8
God
should absolve the
actual sinlessness,
to preserve,
which it was
was considered
Often there
tion with the remissio
tatis the
that
is
the result
mentioned in connec-
and the consecutio
ceterni-
absolutio mortis, regeneratio hominis,
Means
of
Grace,
Ba P tism
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
114
ad similitudinem dei, consecutio Spiritus sancti ("lavacrum regenerationis et sanctificationis ") and all possible blessings as well. The restitutio
e"
Pm
,
ever-increasing enrichment of the ritual
in part a
is
consequence of the purpose to symbolize these pre-
supposed rich effects of baptism
;
in part
it
owes
its
origin to the desire to worthily equip the great mys-
An
terium.
explanation of the separate acts had
already begun (confirmation by the bishop).
The
water was looked upon as a symbol and vehicle.
The introduction
of infant baptism lies wholly in
the dark (in the time of Tertullian
it
was already
wide-spread, but condemned by him, de bapt. 18,
because he held that the cunctatio was indicated
by reason
pondus
of the act
;
Origen referred
The attempts of some to The Lord's Supper repeat baptism were repelled. was looked upon not only as an offering, but also as it
Lord's Supper.
of the
back to the apostles).
a divine gift (Monographien von Doellinger 1826,
Kahnis 1851, Rueckert
was never
whose
1856),
strictly defined,
effect,
however,
because the rigid scheme
(baptismal grace, baptismal duties) excluded such.
Imparting of the Divine per
was the
life
through the Holy Sup-
chief representation, closely connected
with purely superstitious ideas (väpnazuv
äüava<jias)
:
the spiritual and the physical were strangely mixed (the bread as y^uxrt?
communication and
Church father made a
The
realistic
alistic
became
mystical;
but
clear
C<»tf).
No
discrimination here:
spiritualistic
and the
spiritu-
the forgiveness of sins re-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. treated entirely
from view.
115
In accordance with this
the representation of the relation of the visible ele-
ments
to the
body of Christ began
problem (whether symbolical or
A
to take form. realistic)
no one
The symbol is the inherently potential mystery (vehicle), and the mystery apart from the symbol was inconceivable. The flesh of Christ is
dreamed
itself
of
:
"spirit" (no one perhaps thought of the his-
torical body)
but that the spirit becomes perceptible
;
was even
and
tangible,
The
anti -gnostic fathers recognized that the con-
secrated bread
ments,
—one
the distinguishing mark.
was composed
of
two inseparable
earthly and the other heavenly,
thus saw in the sacrament that which the gnostics, viz. fleshly flesh
:
The union
and the warrant
which
is
— and
was denied by
of the spiritual
and the
for the resurrection of the
nourished by the blood of the Lord
(even so Tertullian,
a pure symbolist). tion,
ele-
who
has falsely been classed as
Justin spoke of a transforma-
but of a transformation of the participants
;
the
Justin,
idea of the transformation of the elements was, how-
The Alexandrians saw everything which the Church at large
ever, already taking form.
here, as did, the
in
mystery behind the mystery
;
they accommo-
dated themselves to the administration, but they
wished
to be
such spiritual Christians that they
might be continually nourished by the Logos and might partake of a perpetual
eucharist.
where the service was departing from significance
its
and was made more and more
Everyoriginal
precise as
A
^^'
.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
116
regards
its
form and content, both by the learned
and ignorant
(practice of infant
communion
testified
by Cyprian)
to
Magical
Mysterfes
faith
mysteries,
superstition,
and obedience, on the one
authoritative
side,
and a highly
realistic representation of the freedom, ability
and
responsibility of the individual in moral matters,
the other side,
is
the
mark
on
of Catholic Christendom.
In religious matters authoritatively and superstitiously bound, therefore passive; free
and
left to
in
moral matters
themselves, therefore active.
That the Roman church
led the
way throughout
in this process of broadening the churches into catholicity is
an historical fact that can be unquestiona-
bly proven. doctrine,
the faith, its
But the
philosophic-scientific system of
which was evolved is
bishops.
at the
not the work of the
same time out
Roman
of
church and
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
117
ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY AS DOCTRINE AND ITS GRADUAL
II.
SECULARIZATION.
CHAPTER
IV.
ECCLESIASTICAL CHRISTIANITY AND PHILOSOPHY.
THE APOLOGISTS. Engelhardt, Das Christenthum Justin's, 1878. Kühn, Octavius, 1882. Ausgabe der Apologeten mit Commentar,
M.
von 1
v.
Otto.
.
The
apologists wishing to declare
and defend
The Apologists.
the Christianity of the churches stood therefore in all
things upon the basis of the Old Testament, em-
phasized the universalism of the Christian revelation
They
and held
fast to the traditional eschatologj^.
rejected
gnosticism and saw in the moral
power which
faith
gave to the uncultured a
pal proof of its genuineness.
But anxious
princi-
to present
and surest Christianity J to the educated as the highest ° philosophy, they elaborated as truly Christian the
moral cast of thought with which the Gentile Christians
from the beginning had stamped the Gospel,
making Christianity rational and giving a form which appealed to the common sense of all
thereby it
earnest, thinking
Besides, they
and reasoning men
knew how
tive material, the
of the times.
to use the traditional, posi-
Old Testament as well as the
his-
tory and worship of Christ, simply as a verification
and attestation
of this rational religion
which had
christianity
Highest
Sy10^"-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
118
been hitherto wanting and had been sought for with In the apologetic theology
fervent desire.
tianity is conceived
brought about by
as
God
himself and
corresponding
man and
to the primitive condition
of
the sharpest contrast with
all
religions
development
religious
a
Chris-
placed in
polytheistic national
With
and ceremonial observances.
greatest energy the apologists proclaimed
to
it
the
be
the religion of the spirit, of freedom and of absolute Christian
Teaching formed.
The whole *positive material of Christianhowever, was transformed into a great scheme of
morality. ^ *ty>
evidence; religion did not obtain historical facts tion,
which
—
it
received
it
is self- witnessing
and freedom
of
mankind
its
content from
from Divine revela-
in the creature-reason
—but
the historical facts
serve for the attestation of religion, for
its
tion^ as against its partial obscuration,
and
elucidafor its
universal spreading.
And
that
was what
the majority were seeking.
In what religion and morality consist, that they believed they
knew; but that these are
that their rewards
and punishments are sure, that
the true religion excludes idolatry, tee.
realities,
were claims
for
all
forms of polytheism and
which they had no guaran-
Christianity as an actual revelation brought
the certainty they desired.
It
gave
to the highest
product of Greek philosophy and to the sovereignty of theistic morality victory
and permanence;
it
and as
to this philosophy as
knowledge
morality for the
time the courage to free
first
of the world
gave
itself
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. from the polytheism
of the past
and
119
to descend
the plane of the learned to the plane of the
from
common
people.
The
apologists were in contrast with the gnostics
conservative, inasmuch as they were not really dis-
Apologists Conservative
-
posed to investigate at any point the traditions of the
make
the content of the same compre-
Church or
to
hensible.
The argument from prophecy, now how-
ever formulated in the most external way, allied
The gnostics sought Gospel a new religion, the apologists by
them with the Church in the
at large.
means of the Gospel were confirmed in their religious moral sense. The former emphasized the redemptive idea and made everything subordinate to it;
the latter brought all within the radius of natural
religion
and relegated the redemptive idea
to
the
Both hellenized the Gospel; but
circumference.
only the speculations of the apologists were at once legitimized, because they directed everything against
polytheism and
left
the
Testament and the
Old
kerygma untouched and emphasized in the clearest manner freedom and responsibility. Apologists and gnostics carried forward the
work which
the Alex-
andrian Jewish thinker (Philo) had begun as regards
Old Testament religion
to the
;
but they divided the
work, so to speak, between them
:
The
latter devot-
ing themselves rather to the Platonic-religious side of the
problem and the former to the stoic-rational-
istic side.
made no ;
The
division
however could not be sharply
apologist entirely overlooked the redemp-
Apologists
^jjjgJSJ Phiio"
.
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
120
tive idea (redemption ^endl? iems°
from the power of the demons
can De wrought only by the Logos)
W ith Irenaeus
.
begins again in the theological work of the Church the blending of the two problems
;
not only the con-
with gnosticism made this necessary, but the
test
spirit of the
age turned more and more from the within
stoic morality to the Neo-Platonic mysticism,
whose and Reve-
Christianity
2.
it^fpS-
shell lay concealed the
This
is
is
impulse toward religion.
philosophy and revelation:
the thesis of every apologist from Aristides
lation
Thesisof Apologists.
to
Minucius Felix.
philosophy,
the
spread opinion
In the declaration that
the churches, that
antithesis to all worldly
of Celsus)
;
wisdom
is
the wide-
apologists encountered
among
it
it
is
the
testimony
(see the
but they reconciled this difference through
the friendly understanding that Christianity
is of
supernatural origin and as revelation, notwithstand-
ing
its
rational content, cannot be apprehended save
by a divinely illumined understanding.
On
the
principles underlying this conception the apologists
were
all
agreed (Aristides, Justin, Tatian, Melito,
Athenagoras, Theophilus, Tertullian, Minucius Felix
and others whose writings are attributed
to Justin)
The
strongest impress of stoic morality and rational-
ism
is
found in Minucius; Justin's writings (Apol-
ogy and Dialogue) have the most the faith of the churches.
On
in
common with
the other
hand Justin
and Athenagoras think the most favorably of philosophy and of philosophers, while in the succeeding time the judgment became ever harsher (already by
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
121
Tatian) without changing the view of the philosophic
The general conviction may
content of Christianity.
be thus summarized cause
:
Christianity
is
philosophy, be-
has a rational element and because
it
satisfactory
all
phers have exercised themselves; but losophy,
— indeed
ophy, so far as opinions
from
it
gives a
and generally comprehensible answer
those questions in regard to which
and
is
it
to
true philoso-
it is
not a phi-
the direct antithesis to philos-
free
it is
Summary,
refutes
from
mere notions and
all
polytheism,
i.e.,
originates
a revelation, therefore has a supernatural, Di-
vine origin, upon which finally the truth and certainty of its teaching alone rest.
philosophy shows osophical form in
went
forth.
judgments
itself also
above
all in
the unphil-
which the Christian preaching
This thesis permits in detail various in
regard to the concrete relation of
Christianity and philosophy,
and
gists tp labor at the problem,
needed to be revealed at convictions however (1)
This contrast with
Christianity
is,
all?
may
it
why
urged the apolothen the rational
The following general
also be laid
down
here:
according to the apologists, rev-
elation, i.e. it is the
Divine wisdom which from of
old has been proclaimed through the
prophets and
possesses through its origin absolute trustworthiness,
which
is also clearly
evidenced in the fulfilment
of the words of the prophets
(the evidence
prophecy as the only sure evidence;
do with the content of religion, but
ment
to
it).
As Divine wisdom
it
is
from
has nothing to
an accompani-
Christianity stands
Christianelation,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
122
opposed to Christian-
natural and philosophical knowledge
all
and makes an end
to such.
(2)
Christianity
is
the
ity is Phi-
losophy.
manifestation which accords with the natural, though
darkened reason of mankind;
it
essential elements of philosophy
—
philosophy
— and Revelation Necessary.
it
(^ za#' yßöiS tptloaofia^
mankind
assists
philosophy contains.
was and
is
i]
includes
all
therefore the
it is
ßapßaptxyj (filo
to realize the truths
(3)
the
which
Revelation of the rational
mankind has fallen demons. (4) The efforts of
necessary, because
under the dominion of
the philosophers to discover the true knowledge have
been
which
fruitless,
is
above
shown by
all clearly
the fact that neither polytheism nor the wide-spread Philoso-
phers Indebted to Prophets.
immorality has been overthrown by them. the philosophers have discovered
indebted for
it
any
So far as
truth, they are
to the prophets (thus the
Jewish Alex-
andrian philosophers already taught) from they borrowed
it; it is, to
say the
whom
uncertain
least,
whether they also have come to the knowledge of
any fragment ity of the it,
of the truth
Logos
however, that
(see
through the sporadic activ-
Justin on Socrates)
many
;
certain
apparent truths of the philos-
ophers are the aping of truth by evil spirits also the Christ only Emphasized Prophets.
(to
these
whole of polytheism was referred, which
partly also the aping of Christian institutions).
The acknowledgment in the
new
is
is (5)
of Christ is simply included
acknowledgment
of the prophetic
wisdom
;
a
content the teaching of the prophets did not
receive through Christ; he only gave
it
currency
and energy (triumph over the demons; Justin and
.
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
new element
Tertullian recognize a
The
(G)
in the Gospel)
practical testing of Christianity
apprehensibility (the unlearned and
its
come wise),
(b) in
a holy
in
lies, (a)
women
the expulsion of demons,
ability to produce
123
(c)
be-
in its
In the apologists
life.
Christianity accordingly despoiled antiquity,
i.e.
the
proceeds of the monotheistic knowledge and ethics of the Greek
:
offa
in-i (Justin)
.
~apd It
r^aai xaXaig eipyrat rj/xwv
rwv xptffrtav&v
00
dates itself from the beginning of
Everything true and good that mankind
the world.
Christian-
ityOklas the W, "
M
came through Divine revelation, but is, at the same time, truly human, because it is only a clearer
extols
expression of that which It is at the is
men
find within themselves.
same time Christian,
since Christianity
nothing but the teaching of revelation.
One cannot
think of another form in which the claim of Christianity to be the world-religion
comes out so strongly
(hence the effort to reconcile the world-empire with the
new
religion)
which the
in
,
nor can one think of a second form
specific content of the traditional Chris-
tianity is so thoroughly neutralized.
But
its
truly
1
SjjjfJjJJJ
epoch-making character lay
in this, that the spiritual W juiiteHg-
culture of the race appeared
now
allied
to be reconciled
with religion: Revelation
is
and
wholly an out-
ward, miraculous communication (passivity of the prophets) of rational truth tic
;
but rational truth
cosmology and morality
dogmatically and as the
— was
common
set forth
—theissimply
possession of
man-
kind. 3.
The
"
dogmas
" of
Christianity
— this conception
ion.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
124 Dogmas are Rational Truths.
and the other,
^eokoyla^
philosophical language rational truths
were
introduced into
first
by the apologists
—are
those
which are revealed by the prophets
the Holy Scriptures, and which are in Christ [Xptards
X6yo<s xai
v6fio<s)
summed up
all
and have as
consequent true virtue and eternal
life
in
their
(God, liberty
reward and eternal punishment,
and
virtue, eternal
i.e.
Christianity as a monotheistic cosmology, as a
doctrine of liberty and morals, as a doctrine of re-
demption
;
the latter however
The instruction
is
not clearly set forth).
referred back to God, the estab-
lishment of a virtuous
must needs have
is
left
life
to
(of
men.
righteousness)
God
The prophets and
Christ are therefore fountains of righteousness, in so far as they are
may
Divine teachers.
Christianity
be defined as the God-transmitted knowledge of
God, and as virtuous conformity to rational law, in the longing and striving after eternal certainty of reward.
and
in the
Through the knowledge
of the
life
truth and through the doing of good,
men become
righteous and partake of the highest blessedness.
Knowledge tion.
power
rests
upon faith
in the Divine revela-
This revelation has also the genius and the of redemption, in so far as the fact is unques-
tionable that
mankind cannot without
over the dominion of the demons.
it
triumph
All this
is
con-
ceived from the Greek standpoint. Dogmas Set Forth
Knowledge of God.
(a)
The dogmas which
God and
of the
set forth the
knowledge
of
world are dominated by the funda-
mental thought, that over against the world as a
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
125
and transient existence stands the Self- Existent, Unchangeable and Eternal, who is created, conditioned
He
the primal Cause of the world. butes,
he
is
which are attributable exalted above every
to the
has no
world
;
name and has
attri-
therefore
in himself
no distinctions (the Platonic expressions concerning
God were
He
held as incomparably good).
is ac-
cordingly one and alone, spiritual and faultless
and therefore perfect; in purely negative predicates he is best characterized and yet he is Origin (Cause) ;
and the Fulness
he
of all existences;
is
Will and
The following
Life, therefore also the kind Giver.
theses remain fixed with the apologists as regards
the relation of
God
to the world: (1) that
God
be thought of primarily as the final Cause, the principle of the ethically good the world,
(3)
(2)
is to
Summary,
that
the Principle of
is
that the Principle of the world,
i.e.
the Godhead, as immortal and eternal, forms the
The dogmas
contrast to the world as the perishable.
concerning
God
are not set forth from the stand-
point of the redeemed Church, but on the basis of a certain conception of the world on the one hand,
and of the moral nature of latter
however
is
man
on the other
;
which
a manifestation within the cosmos.
The cosmos is everywhere permeated with reason and order (opposition to gnosticism) it bears the ;
stamp of the Logos
and as a product also evil,
which
lies at
(as
a reflection of a higher world
of a rational Will)
the basis of
its
but was created by God.
.
The material
composition Still
is
not
the apologists
cosmos son.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
126
make God
did not
the immediate creator of the
world, but the personified Divine Reason perceptible in the world
and inserted between God and the
This was done with no reference to Christ
world.
and with no thought
God and
rating
the gnostic sense) of sepa-
the world;
Logos was already
ophy
(in
hand in the
at
and the
of the day,
the conception of the religious philos-
God
lofty idea of
required
a being, which should represent the actuality and the many-sided activity of God, without doing violence to his unchangeableness (a finer dualism The Logos.
Logos
is
the hypostasis of the active energizing
Reason, which makes
head
itself
vealing
The
:
it
as resting
Word
possible to think of the
Onepouffcov
he
•
is
God-
both the
of God, the Divine manifesting
re-
him-
audibly and visibly upon the earth, and the
self
creating Reason which expresses himself in the
own hands he
of his
;
is the
work
Principle of the tvorld
and of revelation at the same time. All this is not new yet the Logos was not proclaimed by the ;
apologists as a vooößevov, but as the surest reality).
Beyond the carrying out
thought that the
of the
principle of the cosmos is also the principle of revelation the majority did not go;
upon the faith of the Church ever,
H
01
lo
os
°f
tlie
by
is
is
evidenced, how-
their failure to clearly distinguish
Lo £ os and
Logos
their dependence
tlie
Holv
as follows:
Spirit.
The
God was never
between
history of the akoyos;
he ever
had the Logos within himself as his reason and as the potentiality (idea, energy) of the world (notwith-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. standing
negative assertions,
all
were somehow bound together) creation
him
God
God and
(>
He
Being.
hö?
him
to
go
forth), i.e.
with that of God
;
only severed, and of
God; but
is
through a
him out
now an independent
is
whose
&eod)
£x
of the
put the Logos forth from himself (sent
forth, permitted
c
the world
For the sake
.
free simple act of his will generated
own
127
of his
hypostasis
real essence (otWa) is identical
he
is
not separated from
God but
mode or
attribute
is also
not a mere
the independent result of the
self-
unfolding of God, and, although being the compen-
dium
of the Divine Reason, he did not rob the Father
of his reason
;
he
is
God and Lord,
possesses the es-
sence of the Divine Nature, although he
being by the Side of
God
(aptOpLtp
erepov
is
a second
r«, tied?
but his personality had a beginning
po$);
tempus,
cum patri filiusnon fuit"
Tertull.).
dsure-
("fnit
Since
Begotten God.
then he had a beginning, and the Father did not, he is,
as compared with the Father, a Creature, the
The subordina-
begotten, created, manifested God. tion lies, not in his essence (for
then have been destroyed)
,
origin {tpyov npcuroroxov zoo possible for
him
son, revelation,
mains
With
to
and
monotheism would
but in the manner of his Trarpos)
.
go forth into the
This made
finite as rea-
activity, while the
in the obscurity
it
Father
re-
of his unchangeableness.
the going forth of the Logos begins the reali-
zation of the world-idea.
He
is
the Creator and to a
creator
and Proto-
degree the Prototype of the world (the one and spiritual
Being among the many sentiment creatures),
^P
-
.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
128
which had
aim
its
origin from nothing.
in the creation of the world,
man
is to
Man
is
the true
and the true aim
of
attain unto the Divine essence through
the reason (image of God) and freedom created with-
As
in him.
spirit-embodied beings
men
are neither
mortal nor immortal, but capable of death and of eternal
In the doctrines, that
life.
God
Lord of the material world, that
lute
is
the abso-
evil is not in-
herent in matter but originated in time and through the free decision of the spirit
(angel), finally
that
the world advances toward the light, dualism ap-
peared to be fundamentally overcome in the cos-
Yet
mology. sentient
it
was not overcome
in so far as the
was actually looked upon as
evil.
The
apologists held this teaching in regard to God, the
Logos, the world and mankind as the essential content of Christianity (of the Old
Testament and of the
preaching of Christ) Doctrines of Free-
dom.
The doctrines concerning freedom, virtue, righteousness and their reward were so held that God was looked upon simply as Creator and Judge, and not as the principle of a new life (reminiscences (b)
in Justin).
and Virtue.
gift,
Virtue
is
The
same time reward knowledge and virtue.
äyfrapaia is at the
linked with correct
withdrawal from the world (man must
re-
nounce his natural inclinations) and exaltation in every respect above the senses, and love.
law
is
the law for the perfect, exalted spirit, which,
inasmuch as Righteousness.
is
The moral
it is
the loftiest being upon the earth,
too lofty for the same.
The
spirit should hasten
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. from the earth
to the
Father of Lights
;
in equanim-
purity and goodness, which are the nec-
ity, fulness,
essary consequences of right knowledge,
make
manifest that
it
The vicious
world.
129
it
it
should
has already overcome the
die the eternal death, the virtu-
ous obtain the eternal
life
(strong emphasis
Rewards,
upon the
idea of the judgment; recognition of the resurrection of the
body of the virtuous
eousness
not pushed beyond the legal require-
ments) (c)
is
the idea of right-
.
God
is
Redeemer
in so far as he (although the
cosmos and the reason are still
;
sufficient revelations)
G d4merf
has
sent forth direct miraculous dispensations of the
Inasmuch as the
truth.
fallen angels at the very
beginning gained the mastery over mankind and entangled
men
in sensuality
sent his prophets to enlighten
and
ception
worked
directly within them,
were
But
all
per-
The Logos
and many apologists
satisfied
Holy Scriptures and
ecy.
man's darkened
to strengthen his freedom.
in their writings
the
and polytheism, God
with a reference to
to the evidence
from proph-
indeed recognized with Justin
the
complete revelation of the Logos in Jesus Christ,
through
made
whom
prophecy
is
fulfilled
and the truth
easily accessible to all (adoration of Christ as
the revealed Logos).
Justin
still
more
defended the adoration of a crucified
added
many
Christ that Irenaeus. 9
"
zealously
man " and
things from the traditions concerning
make
their appearance
first
again in
s
^f]°e d
^
Christ.
;
130
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
CHAPTER
V.
AN ECCLESIASTICO THEOLOGICAL EXPOSITION AND REVISION OF THE RULE OF FAITH IN OPPOSITION TO GNOSTICISM ON THE PRESUPPOSITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF THE APOLO-
BEGINNINGS OF
-
IRENES US,
GISTS:
TERTULLIAN,
HIPPOLYTUS,
CYPRIAN, NOVATIAN. irengeus.
l.
Iren^eus, a pupil of Polycarp and a teacher
from Asia Minor, who resided in Lyons and was conversant with the traditions of the
Roman
church,
work the apostolic norms of the Catholic Church and also made an attempt to develop a system of Church doctrine. set forth in his great anti-gnostic
combined
J^fe
theology sought to combine the apologetic ou with a ° a theological revision of the baptismal confession;
Session
he took from the two Testaments that material
Apologetic
jj e
j.
which served not alone teaching
;
to attest his
like the gnostics
philosophical
he placed the thought of
the realized redemption in the centre and sought
thereby at the same time to express the primitive
Christian eschatological hopes.
In this
way
arose
a "faith" of unlimited extent, which was to be the faith of the Church, of the learned and unlearned,
composed
of the
most divers elements
—the
philo-
sophi co-apologetic, Biblical, Christosophic, gnosticanti-gnostic
and
materialistic-fantastical (the pistis
should at the same time be the gnosis and vice versa
.
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
131
consciousness that rational theology and fides
all
credenda are irreconcilable magnitudes was wanting; everything stood upon an even plane; speculation
was mistrusted and yet was not
This complicated structure
received
unity through the reference of faith
rule of
all
discarded). its
outward
complicated Structure.
declarations to the
and the two Testaments, and
its in-
ward unity through the strong emphasis of two fundamental thoughts: That the Creator-God is also Redeemer-God, and that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer solely on this account, because he is the the
God
incarnate
{filius dei filius
hominis factus)
In the carrying out of the latter thought, Irenseus superior 'to his pupils, Tertullian and
is
Hippolytus.
For the former especially was entirely incompetent to
unite
the
apologetico-rational, the historico-re-
demptive, and the eschatological ranges of thought,
but he developed, conformably to his juristic temper
and equipments, a well-rounded system in certain particulars,
which was very
influential in the sub-
sequent times (terminology of the trinitarian and Christological
dogmas giving Occidental dogmatics ;
a juristic trend).
The "joining °
of the old idea of salvation with the
thoUglltS of the
New
Testament (salvation-history)
and with the apologetic rationalism was the work of Irenaeus.
Christianity is to him real redemption,
brought about by the Creator-God. tion
is
to
him recapitidatio,
living unity of that
i.e.
This redemp-
restoration to a
which has been unnaturally
christianlty Re-
d
m
th
n
ough
God.
132
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
separated through death and sin gards mankind, the restoration of
;
especially, as re-
human
nature unto
the Divine image through the gift of imperishableness.
This salvation
Logos in
itself,
accomplished, not through the
is
but solely through Jesus Christ, and,
indeed, through Jesus Christ in so far as he
and became man.
was God
In that he took upon himself hu-
manity he has inseparably united and blended the Incarnation Fun-
damental Do.srma.
The incarnation
same with Divinity.
is therefore
along with the doctrine of the unity of
God
the
Thus the historical Christ with the gnostics and Marcion) at the
fundamental dogma. stands (as
centre, not as the teacher (although IrensBus' rational
scheme in many respects intersected his theory of redemption) tion as the is
realistic
but by virtue of his constitu-
,
All else in the Holy Scriptures
God-man.
preparatory history
(not simply ciphers in the
evidence from prophecy), and the history of Christ
(kerygma) himself
is
the unfolding of the process
of the incarnation (not simply the fulfilment of prophecy).
Although the apologists in
not pose the question Irenaeus
made
it
"
cur dens
Ready Acceptance.
Gods".
homo "
at
fundamental and answered
the intoxicating statement Gained
reality did
:
"
all,
it
yet
with
That we might become
This answer was accordingly highly
satis-
factory, because, (1) it indicated a specific Christian benefit
from salvation,
the gnostic conception the latter in cation, (3) it
its
;
(2) it
was
indeed
it
of like
rank with
even went beyond
compass of territory regarding
met the eschatological trend
deifi-
of Chris-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. tianity half-way, yet at the
same time
it
133
could take
the place of the fantastic-eschatological expectations,
expressed the mystic Neo-Platonic trend of the
(4) it
time and gave the same the greatest satisfaction, it
replaced the
waning
by the certain hope of our nature,
intellectualism (rationalism)
of a supernatural transformation
which will make
priating that which
(5)
is
it
capable of appro-
above reason,
(6) it
gave
to the
traditional historical utterances concerning Christ,
and the entire previous history as and a
tion
definite aim,
well,
a firm founda-
and made possible the con-
ception of a gradual unfolding of the history of (ohovoßia
salvation ideas,
logical interest
The moral and eschatowas now balanced by a real religious kerygma).
and Christological "
interest
his birth as a
secured the legacy of
the natural birth,
.The restoration of hu-
things foreign to
man
the eternal
life for
it.
is
Word
of
those who, through
The
carry-
indeed crossed by
many
had inherited death
ing out of this thought
off
:
nature unto the Divine image per adoptionem.
Through
God
appropriation of Pauline
distinguishing of the two Testaments, vital
interest in the
man
#eoZ>;
Irenseus
and
".
his pupils
warded
the acute hellenization by the bringing in of the
two Testaments, by the idea of the unity and redemption, by their opposition they taught the Church faith in
anew
to
of creation
docetism;
that Christianity
is
Jesus Christ; but on the other hand they
promoted the hellenization by their
superstitious
conception of redemption, and by turning the inter-
iren^us '
warded
off Hellenization.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
134 est
toward the natures rather than toward the living
Person. Declared 2.
Dualism
The
early Catholic fathers, in opposition to the
Destroyed
Omnipotence of God.
declared that dualism destroys the
theses,
gnostic
omnipotence of God, therefore in general the idea of
God, that the emanations are a mythological fancy
and endanger the unity tempt
Godhead, that the
of the
to ascertain the inner
Divine constitution
atis
audacious, that the gnostics could not avoid placing the final origin of sin in the pleroma, that criticism of the constitution of the
cosmos
is
impertinent, the
same is much rather an evidence of wisdom and goodness, that docetism gives the lie to the Deity, that
the freedom of is
Accept Gnostic
Demiurge.
man
is
an undeniable
fact, that evil
a necessary means of correction, that goodness and
do not exclude each other,
justice
etc.
Everywhere
they argue accordingly for the gnostic demiurge as against
above
all
the
gnostic
to the
They
Redeemer-God.
refer
two Testaments, and have therefore
been eulogistically called
"
Scripture theologians "
but the "religion of the Scriptures", whereby the latter is wilfully interpreted as inspired
testimony
(Irenseus looks askance at the gnostic exegesis, but
comes very near making use of of contact
with the Gospel.
it)
gives no guarantee
The
relation
between
the rule of faith and the Scriptures (now super-,
now
sub-ordination) also did not
come
to a
clear
statement. Doctrine of God Out-
In the doctrine of
God
lined for
All
Time
firmly
drawn
for all time.
the
main
outlines were
A middle way between
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
135
the disavowal of knowledge and an over-curious
was much prized. In Irenseus are found tendencies to make love, i.e. Jesus Christ, the prinspeculation
revelation,
declared,
For
God
be
known through
whereby the knowledge
of the world is
knowledge.
ciple of
now
is to
to be sufficient,
and now
insufficient;
Irenseus, the apologist, it is sufficient, for Ire-
nseus, the Christologist,
out a creation
is
not; but a
it is
a phantom
;
God
always must the cos-
The Creator- God
mical precede the religious.
the starting-point, blasphemy of the Creator
Hence
highest blasphemy. of
God
is
virtually
it,
is
is
the
also the apologetic idea
made use
and the Cause of the cosmos) enthused by
with-
of ;
(God the negation
but Irenseus
since a real interest is at
regards the historical revelation.
is still
hand as
Especially
was
it
pointed out against Marcion, that goodness requires justice.
In the Logos-doctrine Tertullian and Hippolytus
Logos-Doc-
manifest a deeper apologetic interest than Irenseus.
trine; Tertuiiian and
They adopt the whole mass (Tertull.
of apologetic material
Apolog. 21); but they give
it
a more par-
ticular reference to Jesus Christ (Tertull.
Christi and adv. Prax.).
de
came
Accordingly Tertullian
fashioned the formulas of the later orthodoxy, in that he introduced the conceptions substance
and
person, and notwithstanding his very elaborate subordinationism and his merely economical construction of the trinity, he
still
hit
upon ideas concerning the
relations of the three Persons
which could be
fully
tus
'
OUTLINES OP THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
136 una sub-
recognized upon the soil of the Nicene Creed
T
substantia, tres personal
soua?'"
head was
")
The unity
.
first
by Theophilus)
Alread}7
here confined to three in number).
God
considered a heresy to maintain that
But the
ical unity.
Godhead had made a beginning is still
?fatio et
was
a numer-
(the realiza-
ever the main-spring of
the inner Divine dispositio) distinct being ("
is
it
is
self -unfolding (not partitioning)
tion of the world-idea
r
did not
eons-speculation
(the gnostic
destroy the unity
D
God-
una substantia; the disone substance among the three Per-
sons (trinitas, rptds
L
of the
una
set forth in the
position of the
of the
("
;
the Logos became a
secundus a deo constitutus, perse-
verans in sua forma"); since he
is
derivatio, so
is
he portio of the Deity ("pater tota substantia"). Therefore notwithstanding his unity of
(unius substantial teristic of itself,
—
he has the charac-
6fioob
temporality (the Son
is
not the world-idea
although he possesses the same)
Stream,
when
aim, will finally flow back into is
its
it
was not
preserve faith in Jesus Christ, for its
Fountain.
its
This
in itself as yet not at all distin-
guishable from the Hellenic;
has
He, the
:
accomplished
the revelation has
form of statement
substance
it is
fitted to
too
low
;
it
importance merely in the identification of the
historical
Christ with this Logos.
Through
this
Tertullian united the scientific idealistic cosmology
with the declarations of the primitive tradition concerning Jesus,
him
like the
so
Christian
that both were to
wholly dissimilar wings of one and the
—
;:
THE LAYING OP THE FOUNDATION.
137
The Holy Tertullian treated u Spirit x merely according to the schema of the Logos-doctrine, same building.
—an advance upon trace of
the apologists,
an independent
tus a deo et filio
", "
the Son as the latter
substantice
")
yap
ftsov
<j£
interest (" tertias est Spiri-
is to
",
subordinate to
the Father, yet
still "
unius
Hippolytus emphasized the creature-
.
rjftiXrjfts
löyou rd xapddsiypa),
stronger (Philos. X, 33
still
Tzot7t aai 6
#£
iowaro
eysi§ tod
but did not attribute an indepen-
dent prosopon to the Spirit (adv. Noet. 14 ipu>, 7Zf)6
7tV£Up.aTO?)
Spirit.
—yet without any
vicaria visfilii
character of the Logos ei
H „ ?ty
iva tisov
:
dk rpiziqv rijV y/>pw too dytou
.
While Tertullian and Hippolytus simply add
the
^S^"
s
Christ of the kerygmas to the complete Logos-doc- tSuft?and trine already at hand, Irenseus took his point of de-
parture from the God-Christ, "
Logos "
the
to
subject
Christ were
him
is
itself.
who became man.
The
more a predicate of Christ than His declarations concerning
won from
the standpoint of the doctrine
the apologetic Logos-doctrine even
of redemption;
troubled him; but he could not rid himself of
it,
since redemption is recapitulatio of the creation,
and since John
1
:
1
teaches that Christ
is
the Logos.
However, he rejected from principle every emanation and theological speculation. the eternal Son of
he
is
exists
God
-pofiu),ih
Christ
is
(no temporal coming-forth)
the eternal self-revelation of the Father
between him and God no separation.
;
there
Yet
greatly did he strive to reject the eon-speculation
so
Tus
y
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
138
he also could not quite see the Divine in Christ in the redemption
he was obliged to give him a part
;
in the creation,
and then he taught nothing
different
But he always had the
from Justin and Tertullian.
incarnation in view, whose subject must be the full Divinity.
"God
placed himself in the relation of
Father to the Son, in order to create, after the ness of his Son,
men who
like-
should be his sons".
Per-
haps the incarnation was to Irenseus the highest expression of purpose in the sonship of Christ.
In
regard to the Holy Spirit Irenaeus spoke with the greatest indefiniteness
;
not once
found in his
is rpui?
writings. In
D^Seof Man.
the teaching of Irenseus concerning the destiny
j mankind
their original state, fall
and
sin, the
divergent lines of thought become very apparent (apologetico-moralistic,
Biblico-realistic),
and have
characteristically remained so for the doctrine of the
Church.
Only the
first is
clearly developed.
thing created, therefore also man,
ning imperfect.
tageous.
This end
is
realized
man upon
the basis of
his God-given capacity (image of God).
The prim-
through the free decision of cusabiS"
in the begin-
Perfection could only be the destiny
(native capacity) of mankind.
ami Advan-
is
Every-
.
.
ltive is
man
stumbled and
excusable (he
fell
into death
;
but his
fall
was tempted, he was ignorant, he
allowed himself to be seduced prcetextu immortalitatis),
and even
teleologically necessary.
Disobedi-
ence has been advantageous for the development of
man.
In order to become wise he must see that dis-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
139
obedience works death; he must learn the distance
between It is
man and God, and
a question of
sin is that
of the tree of
poral death.
Man
and death
The
reduces
itself at once, as
well in the re-
as in the ordaining of tem-
life,
regains his destiny,
significance of the prophets
itself here, as
and Hippolytus).
when he
and that he can
by the
and
(so
ever
of Christ
taught Tertul-
The second course
by Irenseus flowed out
still
de-
apologists, to the teach-
ing which strengthens freedom lian
the consequence of
But the good-
cides freely for the good, do.
;
really dreadful.
is
God showed
ness of
moval
which
life
the right use of freedom.
of thought
of the gnostic-anti-gnostic
recapitulation-theory and
This encompasses entire
ireneeus Influenced by Paul.
was influenced by Paul. humanity as the sinful
Adam, who having fallen once cannot help himself. All offended God in Adam through Eve the entire ;
race has become subject to death is forfeited
;
the original end
and God alone can help by descending
again into communion with us and restoring us to likeness with his
Being (not out of freedom does
communion with God, " in quantum deus nullius indiqet, in tantum homo ° * " IV. 14, 1). Christ, as indiget dei communione the second Adam, redeems the first Adam (" Christus
blessedness flow, but out of
,
libertatem restauravit"), in that he step for step restored in
bonum, what
Adam
(The testimony of prophecy
is
had done in malum. here changed into a
history of destruction and salvation). ious, preconceived historical
view
is
This
relig-
carried out in
Christ sec-
ond Adam.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
140
From
an almost naturalistic way.
the consequence
man
of the apokatastasis of every individual
was preserved only by
nseus
Ire-
moral train of
his
thought. Idea of
God -Man Dominates.
The idea
of the
God-man dominated
this entire
Ecclesiastical Christology, so far as
scheme.
the
Word
came
vere deus,
man,
unity.
the incarnate
(3)
This
carried
is
"ebionites" and Valentinians, scent of one of the
recapitulatio:
is
is
substantially
who taught
menaced the redemption
with
insep-
the
the de-
The Son stands
eons.
Eve and Mary)
identical
an
be-
against
out
and not in adopted kinship
natural, birth
many
Word
truly
is
Word
this
(2)
Jesus
.
he
i.e., (1)
God, God in kind,
of
truly
arable
homo
in
by Irenseus (Tertullian did
still
not so clearly see the necessity of the oneness) Christ vere
em-
human
phasizes the oneness of the Divine and Christ, stands to-day
it
ours;
in
(the virgin
his
;
body
is
docetism
for
just as did "ebionitism
".
Therefore must Christ, in order to be able to restore the whole man, also pass through a full Perfect
Union Between Logos and
Man
Jesus.
from birth
to
mature age and
human
between the Logos and his called, "
munio
to death.
human
The unity
nature Irenseus
adunitio verbi del ad plasma" and
et
commixtio del
et
hominis".
man
did from what the
Word
did.
"
com-
him what
It is to
perfect; since he did not care to distinguish
the
life
On
the con-
trary Tertullian, dependent upon Irenseus, but not
viewing the
key
to
realistic doctrine of
Christianity,
used
it
is
redemption as the true the formula,
; :
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
141
"homo deo mixtus", but not understanding the " homo F ACTUS " in the strict sense. He speaks (adv.
Two
sub-
stances
Prax.) of two substances of Christ (corporalis et spiritualis)
rum
"
,
duarum
of the "conditio
which
N
Con " fu S
substantia-
in their integrity persist, of the " du-
plex status domini, non confusus, sed cujunctus in
una persona — deus
the Chalcedon
developed
it
(juristic)
but he did not
Here
terminology.
himself (so
see,
deus crucifixus
realistic
homo ".
is
already
Tertullian
ward off the thought some patripassionists)
in endeavoring to
God transformed "
et
although he used the old formulas,
", "
nasci se vult deus
",
that the
redemption becomes more strongly menaced
through the sharp separation of the two natures, than through the acceptance of a transformation. Indeed he only asserts the oneness and rejects the idea that Christ
is "
tertiam quid"
.
But even
nseus could not persuade himself, against his better judgment, to divide the
the
manner
ferred only to the
man)
made
,
if
New
own
one Jesus Christ after
of the ° gnostics: (1) x '
passages in the
Ire-
There are not a few
Testament, which can be
humanity
God-
of Jesus (not to the
the real Divinity on the other
hand
re-
is
not
to suffer (so e.g. the descent of the Spirit at
his baptism, his
trembling and shaking),
naeus also conceived of Christ in such a
make him
the
new Adam
possesses the Logos,
history of Jesus
was
("
(2)
way
perfectus homo"),
which in certain inactive.
Ire-
as to
who
acts in the
The gnostic
distin-
guishing of the Jesus xjatibilis and the Christus
Two-Nature Doc-
trme
"
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
142
«-«% was by
legitimized.
indirectly,
two-nature
tical
and by Irenseus
Tertullian explicitly,
Thus
arose the
ecclesias-
Hippolytus stood be-
doctrine.
tween the two older teachers. Irenaeus
Father of
y of Facfs
However, the oneness was still the penetrating conSince Christ became what we ception of IrensBus. he as God-man likewise passed through and
are,
suffered
what we should have
not only " salus et is
salvator", but also his whole
From
a ivork of redemption.
his burial everything
neeus
is
the
Christ
suffered.
life
his conception to
was inwardly necessary.
father of the "
is
Ire-
of facts " in the
theology
Church (Paul emphasized only the death and the
The
resurrection).
gnostics
when he
Interpreted.
conceives redemption as fully ac-
—on the one side,
mere manifesJesus Christ as the second Adam, on the
other, in the
mere knowledge
(IV. 36, 7:
yvu)(Ji$
Still of Christ
unmis-
and he even uses the same expressions as the
tation of
Work
is
takable,
complished,
Variously
influence of the gnosis
He
">?
in the
of this manifestation
too uluo rod #soy ?
fjrt$ rjv
ä(pß-ap<jia\
m
he emphasizes the personal meritorious service. looked at the work from
(leading back into
many
communion,
points of view
restoration of free-
dom, redemption from death and the tion of
God)
;
the dominating one
devil, propitia-
is
the procuring
of the aipftapaia (adoption unto Divine life)
uncertain
all is to
him, he betrays in
he attributes the question,
did
But how
10, 3,
when
God become
who will have nothing to do with faith. He can also still ever rest satis-
flesh? to those
the simple
Why
I.
.
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. fied
143
with the hope of the second coming of Christ
and the resurrection
hope and the deification- idea
lies
this
the Pauline view
the death on the cross)
(gnosis of
Between
the body.
of
;
Irenseus exer-
cised himself to prove its legitimateness (the death of Christ is the true redemption)
Still
.
he had not
^jeaäf
reached the idea of the atonement (the redemption
money
drawal");
with-
within the recapitulation-theory he ex-
presses the idea, that through disobedience tree
"
not paid to the devil upon his
is
Atone-
Adam
upon the
became a debtor toward God, and through
obedience upon
the tree
God became
reconciled.
Reflections on a substitutional sacrifice are not found in Irenseus
death.
;
seldom do
we
find the idea of sacrificial
Forgiveness of sins he did not really recog-
nize, but
only the setting aside of sins and their
The redeemed become through Christ
consequences.
bound together
into a true unity, into true humanity,
into the Church,
whose head Christ
and Hippolytus the same points
is.
of
In Tertullian
view are found,
except that the mystic (recapitulating) form of the re-
demption recedes. the rational
demption et
("
They
oscillate
con amove between
and the Pauline representation
totum Christiani nominis
fructus mors Christi", adv. Marc.
Hippolytus (Philosoph,
fin.)
gave a
sion to the deification brought about
weaving therewith* the redeems). the
rational
culpa,
pond us
III., 8);
but
classical expres-
by Christ,
inter-
schema (knowledge
More sharply come out
conceptions,
et
of re-
in
reatns peccati,
Tertullian etc.
;
he
H
us
*]fe}jJ S1
Sion!
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
144
"
has also already " ivrtuiiian
Bride[IdiSiduai
promereri deum
"meritum",
which Cyprian carried out more
",
we
Finally
precisely.
satisfacer e deo",
find in Tertullian the por-
trayal of Christ as the Bridegroom
and the individ-
ual soul as the bride, a fatal modification of the
primitive Christian representation of the Church as the body of Christ, under the influence of the Hellenic representation (see also the gnostics), that the
Deity Es
tol
is
Very
ogy
the husband of the soul. striking
is
the impression
made upon one by
the eschatology of the early Catholic fathers; for it
corresponds neither with their rational theology,
nor with their mysticism, but
They do
way
not,
is still
wholly archaic.
however, repeat the same in any urgent
(perhaps on account of the churches, or the re-
and the
gula, or the Apocalypse of John), but they
Latin fathers of the 3d, and of the beginning of the 4th, century live Justin.'
°f
^ ne
and move altogether in the hope churches
earliest Christian
Justin).
(like
The Pauline eschatology they
ficulty, the
Papias and felt
as a dif-
primitive Christian, together with
grossest chiliasm, not at
This
all.
is
its
the clearest
proof that these theologians were only half-hearted
about their rational and mystic theology, which they
had been compelled the gnosis.
to adopt in their contest
They had
in
fact
with
two Christs: The
returning Christ,
who
and
judgment seat as the victorious
set
up
his
King, and the Logos, a Divine teacher,
now
should conquer the antichrist
who was as
looked upon,
God-man.
now
as
This very com-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. plication
The
recommended the new Church
145
doctrine.
details of the eschatological hopes in Irenseus TertuiMn
see also Melito), Tertullian
(I.V.,
(de antichr.) are in the
main
and Hippolytus
Johannean Apocalypse, together with or rather
power, antichrist,
'
its
The
learned ex-
with Daniel in the foreground
seven
7
as stereotyped, in par-
ticulars as wavering, as in the earlier times.
positions, stands
TS!
(six,
thousand years, heathen earthlysite in
Jerusalem, campaign of the
returning Christ, victory, resurrection of Christians, visible
ment,
kingdom
final end)
of joy, general resurrection, judg-
But
.
after the Montanistic crisis
there arose in the Orient an opposition x x
against this
drama
movement
of the future (the " alogoi
")
;
opposition in Orient.
the
learned bishops of the Orient in the 3d century, above all
the Origenists, opposed
it,
yes, even the
Apocalypse (Dionysius Alex.) tenacious oppposers tce "
among
(Nepos in Egypt)
;
Johannean
they found however
the " simplices et idio-
The Christian people
.
of the
Orient also unwillingly suffered themselves to be
robbed of their old faith, they were obliged however to
submit gradually (the Apocalypse disappears often
in the
Oriental church canon).
In the Occident
chiliasm remained unbroken.
There remains
still
hvo Testaments.
ment threw a new This passed
the doctrine concerning the
The
creation of the
light
now no
New
Testa-
upon the Old Testament.
longer simply as a Christian
book (Barnabas, Justin), and also not as a book of the Jewish 10
God
(Marcion), but by the side of the old
Doctrine of Two Testa-
ments.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
146
conception that stands npon the
summit
was
established the other
peacefully
consistent with
ment con-
that
it
New
which
was a preparatory stage
which an
historical conception faintly appears,
set forth
Now
This view, in
Testament.
by the Valentinians
Men
in-
is
and the
ad Flor am). TpstfL-
it,
of the Christian revelation,
to Christ
first
Ol«!
Christian in every line and
is
it
was
Ptolemaei
{ep.
varied according to necessity:
the Old Testament
is
held to contain the whole
tained All.
truth in the form of prophecy,
in servitutem by the side of
now it is a legisdatio the new legisdatio in
libertatem, an old transient covenant, which pre-
pared the
way
for the
new, and whose content
history of God's pedagogy of the
human
is
race,
the
— in
every portion of saving value and yet transient, and at the cal.
same time the
As over
forecast of the future
and
typi-
against the gnostic attacks the fathers
tried to set forth the incomparableness of the cere-
monial laws, and Paul in order to prove
is
distorted for the purpose
by him
also devotion to the law.
Prophecy, type, pedagogy were the decisive points of view, and only
when men were
restricted
by no
op-
position did they admit that certain Old Testament
requirements had been abrogated. lay,
vauce.
all this
there
notwithstanding the confusion and the contra-
diction A»Afi-
In
which
persists
real step forward.
even until the present time, a
Men began
in the Old Testament, they hit
to
make
distinctions
upon the idea
of ad-
vancing stages of truth, of historical conditions (Tertullian,
de orat.
1: "
quidqu id retro fuerat, aut de-
;
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
mutatum
est
suppletum
tit
147
per Christum ut circumcisio, aut reliqua lex, aut impletum ut pro-
phetia, aut perfection ut fides ipsa").
Inasmuch
two Testaments were now accepted, the specific significance of the Christian covenant became more
as
prominent
(Tertull.
Johanne m " true,
the
" lex ",
;
"
prophetae usque ad
lex et
the apostles greater than the prophets)
new Covenant was
still
ever treated as
and the hopeless question was accordingly
discussed, whether Christ has lightened or weighted
the old as
it
was
law? first
The pedagogical salvation-history, put forth by Irenseus and intertwined
Pedagogils "
tI0 t ory.
with the testimony of prophecy, made a tremendous impression (ab initio
—Moses-Christ)
lian addition (4th stage
;
the Tertul-
paracletus as novus
:
lator) did not gain acceptance, yet
it
legis-
has ever
re-
appeared in the history of the Church, since even Christ and Paul cannot be included in the scheme
new law-givers for the Church life. 3. The value of the work of the old Catholic fathers to the Church— in the Occident Novatian
of
worked out the Tertullian Christology, Cyprian
es-
tablished the requla as developed into a salvation-
history and
made a
part of the Tertullian formulas
current in larger circles
— did
not consist in their
construction of a system of dogmatics, but in their refutation of the gnosis
ments which they
and in the theological frag-
left, i.e.
interpreted "rule of faith
",
in the anti-gnostically
which was coupled with
the chief statements of the apologetic theology (vide
^aiueof 01
i ]
C
ic
t ^°"
Fa
"
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
148
above
Cyprian's writing,
all
the doctrine concerning the
nseus
had developed
which the particular trinal passages
it,
"
testimonies
here
;
two Testaments, as
Ire-
forms the ground-plan in Doc-
articles are introduced.
from the rational theology change
with the kerygmatic facts
;
everything, however,
is
proven from the two Testaments; faith and theol-
ogy are not
In order to become a Cath-
at a tension).
was obliged above all to believe the following articles, which stand in sharp contrast to olic
A
S
f
Faith o? christians,
Christian one
the opposing doctrine: identity of the highest
world,
i. e.
God
God and
the Creator of the
the identity of the Mediator of creation and
of redemption,
the
the unity of God, (2) the
(1)
(3)
of the Old
the identity of the highest
God and
Testament and the acceptance of
the Old Testament as God's old book of revelation, (4)
the creation of the world out of nothing,
unity of the
human
(5)
race, (6) the origin of evil
the
from
man's freedom and the inalienable character of that freedom, (7) the two Testaments, (8) Christ as God and man, the unity of his personality, the character of his Divinity, the reality of his ity,
the verity of his fate,
(9)
essential
human-
the redemption and
covenant through Christ as the new,
final
tion of God's grace to all
the resurrection
of the entire
man.
men,
(10)
manifesta-
In closest connection with these
doctrines stands the Logos-doctrine, yes the latter
formed measurably the foundation of their contents and just claims. How it was carried out will be indicated in Chapter VII.
On
the carrying out of
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
149
this,
however, hung also the decision of the weight-
iest
questions,
whether the Christian faith as in
former times should rest upon the hope of the return of Christ
and upon his glorious kingdom, or
faith in the
God-man, who has brought
edge and transformed the nature of
full
man
in the
knowl-
into the
Divine nature.
CHAPTER
VI.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION INTO A PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, OR THE ORIGIN OF SCIENTIFIC ECCLESIASTICAL THEOLOGY AND DOGMATICS: CLEMENT AND ORIGEN. Guericke, de schola quae Alex, floruit catechetica, 1824. Winter, Bigg, The Christian Platonists of Alex., 188G. Ethik des Clemens, 1882. Redepenning, Origenes, 1841, f. Denis, Philosophie d'Origene, 1884.
1.
The
gnosis
;
gnostics sharply distinguished pistis and
Irenseus and Tertullian
made use
of science
and speculation only from necessity and in order refute them, reckoning that to faith itself
needed for theological exposition.
were
satisfied
nances of
life
^.^"^
to
which they
In the main they
with the authority, hope and holy ordi;
they were building upon a building,
which they themselves did not care
for.
But
after
the end of the 2d century there began to be in the
Church a movement toward a
scientific religion
and
toward a theological science (schools in Asia Minor, Cappadocia, Edessa, Aelia, Caesarea, Home; alogoi,
schools,
Alexand«a.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
150
Alexander of Cappadocia, Julius Africanus, Theoktist,
Theodocian schools).
It
was the
strongest in
the City of Science, Alexandria, where Christianity
and where evidently,
became the heir
of Philo
toward the year
200, there
ization of Christians
until
had not been a firm organ-
upon exclusive
The
principles.
Alexandrian church comes into the light of history together with the Alexandrian Christian school 190)
in the latter the entire Hellenic science
;
(c.
was
taught and adapted to the service of the Gospel and clement a Pupil of Pantsenus.
the Church.
pupil of Pantsenus, proClement, the r i v duced in his Stromata the first Christian ecclesiasti>
>
.
cal
work, in which the Greek philosophy of religion
served not only an apologetic and polemic purpose,
but was the means of first restricting Christi-
men
anity to thinking
(as
by Philo and Valen-
Ecclesiastical literature
tinus).
familiar to Clement
was
he acknowledged
;
in itself units
because the Holy Scriptures appeared to
revelation; but
Pistis is
Given.
work them
it
was
The
recoined into gnosis,
him
as a
his conscious purpose to
their content out philosophically
his own.
authority,
pistis i.e.
is
given;
a doctrine
and to make it
is
is
to
to be
be de-
veloped which will satisfy scientific demands by a philosophical
view of the world and of
Gnosis does not conflict with trary
it
faith,
supports and enlightens
tain points, but
it lifts it
up
it,
ethics.
bat on the connot only in cer-
into a higher sphere out
domain of authority, into the sphere of pure knowledge and inner spiritual harmony flowing
of the
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. from the love are
God.
of
bound together
tent in the
Pistis
and gnosis, however,
in this, that both
Holy Scriptures
151
have their con-
(yet in practice
aim and the
ratus of the idealistic Greek philosophy are at the
same time
astical Christianity
entire appa-
read
is
and
referred to Christ
;
they
ecclesi-
The
apologetic purpose,
which
here transformed into a systemati-
is
The
co-theologic.
Into
.
— so far as there was such in Alex-
andria at that time. Justin had had,
r °"
geSfer
Clement is
not an exact Scripture-theologian like Origen) these Scriptures the highest
Gnosis? B
positive material is accordingly
not shoved into the proof of prophecy, but, as by Philo and Valentinus,
is
carried over with infinite
pains to scientific dogmatics.
To
the idea of the Logos °
in that he exalted religious
it
who
Christ, Clement,
is
'
T dea of T
Logos.
to the highest principle of the
view of the world and of the exposition
of
Christianity, gave a far richer content than did Justin.
Christianity
is
the doctrine of the creation,
education and perfecting of the
work reaches
the Logos, whose fect gnostic,
human its
race through
climax in the per-
and who has made use of two means,
the Old Testament and Hellenic philosophy. is
everywhere, wherever
of nature (the ciple
Logos
is
men
rise
above the plane
the moral and rational prin-
in all stages of the development)
authentic knowledge of revelation.
He
is
;
but the
him can be won only from
the law of the w^orld, the teacher,
or in Christ the hierourge, tions conducts to
Logos
who through
knowledge
;
holy ordina-
finally, for
the perfect,
^JJh^'
;
152
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
the bridge to union with
God
Aside from
himself.
the Holy Scriptures the Greek combination of knowl-
edge and ceremonial ordination made
Clement
possible for
it
to let ecclesiastical Christianity pass cur-
The ecclesiastical gnostic rises, so to speak, by means of an attached balloon to the Divine realms he leaves behind him everything earthly, historical, rent.
statutory and authoritative, yes, finally, the Logos himself,
while he struggles upward in love
knowledge; but the rope remains
fast beneath, while
the pure gnostic on the contrary severed exaltation
is
and
it.
This
accomplished in gradual stages (Philo),
under which scheme the whole philosophical ethics is set forth,
from reasonable moderation
of consciousness
and
of apathetic love.
cal tradition is also set forth
needs no
When
but here as yonder the
the spirit's wings are
grown he
Although Clement succeeded
crutches.
very poorly in arranging
under his proposed scheme of his undertaking
;
Ecclesiasti-
upon the higher stage overcome
true gnostic should
the lower.
to the excess
the
unwieldy material
—he stuck fast in the midst
—yet his purpose
is
perfectly plain.
While Irensens wholly naively blended discordant material and therefore won no religious freedom, AttaSd Problem.
Clement advanced
to freedom.
He was
the
first to
give attention to the problem of future theology:
In connection with the historical deposits, through
which we are what we the
Christian
thrown because
are,
communion, it is
and in connection with
upon
which we are
the only universal moral-relig-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. ious
communion,
win
to
for ourselves
153
freedom and
independence with the Gospel and to so set forth this Gospel that it shall appear the highest
who makes
the Logos,
himself
known
message of
in all rising
above nature, and therefore in the whole history of
Truly the danger was for Clement at
mankind.
hand, that the ideal of the self-sufficient Hellenic seer should stifle the voice that declares that
in Christ
we
live
by the grace of God; but the danger
of
was in the trammelled exposition of which placed value upon authorities that
secularization Irenseus,
have nothing to do with the Gospel, and alleged facts pertaining to salvation that oppress us, in
way, indeed, but none the
less.
give freedom and peace in
God and
another
If the Gospel is to
prepare us for an
eternal life in union with Christ, then Clement un-
derstood
it
in that sense.
His was virtually an
at-
Attempted
tempt to fuse the aim of the Gospel to make us rich
Gospel and Platonic os"
in
God and
to
gain from him power and
life,
with
%ji
the ideal of the Platonic philosophy to raise oneself as a free spirit above the world unto God, and then to
bind together the instructions pertaining to a blessed life
which are found
Origen was the
in the one
first to
and
in the other.
But
succeed in putting this into a
systematic form, in which the most scrupulous Bibli-
cism and the most conscientious regard for the rule of faith are conjoined 2.
with the philosophy of
religion.
Origen was the most influential theologian in
the Oriental church, the father of theological science,
the author of ecclesiastical dogmatics.
What
the
Origen.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
154
and old Catholic theologians
gnostics
apologists,
had taught, he brought together and combined he recognized the problem and the problems, the histori;
cal
He
and the speculative.
sharply distinguished,
with the clearest vision, between
ecclesiastical faith
and ecclesiastical theology, and spoke one thing to the people and another to the discerning.
coSera ah Truth.
wish
versal spirit did not
ever y
wh ere to conserve
which truth
is
;
to destroy anything, but
he found on every hand that
valuable and he
its place,
His uni-
knew how
be this in the
pistis,
to
give to every
or in the gnosis
no one should be "offended", but Christian truth should triumph over the systems of the Hellenic philosophers
and the old Catholic
superstition of the heathen
gnostics, over the
and Jews and over the
defective presentation of Christian unitarians.
This
Christian truth bore as gnosis Neo-Platonic marks,
and indeed
to
commended
the theology of Origen, and rejected only
such a high degree that a Porphyry
pSS^Ruie the intermingled "strange fables".
Origen presup-
poses the rule of faith in a firmly outlined form (see his principal work,
nepi
äpyor;),
together with the
two Testaments: He who has these has the truth which makes blessed, yet there is a deeper, more gratifying conception. Upon its summit all contrasts become mere shades, and in the absolute harorthodoxTraditionlfcLf'Thio"-
ideaiistic
Philosopner.
mony which *^ e rel a^ ve -
alist,
such a view ö skives, one learns to estimate Thus is Origen an orthodox tradition'
a strong Biblical theologian (nothing should .
pass current which
is
not
m
the Scriptures)
,
a keen
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
who
idealistic philosopher
155
translated the content of
faith into ideas, completed the structure of the world
that
is
within, and finally
knowledge of God and
let
nothing pass save
of self in closest union,
exalts us above the world
and conducts unto
deifica-
Zeno and Plato, however, should not be the
tion.
leaders, but Christ ; for the
polytheism, nor
make
S3r stem of
nor give a
former did not overcome
the truth generally accessible,
instruction
for both classes,
out polytheism
and religion
—religion for the common man with(of
mind,
for the thinking
The Christian religion true
emancipate istic of
Christianity for
Both Classes.
course with pictures and signs)
— Origen recog-
is the
only relig-
ion which is also truth in mythical form. it is
is
superiority over all other religions and
its
systems.
pos-
it
That Christianity
their natural ability permits.
nized as
which made
unlearned to become any better than
sible for the
ogy
which
is
obliged
itself
— as always,
from the positive
Theol-
so also here
—to
Christian Religion
Truth
in
Mythical
Form.
traits (character-
the positive religion) belonging to external
revelation
and
statutes; but in Christianity this is
accomplished under the guidance of Holy Scrij3ture
which establishes the positive
The gnosis
religion for the masses.
neutralizes everything empirically histor-
Gnosis -Neutral-
ical,
if
not indeed always in matters of fact, yet
wholly so as regards
its
worth.
It
sublimates
first
from the empirical history a higher transcendental history,
which begins
the empirical
;
in eternity
but in reality
it
and
rests
behind
sublimates this trans-
cendental once again, and there remains
now
only
izes Empirical.
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
156
the unchangeable Christoiogy.
God and
This
the created soul.
is
most clearly brought out in Origen's Christology.
Back
of the
Logos; he
Christ reposes the eternal
historical
who appeared
as physician and re-
first
deemer, appears on a deeper view as the teacher blessed are the
advanced ones,
who
need no more the
physician, the shepherd and the redeemer
teacher
is finally
no longer necessary
become
perfect
such rest in God.
;
like a crutch.
— but
to those
Thus
the
who are
is ecclesi-
a husk and
astical Christianity here stripped off as
thrown aside
!
That which in Justin
is
proof of prophecy, in Irenseus salvation-history, vanishes in Origen for the gnostic, or is only a picture
of a spiritual history.
In the final analysis there
fails in his high-flying,
all-comprehensive ethics the
sense of guilt and fear of the Judge. MonStfc, Vi o q y fvf"
Duaiistic
The system was intended to be strongly monistic (that which was created out of nothing has only a
Element.
transitory significance as a place of purification) in fact there dwelt within
it
;
yet
a duaiistic element.
The dominating antithesis is God and created things. The amphiboly lay in his double view of the spiritual (it
belongs on the one side, as the outgoing of God's
nature, to
God
which has been
himself, on the other side, as that created,
it
stands in opposition to
God) which keeps cropping out in ,
systems.
Pantheism was
supermundane character be stoutly maintained.
to be
warded
of the
This
all
Neo-Platonic
off,
human
and yet the
spirit
was
to
spirit is the free, heav-
enly eon, conscious of the right way, but uncertain
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. in
Divine origin, divine end, and free
its striving.
choice constitute ever, in that
There
God and
therefore a history prior to
is
divided into three
is
his outgoing, (2) the fall of the
created spirit and the consequences,
and
That freedom
restoration.
blance,
must
the spirit
if
how-
is tied
the spirit comes forth in
The system
temporal history. (1)
The knot
its essence.
moment when
manifestation.
parts:
157
redemption
(3)
will only be a sem-
finally attain
unto
its
end,
In carrying out his scheme
Origen did not observe.
he was so earnest that he even limited the Divine
omnipotence and
Scriptures the God-world dition
which
still
tirely recedes)
and material, so revelation,
drama
is
of
the Holy
educed
(secret tra-
played a great role in Clement en-
As
.
Out
omniscience.
the cosmos
also the
consist of
Holy
is spiritual,
Scriptures, the second
Thereby
these three parts.
was a secure method given
psychic
for exegesis;
it
has, (1) to
discover
the verbal sense, which, however,
shell, (2)
the psychic-moral sense,
Here and there
this
pneumatic
(3)
is
consideration and the verbal sense aside,
whereby only one
deeper sense.
is
is
the
the pneumatic.
alone taken into
must even be
cast
permitted to discover the
This Biblical alchemy Origen devel-
oped with the greatest virtuosity.
-
who stands over against the many that point back to him as the Cause he is the absolute Existence and spiritual Being, who stands over against conditioned existences. He is different (a)
God
is
Origen's Exegesis..
the One,
;
from the many, yet the order, the dependence and
God
is
one
t 4*Mj£Jy.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
158
the longing of the absolute
many
God
of him.
tell
Cause, with self-consciousness
as the
and
will,
more living and, so to speak, as more personal by Origen than by the gnostics and the But God is ever causality, and Neo-Platonists. therefore never to be thought of apart from revelais set
forth as
That he creates belongs
tion.
must be
revelation
.
omniscient and
is
0l
ra
°"
Omniscience
and Omnipotence; God can only what he will; he cannot do that which is in itself contradictory and
Absolutely
tenf
is
Origen permits no
partial,
limitless conceptions to be applied to the
God Not
which
Since however
many.
revealed indeed even in the all
to his being,
not able to become existent
(all
miracles are natu-
ne cannot indeed make the created absolutely
'>
good, since the conception of the created includes a
privatio of being
good
tially
;
;
he can
nal,
God
upon God, which
he, it is
apathy,
God
Thus are relative ideas God is love and goodness
a manifestation of his goodness.
eternally revealed, the world is eter-
this world, however,
the Logos,
is
is
it
but not this world, yet the world of
With
Logos
is
re-
Free-
applied to the idea of God.
righteousness
without
form.
imposed upon himself.
Since
same only poten-
which gives
also places limitations
true,
the
for the idea never goes forth
serve into the substance
dom
make
into
God
whom, laying
God once again
is
spirits.
united through
aside his absolute
entered.
The Logos
is
himself and at the same time the totality and
God.
the creator of the like
many
(Philo), a special hypostasis,
indeed the self-consciousness of
God and
the
—
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. The Logos
potency of the world.
is
159
the perfect like-
He has nothing corporeal God (6ßoou(Tto$) about him and is therefore true God, yet a second God (no sharing of Divinity, ob xa-a ßerouciav, dXXd ness of
xfl.x
.
He
od&iav #£09).
is
Father from eternity
was
not,
begotten of the essence of the
was no time when he
there
;
and he ever goes forth from the Father's
being through the Divine constraining
even because he siste?is,
he
is
the Father first
is
as such no dyivv^rov- he ainov.
an
is
ahtazöv^
Accordingly he
stage in the transition from the ;
But
will.
substantia substantialiter sub-
is np(ozov
many from ffwvj
6"
^{te?
God
the standpoint of
the
the
is
One
to the ^r
xrlafxa ößooo-
m
S
Many!
from our standpoint the manifest, essential God.
For us alone therefore does the essential likeness
of
the Father and Son exist; his unchangeableness
is
therefore only relative, since
Everywhere
autousie. to the
it
does not reside in the
in this speculation in regard
Logos-Creator, there
no thought
is
faith necessitated
The Holy Spirit also the rule of him is included in the Godhead
—
and reckoned as a
as a third unchangeable being third stage
and hypostasis.
the Son and
Father.
is
of the
—
Logos- Redeemer.
related
to
He
is
him
His sphere of activity
become through
as the Son to the is
the smallest
strangely enough, indeed, the most important.
Father
is
the principle of
reason, the Spirit of that
uated trinity
is
that account also
existence,
which
is
holy.
The
the Son
of
This grad-
a trinity of revelation, but even on
imminent and
persistent, since
God
e
one
H^y
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
160
The
can never be thought of apart from revelation.
Holy and Created Spirits.
Spirit is the transition to the fulness of spirits
through the Son, are in
ideas, which, created
truth the unfolding of his teristic of
created spirits
own is
charac-
the becoming (advance,
freedom (opposition to the heretical
npoxomj),
i.e.
gnosis)
But the freedom
.
The
fulness.
is
relative,
still
i. e.
in a
broad sense they are free; fundamentally however there exists the rigid necessity for the created spirit Freedom.
Freedom
to reach the goal.
therefore is sub specie
Out
aetemitatis necessary evolution.
Origen sought
to
from
human
eternity (God
inally alike in substance
;
is
spirits
;
is
but their duties are differ-
all
In the fact
In so far as
endowed with
As
to
how
of
being-
men
a kind
itself
ordained for angels and
of materiality.
all
ever a Creator), orig-
they are changeable spirits they are
a kind of corporeality.
for to
;
they were
ent and therefore their development.
created there
freedom
understand the actual world
the spirits belong also created
of
they might have devel-
oped themselves Origen did not speculate, but only as to Fall,
how
(b)
they have developed.
They should
World Created to
Redeem Them.
ence, in order to
But they
fall
all
make room then
into idleness
existent fall into sin) visible
attain unto a persistent exist-
.
and the
of the soul, shut
which have
up
devils,
new
creations.
and disobedience
(pre-
To curb and purify them
world was created; this
correction
for
spirits are,
is also
the
a house of
through the bondage
in divers bodies, the grossest of
the finest angels, the
medium
;
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
161
men, who are supported and endangered by devils
and angels (acceptance Life
of popular representations).
a discipline, a conflict under the permission
is
and leading
of
God, which will end with the con-
Thus harshly, almost
quest and destruction of evil.
Buddhistically, did Origen think of the world
Man
however fundamentally an optimist.
—he
is
consists
Man conolöLIS Ol.
of spirit, soul spirit
(after Plato
and because the soiKnd
cannot be the principle of action antagonistic
The
God.
to
and body
the Logos
:
soul is treated just as inconsistently as
It is a spirit
grown
cold
and yet no
spirit.
was thus conceived in order to make the fall conceivable, and yet to guard the integrity of the reasonable It
soul)
Man's
.
conflict consists in the striving of those
powers inherent in his constitution
Sin inheres on the one side
over his environment.
in the earthly state (in reality all
on the other,
it is
gain dominion
to
must be
sinners)
the product of freedom, but
therefore conquerable
when God
him nothing is good. (c) But we must help
assists.
is
even
For with-
out
teacher,
first
through
God
ourselves;
laws
the
of
helps as God
nature,
then
through the laws of Moses, then through the Gospel (to
each according to his kind and according
measure
of his receptivity)
;
to the
the perfect he helps
through the eternal Gospel, which has no outer shell
and no representation.
Revelation
is
a manifold,
gradual rendering of help, which comes to the assist-
ance of the growing creature (the significance of the
people Israel 11
is
recognized)
.
But the Logos must him
-
Helps
N^ure <£pei.
of
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
162 self
His work must be as compli-
appear and help.
cated as the need
is
He must
:
exhibit to the one class
the true victory over death and the demons, must, as
the God-man, bring an offering which represents the
must pay the
expiation of sin,
which
shall
price of redemption
end the dominion of the devil
—in
short
must bring a comprehensible redemption
he
(Ori gen
''deeds".
Church a theory
first
in
introduced into the Gentile
of reconciliation
and atonement;
To
but one should consider in what age he wrote.)
however, he must, as Divine teacher and
others,
Hierourge, disclose the depths of knowledge and bring to
them a new
share his himself,
life
life,
so that they
may
and, interwoven with the Divine Being
may become
God
with
principle of
is
Return
divine.
here,
as yonder,
through facts toward which
man
to
communion
the goal; yonder directs his faith;
here through knowledge and love, which, striving up
beyond the Crucified, lays hold upon eternal life as the Logos himself encompasses
The
it.
" facts" are also,
as with the gnostics, not simulation or an indifferent basis of truth, but are truth,
Thus he reconciled
He
ion.
can
faith
commend
and the philosophy
ulations
rise
of relig-
work which encompasses
above this occurrence by spec-
which have no
history.
In accordance therewith his Christolosry &J takes
Chris-
toloey
Complex.
and yet
truth.
the cosmic significance of
the death on the cross, a all spirits,
though not the
its
.
f
orm
.
its
characteristic
deemer was
all
is
its
complexity: The Re-
that Christians can think
him
to
have
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. For the gnostic he
been.
163
the divine Principle,
is
the Teacher, the First-Born, the knowable, Divine
The gnostic knows no " Christolog}^" From
Reason.
:
Christ on began the perfect indwelling of the Logos
mankind.
in
Here, therefore, neither the Divinity
nor the humanity of Christ
But
lem.
is
a question or a prob-
for the imperfect Christian Christ is the
God-man, and the gnostic
is
in duty
bound
the problem which this expression offers
to solve
and
to
guard the solution from errors on the right and on the
left
(against docetism
Logos could unite the
medium
of a
Unfällen spirit,
itself
human
The
and ebionitism).
with the body only through This soul was a pure
soul.
which had destined
itself for
the soul
in order to serve the purposes of redemption.
It
was
a pure spirit fundamentally united with the Logos
and became then, by reason of a
medium
its
moral worthiness,
for the incarnation of the
Logos
(closest
inner union, but really perfect only through incessant exercise of will
from both sides
;
therefore no ming-
The Logos remains unchangeable only the soul hungers and suffers, inasmuch as it, like the body, is truly human. But because both are pure ling)
;
.
and their substance body was (Clement
still
is in itself
without qualities, his
actually totally different from ours
is still
more
docetic).
The body could
any moment assume such a character as the tion required, in order to
make
sion upon different persons.
at
situa-
the strongest impres-
The Logos was also not shut up within the body, but wrought everywhere as
Docetic Element,
— ;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
1G4
hitherto and united itself with all pious souls. is
It
was with none so close as with the Jesus, and the same was true as regards his The Logos illumined and deified the soul
true the union
soul of
body.
gradually during the earthly
life,
The functions and the
body.
and the soul the
attributes of the in-
carnate Logos form a gradation, in the knowledge of
The union became
which believers progress. (xotvwvta,
close
ävdxpatjis)
ivwffis,
are interchanged
in the
Holy
so
that the attributes Scriptures.
Finally
Jesus appears transformed into Spirit, received into .j
usus and
the Godhead,
the
same with
the Logos.
But the
Logos Ethically
union
is
fundamentally ethical and finally not unique.
All conceivable heresies are here touched upon, but
guarded by cautions (Jesus the heavenly all
men
man — yet
are heavenly; the adoption Christology
but the Logos behind
it
;
the conception of
two Logoi
the gnostic severing of Jesus and the Christ; mo-
nophysite commingling; docetism), save only modal ism.
scientific Christology so
the humanity
is
the idea of the incarnation
is
was Freedom^
That in a left for
much room
the important thing; accepted.
The redemptive adaptations are in all this already indicated: Freedom and faith are in the van. As in the Logos,
human soul gradually united itself with so man receives grace gradually, in keep-
ing with
his
Christ the
progress
(Neo-Platonic
stages of knowledge from simple science
progressive
and sensu-
ous things onward; yet ecstasy and visions recede; there
is little
that
is
shadowy)
.
Everywhere a blend-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. ing of freedom and enlightenment
1G5
necessary, and
is
the ecclesiastical faith remains the starting-point also
comes
of the "theoretic life", until this
which the Logos
cetic contemplation, in
and bridegroom of the soul that and
;
now
is
the friend
deified in love
Regeneration Origen recog-
Regenera-
but in him and Clement are
a Process.
rests in Divinity.
ized only as a process
is
to jo}T ous as-
New
found statements joined to the
Testament (God
as Love, as the Father, regeneration, adoption) which, free
from the shackles of the system,
set forth the
evangelical announcement in a surprisingly pertinent
way.
grace", but the symbols
numerous mediators and
first
According to Origen
f ?s
(angels,
was very reticent).
all spirits will,
order to
fiedf™
to these (as
in the
form
and
glor-
of their individual lives, be finally rescued ified (apokatastasis), in
be-
brought actually
and encouraged prayers
regards praying to Christ Origen
of
The system
intercessors
martyrs, living saints) Origen into operation
means
which accompany the
stowal of grace are not equally good. of
"
In the highest sense there are no
make way for
a
universal tion.
new
The sensuous-eschatological expectain toto banished. The doctrine of the
world-epoch. tions are
resurrection of the body Origen adopted faith),
but he conceived of
corpus spiritale will ties,
yes
all
tions, will
the
rise, in
in such a
which
way
of
that a
all sense-facul-
members which have sensuous
func-
be wanting, and which will shine brightly
like the angels
have
it
(rule
and
stars.
fallen asleep will
The
souls of those
go at once
who
to paradise (no
Purgatory.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
166
sleeping of the soul)
;
the souls which are not yet
purified will pass into a
ment (purgatory), which
new
condition of punish-
will purify
them
still
Only so
ther (the remorse of conscience is hell).
farfar,
however, did Origen accept the ecclesiastical doctrine of
damnation
at last all spirits, the
;
demons them-
God purified. Yet is his docthe common man it is enough to
selves, will return to
trine esoteric
know
" for
:
that sin will be punished".
from the
field
the heretic gnostic theology and later
dominated the
ecclesiastical theology of the Orient.
But the Church could not prove of
all
This system drove
for
any length
of time ap-
the teaching of Origen or content
itself
with his sharp discrimination between faith and the
was obliged to try to unite both put them upon the same plane (like Irenseus).
science of faith.
and
to
It
CHAPTER
VII.
DECISIVE RESULT OF THEOLOGICAL SPECULATION
WITHIN THE REALM OF THE RULE OF FAITH, OR THE DEFINING OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL DOCTRINAL NORM THROUGH THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE LOGOS-CHRISTOLOGY. Logos-
The
toiogy.
f f a ith
Logos-Christology alone permitted a uniting
and
science, corresponded to the doctrine that
God became man in
order that
we might become
gods,
and thus supported Christianity from without and from within.
But
it
was by no means wide-spread
;
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. in the churches in the year 190, or
was
it
unknown, and
part
in
even in
167
later; rather
part feared as
heretic-gnostic (destruction of the Divine monarchy,
that is, on the other hand, of the Divinity of Christ) Tertull. adv.
Prax.
3
:
"
Simplices quique, ne dixe-
rem inprudentes et idiotae, quae maior semper pars credentium est, quoniam et ipsa regula fidei a pluribus diis saeculi ad unicum et verum deum transfert, non intelligentes unicum quidem, sed cum sua ohovoßta esse credendum, expavescunt ad oixovo[±ia Itaque duos et tres iam iactitant a .
.
.
nobis pradicari, se vero unius dei cidtores prae-
sumunt monarchiam inquiunt tenemus". The establishment of the Logos- Christology with.
.
.
Church
in the faith of the
his
fundamentalis
conflicts
—was
—and
indeed as articu-
accomplished after severe
during the course of a hundred years
about 300).
It signified the
faith into a system of beliefs
sophical cast
;
(till
transformation of the
with an Hellenic-philo-
shoved the old eschatological repre-
it
sentations aside, and even suppressed
them
;
it
put
back of the Christ of history a conceivable Christ, a principle,
and reduced the
appearance
;
it
historical figure to a
ethical
definite trend
mere
" referred the Christian to " natures
and naturalistic magnitudes, instead and to the
;
it
of to the Person
gave the faith of the Christians a
toward the contemplation of ideas and
doctrinal formulas, and prepared the way, on the one side for the monastic
life,
Establisliod
on the other for the chap-
eroned Christianity of the imperfect, active laity
;
it
about
bv
30°Effect.
:
1G8
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
legitimized a hundred
questions
in
metaphysics,
cosmology, and natural science as ecclesiastical, and
demanded, under, threat of answer;
it
went so
far that
loss of bliss, a definite
men
faith, rather faith in the faith,
while
it
appeared to broaden
preached, instead of
and
it
But
it.
the bond with natural science perfect tianity to the
M
in that it
it
made
raised Chris-
world-and-everybody's religion and
way
prepared the
stunted religion
for the act of
Con stan tine.
The tendencies in the Church, which strove against
SSsm"
philosophical Christianity and the Logos-Christology,
men called monarchian (so first Tertullian). The name was not happily chosen, since many monarch ians acknowledged a second hypostasis, yet made -
use of
it
Two
for everything except for Christology.
tendencies can be distinguished ians (see the old Christologies,
among
Book
I.
the monarch-
chap.
3,
sub
The adoption, which looked upon the Divine Christ as a power and started from the
human
G)
in
per-
son of Jesus which was deified, and the modalistic,
which held Christ Father. "
to be a manifestation of
God
the
Both contested the Logos-Christology as
gnosticism
"
;
the
first
through an avowed interest
in the historical representation of Christ (Synoptic),
the second in the interest of in vain,
vinity of Christ. other,
monarchy and
of the Di-
Both tendencies, passing into each
were Catholic, maintaining the fundamental
principles of the rule of faith (neither "ebionitic",
nor gnostic)
;
but after the
New
Testament had
tablished itself as such the contest
was
in vain
;
es-
for
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. although there are passages in the
New
169
Testament
in favor of these theses, the other passages
which
maintain the pre-existence of Christ as a special
— at least the interpretation then current — and hypostasis
outweigh them
according to
it
seemed
self-
evident that the " lower " in the expressions should
everywhere be interpreted according to the (pneumatic),
(therefore the
ance with John).
In
all
"
higher
"
Synoptics in accord-
ecclesiastical
there were monarchian contests; but
provinces
we know them
only in part.
of Dynamic
The Rejection
(1)
ism, or Adoptionism. sources
:
opposition,
Church yet no
;
alogoi (nickname;
Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Epiphanius) in
Minor were a party tic
— (a) The
MonarchianAsia
of the radical anti-Montanis-
which
rejected all prophecy in the
Testament.
They
when
there
was as
criticised the
Johan-
they appeared at a time
New
Adopti on ism Rejected
nean writings on historical grounds and rejected them on account of their proclamation of the Paraclete
and the apocalypse, at the same time proving the
in-
accuracy of the historical narratives in the Johannean
But they
Gospel.
criticised also the docetism of the
Gospel, hesitated at the Logos, and decided that the
untrue writings, which, on the one hand, contained Jewish-naturalistic elements, on the other, doceticgnostic, ö '
OWn
with Cerinthus. Their must have originated ö
Christology was fashioned after the Synoptics
The miraculous
birth, the descent of the Spirit
Synoptic Christol °gy-
:
upon
Jesus, his development, the exaltation through his
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
170
The
resurrection constitute his dignity.
earliest op-
Hippolytus) treated these in a
ponents
(Irenseus,
measure
respectfully, since these " alogoi " did
But one must
service against the Montanists.
notwithstanding the high esteem which the
had
for
good say,
" alogoi "
sound historical criticism, that their
relig-
ious inspiration could not have been of a very high
order; for they were neither apocalyptic enthusiasts,
nor mystics
:
Wherein then consisted the power
of
their piety? Expelled
Rome.
The same can be
(b)
parties of the Theodotians, alliance with
tus
the " alogoi "
and his party,
who (the
Theodotus
They
Artemonites).
Roman-adoption
said of the
established
stood in evident
cobbler
Theodo-
banker,
the
the
themselves after
Rome (the elder Theodotus was from Byzantium, a man of unusual culture) but already had bishop Victor of Rome expelled Theodotus (c. about 185 in
;
195) from the Church, because he held Christ to be
a
avd-pwizos
—the
first
case where a Christian
stood upon the rule of faith
unsound teacher. " alogoi "
man
disciplined as
an
Theodotus taught as did the
concerning Christ
lously born
is
who
(xpoxoTryj
Jesus, equipped
of the miracu-
by his baptism and
prepared for his exaltation through the resurrection stress
upon the
ethical proof), but recognized the
Johannean Gospel already as Holy Scripture, and carried on his Scripture critical
way as
argument in the same sound
did the latter (Deut. 18: 15; Jer. 17:
9; Isa. 53: 2 seq.; Matt. 12: 31;
Luke
1: 35; Jno.
THE LAYING OP THE FOUNDATION. 8: 40;
Acts
2: 22;
distinguished
zealously cultivated
sacred
phenomena
Under
2: 5)
Theodotus,
pupil
adoptionists
the
Tim.
I.
text,
empirical
the
171
their
most
banker,
the
Theodotus the Banker.
the criticism of
and
science
natural
and stood as a school
(not with Plato),
alongside the Church (see the description in Eusehius,
H. E. V,
Their attempt to found a church
28).
(bishop Natalis)
was soon
bishop Zephyrinus)
;
they remained as officers with
an ever-dwindling army. the Holy Spirit,
frustrated (at the time of
whose
Out
of their thesis, that
lrypostasis (as eternal
Son of
God, see Hernias whose Christology they followed) they acknowledged, stood higher than Jesus, since the latter
made a
is
only an adopted God, their opponents
Inasmuch as they ascribed
capital heresy.
the Old Testament theophanies to this eternal Son of
God and
Melchisedec to be a manifes-
took
tation of the eternal Son, they
were called Melchis-
Of the learned
edecs, because they prayed to him.
labors of these
men nothing remains
lytus informs us that
that Christ
is
some
of
to us.
Hippo-
them would not concede
a God, even after his resurrection;
others acknowledged the &eo-oir <7^. l
It
became clear in
the contest that an alliance with the science of Aristotle,
was not compatible with the contrary that it demands an alli-
Euclid, and Galen,
Church, but on the
ance with Plato, and that the old Christology of
—the adoptionists appealed ments — was no longer satisfactory. Hermas
later there
appeared in
Rome
to
such docu-
Some decades
in the person of Arte-
LogosC'hris-
tology Platonic.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
172
mon
a
still
more important adoptionist
teacher, of
whom, however, little is known. He also put aside the predicate " God " as applied to Christ, but seems not to have agreed rigidly in Adoptfon-
ism Vanishes from
Theodotians.
all
particulars with the
About the year 250 acloptionism was
Rome
insignificant in
Novatian, de trinit. )
;
(Cyprian
is
yet see
silent;
but in the Occident
it
contin-
ued for a long time in the Church formulas, as "
spiritus sanctus dei films, caro Jesus
sanctus Christus Christus
"
carni mixtus
Jesus
(through the reading of the highly
teemed Hennas) still
— spiritus
— spiritus
;
and
it is
es-
instructive that Augustine
a short time before his conversion thought the
adoption Christology to be the Catholic.
Therefore
the orthodox Christological formulas were
still little
known
in the fourth century in the Occidental laity-
world. A
n"
( c)
?°mm
orient.
From
the" writings of
Origen one gathers that
there were adoptionists also in the Orient. treated
them as misguided,
Christian brethren,
did he not himself
i.e.
who needed make use of
Origen
as simple-minded
friendly instruction;
the adoption view in
his complicated Christology (accordingly he
was later
unjustly classed with the adoptionists; against this B
°f
BosSa
Pamphilus defended him)
?
Beryllus of Bostra, the
monarchian teacher who won a large following in Arabia and Syria, became convinced of the truth of the Logos-Christology through Origen (Euseb. VI., 33
:
tov
(TiüzTjia
obfftas -Kepiypayr^
xai
xuptov rjßwv
xpu r^s e&
fii)
itpovisearävai xar
av$pd>Ttou<$ t-cdrj/jLtag^ fiydk
Idiav p.kv
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. üeihyra
idiav
£/££>,
ißTcoXiTeuo/i^rjv
clXK
Those Egyptian
narptxTjv).
chiliasts,
sius of Alexandria opposed, T7j$
hdogou
abrai
173
fiovriv
whom
Diony-
and whose teaching
xai aXrjftibs Iv&ioo too xuptou
rjfiaiv
rr,v
nepi
£-i<paveta?
he
may have favored dynam-
acknowledged as necessary,
But no great adoption movement was undertaken in the Orient, save by Paul of representations.
ical
Samosata, metropolitan
of
Paul of Samosata.
Antioch (Euseb. VII,
27-30; other material in Routh, Rel. Sacr. III.), the
who opposed the Greeks and as the Romans and their church.
national Syrian bishop, their science as well
That two great Oriental general councils at Antioch proved ineffective against him, and only the third
condemned and deposed him (very probably 268) is an evidence of how little even yet the Alexandrian dogmatics had found acceptance in the Orient.
was a learned theologian sophistical
"
a
;
called him),
man
(unspiritual, vain, shrewd,
of the world "
who wished
Paul
to
his opponents
break the power of the
Hellenic (Platonic) philosophy in the Church and to
maintain the old teaching.
In later times he ap-
pears to the Church as a heretic of the
first order, like
a Judas, ebionite, Nestorian, monothelite, conception
was
this
:
God
is to
ply as individually personal that in
God
a
Logos (Son),
be distinguished tified
— but these
His
be thought of sim-
($v npöffwnov).
i.e.
etc.
It is true
a Sophia (Spirit), can
—both are otherwise also to be idenare attributes.
God from
eternity
sent forth the Logos from himself, so that one can call
him
Son, but he remains an impersonal power.
r u
D
?t 3
s
— ;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
174
He worked
in
Moses and the prophets,
xa\
Son of David, born of the virgin.
Siayspövrws in the
The Redeemer
fiaXXov
a
is
man from
"beneath", but the
Logos from above worked within him (in-dwelling by means of an inspiration working from without, so that the Logos becomes the " inner
Redeemer).
The communion which thus a
GOvä
hut
man "
;
of the
arises is a
Goviteuffts
(no obaia
the Logos did not dwell in Jesus
y-ar d. TToiorrjTa^
therefore is he always to be
The
distinguished from the latter as the greater.
Redeemer
is
the
but he possessed
man wrought upon by the Logos in a unique way the Divine grace, His testimony bears
just as his position is unique.
witness to his endowments. therefore also between position
and
realized only
Between two persons
God and
Christ
of will alone is possible.
through love
;
—unity of disSuch unity
but also only that which
comes from love has value; that which through
"
nature
is
" is indifferent.
is
gained
Jesus by reason of
the unchangeableness of his love and will
is like
God
and has become one with him, inasmuch as he not only himself remained without flict
sin,
and endurance overcame the
itors.
but through con-
sins of our progen-
Like as he however advanced and persisted
in the confirmation of the good, so also did the
Father endow him with might and miraculous deeds,
by which he made known his unswerving God.
will
toward
Thus he became the Redeemer and entered
into an indissoluble
and eternal union with God,
be-
;
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. cause his love can never
fail.
victorious love he has obtained
As a reward of his a name above every
name, judgment and Divine dignity, call
him
" the
God born
175
so that one
may
which he has
of the virgin",
ever been in God's decree and proclamation (through
grace and confirmation did he attain unto Godhood the steps
were here
also birth, baptism,
and
resurrec-
This evangelical Christology, which was the
tion).
only one to consciously cast
its
opponents, especially the
positors", the Alexandrians.
Church Christ
the
liturgies in
He
which the
was proclaimed
religious
by Scripture proofs and
physics, Paul supported
ously refuted
aside
;
did
Evangeii-
character
zeal-
" old ex-
away with
all
essential Divinity of
he would
know nothing
of
"substances", but held fast to the living Person.
His teaching was considered heretical in the highest degree by the learned Hellenic bishops trayed the mystery
:
He
has be-
In the confession of six bishops
!
against him the physical Logos-doctrine was set forth in broad terms as a tolic
word
most important part of the apos-
and Catholic Church " 6ßoou<Tios "
was
subject.
With
it
the synod the
also expressly cast aside, evi-
dently because Paul had used order to prove by
At
faith.
that
it
God and
for the
Logos in
the Logos are one
Paul's deposition and removal (272)
De po"ed.
decided that no Catholic Christian dare any
was more doubt the Divine pliysis of the Redeemer. But the teaching of Paul did not succumb in Antioch it
without leaving
its
trace behind.
renowned professional
school,
the
Lucian and his birthplace
of
Lucian.
-
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
176
Arianism,
were
fructified
However, the doctrine ism by reason of
spirit
of
Paul.
badly disfigured in Arian-
is
combination with the hyposta-
its
On
tizecl Xdyo^-xriaßa.
photinus.
by the
the contrary Photinus and the
—although the latter acknowledged symbol — learned their best lesson from
great Antiochians
the Nicene
Paul
:
So-called Nestorianism
teaching, and in
How
it
had
its roots
in Paul's
Paul was once more condemned.
long unbroken adoption views held their
sway in outlying Oriental churches is indicated by the Acta Archelai, written at the beginning of the
What
fourth century.
says about Christ
c
Monarc£ lauism.
is
its
author, a clerical teacher,
very like the teaching of Paul.
But
in the great centres of Christianity adoptionism
was
totally
broken down by about 270.
The Rejection of Modalistic MonarchianNot adoptionism, but modalism was the dan-
(^)
ism.
gerous opponent of the Logos- Christology between 180 and 300, the doctrine according to which the
Godhead
itself is
seen incarnate in Christ, and he
himself considered the very and only God. this
Against
view Tertullian, Origen, Novatian, and espe-
cially
Hippolytus contended most energetically ("pa-
tripassiani",
they were
in the Orient later the " Sabelliani ").
first
called
by Tertullian;
most common expression was
Hippolytus says that in his time the
question agitated the whole Church (Philos. IX, 6 ßiyiffTov Tdpa%oy xard Tzdvra rov xöffßov
tfißdMouffiv),
h
izaaiv roTs -kl<jto1$
and Tertullian and Origen
testify that
the majority of Christian people think "monarch-
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. Rome,
In
ianically".
modalism was the
from Victor
official
doctrine
;
nite church also leaned
^^
to
among
thought modalistically
tanists one-half
;
177
Calixtus, D iu the Mon- ^Sto??™
the Marcio-
toward this view, and in the
Catholic Church from the earliest times on many-
formulas were used which served to promote this
form of thought, which indeed in reality best agreed with the plain, unreflecting faith
(6
&e6g
fiou Xpi<jr6<s).
But an exclusive modalistic doctrine was first developed in opposition to gnosticism and the Logos-
ward
Christology, (1) in order to
off ditheism, (2) in
order to maintain the full Divinity of Christ, (3) in order to sever for the first
all
time
Now
connection with gnosticism.
men
sought to establish this faith
came religious conception more
energetically as doctrine. Scientific theologians
But
to its defence.
to this
than to any other contact with thought and science
must needs prove detrimental end
of the
long time.
and
;
:
It
was the beginning
however, the death-struggle continued a
The
stoic philosophy
with
its
pantheism
formulas was called in to
its dialectical
(the adoptionists relied in part
assist
upon Aristotle
;
see
The controversy thus presented a phase which makes it appear related to the controversy of
above).
the Platonists
and common
God (whether
the Xoyo$-&e6$
whether there as #ed?). ever,
had
terest. 12
The
still
stoics is
about the idea of
the lutimate God, or
stands behind
him an
apathetic
oldest defenders of modalism,
at the
same time an express
ov
how-
Biblical in-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
178 Asia Minor First Theatres.
Here
(a)
and Rome
also
were Asia Minor and
Noetus
the
In the former was
theatres of the controversy.
first
Rome
however, was probably finally excom-
(he,
municated), in the latter his pupil Epigonus (about 200),
who won
the bishops 'alixtus'
Compromise Formula.
Kleomenes, then Sabellius to his
Against them Hippolytus came forward
cause.
(
first
Zephyrinus)
Rome
of
favored the school (above
all
Calixtus (217-222), originally a modal-
.
sought to satisfy
ist,
but
;
all parties
by a compromise
formula and found himself thereby obliged to excom-
municate Hippolytus lius.
(rival bishop) as well as Sabel-
His formula seems
to
have pacified the major-
ity.
How
is, is
indicated by the circumstance that Hippolytus
is
imperfect our knowledge of this matter
wholly silent about the modalist Praxeas in
Probably the latter came to
(see Tertullian).
Rome Rome
before Epigonus (perhaps even under Eleutherus),
but had not at that time aroused opposition.
Since
he also went to Carthage and was an out-and-out anti-Montanist, Tertullian used his to
name
in order
combat the Roman modalism in general (about Certain
is it
Theodotus, did
so,
210).
that Victor,
who excommunicated
not from the standpoint of the
Logos-Christology, but rather from that of modalism. Two Mon-
Yet
it
is
to be observed that the
two monarchian
archian Postulates.
views are more nearly related is
either of
them
to
each other than
to the Logos-Christology.
Both
defend the redemptive historical view of the Person of Christ, as against the naturalistic historical,
and
often pass from into each other (as to Beryllus one
—
;
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
179
can question whether he was an adoptionist or a modalist
in the writings of Origen not a
;
sages leave us in doubt which party he against
few pas-
contending
is
the compromise formula of Calixtus
;
The simplest form
variegated).
of
modalism
resented by Noetus (see Hippolytus)
Father himself,
who was born and
is
also
is
rep-
is
the
Christ
:
If Christ
died.
Next
to the
monotheistic interest (opponents were called
ät&eoi)
is
not the Father, then
was the
ffuviffräv
Iva #eov
rt v
&eo$
amaat ^/xäg
36; Jno. 10:
oov xaxov
r\
y.ai
Scripture evidence
Isa. 44: G; 45
;
do^d^cov tuv ApMjrov
izoico
eitaa^ev dC ?j/iä$ aorus
duvy&f).
20: 2 seq
3: 6;
he not God.
interest in the full Divinity of Christ (yaaxou-
— XpiGTos xai
is
14;
5,
:
Rom. 9:5;
30; 14: 8 seq;
was Ex.
Baruch
Xöyov,
äW
Was
rigidly is
aMco?
Speculatively the idea of
rejected.
Kleomenes) upon the thought
(in
God is invisible if he wishes, when he permits himself to be seen that
;
he does not wish
he
presents
pAv Xiyet
The conception "Logos"
äXX-qyopeZ.
grounded
to
himself
be to
however
visible
intangible
touched, tangible
Church
(old
formulas justified by the stoic idea of God).
Father so far as he deigned to be born
guished
;
therefore only
but the distinction
demptive one. to
mind
nominally is
also
an
when when
unbegotten
touched;
be
and begotten; mortal and immortal
both are
3:
the Johan-
nean Gospel was recognized; but 'Iwdwys
God
Noetus.
is
The
the Son
to be
distin-
historical, re-
In favor of the identity they called
the Old Testament theophanies.
That they
Speculativeideaof
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
180
after the
head Modaifsm
manner
God-
the element of finiteness cannot be proven.
itself
It is the old
to
of the stoics attributed to the
naive modalism, which
a theory (otherwise, observe that
tian writers,
who were
is
here exalted
all
early Chris-
not philosophical,
knew
one birth of the Son, that from the virgin).
only
The
theory was wrecked in this, that in the Gospels
without doubt two subjects (Father and Son) are
However, the modalists hardly
presupposed.
said,
The Father
unequivocally:
clared
the Son,
who
suffered;
suffered, is identical
de-
they
with the
Father (bishop Zephyrinus: ty® olda eva &edv \(>>(tt<)v 'ItjgoZv y.a) -h^ abrou irepa obdiva yv^xuv xat r.a^r^öy^ but: obi PraSeas?
f
° 7raT7?j°
«~c#«^, äXXä
the doctrine of " Praxeas " lixtus;
More complicated
6 oi6$).
they indicate a
is
and the formulas of Catrace of
the
difficulties:
"Logos" is no substance, it is nothing else than sound and word. Praxeas, in tendency and in Scripture argument at one with Noetus, made, however, a clearer distinction between the Father and the Son
God through self into the
the Son, (the is
man
i.e.
the assumption of the flesh
Son; the flesh makes the Father into
Jesus)
is
^BeSmes Aa n jsm!°
flesh
the Son, the Spirit (God, Christ)
ivas born is the Son ;
Redeemer the
in the Person of the
the Father (citation of
fer
made him-
;
Luke
1
:
35).
That which
the Spirit (God) could not suf-
so far as he entered into the flesh he shared the
suffering {"pater
compassus
est filio").
As soon
as the distinguishing of caro (filius) and spiritus
{pater) was taken strictly modalism passes over
—
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
This took place in part through
into adoptionism.
who
Calixtus,
181
in his formula of reconciliation ac-
cepted the Logos (but as a designation of the Father also)
and an adoption element
well observed), but by
means
ferred the faith of the
Roman
Hippolytus has
(this
of
actually trans-
it
church to the Logos-
Christology, and to the physico-deification doctrine
excommunicating his old friend
and Hippo-
gnostical subordinationism of Tertullian
Rome
lytus could never gain acceptance in tus'
formula
:
tov Xöyov
r
to
aoTu uizdpyetv xai
meußCLTOS
to.
re
aapxiottev
avoj xai
toi
xö.tw xa\
elvat
elvat to elpi\pivov
'
to dt iv rip
ywprfHv -veopa tooto
iv
ipco
ty7]
aoTw
to
iv
ftetou
ttj Trapftivu)
Jno. 14: 11.
oi:ep
yäp
xaXovpevov^ ?v dk
itavTa yipetv too
yap ßkeTtopevov ol(p
p.iv
ob% £Tepov izapa Tuv -aTlpa^ äXXä ev xa\ to
Trvebpa
Aal touto
auTo.
(Calix-
obx uXXo elvat izaripa^ o.XXo de olövy
*
xai
de
iv
Formula,
auTuv elvat ulov abrdv xai -izaripa
(stoic Myog-&e6$\ xa\ tzaxipa ovopatTt ov Tu rcvebpa adtaipeTov
Yet the
Sabellius.
Io~t\v
avftpajizos^
To pev
tooto elvat tov ulov 9 elvat
tov izaTipa
duo fieous ~a~ipa xa\ ulov^ aXX eva.
(
ob
yap
yevop.evo? izaTrtp icpotjkaßö ptevog ttjv rrapxa hS-eoicoifjffev
IvüHjas (auT(p y xa\
iva &e6v.
xai
erzoifjo'ev tv^
tooto
ev ov
xa\ outo)<$ Tuv itaTlpa
w
rzaTipa xa)
ulbv
dbvaaftat elvat
dbo^
x.aXelaftat
~p6
Gop~e~ovftivat
p~q
tw
utai
•
ob
yap
ftiXet
X-yetv tuv -izaTzpa 7ceitov&£vatY
Certain
is it
that the learned and influential Nova-
cSIS" tology
tian (de trinit.) did
much toward bringing about
the final abandonment of the Logos- Christology in the Occident.
About the year 260 the Roman
hop Dionysius Wrote
:
bis-
-aßiXXto? ßXa(T
Abandoned
° ccident
-
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
182
Cyprian marked patripassian-
ehat Xiyujv rdv naripa^
pestilential heresy like Marcionitism,
and he
himself shoved into a second recension of the
Roman
ism as a
symbol (Aqnileja) the phrase:" Credo in deo patre omnipotente, invisibiliet impassibili". However, the Logos-Christology soil in
the Occident
much more firmly
men
;
cident
is
let it pass,
:
Christ
only one God.
became
but they held
—in this there was a real interest
to the article of faith
and there
had never found a congenial
of
Arian controversy
is true,
complete God,
This attitude of the Oc-
most decisive significance :
The Nicene doctrine
in the
not as a
is,
philosophical speculation, but as the direct, symbolical
faith,
as
much
the property of the Occidental
church of the third century, as the Chalcedon doctrine.
Accordingly not
many
Occidental teachers,
who were
influenced by Plato and the Orient, used in
the third and fourth centuries modalistic formulas occidental
Theology Augustine.
without hesitation, above
all
Commodian.
The
the-
°l°gy of the Occident until Augustine shows in general a
mingling of Ciceronian morality, massive,
primitive Christian
eschatology,
and unreflecting
Christology with more or less latent modalism (one
God
in the
and
practical
which
is
strictest sense; Christ
Church
politics (penitential institute),
wholly foreign to the Orient (Arnobius,
Lactantius, Commodian).
They were no mystics,
in part opponents of Neo-Platonism.
would have been
home
God and man)
for
them
to
How
hard
make themselves
it
at
in the speculations of the Orient is indicated
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
183
by the energetic, but abortive attempt of Hilarius and the theological
barbarism of Lucifer.
It
well
is
understood that modalism did not continue in the
Occident as a
sect, so
long as in the Orient
;
it
found
in the latter, even in the prevailing form of teaching especially (b)
where the Logos was accepted, a
The accounts
of the old
Orient are very turbid is called
shelter.
modalism in
the
for subsequently everything
;
ow
Modalism in
orient.
"Sabellianism", which pertains to the eter-
nal and enduring hypostasis of the Son {e.g. Marcellus' doctrine
).
Already in the third century in the
Orient speculation concerning the modalistic theses increased greatly and
was
carried out into manifold
forms, and the historians of the nius, Athanasius, etc. )
ered forms.
movement (Epipha-
add thereto
also one
other discov-
Just as one can write no history J of the
Logos-Christology in the Orient
Athanasius
still
—the
from
Origen to
sources have been destroyed
can write no history of modalism.
— so
It is
certain that the contest began later in the Orient,
but
it
was more passionate and enduring and
led to
the development of the Origenistic Christology in
the direction of Arianism (also antithetic)
.
The
first
great agitation took place in the Pentapolis, after that Origen combated the " singular " modalists as
Christian brethren
and sharply
criticised
bishops
(Roman), who made the distinction between Father
and Son merely nominal at
(the
condemnation of Origen
Rome under Pontianus may also have had reference
to his Christology).
Perhaps Sabellius himself near
impossible to Write
^lodailsn?
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
184:
sabeiiius' Doctrine.
en d
-Qie
f
He was
the Pentapolis.
is to
already dead
Holy
names
Spirit:
and
ism would be established
moment Father and
this
names are
the three
;
The one Being
—a designation
However
for
three
Spirit), otherwise polythe-
same time three energies. called uio-drwp
and by his regard
To one Being are attached
(Father, Son,
himself.
there.
be distinguished from Foetus by his more
careful theological deductions
the
when Diony-
combated Sabellianism
of Alexandria
sius
He
went (again?) from Rome into
his life
at the
is to
for the being of
Being
is
be
God
not at the same
Son, but in three consecutive, in-
terchanging energies (prosopons) he acts as Creator
and Law-giver, as Redeemer, as Quickener (through this teaching the conception "
Prosopon
became discredited in the Orient).
", "
Person
Whether
it
"
was
possible for Sabellius to carry through the thought of strict succession,
we do
not know.
Perhaps he
still
permitted the Prosopon of the Father to continue S
Ad<S
O T '
s
Cos-
pei to
active (the Sabellians
ment
fell
Scriptures, but also
back upon the Old Testaupon the Gospel to the
Egyptians, etc.
Egyptians and other apocrypha
—a
proof that the
Catholic canon had not yet established itself in the Pentapolis). lier
This distinguished
itself
from the
ear-
modalism, not by a stronger pantheistic tendency,
nor by a new doctrine of the trinity (both came thereto
first later
fications
if
the modi-
were not introduced by the historians), but
by the attempt sopons,
in the fourth century,
to explain the succession of the Pro-
by the attention given
to the
Holy
Spirit (see
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
185
above) and by the drawing of a formal parallel be-
tween the Prosopon of the Father and the two other Prosopons, which indeed tended toward the accept-
ance of a
fiovd$-A6yos
who
-AavutTßos),
back of the Prosopon
((tugtoXt}
never reveals himself, but becomes
known only through
his activity (this
view
by Schleiermacher, Theol. Ztschr. 1822 H.
mology
is
introduced by Sabellius as a parallel to
^ lthac
chrfs" tology.
manner the
prepared for the Athanasian Christ ology,
This
is
the decisive signifi-
cance of Sabellianism in the Orient.
way for
made use of
3).
without the preference being given to
the Augustinian.
there the
favored Sabellianism Pre-
the Father, and thereby in a peculiar
i.e.
is
Cos-
soteriology,
way was
and
of this
Samosata)
the
6ßoou<jtos
word
is clear.
;
It
prepared
for that the Sabellians
(on the other
hand
also
Paul
"While within modalism there
was hitherto no firm connection between cosmology and soteriology, under the
later
Sabellianism the
history of the world and of redemption history of the self -revealing
God;
this
equal rank with the Logos-Christology.
became one became of In different
ways Marcellus and Athanasius sought to reconcile the main principles of modalism and the LogosChristology in that
:
The former
failed, the latter
succeeded
he almost entirely excluded the world-idea
from the Logos-idea, Sabellians the
wfc>?),
i.e.
restored the Logos (as the
to the being, yes, to the numerical
unity of God.
History of Oriental theology until the beginning of the fourth century. The next conse(c)
—
Theology to 400.
y
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
18G
quence of modalism was that the followers of Origen
gave
to the
Logos-Christology a strong subordination
Dionysius of Alexandria went so far as to set
cast.
forth in a doctrinal letter the tion,
which
is
Son simply as a
crea-
related to the Father as the vine to the
gardener and as the boat to the builder (Athanasius,
He was denounced by his
de sentent. Diony.).
same name (about 200) the latter published a warning, in which he very characL-teristically branded modalism as a heresy first, on
Roman
colleague of the
;
;
the ground of
its affinity
with the Christology then
current in Alexandria, which he however totally
misunderstood and represented in second, on account of
its
form
its coarsest
tritheism.
And
without
any adjustment, he proclaimed the paradox, that one must believe in the Father, Son, and Spirit, and Alexandrians
Submit to Rome.
these three are at the
same time
drian college, presenting
now
one.
The Alexan-
the other side of the
humbly submitting, explained that it had nothing against the word tfioou«no? the Father was always Father, the Son always Christology,
Origenistic
;
Son, and the latter
beam
is to
is related to
the former as the
the light, the stream to the fountain
;
they
even went farther and explained that in the very designation " Father " the Son
is
included
but in
;
the diplomatic writing the bishop allowed himself a
mental reservation set aside the Controversy Pre lüde to Arian.
if
;
he would have been obliged to
Neo-Platonic philosophy,
i.e.
science,
he had rejected every neptfffiog in the Godhead.
controversy
was a prelude
to the Arian,
it
This
ended
;
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. quickly and
its
187
culmination did not require the Alex-
andrians to restrict their speculations.
Thej' were
besides also very anxious to replace the old simple faith in the churches
(when
it
became inconvenient)
by the philosophical (Dionysius labored villages against chiliasm
;
in
Egyptian
was Nepos the same time to
his opponent
Euseb., H. E. VII, 24, 25), but at
refute the empirical philosophy (Dionysius'
on nature against the atomic theory).
Tract
The Logos-
and Christus-doctrine was worked out by the leaders school in the spirit of Origen
of the catechetical (finer philosophical
polytheism)
prehensive literature
ments
we have
but out of the com-
;
only insignificant frag-
Pierius, the junior of Origen, expressly desig-
:
nated the Father and Logos as two <po(jei$
and subordinated the Holy
to the Son, as the third ouaia.
obaiai
and two
Spirit very greatly
He
taught the pre-
existence of so als and contested the verbal sense of
some Scripture passages as not i r °
authoritative.
The-
The;
ognostus
ognostus (in the time of Diocletian) composed a com- orfgenSS prehensive dogmatic work, which as a system sur-
tion of
Arianism.
passed that of Origen and had a form that has been in use until to-day.
He
moreover developed Origen-
ism in the direction of Arius.
Another Origenist,
Hierakas, established an order of monks, in whose
saw something new in Christian ethics it seems, emphasized more strongly the subunity of the Father and Son. At all events
celibacy he
and, as stantial
as martyr 311), bishop of Alexandria, did
Peter
(f
this.
In him
the Alexandrian
bishop again in-
p e ter.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
188
who had
clined toward the views of the Demetrius,
condemned Origen. Under what circumstances this happened is unknown. But from his extant writings
clear that he substituted Biblical realism
it is
and the
(history of the creation
and designated
genistic spiritualism T?;$
Yet
'EMyvtxfc natdeiag.
was
of Peter
still
for the
fall)
this as fidfypa
on the part
this reaction
not a radical one
Ori-
he only rounded
;
he began in Alexandria the adjust-
off the points;
ment between the realistic faith of the simple-minded and the scientific faith, by means of subtractions and additions That which was before his mind was a concordant faith which should be at the same time Bat the time for this ecclesiastical and scientific. :
was not yet at hand still
(see the
ruled in theology,
pushing on toward
;
which
latter, it is true,
but there was wanting as yet a definite
works
were
Gregory Thaumaturgus, the en-
of
thusiastic pupil
Thus
-Kepiypatyy,
ovk
the
rjv
Tvlarvveiv,
öiatpelv,
influential
ore ovk
<j>üg
tjv )
Tcrjy^
ek
(JHjrog,
srepog rrjg
Tfjg
Kara
deävüpcJTrog, fxaftrjoiv
ml
oiialav,
&eor?jTog
kvuutg
ovalag rov warpog, dia tov
yevv^evra ov
war'
1
kvavfipiomjoig,
<7vyKE<pa?aiova^ai kti^eiv, J
yevvav, o/uoovaiog, en
ayEwrjTog, aTJidrpcog,
cvvd(j)eta
most
1
m,
tfe/l^uarof, ÜEÖg en üeov, r]v,
Origen,
of
fiovag, rpiag, ovaia, (pv<7/g vrroKEifievov, vrroGTaaig, TTpöccdirov, p,e pithead
itoieiv, yiyvEcdat.,
ovk
yes, they
state of the doctrine of faith is best reflected
in the
*
*,
many still as suspicious,
looked upon as unbiblical, by
The
was
complete secularization and
its
statement of them and a fixed value
^hfuma-
freedom
;
Already every future conception was
submersion. current
Cappadocians)
TrotTf&evTa, r/v ore
ärpEirrog,
avaXkoioTog
',
ovo ovciai, ovala ovaio/ievy,
ovciudr/g,
Evuacg
Kara /usTOVoiav,
fiETovoiav, ovyapacig evolkeIv, etc.
!
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION. One
theologian in Asia Minor. " scientific " itself
which
it
sees here that the
trembled before the fine polytheism
introduced, and farther that Christology
became pure philosophy disseminated
:
The symbol which Gregory
among the churches hardly corresponded
in a single sentence is
189
with the Biblical statements
;
it
a compendium of the purest speculations, recall-
ing the Gospel only in the words, Father, Son, and Spirit.
ognize
Therein Christian faith was expected to recitself
once more
No wonder one. By the
that a reaction set in,
indeed a tame
if
Reaction; Methodius.
side of Peter of Alexandria there ap-
peared here and there in the Orient about the year 300 opponents of Origen still
and
of speculation
He was
— quite the contrary
;
but he wished
harmonize the Biblical realism and the verbal
nseus,
— a neiv
the heretical points of Origenism in order that the latter
in this
Ire-
he wanted a consistent faith which would be
purely ecclesiastical and purely scientific.
off,
was
no enemy of Plato
sense of the rule of faith with science
all
who
The most
influential of these opponents
Methodius (about 300).
to
compelled those
honored him to come to his defence.
significant
and
who
form into the
Moreover
must be rounded °^-^^
may be thereby introduced
ecclesiastical faith (speculative
realism; Methodius had read Irenseus).
Above
all
the pessimism of Origen as regards the world (within the cosmology)
must be
set aside
:
Matter and the
human body were approved by God and fore be glorified
and remain
eternal.
will there-
In accordance
190
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
with this the Origenistic teaching concerning the eternal creation of spirits, concerning the fall in a pre-existent state, concerning the character
pose of the world, of the
same the
concerning
etc.
,
were
and pur-
In the place
set aside.
mystico-realistic teaching of Irenseus
Adam
(mankind) was reintroduced, but
was still more mystically developed and brought into an alliance with the recapitulation-theory. Mankind before Christ was
the condition of
but in second 1
Second
Adam
Adam the
(in
need of redemption,
children).
Through the
Logos unites himself with
But
us.
Methodius went a step farther; the new mankind as a whole
become
is
the second
Christ,
Adam.
Every one should
inasmuch as the Logos unites
itself
with every soul as with Christ (the descent of the
Logos from heaven and his death must be repeated for every soul
not so
—namely within).
This comes
to pass
much through knowledge as through virginity
and ascetism.
The
theoretic
optimism was also
bal-
Extreme Regard for
in anced by x ^ the renunciation of the world expressed
Virginity.
yj r gi n ity.
No
ecclesiastic before
prized virginity as he, so prized
Methodius had so it
as a
means
mystic union with the Godhead (virginity
end of the incarnation). doctrine of faith
the
In that the realism of the
was here bound up with
istic speculation,
is
of
the Origen-
the two-foldness of faith and the
science of faith reduced to one, theoretical optimism (as regards the
sensuous world) joined to the practi-
cal renunciation of the world,
and everything made
dependent upon the mystic union with the Godhead
THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION.
191
without a denial of the objective significance of Christ as the Redeemer (although this
is
pushed
into the back-ground), the dogmatics of the future in its
main
outlines triumphed.
dogmatics ^fJn? 00 bishops did about the itaieot
That which Methodius had done as developed doctrine, the
for
year 300 for the rule of faith, in so far as they introduced the scientific Logos-doctrine into the instructional symbol, thereby neutralizing the distinc tion
between faith
and
dogmatics and
scientific
placing the chief contribution of Hellenic speculation
The
under the protection of the apostolic tradition.
Oriental symbols of this time (symbol of Caesarea, of Alexandria, of the six bishops against Paul, of
Gregory Thaumaturgus,
ward as
etc.)
put themselves for-
the incontestible apostolic faith of the
Church and are the philosophical constructions
of
the rule of faith: The exegetical-speculative tlieolo-
gy ivas introduced into faith itself. This came to pass through the Logos-doctrine the dogma was ;
now found and
established.
A
divine Being has
actually appeared upon the earth, and his appear-
ance ever,
is
the key to cosmology
soteriology.
How-
these fundamental theses were accepted only
in the widest circles. this, so
long as
it
the divine Being, is
and
But men could not
was not
rest
definitely determined
who has appeared upon
related to the highest Divinity.
with
how
the earth,
Is the divine
Being who has appeared upon the earth the Divinity himself, or
is
he a subordinate, second Divinity?
Exegetical Specu-
J^e
T1
Added.
"
192
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
Are we redeemed by God himself unto God, or do we 'stand also in the Christian religion only in
system, and
God who
is
is at
a cosmic
our Redeemer only the subordinate
work
in the world?
—
part
2,
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECCLESIASTICAL DOGMA.
BOOK
I.
HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOGMA AS DOCTRINE OF THE GOD-MAN UPON THE BASIS OF NATURAL THEOLOGY.
CHAPTER
I.
HISTORICAL SURVEY. Entw. einer
Walsch, 1762
Historie
vollst.
Hefele, Conciliengesch.
der
Ketzereien,
Aufl., Bd. I-IV.
HisGibbon, and Ranke. Reville, Die Religion z. Rom. unter den Severern (German by Krueger, 1888) Dorner, Entw. Gesch. d. L. v. H. Schultz, Die L. v. d. Gottheit d. Person Christi, 1845. Christi, 1881, Gass, Symbolik d. griech. Kirche, 1872. Denzinger, Ritus Orientalium, 2 Bdd. 1863 f. ff.
tories
of the
2.
Roman Empire, by
Tillemont,
.
,
THEno compromise with any ions
Christian religion in the 3d century
made
pagan
relig-
of the
and kept far away from the numerous
tions out of which,
under the influence of the mono-
theistic philosophy of religion,
developed
itself.
intersec-
But the
a
new
religiousness
spirit of this religiousness
entered into the Church and produced forms of expression in doctrine and cultns to correspond with itself.
The testament of primitive Christianity
Holy Scriptures 13
—and
— the
the testament of antiquity 193
New
Religiousness
chillL
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
194
the New-Platonic speculation— were by the end of the 3d century intimately and, as
it
seemed, insep-
arably united in the great churches of the East.
Through the acceptance Doetrhle Mystery,
tlie
central
dogma
of the
Church, the Church doctrine
laity, firmly rooted in
was, even for the
Thereby
Hellenism.
of the Logos-Christology as
it
became a mystery
to the
But mysteries were
great majority of Christians.
even sought
the soil of
Not the freshness and clearness attracted men there must needs be
after.
of a religion
—
something refined and complicated, a structure in
Barroque
style, to
wished to have
content those
who
at that time
the idealistic instincts of their
all
nature satisfied in religion.
United with this desire
was the greatest reverence for all traditions, a sentiment peculiar to epochs of restoration. But, as always, the old became
new was
What tri
PoHt
and
ferred ?o~
new by
conservation and the
placed under the protection of the old.
the Church utilized in doctrine, cultus and
was "apostolic", or claimed to be deduced from the Holy Scriptures. But in reality it
organization
Apostles.
legitimized in
its
midst the Hellenic speculation,
the superstitious views and customs of pagan mys-
tery-worship and the institutions of the decaying state organization
to
which
it
attached
which received new strength thereby. monotheistic, practice
and
it
itself
and
In theory
threatened to become polytheistic in
to give
low or malformed
way
to the
religions.
whole apparatus of
Instead of a religion of
pure reason and severest morality, such as the apol-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. had once represented Christianity
ogists
became the
195
to be, the
most powerful consecrations, of the most mysterious media and of a sensuous sanctity. The tendency toward the inlatter
religion of the
vention of mechanically-atoning consecrations (sac-
raments) grew constantly more pronounced and
of-
fended vigorously thinking heathen even.
The adaptation of the v customs must needs lead larizing
and
churches)
;
local cults,
same
splitting of the
Church
'
etc
(into national
but for the time the uniting force was
The acknowledgment
authorities and formulas, the like regard
same sacramental
consecrations, the horror
at the coarse polytheism,
and the tendency toward
for the
Adaptation of Local
finally to a complete secu- Cults
stronger than the dividing. of the
manners and
asceticism for the sake of the
life
beyond, formed,
together with the homogeneous and well-compacted episcopal organization,
churches.
the
common
basis
the
of
All these elements were not sufficient,
however, to preserve the unity of the churches. Constantine had not thrown about them a
If
into National
new bond
churches.
by raising them to the Church of the empire, the split
which one observes from the 5th century
would have taken place much
earlier
;
for the episco-
pal-metropolitan organization carried within centrifugal element,
and the asceticism
in
itself
which
a
all
earnest thinkers found themselves at one, could not
but dissolve the historic conditions upon which the religion rested, of
God
;
and destroy the communal veneration
besides, differences crept
Tendency
more and more
into
-
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
196
the expounding of the authorities and doctrines,
which rendered Christian-
their internal
Taking one's stand
at the
harmony
questionable.
end of the 3d century
ity Threat-
ened with Complete Secularization.
one cannot avoid the impression, that ecclesiastical Christianity at that time plete secularization
was threatened with com-
and with external and internal
The danger from within
dissolution.
just prior to
the Diocletian persecution, Eusebius himself has established (H. E. VIII,
i.).
He
admits
regards the churches of the Orient
— at
least as
—that they threat-
ened to mingle with the world, and that pure pagan-
among them.
The Diocletian persecution added the external danger, and it cannot be said that it was the strength of the Church alone ism vaunted
itself
which triumphed over the danger. Bishops'
and Theologians
Church.
1
Already at that time the Church was a bishops' and theologians' church. ters
But the power which, as mat-
then stood, was alone able to support energet-
ically the distinctive character of the religion
ology
— came
very near dissolving
it
the-
and handing
it
over to the world.
In concluding "Part I"
it
was described how
philosophic theology gained the victory within the
Church and hoiu very formulas
it
naturalized
its
theses in the
"Ebionism" and " Sabellianism " were conquered. The banner of the Neo-Platonic philosophy, however, was raised in
spite of the still
of the faith.
shaking
off of
gnosticism.
All thinkers
remained under the influence of Origen.
since the system of this
man was
But
in itself already
—
DEVELOPMENT OP DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
197
heterodox, the development of the Alexandrian the-
ology threatened the Church with further dangers,
Origen had kept gnosis and
SSSenel ^nates!""
unmixed; he
pistis
thought to link together in a conservative sense everything valuable and to bring to a kind of equilibrium the divers factors (cosmologic and soteriologic)
he had given to his theology by a
;
sacred text a Biblical stamp and
herence to the
demanded throughout Scripture ° l epigonoi, (1)
The
proof. l
With
the
Modified.
pupils as well as the opponents of Origen en-
and
pistis
and gnosis again upon the
add some philosophy
plane, to
of faith
to subtract
to the formulas
something from the gnosis.
was
Precisely thereby a stagnation and confusion
which Origen had
threatening,
The
origenism
however, occurred changes everywhere:
deavored to place
same
strict ad-
faith itself
the laity; (2)
carefully
became obscure and
warded
off.
unintelligible to
The cosmologic and purely philosophic
interests obtained in theology a preponderance over
In accordance therewith Christol-
the soteriologic.
ogy became again
in a higher degree a philosophic
Logos-doctrine (as with the apologists) and the idea of the
cosmic God as the lower, subordinate
God
alongside the highest God, threatened monotheism outright. "
Already here and there
Sabellianism
"
articles of faith
— in opposition to
^fjgj ^f"
were being com-
H?stöHc° Ohrist.
posed, in in
which there was no mention
which the Logos alone was
of Christ, but
glorified in
a profu-
sion of philosophic predicates as the manifested, but
subordinate
God
;
alreadv the incarnation was cele-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
198
brated as the rising of the sun which illumines
all
men already men seemed desirous of adapting phenomena and vice-regents to the Neo-Platonic idea of ;
the one unnamable Being and his graded and or less
numerous powers, while they encircled
a chaplet of philosophic
Even
artificial
;
expressions;
of these elements
Caesarea
representative) let
its
in
manner and The theology which
was formed out is
(3)
yet only in a formal
without forfeiting their value. Eusebius
with
Holy Scriptures gave way somewhat
the
these endeavors
of Caesarea.
all
more
(e. g.
Eusebius of
everything pass
that kept within the bounds of Origenism.
Its rep-
resentatives considered themselves as conservatives,
since they rejected every
the doctrine of
God
more
precise definition of
(doctrine of the trinity) and of
Christ as an innovation (antipathy toward precise definition of hitherto not precisely defined
dogmas has
always animated the majority of the Church, since precise definition is innovation),
and since they exert-
ed themselves solely for the sake of science and the " faith " to
give form to the Logos-doctrine in a cos-
mologic sense and to subordinate everything inward
and moral Konstantine,
thought of the freedom of choice.
Neither thoughts of an heroic asceticism, nor
Atnanasius.
to the
real-
mysticism in the sense of Methodius, nor deduc-
istic
from the heterodoxies of Origen could aid here. Theology, and with it the Church, seemed to be irre-
tions
trievably swallowed up in the current of the times.
But
in the beginning of the fourth century there ap-
peared a
man who
saved the Church seriously threat-
—
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. ened by inward Constantino other
strife
199
and outward persecution
— so at the same time there appeared an-
man who
preserved the Church from the com-
most fundamental
plete secularization of its
Athanasius.
faith
True, reactions against the Logos-doc-
trine in the direction of the complete alienation of
God from
the Son of
the Father were probably at no
but Athanasius (assisted
Redemp-
by the West, the bishops of which however did
through
God-Man
not at first recognize the pith of the question) first
mental.
time lacking in the Orient
;
tion
secured to the Christian religion
upon the preoccupied
soil of
its
own
Funda-
territory
Greek speculation and
brought everything back to the thought of redemp-
God himself, i.e. through the God-man, the same essence with God. He was not
tion through
who
is
of
concerned about a formula, but about a decisive basis for faith, about
Upon
God -man.
which appeared head
redemption unto a divine
itself,
by the
this surety alone, that the Divine
in Christ has the nature of the
and only on that account
vate us to a divine life its
life
is
able to ele-
can faith receive
life,
law and theology
God-
its
power,
But while
its direction.
Athanasius placed faith in the God-man, which alone frees us
from death and
sin,
above everything
else,
he at the same time gave to practical piety, which then well-nigh exclusively lived in monkish asceticism, the highest motive.
which guarantees the *
Vergottung
:
The causing
to the Divine likeness.
He
united the
deification * of
'Ofxaouvio?,
human
nat-
to partake of the Divine nature, restoration
Highest Motive Given to Piety.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
200
ure, in the closest relations
with the monkish
ceticism and lifted the latter out of
its still
nean, or insecure sphere into the public
subterra-
life of
While he combated the formula
Church.
of
the the
the ISTeo-Platonic doctrine of a descending
koyos-xTiffiLa,
pagan and as a denial
trinity, as
as-
of the essence of
manner combated enerworldly living. He became
Christianity, he also in like getically the tendency to Ecciesiat Orthodoxy.
* ne
of
father °f ecclesiastical orthodoxy ecclesiastical
neiv,
new
only
monasticism:
He
and the patron taught
nothing
was the doing, the energy and
exclu-
siveness of his conceptions and actions at a time
when everything
He was
threatened to dissolve.
also not a scientific theologian in the strict sense, but
he descended from theology to piety and found the
He
word.
fitting
honored science, even that of Ori-
gen, but he went beyond the intelligent thought of
While acknowledging its premises, he added to them a new element which speculation has never been able fully to resolve. Nothing was here his time.
more
unintelligible to the thought of the
day than
the assumption of the essential oneness of the changeless
and
of the
working Divinity.
Athanasius fixed
^eludes
a g U if between the Logos, of which the philosophers
Logo!
thought, and the Logos, whose redeeming power he proclaimed.
That which he expressed concerning
the latter, while announcing the mystery emphatically
and powerfully and
in
no
way
indulging him-
self in
new
distinctions, appeared to the
offence
and
foolishness.
Greeks an
But he did not shun
this
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
201
reproach, rather did he circumscribe for the Christian faith within the already given speculation its
own
territory,
off the
and thus did he
find the
way
to
ward
complete hellenization and secularization of
Christianity.
The
history of
dogma
in the Orient since Nicsea T w
shows two intermingled courses the
first place,
the idea of the
of development.
In
God-man became
defi-
nitely defined in every direction
from the point
of
view of the redemption of the human race unto a divine
life
— the
creed of Athanasius
— (history
dogma in the strictest sense of the word). the aim was to determine how much of system of Origen,
lative
would be endurable
i.e.
of
Secondly, the specu-
of the 'EMyvixy -atdsla,
in the churches
;
in other words,
what measure the Sacred Scriptures and rule of faith would bear a speculative restatement and spiritualization. The treatment of both problems was in
rendered
difficult
cal ones), but
by countless conditions
above
ail
was
it
(also politi-
obscured and vitiated
because the Church was never allowed to concede to itself
a theological handling of dogma, and because
at the
same time the great majority
in fact
denounced every
of Christians
effort leading to
new forms
as an apostasy from the faith, since the
same was
an innovation.
The semblance
idem" must ever be kept
of
the
up, since the
"semper Church
in its " apostolic inheritance " surely possesses every-
°Devei-
opmen
s
"
202 Theologians Discredited by Later
Generations.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
thing fixed and logians
—even
final.
the best
The theology and the theocame thereby durof them
—
ing their lifetime and after their death into the
worst predicament innovators,
and
;
during
life
they were considered
when
after death,
the
dogma had
came often enough wholly into discredit, for the more precisely perfected dogma now became the standard which progressed above and beyond them, they
Conservatives
Triumph.
was applied even to the theologians of the earliest The Church found rest only when dogmatimes. building ceased and when by the side of the completed dogma, a scholastico-mystical theology and a harmless antiquarian science succeeded which no longer touched the dogma, but either explained or indifferently laid
settled,
gained at last what the longed
for.
But
aside.
it
" conservatives "
vital piety
had
it
as
Thus was had always
in the
mean time
withdrawn from the dogma and regarded them no longer in truth as the sphere in which it lived, as its original
and living expression, but looked upon them
as the sacred inheritance of antiquity and as the
primary condition to the enjoyment of the Christian benefits.
Periods of the History of Unification of
Churches Impos-
Constantine
ment
of the
made
Church
Dogma
in the Orient.
possible a unity in the developinto
dogma
(ecumenical synods
sible.
as
forum publicum;
provincial churches a
in place of the
symbols of the
homogeneous dogmatic confes-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOOTRTNE OF INCARNATION. was introduced)
sion
churches in the
203
but the unification of the
;
strict sense
never became perfect,
and the tendenc}-
to a peculiar individuality of the
national churches
grew stronger
Byzantinism, but
it
since there the old
Roman
was overcome
Roman
in the Occident,
empire took refuge in the
While the East crumbled
church.
and Islam
in direct contrast to
to pieces
wholly wrecked the creation of
finally
Alexander the Great, separating Greeks and Semites, the
West and
Yet
till
the East
West
cisive interest in
the
more and more
apart.
the end of the dogma-building period in the
East, the
I.
fell
took the most active and often de-
dogmatic decisions.
Period from 318-381 (383) v '
full
Divinity
of
:
orthodoxy Precisely defining u " Conquers.
the Redeemer: Athanasius,
Constantine, the Cappadocians, Theodosius.
Ortho-
doxy conquers through the firmness of Athanasius
and a few men in the West, through the course
of
world-wide historic events (sudden end of Arius, Julian and Valens
;
appearance in the East of Theo-
dosius from the West) and through the ability of the
Cappadocians to place the creed of Athanasius without deductions, to be sure
—not
— under the protection
of the Origenistic science. II.
The independent theonatdefa, Origen) was already
Period from 383-451
logic science
(EMyvurj
:
violently combated; the ecclesiastical leaders aban-
doned the
it
arms
and threw themselves more and more
into
communal and monkish orthodoxy.
The
of
most violent quarrels, behind which the question of
Quarrel be-
tween
A
dl aVi!i
aria"
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
204
power hides
itself,
arose between Antioch and Alex-
The
andria over the Christological dogma. C
at
Ep£esus
doctrine conquered at Ephesus, 449
;
correct
but, united with
the tyranny of the Alexandrian patriarchs,
must
it
needs share the fate of the latter and triumph over
emperor and
Nothing was
state.
em-
to the
left
peror but to proclaim the Occidental creed as the
orthodox one (the Chalcedon), which at
was
first
strange to the Orient and seemed, not without reason, to be heretical. Sedition
and Schism.
III.
Period from 451-553
:
in the Orient on account of the
monophysitism
is
thodoxy was at a
had exhausted the
common
exceedingly energetic; at loss.
itself
;
Codifies
first or-
But speculative Platonism
in its place
had come even in
on the other side a mysteriosophy
which knew how
to
formula and every
rite.
make something was
forced upon
(Leoutius of Byzantium, the Areopagite) rejecting this
and
out of every
These powers succeeded in
interpreting the formula that Dogma.
Chalcedon addition
science the Aristotelian dialectics and
scholasticism;
Justinian
Sedition and schism
that, codified the
.
them
Justinian,
dogma
as well as
the law, and closed not only the school of Athens,
but also those of Alexandria and Antioch.
Origen
and the theologians of Antioch were condemned. Theological science remained a science only of the
second order
—scholasticism
and the cultus-mysti-
cism, these indeed in their fundamental principle
and aim heterodox, were outwardly however tirely correct.
The Church did not renew the
en-
agita-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. tion, for it
205
has always wished peace, and piety had
long since thrown
itself into
monasticism and the
mysteries.
IV. Period from 553-680
The monotheletic quar- 2g§£jf
:
1
reis,
primarily partly after-play partly repetition of
the old strife, were born not of conviction, but of
Here
politics.
also the
West must
finally
come
to
the rescue with a bloodless formula.
V. Period from 726-842: In truth the
conflicts of image controversy.
this period
history of conflict
show already that the
(Image-contest)
dogma
is
end
at
but there existed
;
still
a
about what seemed to be the practical issue
of the history of
dogma, about the right
of being
allowed to perceive and venerate in a thousand sen-
suous objects the deification, the unification of the
heavenly and earthly. at the conclusion in the fight
between the
seen plainly
is
what seems a subordinate
whole history of dogma, but
(the bishops to
Besides, here
is not, viz.
state (the emperor)
and monks)
which the formation
of
The
highest importance.
for
factor :
The
and the Church
supremacy, in respect
dogma and
cultus
must
finally
state
is
of the
abandon
the introduction of its state-religion, but in return for this concession it
The Church
remains the victor in the
retains
its
cultus
practical fructifying of the
and
its
dogma, but
it
field.
peculiar,
becomes
definitely dependent, a prop, a plaything, in certain
ways, indeed also the palladium of the state and of the nation.
c /
ll
g t ate
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
206
CHAPTER
II.
THE FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTION OF SALVATION AND A GENERAL SKETCH OF THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH. Herrmann, Gregorii Nyss. sententiae de salute adipisc, Ritschi, Schultz, Lehre v. d. Gottheit Christi, 1881. Versöh., 2. Aufl. v. Rechtfert. und Lehre d. Die christl. 1875.
Bd. orthodox Conception Salvation.
I.
i.
?th
S. 3
ff.
conflicts from the 4th to the In the dogmatic ° centuiy, it is clear that at that time men
were contending about Christology with the consciousness that
it
contains the essence of the Chris-
Everything
tian religion.
else
was
asserted only in
vague expressions and on that account had not the value of a dogmatic declaration in the strictest sense of the word.
Accordingly for orthodoxy the follow-
ing fundamental conception of salvation obtained:
The
salvation offered by Christianity consists in the
human
redemption of the
race from a condition of
perishableness and sin, consequent upon
divine
life
(i.e.
it,
unto a
on the one side deification,* on the
other blissful enjoyment of God),
which has already
taken place through the incarnation of the Son of
God and which
accrues to humanity by reason of the
indissoluble union with him. religion
which
frees
Christianity
from death and leads men
participation in the Divine life
adoptionem.
See page
199, note.
that to a
and essence, per
Redemption, therefore, *
is
is
conceived
;
;
:
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
207
as the abolition of the natural state through a
mi
raculous transformation (deification
thought)
;
Redemption
the central mKuIot ous
is
the religious benefit of salvation
is defi-
Transformation.
from the moral, and the idea of atonement accordingly remains rudimentary for the
nitely distinguished
;
present state only a provisional enjoyment of salva-
knowledge of God and
tion is presupposed (calling,
of salvation, victory over the demons, helpful
com-
munications from God, enjoyment of the mysteries).
Accordingly the fundamental confession IrensBus
:
"
is
that of
We become divine for Christ's sake, since
he also for our sakes has become human". confession, rightly weighed,
demands two
dogmas, no more and no
"
this
#£<)? 6[ioou
own being and
less
has taken
fashioned
it
:
Christ
human
This
principal
is #£<>s ofioouctos,
nature into his
into oneness with him-
self".
after
Dogmas
severe conflicts; they never gained a perfectly clear
through
But these dogmas were carried through only
stamp and never obtained the exclusive dominion,
The reasons
which they demand.
for this are as
follows
The formulas which were required, being neiv, had the spirit of the Church against them, which (1)
suspected even the best of innovations
The pure exposition
(2)
most
difficult
cially
problem
hampered by
;
of faith is at all times the
but at that time
apologetic,
it
was
espe-
as well as by other
foreign considerations (3)
The orthodox formulas
conflicted with every
Carried after Struggles.
;
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
208
philosophy; they proved an offence to disciplined scholastic thinking ; but
men
was a long time
it
before
recognized in the incomprehensible the charac-
which
teristics of that
is
Holy and Divine
The conception of the salvation obtained through the God-man was joined to the scheme of (4)
"natural theology " (moralism),
i.e.
grafted upon
it;
natural theology endeavored thenceforth to build
upon the dogma and with
to bring itself into conformity
it;
The mystical doctrine formulas had not only no (5)
of salvation
New
of Jesus Christ;
new
its
Scriptural authority in
their favor, but conflicted also
idea
and
with the evangelical
Testament ideas and
reminiscences, Biblical theologomena in general of
the most varied kind, have always surged about the
growing and matured dogma and prevented
their
exclusive domination (G)
The
peculiar form of the Occidental Christology
interfered as a disturbing element with the Oriental
history of dogma.
Thrown upon
its
own
resources,
the Orient would have been obliged to legitimize
monophysitism
;
the Gospel, the Occident and the
emperors prevented
it
from doing
formula triumphed, but pretation
;
it
so.
An
incorrect
received a correct inter-
vice versa, at the end of the fourth cen-
tury, the correct formula of Athanasius triumphed,
but under an interpretation which was influenced by the secular science of the Cappadocians. sult
had the
Each
re-
historical consequence that the orthodox
;;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. Church remained
in contact
209
with Biblical theology
and with science (scholasticism). Since the doctrine of salvation was kept strictly ^^Jfjf as Related within the scheme of the mystico-realistic idea of to 2.
redemption,
it
Morality.
was
but on every side
in itself indifferent to the moral
men were
sure that Christianity
embraced the highest morality.
also
Accordingly
the benefits of salvation were adjudged only to morally
good men, but the morally good conceived as
the product of the free agency of
condition of sanctification to be
whereby God
at the
man and fulfilled
most was conceived
as the
by him,
of as assist-
ing (this concerns positive morality; the negative,
was regarded as the direct preparation deification *). The dogmatic form of the Chris- ^1^™°*
asceticism, for
tian religion was, therefore, balanced
by the idea
of
freedom of election (See already Clem. Alex. Protrep. 1, 7: ?o eo rd
del
0>
Z,7t v
edida^ev
£Tzt<pav£i$ a»?
dtddaxaXo?,
ha
uarepov w? &ed<s x°PrlTV ffv)i an(l this is only the
shortest expression for the
whole natural theology
which the Church appropriated from the ancient philosophy and treated as the self-evident presupposition of its specific doctrine,
reckoning upon a general un-
derstanding of the same. tianity oscillates
Consequently Greek Chris-
between two
co-ordinate with each other.
poles,
which are simply
Dogmas
in a strict
sense exist only within the doctrine of redemption
on the other hand, there exist only presuppositions
and conceptions
(so far, deviations in simple *See page
14
190. note.
mat-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
210 Biblical
Realism and Verbalism.
But since the
are here not insupportable).
ters
in conflict in not a
Greek natural philosophy stood few points with the Scriptures,
letter
and with the
and
rule of faith (as, above
must
the theology of Origen proves), problems
which
here also,
in
Holy
spirit of the
all,
arise
an increasing measure were
solved in detail in favor of Biblical realism and Biblical verbalism, contrary to reason tic
and an
idealis-
view, even though in general the rationalistic-
moral scheme remained unscathed
John
of
Damascus; Sophronius
?9a>//£v tteiat?
ps-aßolais xa\ ßißrjfremy)
dinate part
(vid.
dogmatics of
of Jerusalem: #ew-
An entirely subor-
.
was played by the primitive Christian
eschatology alongside of the redemption-mysticism, rationalism and Biblicism; gradually, however, also
was aided by Biblicism
(cf
.
Apocalypse in the Greek Church) to
add apocalyptic ideas
the history of the ;
men began
to dogmatics,
ever remained without any real
it
effect.
again
which how-
The
valua-
ble part also of the old eschatology, the expectation
of the
judgment, never played the part in Greek
theology,
nant.
which
is
due
to this highly important
rem-
In spite of the rejection of the Origenistic
eschatology there remained in Greek dogmatics a slight trace of the conception of history as
an evolu-
tion. Natural Theology.
3.
As a
result of this
examination
after sifting the authorities tion,
it
and sources
follows that of informa-
(A) that one has to treat natural theology as pre-
supposing the doctrine of redemption
;
this,
however,
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
God and
divides itself into the doctrine of
211
the doc-
^j Redemp-
'""
man. Farther, (B) the doctrine of redempitself must be treated in its historic development
trine of
tion
as the doctrine of the trinity and Christology.
The
the doctrine of the mysteries, conclusion forms (C) x ' J '
which already
in
in this life the
of the temporal is represented
To
this should be
coming
Doctrine of Mysteries.
deification *
and can be enjoyed.
added a sketch of the history of the
origin of the orthodox system.
Note: Only through Aristotelianism did the Greek A "£!
Church
after
Origen arrive again at a dogmatic
system, which was, however, by no means a universal system (John of Damascus).
Greek dogma
of the history of
A
knowledge
therefore to be
is
gained, aside from the acts and decisions of synods, (1)
from the numerous works on the incarnation
the Son of God, (3)
(2)
from the catechetical writings,
from the apologetic
graphs on the
" six
tions as well as
the tion,
treatises, (4)
from the mono-
work " and
similar composi-
days'
from the exegetical works,
(5)
monographs on virginity, monasticism, the virtues
and the
resurrection,
fathers frequently official
from priest-
In using these sources
hood, (7) from sermons.
with others
is to
be considered, that the
wrote diaXsxruws, and that
literature (synod
literature) in
meated with conscious untruth and 199,
note.
the
an increas-
ing measure bristles with falsifications and
*Sec page
from
perfec-
(0)
monographs on the mysteries, cultus and this fact
of
injustice.
is per-
mascus.
i
'
,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
212
CHAPTER THE
KNOWLEDGE AND
OF
SOURCES
OR THE CHURCH.
SCRIPTURE,
THORITIES,
See
III.
THE
AU-
TRADITION,
AND
and
the Introductions to the Old
Jacobi, Die k. L. v. d. Tradition u. h. Holtzmann, Kanon u. Tradition, 1847.
Begriff d.
Gesch.
Katholicität Begriffs d. K.
d.
d. ,
K.,
1885.
1881.
New
Testaments. Schrift. 1. Abth. 1859.
Der
Söder,
Seeberg, Studien
Reuter, Augustin.
z.
Studien,
1888.
Catholic Authorities.
The
extent and value of the Catholic authorities
was already
essentially established at the beginning
of the 4th century, although perhaps not their
tual relation
and the manner
mu-
of their exposition.
Underneath the great contrast between the more liberal theology
and pure traditionalism lay
also a
different conception of the authorities, but this never
found a statement.
Changes took place during the
period between Eusebius and
John
of
Damascus,
keeping pace with the growing traditionalism; but
no one undertook
to
make an
inventory, a proof that
opponents of the method, worthy of notice, failed to
palm
off
the existing state of the Church as the tra-
ditional (apostolic).
The
sects alone protested
and
continued to agitate. Holy Scriptures
Unique Authority.
The Holy Scriptures had a unique authority. To depend upon them alone was in reality not un1.
catholic
But an
;
Scripture-proof one might always demand.
entirely accepted agreement, even respecting
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
213
the extent of the Bible, did not exist (see the school of
Antioch with
its
As
criticism of the canon).
regards the Old Testament the Hebraic canon only
was, in theory, for a long time considered the standard in the Orient
;
nevertheless, in practice, the writ-
LXX
ings which were copied with the
had
value.
Only in the 17 th century through Roman influence did the equalization of the canonical and deuterocanonical writings take place in the Orient, yet not in the
form of an
official declaration.
In the Occi-
dent the uncritical view of Augustine gained the victory over the critical one of TT«
rn
Hippo, 393, and Carthage, slight
Into
after-effect.
Jerome (synods
\i'-ii-ii 397), which had only Alexandrian
the
a
Accepted instead of Jerome's,
canon,
were also introduced apocalypses
moreover,
at
fiS"
like
—
Hermas and Esra. Regarding the New Testament, Eusebius made rather a relative end to a highly inWith the three categories secure state of affairs. which he adopted one could not content
oneself,
and
the early decrees of provincial churches had an aftereffect, especially in
Yet
the Orient.
after the mid-
Essential
Agreement
die of the 4th century there prevailed (save in the
^yvjjj 16
Syrian churches) in the Orient an essential agree-
CentUi- y-
ment
in regard to the
New
Testament.
Only the
Apocalypse of John remained
still
excluded;
were not wanting.
How
fluctuations
the Occident
James, of dark.
slight
II.
The
came
for a long time
to accept the
Peter and III. John
Epistle to the
is
Epistle of
entirely in the
Hebrews was received
through the celebrated mediating-men of the 4th cen-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
214
Augustine's views in regard to the extent of
tury.
the
New
Testament has been the authoritative stand-
ard for the whole Occident (see also the so-called " Docret. Gelasii").
ment on
However, an
ecclesiastical judg-
this question, excluding every doubt, did
not take place until the Tridentine council. Holy Scriptures Divine,
All predicates concerning the Holy Scriptures dis-
appeared behind that of their divineness (works of the
Holy
Spirit); inspiration in the highest sense
now restricted to them. the
demand
and
also for
From their inspiration
was came
for spiritualistic (allegorical) exegesis,
conforming the content
of the texts to
each other as well as to the accepted dogmatic teaching.
Yet the
letter
should also be holy and contain
that which is most holy (against Origen); laymen,
eager for miracles, and critics (Antiochians) took sides in favor of the letter
method was wanting:
and
of history.
A safe
Opposing views were the
spiritual exegesis of the Alexandrians, the historico-
one of the Antiochians which sought for a
critical
fixed type, the literalistic, realistic one of barbarian
monks and of sturdy theologians (Epiphanius). Very gradually a compromise was made in the Orient in regard to the most important Scripture origenistic
passages and their interpretations.
The
Origenistic,
and Antiochian
?n
oHent
an(j s tiH
more the Antiochian exegesis was repressed
Du ^ not vanquished, the
literalistic, realistic one, made
palatable through mystic fancies, pushed forward (see
John 1-3.)
of
Damascus, and his interpretation
of
Gen.
The Occident became acquainted with
the
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. method
scientific
spiritual,
of
215
Cappadocians
the
Ambrose, Jerome, and Rufinus.
through Hilary,
Before and afterward there was a complete lack of
system;
with
regard for the letter went hand in hand fancies
allegorical
Jerome was too cowardly raries the better view,
and
chiliastic
interests.
his contempo- A u^Slne
to teach
and Augustine, although he
learned from the Greeks, never rose above the latter
and did not even reach them.
He
introduced into
the Occident the Scripture-theology with
ing three- and four-fold sense, and above Biblicism, although he himself
truth
is
an inward assurance
to
knew
waver-
its
all
the strict
that religious
which the Scriptures
can only lead, and that there exists a Christian
dom which
is also
free-
independent of the Scriptures {de
doctrina Christiana).
Through Junilius
especially
jumiius Influences
the
more methodical Antiochian exegesis exerted an
influence over the Occident, without being able to
remedy the lack
of
method and the tendency
to apol-
ogetic renderings on the part of the commentators. After-all the Scriptures received in fact a position in
the
life of
the
Church
in the Occident, different from
their position in the Orient (formerly
it
was
other-
wise; see e.g. Cyril of Jerusalem); they occupied a
more prominent
place.
This
is to
be explained pri-
marily from the influence of Augustine and from the fact that ecclesiastical
dogmatics in the Occident was
never so assertive as in the Orient.
was never securely settled, so were not. The predicate of iner-
tent of the Scriptures also their properties
Just as the ex-
West
-
.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
216 Inerrancy
Two
Testa-
ments.
rancy had indeed to submit to gentle restrictions and
men
did not really come to a clear conception of the
In regard to the two
sufficiency of the Scriptures.
Testaments there remained the same want of ness as formerly (the O. T.
a Christian book as
is
— the O. T. throughout a record the book which conprophecies — the O. T.
well as the N. T. of the tains,
is
is
with certain restrictions and under definite en-
cumbrances, the verities of the
and leads pedagogical ly Tradition.
Tradition.
2.
under which
and
it
has led
Scripture did not succeed (at least
originated,
it
faith,
to Christ)
not in the Orient) in ridding
institutions,
was
itself of
and
in
the conditions
becoming a
The Church,
independent authorit}^.
and
clear-
its
fully
doctrines
in itself the source of knowl-
edge and the guarantee of the authority of the truth.
Everything in it is
it is
fundamentally apostolic, because
Hence
of apostolic origin.
making
of
place.
It
it is
plain
remained de facto always
therefore ancient. distinctions
Tradition
and
But
elastic; is
what
apostolic,
at first one did not forego
proofs.
was above
all
the faith of the Church.
The symbols were considered
Roman
the
an inventory of tradition could not take
the apostolic Church found necessary
Faith of Church.
why
church proclaimed
apostolic; yet only the
its
creed as apostolic in
the strictest sense (composed by the apostles).
But
the content of the Nicene and Chalcedon creeds
was considered
as apostolic, yes, as the legacy of the
apostles xaregoyTjv
and as the quintessence
of the
Holy
DELELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. Scriptures.
Yet the
symbols remained
relation
between Scripture and
In the Orient the
elastic.
called
Constantinopolitan creed
symbol
;
first
217
became the
so-
chief
in the Occident the apostles' creed held the
place and
was explained according to
But the regulations
the former.
also of the organization
and
cultus were placed under the protection of apostolic tradition,
and one pointed as proof
Pf
i
nd
t
c u ftus Apostohc
to their general
spread and also to the legends concerning the aposBesides,
tles.
men began
in the 4th
without influence from the
Clement
side
of
century— not Origen
—to introduce the conceptions of an apostolic
TapddoGis aypaipos, in the
wholly uncertain content of
which they even included dogmatic teaching ever, very rarely trinitarian
words
and
—the
—how-
and Christological watch-
understanding of which was not every-
body's concern (thus especially the Cappadocians).
But
this gnostic conception of tradition (secret tradi-
tion),
although
it
became more and more
yet felt to be dangerous
;
use was
made
matic discussions only in extreme cases doctrine of the
Holy
Spirit),
and
it
settled,
of
it
was
in dog-
(e. g.,
in the
was otherwise
applied to the mysteries and their ritual expositions.
was understood that the decisive authority was vested in the Church itself by virtue of its union with the Holy Spirit (Augustine: "ego evangelio Since
it
noil crederem, nisi ve7*et (1)
me
catholicae ecclesiae co7nmo-
auctoritas"), the questions must arise:
Through
Speak?
whom
and when does the Church
Through 1
Doe" Church Speak?
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
218 a*
I
How
(^)
uonI
within the realm of doctrine, to be interpreted
cially if
are the innovations in the Church, espe-
the authority of the Church
its apostolicity, i.e.
lodged entirely in
in its permanence?
Fixed was
fore only very vaguely answered.
Episcoe G ts
chu rc h
^ ne
Both ques-
however, were never distinctly put, and there-
tions,
R
is
representation of the
it
that
Church was vested in the
episcopate (see Euseb. H. E.), although the strict
theory of Cyprian had not at
all
become common
property and the idea had never cropped out that the individual bishop
was Ecu
™f
m
"
Councils.
is
infallible.
But already there
attributed a certain inspiration to the provincial
synods.
Constantine
and declared
its
first
called
decisions
to
an ecumenical synod be
without
error.
Slowly the thought of the infallible authority of the
Nicene council crept in during the 4th century and
was
later
on transferred
to the following councils,
(3d)
was
stamped post factum as ecumenical, and the
dif-
in such a
way, however, that one synod
ference between
mained
them and the provincial synods
for a long time unsettled
(Was
re-
the synod
Through Justinian the four were placed upon an unapproachable height,
of Aries ecumenic?).
councils
and
after the 7th council the principle established
itself
firmly in the Orient, that the sources of knowl-
edge of Christian truth are the Scriptures and the
Even
decrees of the seven ecumenical councils.
day men assume frequently if
the
But
in the Orient
Church did not possess or need any this apparently simple
an
to-
air as
other, s
and consistent develop-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. ment solved by no means ities also
had
still
should one act
if
the difficulties, because
ail
councils were not always at
219
hand and other author-
How
to be taken into account.
the Church has not yet spoken?
Does not an especial authority belong
to the occu-
pants of the great apostolic episcopal chairs, or to the bishops of the capitals?
Ans.
imous
1.
The Church
ancient
" fathers "
also speaks through
The
testimonies.
has universality and antiquity of " antiquity "
is true.
of
the
Whatever
important, even decisive.
is
conception
citing
unan-
Besides, the
grew ever more
elastic.
Originally the disciples of the apostles were the
"ancients", then they counted also the 3d and 4th generations
among
the "ancients", then Origen and
his disciples were the "ancient" expounders; finally
was considered antiquity. But since one could make use of little from this period, appeal was taken to
the whole ante-Constantine epoch classic
rather
Athanasius and the fathers of the 4th century, just as to the " ancients",
and
at the
ous falsifications under the the 2d and 3d centuries.
same time
name
of the fathers of
of the " ancients "
employed very general explanations
new formulas and watchwords. ties,
as
it
was
and
to confirm the
Things came thus
more and more according
which one indeed frequently
council
numer-
At the councils one counted
more and more only the voices
to be decided
to
to authori-
first created.
therefore infallible, only
and
The
in so far
did not teach anything else but the "fathers".
How
Act
when Church has not Spoken?
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
220
The
infallibility
was
therefore primarily not a direct
one. Does Special
Authority Belong to Apostolic Chairs?
Ans.
Augustine recalled
2.
mind
to
the especial
authority of the apostolic chairs (also the Oriental)
on the question concerning the extent of the Holy
But in the Orient
Scriptures.
merged
was and
this authority
in that of the chairs of the capitals
therefore Constantinople
moved
strongly attacked by the
Roman
chair alone
was
to the front, being
bishop.
The Roman
able not only to preserve its ancient
authority in the Occident, but also to heighten (only apostolic chair in the Occident, Peter
it
and Paul,
the "West-Roman empire, the centre for the
fall of
remnant
of
Romanism
in the
West) and (thanks
to
the favorable circumstances of political and ecclesiastical history) to fortify the
same
also in the Orient,
under great fluctuation to be sure.
To
was always attached an authority
bishop
the
Roman
peculiar in
kind, without its being possible to define the
same
more
when
closely.
It
only ceased in the Orient,
Orient and Occident possessed nothing more what-
common.
ever in Chairs of Capitals.
tinct the
Roman
Roman
But before the same became
ex-
bishop, in league with the eastern
emperor, had gained the point that in the
Orient attempts at a primacy of any bishop, especially
the Alexandrian,
should
be suppressed, to
which suppression the Christological contests contributed.
The great chairs
Orient,
weakened through schisms,
of the
patriarchs
in
the
partially deprived
of their real importance, stood in theory in equal
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. positions toward one another.
221
Their occupants also
represented in their co-operations a kind of dogmatic authority, itself,
which however was defined neither
nor in
in
the ecumenical councils.
its relation to
They form simply a relique of antiquity. From statements made it follows, that the ability to transmit new revelations to the Church did not belong to the councils rather are the same rendered
Councils Not Authoritative.
;
legitimate through the preservation of the apostolic legacy. of
Therefore did the declaration and adoption
new formulas
(of
the
of the oneness of
6fioo6ffto$,
the trinity, of the two natures, and so on) cause
such great
difficulties.
When
doctrine gained the victory,
because the Nicene creed of antiquity
it
at last the Nicene
Apostolic Legacy.
was accomplished only had become a piece
itself
and because one endeavored, poorly
enough, to deduce from the Nicene
by giving out
all later
formulas
had once done) as pre-
(as Irenseus
scribed, together with the text, also a definite exposition of the same.
to
The
ability of the councils even
explain the doctrines authentically had not been
clearly declared in the Orient;
therefore the excuse
has only seldom been made for the earlier eastern fathers, that at their time the
explained and
western
man
definitely
dogma had
not been
Whereas a Lerinum,) in his Com-
formulated.
(Vincent of
monitorinm, after having asserted the criteria of
Vincent of
Lerinum Organic TYo^rcss in Doctrine.
the true tradition
(that
which has been believed
everywhere, alwaj^s and by
all),
warned men against the heresies
and
after
having
of otherwise ortho-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
222
dox
fathers,
admitted an
trine (from the
"
"
organic
more uncertain
progress in doc-
to the
more
and proclaimed the councils as agents
certain)
in
this
hcereticorum novitatibus").
progress (" excitata
Augustine expressly taught, that so long as unequivocal decisions on a question
bond
had not been given, the
of union between dissenting bishops should be
The Eoman bishop has always acted
maintained.
according to this
rule,
but has reserved for himself
the decisions and the time for the same. Tradition
\ague.
The conception of tradition is therefore entirely The hierarchical element does not play in va gUe The apostolic succession has theory the first part. even in the Occident not been in theory of such great importance for the confirming of tradition. councils, since the time they
were
Still,
perhaps that
is
Everything was very obscure.
Greek even
By
But
in so far as the
Damas-
the side of the Holy Scriptures, the is
the Church
its
honored orders.
The
not as
liv-
Scriptures also are to be ex-
plained according to tradition.
primarily always two-fold, fathers,
itself,
immovable doctrines and time-
ing power, but in
and
of
at the present time has a per-
foundation of religion
councils
ex-
consciousness of the foundation of
fectly definite religion.
was
saying too much.
Greek Church has not changed since John cus, the
the
called, the author-
ity of the bishops as bearers of tradition
hausted.
At
—the
and the
But the
tradition is
public one of the
secret one
firms the mysteries, their ritual and
which con-
its interpretation.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. 3.
As guarantee
The Church.
223
of the true faith,
and administrator of the mysteries, the Church above
came
all
flected
into consideration.
about
ment and
it
false
Furthermore,
when they thought
of the
men
church e
°FaTth
re-
Old Testa-
church of the Jews, of heresy and the
organization of Christianity, as also of the presumption of the
Roman
bishop (Christ alone
in catechetical instruction as the
and
the head
Again, the Church was represented
of the Church).
true faith
is
virtue, outside of
communion of the which there could
not easily be a wise and pious person, and the Bibli-
was that it was the only and holy one, guided by the Holy Spirit, Catholic in opposition to the numerous impious unions of the heretics. Very evidently men identified thereby the empirical church with the Church of the faith and SHanci Church of virtue, without, however, coming to a closer reflec- " Faith Identified. tion on corpus verum et permixtum and without drawing all the consequences which the identification demanded. In spite of all this the Church was not cal declaration
regarding
it
primarily a dogmatic conception, belonging to the
department of the doctrine of salvation
itself; or it
became so only when men thought
as the insti-
of
it
tution of mysteries, from which, moreover, the
was permitted restrictions
of the is
this
the
to
emancipate himself.
monk
Through the
under which the Greeks viewed the duties
Church and through the natural theology, disregard to be explained.
human
race as the totality of
accept salvation.
all
The Church individuals
is
who
The doctrine of salvation exhausted
;
224
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA. the conceptions
itself in
D
a C
id1Ia of
Not irSed
God, humanity, Christ, the
:
The conception
naysteries, the individual.
Church as the mother
of believers, as
tion, as the
body
matically.
The mystical
and the doctrine
of Christ
in
John
a divine crea-
was not worked out dog-
doctrine of redemption also
of the eucharist did not assist the
Church to a dogmatic position ample,
of the
(it is
Damascus).
of
wanting, for exorganization,
Its
was not perfected beyond the grade of bishops and was seldom treated dogmatically. The Church is not the bequest of the apostles, but of thorough as
Christ
;
it is,
therefore its importance as an institution of
worship takes the Western Church
rank.
All this has reference to the Oriental Church.
Idea Developing.
first
through
the Occident,
Donatist
the
foundation was laid by the Church for conceptions.
The Church
itself
was
In
contest, the
new and
rich
at the end of
the early period divided into three great parts
:
The
western Church, the Byzantine, the Semitic eastern
and the
latter
was
part considered
Each the one Catholic Church and
cleft into
itself
manifold parts.
extolled its particular palladia.
A.
Natural Theology.
THE PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION, OR NATURAL THEOLOGY. Natural theology with
tially the
same thing
;
but
all it
the fathers
was
essen-
shows shades according
as Platonism or Aristotelianism predominated and ac-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. cording to the measure in which the
225
letter of the
Bible exerted an influence.
CHAPTER
IV.
THE PRESUPPOSITIONS AND CONCEPTIONS OF GOD, THE CREATOR, AS DISPENSER OF SALVATION.
The main
principles of the doctrine of God, as the 1 r '
Doctrine of God.
and anti-gnostic fathers had established them, remained firm and were directed particularly apologists
against Manichseism, but were hardly touched by the
development of the doctrine of the Father as tion here.
trinity, since the
came into consideraYet with the growing Biblicism and the
ßiZi)
t7^ {teoTqros alone
monkish barbarism, anthropomorphic conceptions forced themselves
more and more
into theology.
Concerning the question of man's ability
to
know
God, Aristotelians (Eunomius, Diodorus of Tarsus, especially since the beginning of the 6th century)
Platonists contended with each other,
fundamentally agreed.
and
and yet were
That man knows God only
through revelation, more exactly through Christ, was generally allowed, but to this declaration as a rule
no further consequences were given and
men as-
cended from the world to God, making use of the old proofs ical
and supplementing them with the ontolog-
argument (Augustine).
Neo-Platonic theolo-
gians assumed an immediate, intuitive perception of
God
of the highest order, but they nevertheless per15
K
le "
J^^
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
226
fected very precisely the scholastic form of
knowledge
this
Areopagite: Negation, exaltation,
(the
causality). Negative
The
Attributes
Emphasized.
loftiest expression for the
as yet that he
immortal,
is
being of
God was
the spiritual,
"not- the- world", v
apathetic Substance (the
0>),
to
which
alone real being belongs (Aristotelians thought of
cause
and
purpose,
without correcting
His goodness
the Platonic scheme).
radically
is perfection,
unenviousness and creating will (additions leading to a better conception
which of
frees
men from
God were
by Augustine: God as self-seeking).
The
love,
attributes
treated accordingly as expressions of
causality and power, in
which the purpose
of salva-
was not taken into account (Origen's conception became tempered, i.e. corrected). By the side of the
tion
Moral At-
naturalistic conception of
God
v
as the 0v stood the
tributes.
moralistic one of
Re warder and Judge; upon
also the idea of redemption
had hardly any
this
notice-
able influence (less than with Origen), since "re-
ward " and
"
punishment " were treated as one.
Augustine recognized the worthlessness of a
Yet theol-
ogy which places God only at the beginning and the
men independent of him, instead of acknowledging God as the Power for good and the
end and makes
Source of the personal, blessed Cosmology of Fathers.
The cosmology
life.
of the fathers
may
be thus stated
God, who has carried in himself the world-idea from eternity,
has through the Logos, which embraces
ideas, in free self-determination created in six
all
days
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
227
out of nothing this world, which has had a beginning
and
was created after the patan upper world, which was brought forth by have an end
will
tern of
him, and has prove his
culmination in
its
own
it
;
Origen were
Still
men
in order to
kindness and to permit creatures to
In this thesis the heresies
participate in his bliss. of
man
set aside (especially his pessimism).
did not succeed in entirely justifying the
verbal meaning of Gen. 1-3, and in the representa- Gen tuition of
an upper world
copy the earthly
is,
(xöffßog voep6s)\
whose
there remained a significant
piece of the Neo-Platonic-Origenistic doctrine,
was then greatly sies
were scarcely
way
the verbal
account of its
which
amplified, after the Areopagite,
felt
by
But the pantheistic
here-
thereafter, if only in
some
the Platonizing mystics.
preserved.
lesser
meaning
of
Gen. 1-3 seemed to be
—
The theodicy still always necessary on Manichseism and fatalism sought to hold
Theodicy,
—
ground through empirical considerations, but
since
it
too
must be natural theology
it
revealed
its
ancient root in an oft-estranging casuistry and in
doubtful claims. fitness of the
Men
referred to the necessity
and
freedom of the creature which must
have as a consequence wickedness and
evil, to
the
harmlessness of evil for the soul, to the unreality of
wickedness and to the value of evil as a means of purification.
^^°
In regard to the heavenly spirits the following D points were settled
that they are free
:
That they were created by God,
and lack material
bodies, that
t
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
228
they have passed through a crisis in which a part
have
fallen, that
God uses
the good spirits as instru-
ments in governing the world, that the existence of wickedness in the world
wicked
is to
whom God
spirits,
be traced back to the
allows to have their
way
and who are incorrigible and have almost unlimited
power over the world which only the cross can break
and who are going
After the 4th century, however, the poly-
Origen). theistic
damnation (against
to receive
became stronger and stronger
tendency
toward angels and demons, and already by about 400
monks and laymen was nourished than by God. While the synod of
A. D. the piety of
more by these
Laodicea about 360 declared angel- worshijD to be eD of ALgeil\
a try,
still
the veneration of angels
idol-
became more firmly
established (guardian-angels, faith in their intercession)
787
and was
ecclesiastically fixed at the 7th council,
(7zpoffy.ovr)<ns)
It
.
contributed
much toward
this,
that the " scientific " theology in the form of the Neo-
Platonic mysticism, after about 500, increased the
esteem given to angels, and that they were received into the system
as most important factors (but see
already the Alexandrian theologians)
graded ranks
are,
on the one
:
The angels
side, the
in
unfolding of
the heavenly, on the other, the mediators between the heavenly and men. its
grades, agencies
To the earthly hierarchy with
and consecrations, corresponds a
heavenly, graded hierarchy with heavenly sacrifices, intercessions, (vid.
etc.
;
in divine
worship
both unite
the Areopagite and his expounders).
Thus
^/
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. arose
— truly
astical
was
after long preparation
—a
new
22!»
ecclesi-
theosophy which was purely pagan and which
finally a
shamefaced expression
the idea of creation
Ec
*-^as
"
Theoso P h
;
for jugglering
and redemption and
for reviving
the fantastic pantheism which the bizarre theosophy of perishing antiquity
:
Everything that
from God in manifold radiations
exists streams out
and must, since
it is
and returned
God.
to
had created
remote and isolated, be
purifi
This has taken place in nec-
essary processes which were so represented that
all
needs, even the most barbaric, were taken into con-
and
sideration,
all
authorities
and forms were
But the living God, besides
spected.
whom
re-
the soul
possesses nothing, threatened thereby to disappear.
CHAPTER
V.
THE PRESUPPOSITIONS AND CONCEPTIONS OF MAN AS THE RECIPIENT OF SALVATION.
The common conviction of the orthodox may be stated somewhat as follows: Man, after the
image
He
being.
has been endowed with reason, in order
good and
to enjoy
Having indulged himself and
dulging himself in
still
sin, misled, or of his
immortal ever in-
own
free
he has missed this destination without, however, having forfeited the privilege and power of a will,
virtuous
life
and the capability
of
Doctrine of
Man.
created
of God, is a free self-determining
to decide in favor of the life.
fathers
immortality.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
230
Through
Christian revelation, which comes to
the
the aid of the darkened reason with full knowledge
and the
of God, that ability has been strengthened
decides.
Upon good or The will has,
no moral quality.
In regard to
immortality restored and proffered. evil therefore the
judgment
strictly speaking, Points
under Consideration.
details there
were varying opinions:
the original inheritance of man, and
nation?
What was
(1)
what
his desti-
How far does nature go, and where does grace begin? (3) How far-reaching are
(2)
the gift of
the consequences of sin? acteristic of the
(4)
Is
mere freedom char-
being of man, or does
it
inhere in
what elements is (G) In what the human personality to be divided? does the Divine likeness consist? and so forth. The various answers are all compromises (a) be-
his nature to be good?
(5)
Into
;
tween the
religious-scientific theory (doctrine of Ori-
gen) and Gen. 1-3
;
(b)
between the moralistic con-
siderations
and a regard
Christ;
between dualism and the recognition of
(c)
for the
redemption through
the body as a necessary and good organ. Idea of Natural
Freedom Central.
The idea
1.
reason age,
is
of inborn freedom is central; with
included.
It constitutes the
it
Divine im-
which therefore means independence as regards
God.
Whether
there belongs to the nature of
man
only the sensuousness of the creature, or whether
he
is
endowed with reason and even immortality,
remained in controversy.
was
However, the controversy
quite immaterial, since the glorious nature of
man was
after all ever considered a gift of grace,
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. and
was considered by the majority The being of man was represented as
this gift of grace
as natural.
trichotomous, by others as dichotomous.
The Greek-
Origenistic conception of the body as a prison finally officially rejected
God-given
— but
after-effect,
i.e.,
is
was
because the positive morality was
because
it
way
to the negative (asceti-
received in the conception of
Neo-Platonic mysteriosophists, indeed,
knew
to
make good
use of the idea of the glorification
was
of the body, but in truth the corporeal
sidered by
Rejected.
have
to
The
how
Conception
is also
the opera supererogatoria an ascetic cast. later
GreekOrigenistic
rather, even as a
same never ceased
the
always obliged to give cism),
—man
microcosm and the body
spiritual being, a
an
231
them as something
still
con-
to be "absorbed,"
even
though they no longer dared to shake the verbal meaning of the formula of the "resurrection of the body".
Concerning the origin of individual souls is
no part of God
;
after all considered
of
but in reality it
many
(the soul
Origin of Souls.
theosophists
as such) the pre-existent view
Origen was expressly condemned, 553, but the
tradncian theory was not able
to carry the day;
rather did the creation theory (continued creation of individual souls)
As
become dominant.
regards the God-likeness,
in the
men
still
continued
antinomy, that goodness and purity can be
the product only of the likeness
human freedom
;
that,
however,
imprinted by creation cannot reside
in the possibilitas utriusque, but in a determina-
tion of reason and freedom, and that
it
has in part
Original State in Question.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
232
been
Accordingly the conceptions also regard-
lost.
man were
ing the primitive condition of as by Irenseus.
man was
On
as hazy
the one side, the perfection of
said to have been practically realized at
the beginning and
was
later restored
by Christ; on
was said to have which man had first
the other, the primitive condition
been the child-like state out of to develop
himself unto perfection and which he
therefore in reality could never lose, but only im-
prove (thus especially and emphatically the Antio-
The Cappadocians
chians).
much
like
Origen
;
but later
still
taught in the main
men were
forced to bind
themselves strictly to Genesis, and the speculative conceptions were cultivated as
much
Doubts about the
ones of the Antiochians.
istic
primitive condition of
as the rational-
man resulted
in indefinite con-
which have never been cleared the Greek Church Some saw in asceticism
ceptions of asceticism,
up
in
:
the natural constitutional condition of man, others (especially the
AnMochians) conceived of
it
as some-
thing superterrestrial and superhuman. Theories
Regarding 0r n siii
°
2. i^ s
It
was acknowledged °
origin, i.e. since
that the
Adam
Origen as
of
a pre-existent state), has turned
the good (cause:
race since
(express rejection in the
6th century of the doctrine fall in
human
Not a created
to
the
away from
sinful power, not
matter, not the Divinity, not inheritance of the sin of
Adam — Adam was
for the majority the type, not
the progenitor of sinners,
— but
abuse of freedom by
reason of demoniac betrayal, and transmission of
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. bad customs.
Besides, indeed, with the majority the
unsubdued thought
still
remained in the background,
God comes with
that the inducement to turn from
certain necessity from the sensuous nature
creature infirmities of
ing of the
233
man and
man
;
that
is,
a
and the
from a conjoin-
his liability to death
— be
it
nat-
ural (the Antiochians), or acquired through mis-
One finds,
takes, or inherited.
therefore, in the
same
fathers the contradictory expressions, that goodness is
natural to
man and
Genesis and Rom. 5
more
Adam,
accepted
they have even declared
clueism.
^a
is
omau&
theory, a world-historic impor-
they have not ;
G
more and
against their em-
But the Augustinian doctrine
tance.
turies
natural to him).
is
forced the Greeks
to give to the fall of
pirico-rationalistic
sin
that sin
during it
of hereditary all
the cen-
plainly to be Mani-
Therefore, since they were prevented from
supporting the Origenistic doctrine, and since the Bible
forbade
the
consequent
rationalism of the
Antiochian theologians, they remained involved in nothing but uncertainties.
Most
of
them proclaimed
universal mortality (hereditary death), the darken-
ing of knowledge (therefore polytheism) and a certain
weakening
of
freedom on account of the
fall of
Adam, enlarging the latter even to almost complete loss of freedom when they thought of the work of Christ, but hardly mentioning it when they wrote against the Manichseans.
But since they never
in-
tended to put in the place of the moral idea of sin the religious, and since the philosophumenon, evil
is
^
^i
1 1
p
. t
u,
;
;
-;
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
234
the non-being, never entirely
memory, and
left their
more
since they always felt the consequences of sin
—to which consideration their conception of the work of Christ also led them — they severely than sin itself
were never able
to give to the gravity of sin, i.e. to
guilt, a satisfactory expression
deed
;
:
Sin
is
accident and again fatality
it is
sequence of the liability to death
;
;
but
a bad single it is
the con-
is
not the
it
dreadful power which destroys union with God. Theology Dominates.
The ..
natural theology (and of the
influence of -,.
-.
.
•
•
i
•
in the doctrine of
•
,
rationalism and mysticism akin to
,\
it),
•
•
pre-eminent
God and man, upon
the actual
dogmatic teaching was fundamental Redemption Naturahstic.
Man
through to that des° redemption r tination which he can also reach by virtue of his (i) ' v
is
led
freedom (danger, that of looking upon redemption merely as an assistance) Related to
ascreature
^
Man, as the image
of God,
an independent
being also as regards God, can have no other tions to
him than
himself
is
not his
as to the Creator and life,
but the law of
of conduct (danger, that of looking
Judge
God
is
;
rela-
God
his rule
upon the Gospel
and salvation as knowledge and law, upon punish-
ment
as the greatest misfortune, and
upon repent-
ance as the cause of pardon) DoC
er,
The doctrines also regarding God, the Redeem must needs be treated according to the rationalis-
tic
scheme
e °f
0*)
God
R
a
1z°d
~
(rationality of the doctrine of the trinity,
of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, etc.) (4)
In the last anal}T sis
man
can gather nothing
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. from history; X6yo<s svaapxo?
;
jected, that there
historical
235
but to history, indeed, belongs the the view therefore
entirely re-
cJ^^ preciated
1
-
a standpoint from which the
is
he
since
Christ,
was not
'
is
only an
assisting
Man, who through gnosis and asceticism has become a moral hero, stands free teacher, has
by the side in
him
of the to
no meaning
of
God he ;
:
loves
God and God
will a Christ be born.
The most
loves
him
vital piety
Greek fathers and the most energetic attempt
make themselves
at
home
in religion,
have even
been the least safeguard against their losing the historical Christ.
threatened.
man
was a danger which only
Divinity has descended,
in the historical Jesus
— fact fact
Still it
"
the newest of
under the sun
"
all
;
God has become
the new, yes, the only
(John of Damascus)
Man must
be redeemed
new
— as well as
the mystery and terror of death restricted alism.
immense
faith in this
all
ration-
and has been
re-
deemed.
B.
THE DOCTRINE OF REDEMPTION THROUGH THE PERSON OF THE GOD-MAN IN ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT.
CHAPTER
VI.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE NECESSITY AND REALITY OF REDEMPTION THROUGH THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD.
The
incarnation of
God
alone balanced the whole
value Incarna-
system of natural theology.
Because
men
believed
tion.
outlines of the history of dogma.
336
in its reality, they also asserted its necessity.
referred sin
and
it
dominion of demons,
to death, to the
error,
They
and not seldom
to
in this connection they
made, regarding the wickedness of man, assertions
which
was
recall
But when a
Augustine.
definite theory
given, the idea of the abolition of perishableness
and of the sting
of death alone held out; for the
doctrine of freedom excluded an expiation of sin
and, on the other side, brought that heart- felt repentance before Athanasius
1
(thus, e.g. Athanasius,
Theory of Incarna-
Athanasius
nseus,
home the thought God frees from sin
de incarn. VII.)
first
propounded a
.
After Ire-
definite theory
tion.
of the incarnation
(1.
He
c).
bases
hand, upon the goodness of God, assertion
and honor; on the
quences of only
is
able to remove,
i.e.,
other,
sin, i.e. perishableness.
who
it,
on the one
upon his
upon the conseThese the Logos
also originally created
everything out of nothing.
Regarding the means,
Athanasius has recourse to
all
the Biblical concep-
tions (sacrificial death, expiation of guilt, etc.)
he only carries out
God Results
Secuml.
but
changing from the
of death to atp&apoia, in so far as the physical
union of the Two
;
strictly the thought, that in the
act of incarnation itself lies the
doom
self-
human with
the Divine (the dwelling of
in the flesh) elevates
of bliss
and of the
the incarnation
is,
humanity
a
into the sphere
The consequence
of
therefore, primarily a transfor-
mation into the imperishable (renewal of the Divine likeness), but secondarily also the restoring of the
knowledge
of
God, in so far as the earthly appear-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
237
ance of Divinity (in Christ) makes Divinity recognizable to the dullest eye
Athanasius, in asserting this double
theism.
was
and thereby eradicates polyresult,
also able to explain the particular result of the
incarnation
:
Only those are benefited by
know God and who knowledge.
this
(participation
in
knowledge was
who
regulate their lives according to
The apotheosis
God through to
it
determining of the question,
human
the
main
was with
how
nature
and not
son-ship)
Athanasius
Therefore his whole concern
of
point.
the
exact
the Divine which
became man was constituted, and
into
nections with humanity he entered.
what con-
On
the con-
trary the Arians and, later, the Antiochians placed
the principal stress upon the knowledge
vered in the rationalistic scheme.
On
;
they perse-
that very ac-
count they had not in general a decided interest in the
two questions, and when they had, they answered
them
in another
way.
It is plain that
the great
dogmatic contentions have their root herein stantial participation in
which
assists
intelligent
Teacher
freedom
Reason
— Christ
inspired
man and
of
Sub-
:
God, or knowledge of him
— Christ
Root of Dogmatic Contentions.
the Divinity, or the
the world and the
the inseparable
the dual Being.
Divine
God-man, or the Athanasius had
on his side the highest Greek piety, his opponents the
more
intelligible
formulas and, in part, the
letter
of the Bible.
No other Greek father why God became man
has answered the question so clearly as Athanasius.
^g
™
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
238 Gregory of Nyssa.
N ex t to him (large
comes the Platonist, Gregory of Nyssa catechism) since in general the whole concep,
tion of doctrine is possible only
tonism.
Gregory
some points strengthened the
at
many
deductions, in
upon the basis of Pla-
instances, however, he followed
In contending with Jews and pagans
Methodius.
he shows that the incarnation
is
the best form of
redemption; he conceives the whole sinful state as death, and gives, therefore, to this conception a wider
scope a
uo£ oniy compTished in
(all
away from God
turning
en * sensuous
death)
is
accomplished
fully
;
first
to the non-exist-
he viewed the incarnation as in the resurrection of Christ
Resur-
rection.
Redemption presupposes
declaration:
(Origenistic
separation from the body)
;
he expressly taught that
Christ did not assume the nature of an individual
man,
but, as second
Adam, human nature
itself,
so
that according to this mystic-Platonic view, every-
thing rhannaco-
human has
ceived of the whole strictly as a physico-pharmacological process
Process.
blended with the Divinity; he con-
trated is
the
law)
;
:
Humanity became thoroughly
by the leaven
demand
of Divinity (the counter- weight
for the spontaneous fulfilling of the
he brought the sacraments into the closest
lation with the incarnation. c
E?ement!
pene-
re-
But, finally, he gave a
pantheistic turn to this realistic and, to all rational-
ism, apparently hostile idea, peculiarity tic
and
conception:
is
which deprives
it
of its
quite in accord with a rationalis-
Christ's incarnation is an act of
cosmic importance
;
restitution over the
it
reaches as reconciliation and
whole world from the highest
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. angels
down
it
becomes a special case of the general
it
omnipresence of the Divine in creation.
cosmos the alienation from God
same manner as the return in transmitting
to
is
from
it
The pantheistic doctrine after times in a double
set forth in the
clearly thought
its historical
instance,
conditions.
redemption appears
of
in
form (pantheistic monophy-
the Areopagite and his disciples,
work
the
futurity this pantheistic idea,
to
out so as to separate
the
In
Gregory assisted
him.
which he himself indeed never quite
sites,
dis-
with Origen, into a necessary cosmical
solves, as
process;
Thus
to the deepest depths.
230
etc.)
:
Either
Double
Form
of
doctrine!
of the historical Christ appears as a special i.e.
as a symbol of the general purifj'ing
and sanctifying activity which the Logos
in
common
with the graded orders of super-sensuous creatures,
and
at
the,
same time
for them, continually effects
means of holy agencies
by
— or instantly with the thought
of the incarnation the union of each individual soul
with the Logos repeated
form
is
conceived
what occurred
still
is
of,
in
which there
in regard to Christ.
is
A third
the view, that the humanity of Christ
was a heavenly one, i.e. that the Logos always carEven unconcealed panried humanity within itself. theism (nature as a whole Divinity)
But
is
of one essence with
was not wanting.
all this
lay only in the background, while the
thought that Christ took upon himself humanity as generally conceived spread in the East and West, and
destroyed the idea of a moral union of the Divinity
Redemption Referred to Sin and Death.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
240
with an individual man, from which, of course, the certainty of our participation in God cannot be in-
Those who taught this moral union (Anti-
ferred.
ochians) ordinarily conceived redemption, not as a restitution, the necessity of feel,
which they did not exactly
new state, as the close of Whereas the theologians fol-
but as a leading up to a
the Divine pedagogy.
lowing Athanasius and Gregory always conceived of the incarnation as a necessary restitution and referred it
therefore to sin
Accordingly they firm-
and death.
ly maintained, so far as they
were not misled by pan-
theism, that the incarnation
was an
of
unfathomable Divine compassion, by means of
which humanity has been restored mentof Jesus' Life to
deed
historical
Supplement.
Men
attempted to
history of Jesus into the
work
to
Divine
fit
the facts of the
life,
of redemption,
which
Redemption
Theory.
the resurrection, but indeed was a success as regards ° '
not wholly so in any other single point.
The death
on the cross remained in particular unintelligible, although Pauline points of view were continually
by the incarnation everything had been given and death could at the most be but
repeated; really
for
the conclusion of the " becoming flesh " (the sacrificial
view moreover has seldom since Origen been
far-
ther fertilized according to the scheme of the Greek mysteries).
Nevertheless
that death
was considered a
there can be no
doubt
blissful mystery, before
which one should bow down, and
it
is after all
a
question whether the dogmatic reticence here of the
Greeks
is less
worthy in contrast with the bold reckon-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
241
ing and bargaining of the Occidental theologians.
The
and Cyprian have ever
latter since Tertullian
considered the endurance of death as a service, the
sa e t pfa§atic>
Dei
'
value of which should be appraised in juristic formu-
they have looked upon death as satisfactio and
las;
placatio dei and applied to
it
the view gained by the
contemplation of the legal scheme of atonement (abolition of suffering
and punishment
the expiation,
i.e.
through the merit of Christ's death
which
an angry God.
to
pacified
God
of Christ's death:
great popes)
.
for guilt
through
Calculating the value
Ambrose, Augustine, the A^sSne,
Moreover since Ambrose they
a
consist-
ently advanced to the assumption, that the expiation
was made as man, since humanity is the debtor and since any services rendered can be ascribed only to the man, who, to be sure, (the merit) of Christ
received his worthiness from his Divinity.
Thereby
West alienated itself from the East Here is God who has taken humanity into union with his being, the
in
:
consequence of which his constitution as Re-
deemer yonder is man, the ;
propitiator,
ance of death has a Divine value. is true, still
whose endur-
But the West,
did not possess as yet a strict theory.
it
It also
accepted the gnostic-eastern conceptions that a
ransom was paid frauded. 16
to the devil,
who
thereby was de-
popes.
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
242
CHAPTER
VII.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOMOUSION OF THE SON OF GOD WITH GOD HIMSELF. Principal sources: The Church historians of the 4th and 5th centuries and the works of the fathers of the 4th century. Gvvatkin, Studies of Arianism, 1882; Möhler, Athanasius, 1827; Zahn, Marcell., 1867;
Hahn, Bibliothek
d.
Symbole,
2.
Aufl.
"? Father of Fathef and Son
Is
the Divine, which has appeared upon the earth
man with God, identical with the highBeing who rules heaven and earth,; or is
and reunited est divine
the
same semi-divine?
tion of the
1.
From
That was the decisive ques-
Arian controversy. the
Beginning of the Controversy until the Council of Niccea.
Adoption-
At Antioch,
268, the Logos-doctrine
ism.
had been
car-
rejected.
Yet the
legacy of Paul of Samosata did not perish.
Lucian,
ried through, but the
6/ioou
was
the most learned exegete of his time, took
it
up and
founded a popular, influential exegetico-theological school,
which
for a long time held aloof
Church, but later
became the started
made
its
peace with the same, and
foster-mother
from adoptionism
;
of
Arianism.
this.
But he condescended
hypostatic Logos,
still
as
Lucian
the high value which he
placed upon the development of Christ
proves
from the
{npoxoTzrj)
to introduce the
Xoyo^-xriaiia^
as
capable and in need of development, which
created, is
to be
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. 243 sharply distinguished from the eternal, impersonal
Logos of God.
The ego
in Christ is therefore a
'
heavenly pre-existent Being (no longer man, as with Paul)
— by
this
Lucian made his peace
admission
with the dogma and the qualities
were attributed
Origenists *-*
—but
human
to the same, the incarnation
became a mere assuming
Becomes
T
C
01 "
o g^
and by means
of the flesh,
and Biblical exegesis
of the Aristotelian dialectics
Theology
Lf
was now propounded iii which unbegotten Creator (the " Eternal ") was placed
a doctrinal principle the
in sharp contrast with all
created
beings,
conse-
quently also with the Logos-Christ, and theology
became "technology", that
is,
a doctrine of the un-
begotten and the begotten was worked out in syllo-
gisms founded upon the holy codex, without genuine interest in the thought of redemption, yet not
without moral energy, and this was spread abroad
by
disciples closely allied
tics
and
To
and proud of
their exegetical art.
these Arius also belonged,
became deacon and presbyter at that time, a tendency
who
at a ripe age
in Alexandria.
was represented
copate which mistrusted the
fiaürj/iara
and put aside the thought
between Father and Logos. for
their dialec-
There,
in the epistt,$ 'EXfajvixijs
of the difference
Although Arius had
some time combated Christological
errors along
with his bishop Alexander, yet about the year 318 he began to differ with the
found
it
latter,
and the bishop
necessary about 320 to condemn and depose
Arius and some of the other clergy, at a synod held
Anus
"
.;: ;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA
2-14
Eusebius of Nicotnedia.
account of
Alexandria, on
in
their
Christology.
But he stepped into a wasp's nest. The followers of Lucian and above all the influential Eusebius of Nicomedia took decidedly the part of Arius, and the majority of the Oriental bishops were indeed in Letsympathy with him (also Eusebius of Cesarea) ters were written on both sides to gain assistance synods also were held. Arius was able under pro.
test to take
up again his work
in Alexandria.
When
Constantino, 323, became ruler also of the Orient, the contest spread to all the coast provinces of the East
(Thalia of Arius; derision of Constantine,
Jews and heathen).
The emperor sought
at first to reconcile both parties
by a
by the court-bishop, Hosius,
Hosius.
letter delivered
Cordova
(the dispute is
But the
letter
had no
an
idle,
effect,
unbecoming
of
quarrel)
and Hosius, who cham-
pioned the Tertullian-Cyprian doctrine of the trinity,
probably at that very time came to an agreement
with Alexander.
Through him the emperor
also
was gained over and the Nicene decision prepared Following his advice, Constantine
for.
called
a
council at Nica3a. Alexander's
Alexander's doctrine (vid. his two letters and the
Formula.
epist.
Arii ad Euseb.) was, as a matter of
essentially identical with the later
but
it
was not
fact,
one of Athanasius
clear in its formulations.
Especially
did he hardly raise the öpoouaios to a rallying-cry, ince the same was repudiated in the East.
probably introduced
it
ern unius sabstantiae.
Hosius
as a translation of the West-
Alexander's formulas were
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. «et
#£«9,
äyevvrJTms
dro/xw
äsi
ui
ajia
rw
#£05,
äetyevrj^
aim uW?, (Toyuzap^et
narrip^
äy£V7]Toyev7J?j
too oloo
ttvi itpodyet 6 tied?
out
245 6 ulo$
iittvota
our
ae\ #£09, de\ ut6$. s£ aoro-j
Alexander asserted the eternal co-ex-
rod #£ou 6 uio$.
istence without beginning of the Father
He
(influence of Irenseus?)
and the Son
included the Son in the
being of the Father as a necessary constituent part
he refuted the tenets, that the Son
is
not eternal, that
he was created out of nothing, that he
is
not yvesi
God, that he changes, that he has passed through a moral development and
is
only adopted Son.
common
consciously contended for the
He
faith in the
Church, for the Divinity of Christ, and he rejected
above
the dialectics about " begotten " and " un-
all
He
begotten".
,
_
and 28; Math.
Rom.
1
:
1-3;
1
3: 17; 11: 27;
Heb.
8: 32;
18; 10: 30; 14:
:
John
I.
1: 2 seq.;
Psa. 2: 7; 110: 3; 35: 10; Isa. 53
8).
:
5
the perfect reflection
;
pression does not satisfy izarrjp.
9
He was fond :
The Son
but even the following ex-
him
:
&
aor$ /apaxrrjp^evac 6
approaches Sabellianism, but desires to tfSJef strongly, and asserts that the Father is
nevertheless greater than the Son his being.
He wants
to see the "
such a Son revered as a mystery not of speculation.
telligible,
gotten.
Prov. 8: 30;
He
reject it
faith,
8,
1; Col. 1:
:
of using the favorite expression of Origen is
Begotten
and Unbe-
,
(John
ture proofs
15, 16;
quoted in favor of his view the Scrip-
^IJectS
Still
:
who
belongs to
coming
It is
forth " of
a question of
he often uses unin-
confused and contradictory expressions,
among which even
itarpixi)
&epy&vfa is
not wanting,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
246
which contrast unfavorably with the plain, clear sentences of Arius, for whom it was an easy task
show that the doctrine
to
of
Alexander was neither
protected against dualism (two oyi^za)^ nor against
gnostic emanationism
Sabellianism
{oloitdrwp)^
tion of the corporeality of istics of
nor against
(xpoßoXrj, äT.öpm>>.a),
nor against the representa-
God, and had the character-
a chameleon and was Biblically untenable.
Arius taught the following (see his own
Doctrine.
and the
letters of his friends, the
fragments of the
Thalia, the characterization in Alexander nasius, the writings of the later Arians) God Alone
(i) x '
Eternal.
The one God, besides 7
whom
letters
and Atha-
:
there is no other,
'
is
alone unbegotten, without beginning, eternal
is
inexpressible
he
is
all
In these
things.
attributes consists his nature (the unbegotten .
His activity
is
—not out of
the nature of
would not be simple and
own free will.
God
spiritual),
but out of his
Accordingly God has not always been
also can never receive the essence of
precisely Hin! Dweii and Logos.
(
2)
is
has been
is,
(otherwise he
Father, else the created would be eternal
7
Gen-
in creating (" to beget " is
Everything which
only a synonym). created
he
and incomprehensible; furthermore
the cause and creator of
erator)
;
;
the created
God
;
for this
uncreated.
Within
this
God dwell,
Wisdom and Logos
;
as inseparable powers,
there are beside
many
created
poivers. whin Ion
(3)
own
Before the world was, free will
God
created out of his
an independent Being
(obcia,
Marast^^
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
247
as an instrument for the production of the other creatures,
who
according to Scripture
dom, Son, Likeness,
Word
therefore a time
when
like all creatures
;
this "
only called inappropriately tures are also called thus
This
(4)
"
Son
Son
"
;
not.
There
He
is
the other crea-
by Scripture.
therefore
"
Son was
Wis-
he was
had a beginning.
created out of nothing and
was
is called
is,
according to his
t
f™t
being, an independent magnitude, totally distinct
from the "Father".
He
Jfe^
Fat er
"
has neither one being with
the Father, nor like qualities of nature (otherwise
would be two Gods)
there
and
Rather has he a free will
.
capable of changing.
is
permanently upon the good.
But he has resolved Thus by virtue of his
choice he has become unchangeable.
The
(5) V '
"
Son", then, '
'
is
not very J God, and he has 1
,T
Son
°.ot ,
y ery Q od
Divine qualities only as acquired and only in part.
Because he
is
not eternal, his knowledge also
To him,
perfect.
therefore, is not
due
like
is
not
honor
with the Father. Still
(6) xTtfffia
riAstov,
created to
he differs from
;
God.
progress,
through
all
whom
creatures; he
is
the
Son
^
ers
fr
everything has been
he stands in an especial relationship of grace
Through God's communication and his own he has become God, so that we may call
him "only begotten God".
human
body,
historical Christ
mani-
This Son has truly assumed a
(7)
son Truly Incar-
The
attributes,
fested, is
which the
show that the Logos
to
which they belonged
a being capable of suffering and
is
not perfect.
nated
-
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
248 Holy
Spirit
Subordinatetoson.
j> (g) y the side of v J '
Holy g pirit;
f or
and below the Son stands the Christian believes in three
t iie
separate and different obaiai Spirit Scripture
Holy
the
was created through the Son. Prov. 8
C: 4; 32: 39;
:
22; Ps. 45
Deut.
Math. 12: 28;
8;
:
:
13: 32; Math. 2G: 41; 28: 18; Lk. 2: 52; 18:
Mk.
John 11:
19;
;
Scripture proofs for these doctrines were
(9)
Proof.
(Jj-o
34
;
14: 28; 17
:
Acts
3;
2: 6 seq.;
1: 24; 15: 28; Col. 1: 15; Phil.
4; 3: 2; etc.
John
2: 36;
I.
Cor.
Heb.
1:
12: 27; 13: 21; Math. 26: 39; 27: 46,
Dialectically the sophist Asterius above all de-
With
fended this doctrinal conception.
strict
Arian-
ism the tradition coming from Paul and Lucian had
most weight
;
with the more liberal party (Eusebius
of Cesarea) the doctrine of subordination as taught
by Origen. Athana-
Athanasius' doctrine, in
sius'
Soctrim?
delineation not important,
It
is
dogmatico-scientific
was great
perseverance in the faith.
one tenet:
its
God himself has
It
in its victorious
comprises really only
entered into humanity.
rooted wholly in the thought of redemption.
Judaism and paganism have not brought back humanity into communion with God Only God could :
deify us,
i.e.,
that Christ
is
adopt us as his sons.
very God,
is still
a
He who
Jew
denies
or a heathen.
Athanasius has in fact no longer a Logos-doctrine he ;
is
He thinks only and always of that God. He did not care for a formula;
a Christologian.
Christ
who
even the
might
is
6fioouaio$ is
think.
not so often used by
him
as one
His main principles are the following
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP INCARNATION. (1)
If
deemer
him
Christ
is
God— and
249
must be as Re-
that he
—then he has as such nothing creature-like in
(
^
li ;
creatures.
and belongs in no sense to created existences.
Athanasius makes just as
strict
a distinction be-
tween created and uncreated as Arius, but he
God
the Son aside as belonging to
sets
in opposition to
the world. (2)
it
Since the Divine in Christ
not created,
besides,
quently the idea of the Divine, is to
DoctrEe" Done Away with.
God needs no Conse-
mediation for the creation of the world.
man,
and
of the world
can also not be postulated
the creation of the world;
is
who has redeemed
be separated from the idea of the world
the old Logos-doctrine
was done away with.
and revelation were no longer considered
The Logos-Son
is
Nature identical.
the principle of salvation, not the
principle of the world.
and the
§^.^'Q
Son does not belong to the world, he must belong to
Godiead
(3)
But since Divinity
a unity
is
this very unity of the unbegotten
(//-ova?)
Power which
is
-
the
Father. (4)
is
The very name
"
Father
" signifies that there
God has
present in Divinity a second being.
always been Father the Son also
;
;
for the
he
who
Father
calls is
him
;
uncreated, however,
is
e '
names
Father of the Son,
and not properly Father of the world, for created
this,
^
Fa Im _ phes Sou
it
has been
the Divine trias, ex-
isting in unity. (5)
Consequently the Son
is ylvv^iia too Trarpö?, be-
gotten out of the being of God, as the light from the
g^ Qufof el
God.°
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
250
He
sun, through an inner necessity.
is
"
proceeding from the divine Being. ten "
means nothing
To be
begot-
than to have complete par-
else
by nature
ticipation
the likeness
whole nature of the
in the
Father, without the Father thereby suffering loss in
any way. ^
God
Therefore the Arian assertions are false
(0)
Eternal a SS
Son
the
;
rather (a) alike eternal with the Father,
is
out of the being of the Father,
(b)
in all parts as to
(c)
nature equally endowed with the Father, and he
is
and the same essence with the Father and forms ivith him a strict unity "essence", however, in regard to God means nothbecause he has one
all this
—
ing else than "being".
Father
is
It
not true that
is
one Being in himself and the Son another
in himself,
and that these two have
like qualities
would annul the unity of the Divinity, but the
that
Father
is
the Divinity
;
product a " going forth eternity,
"
which
and not by virtue
same divine nature
yivvyfia,
subordination of the created
(7)
likeness pro-
Father and Son are itself
the distinction
this sense, a subordi-
which however has nothing
öfioouffto?
from
consequently between prin-
and derivation and, in
nation,
self -efficient
communication, the
—the true Son, the
one Being, which includes in
ciple
and
also possessed
of a
ceeding from the divine Being.
between äppj and
however, con-
this Divinity,
tains within itself as self-sufficient
the
the
— this
is
to
do with the
the
meaning
of
in Athanasius.
All creature-qualities
which the Scriptures
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
251
ascribe to Jesus Christ have reference merelv to his
re u re £ ^ Qualities
human
Bel
•/
The
nature.
same;
exaltation also refers to the
to our exaltation; for the
i.e.
union of the
-
.
mf
to
Nature.
God- Logos with human nature was from the beginning a substantial and perfect one (Mary as &eor6xgs) :
The body became his body.
Proverbs 8: 22 seq.
also has reference to the incarnate Logos.
Both doctrines are formally in this respect
alike, that in
and theology are most intimately mingled and them grounded upon the Logos-doctrine. But Arianism is a union religion
of adoptionism with the Origenistic-Neo-Platonic doctrine of
the subordinate Logos
which
is
Arianism, Athanasianism.
the spiritual principle of the
world, carried out by means of the resources of the Aristotelian dialectics
;
the orthodox doctrine
is
a union of the
most modalistically colored dogma, that Jesus Christ
al-
God
is
in kind, with the Origenistic doctrine of the Logos as the
In the former, the principal
perfect likeness of the Father. stress
was placed upon the cosmological and
side (descending trinity, enlightening
freedom)
;
in the latter,
rational-ethical
and strengthening of
upon the thought of redemption, but
under a physical conception.
In the former, the formulas
are apparently free from connivance and contradictions the speculative mythology, strictly viewed, sible
;
theists
but
as bad as pos-
furthermore, only as cosmologians are the Arians mono;
as theologians
finally in the is
is
;
and
background
no Son, a Logos which
in religion they are polytheists
lie is
deep contradictions
:
A Son who
no Logos, a monotheism which
does not exclude polytheism, two or three ovaia
who
are to be
adored, while really only one differs from the creatures, an indefinable
and who
is
being
who
neither
only becomes
God nor man.
God
in
becoming man,
Besides, there
was no vig-
orous religious interest, and also no real philosophical interest,
much more was
everything hollow and formalistic, even
ContradicLions
ill
Ariamsm
-
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
252
a puerile enthusiasm for sporting with husks and shells and a childish self-sufficiency in setting at work unmeaning syl-
The opponents were quite right
logisms.
A
back to paganism.
:
relative value only
This doctrine leads is
due to
coming in contact with uncultured and barbarian was obliged
way was
to strip off its philosophical
lical
when, it
garments and in that
able to pass itself off essentially as adoptionism, as
God based upon
the veneration of Christ by the side of Orthodox
it,
nations,
passages (German adoptianism)
.
The orthodox
Bib-
doctrine,
Doctrine,
Value and
on the contrary, possesses
its
lasting value through its main-
Defects.
tenance of the faith that in Christ God himself has redeemed mankind and brought us into communion with himself. But, since the God in Christ was conceived as " alter ego " of the Father,
and since redemption was conceived in a mystico-
physical form, there resulted, Inconceivable
Formulas.
Formulas, the direct gainsaying of which
1.
(one
= three)
,
and
ideas,
evident
which cannot be conceived, but only
Thereby in the place of the knoicledge of
asserted in words.
God which
is
Christ had promised,
was put a mystery, and
was to be recognized as the most profound knowledge. side of the miracle, as characteristic of religion,
this
By the
was placed
the miracle of ideas as characteristic of the true theology Contradict Scripture.
The assertion that the Person in Christ is the Logos, one being with God, could be maintained only when one reversed 2.
the interpretations of all evangelical reports concerning him,
and understood his history
docetically.
Therefore, the in-
troduction of the absurd, and the abandonment of the historical Christ in his
most valuable
the orthodox doctrine. led still
men back
to God,
maintained.
traits, is
the consequence of
But the claim that Jesus Christ has
and given
to
them Divine
life,
This conviction of faith was saved
was by
Athanasius against a doctrine which, upon the whole, did not appreciate the inward nature of religion, which sought in religion only instruction,
an empty
dialectics.
and
finally
found satisfaction in
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. It is
253
easy to see that with Arius, as well as with Athana-
Due to Scientific
sius, the contradictions
and weaknesses flow from the reception
of Origenism, that
from the
that
this,
is,
is,
Theology.
Without
scientific theology.
without the doctrine of the pre-existent, hypo-
Arianism would have been adoptionism, or pure rationalism, and Athanasius would have been forced statical Logos,
either to turn to modalism, or to relinquish the idea of the
Divine "nature" of Christ.
At
synod of Nicsea
the
(325)
homousios T?™mph?
the
(Hosius) finally conquered, thanks to the of the
tactics
awkward
Arians and Eusebians (Origenistic
middle party), to the decisiveness of the orthodox
and
to the determination of the emperor.
Into the
Csssarean creed the watch-words yevvydivTa ou xa^ tx Tz,?
oufftas
serted, the
this creed all
too narpos, ofioubawv
r
itoiriMv-
were
in-
Arian formulas expressly condemned, and
was made the law
Almost
of the Church.
the bishops (300? 318?) submitted, Arius and a
few companions were excommunicated and their lowers persecuted.
fol-
Athanasius attended this synod
as deacon, probably not without taking an important part.
2.
The
— Until the Death of
victory had been gained too quickly.
formally, nor
essentially
worked
out,
begun.
Men saw
new
Constantius.
had
it
therefore the contest
formula, the
Neither p^jj^ure
been sufficiently
had
really only
in the homousios an unbiblical,
making
of
two Gods, or the
intro-
duction of Sabellianism, and, in addition, the death
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
254
of clear science.
came forward came
who together two parties now be-
the opponents
as conservatives,
clearly prominent, the
Arians and the Origen-
whom
the indifferents joined
(Eusebians)
ists
Among
to
But they were united in the contest against orthodoxy (principal champion against it
themselves.
was Eusebius B
SS
of Nicomedia)
.
Constantine soon understood that he would have
s
t
come to an agreement with the anti-Nicene coalition, which after 328 became anti-Athanasian, for to
the
young bishop was the most decided Nicene.
Personal differences arose at a time tion
and power
of
when
the ambi-
the ecclesiastics could
reckon upon the highest gratification.
finally
In 335 Atha-
was declared deposed at T}~re, and in 336 he was banished by the emperor to Trier. The solemn reception of Arius into the Church was frustrated by nasius
his death.
In 337 Constantine died, really approv-
ing the promulgating, under the cover of the Nicene creed, of hostile doctrines. tiusFavors Arians.
^
s
sons divided the empire.
re t U rned.
But Constantius, the
Athanasius
(337)
ruler of the East,
rightly understood that he could not govern with
orthodoxy, and he did not feel himself bound, like his father, to the Nicene creed. m Eusebius Nicomedia.
He
deposed the
orthodox bishop of the capital; Eusebius of Nicox '
me dia took his place.
In Cassarea an Arian, Acacius,
succeeded Eusebius; Athanasius was deposed, but
he anticipated his banishment by flight to (339), leaving
Egypt
in wild disorder.
Rome
The Euse-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. bians were not masters of the situation, but the
was true Nicene and the stronghold
255
West
of Oriental ortho-
The Eusebians did not wish to break with the West; they were, therefore, obliged to try to doxy.
quietly push aside the Nicene creed, replacing in
mere pretence the homousios by
better
Biblical
formulas and demanding the carrying out of the deposition of Athanasius.
It
was
to the Orientals that a strict
of great advantage
Nicene and a friend
of
Athanasius, Marcellus of Ancyra, did not sanction the
common
Marceiius of Ancyra.
foundation of the teaching, the philo-
sophical-Origenistic Logos-doctrine, but declared the
Logos
to be the
Power
of
God, which only at the
carnation had become divine Person and
"
in-
Son", in
when once he had finOrientals saw in this doctrine
order to return to the Father ished his "
work
Sabellianism
(the
")
.
Julius of
Rome and Athanasius
declared Marcellus to be orthodox, and proved there-
by that they were concerned alone about redemptive faith
and
laid
aside the
formulas set up by the
Orientals at Antioch (341), although the latter
now
formally renounced Arianism and established a doctrine
which could be taken
for Nicene.
Political reasons compelled Constantius to be oblig-
ing to his orthodox brother, Constans, the ruler of the West.
The great council
of Sardica (343)
was
intended to restore unity of faith in the empire.
But the Occidentals refused the preliminary demand of the Orientals
to
acknowledge the deposition of
Athanasius and Marcellus, and proclaimed after the
c nn ^. il
^
of
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
256
exodus of the Orientals
Philippopolis) the deposi-
(to
tion of the leaders, taking their position rigidly
upon
The opponents
reit-
the basis of the Nicene creed.
erated the
them
himself seems to have mistrusted
he certainly feared to
irritate his brother
The
deavoring to gain the supremacy. iterated once
more
Milan.
for
a time
who was enOrientals re-
in a long formula their orthodoxy
(Antioch, 344) and the Synods at
Constantius
formula.
4th Antiochian
minimum
demands.
of their
Although the West at the Milan synods (345-347) Sirmium, who
rejected the doctrine of Photinus of
from the doctrine of his master, Marcellus, had developed a strictly adoptian conception (the Logos
never became a person),
it
yet remained otherwise
while in the East political bishops already
firm,
The
meditated peace with Athanasius. restored by Constantius,
who was hard
was
latter
pressed by
was greeted with great rejoicAlexandria (346). About 348 it appeared as
the Persians, and he
ings in if
orthodoxy had conquered
word Constantius Sole Ruler.
ofioooatos
seemed
But the death
still
;
only Marcellus and the
to give offence.
of Constans (350)
and the defeat
of
the usurper Magnentius (353) changed everything. If
Constantius during the last years
bow
before a few bishops, his
own
had ruled his brother, he now as
was
obliged to
subjects,
sole ruler
who
was
de-
termined to govern the Church and pay back the humiliations. Synods of Aries and Milan.
Already
in
351 (2d Sirmian synod)
the Oriental bishops had returned to action.
synods of Aries
(353)
and Milan
(355) the
At
the
Western
:
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
257
At
first
was obliged to come nothing further was demanded
of
demnation of Athanasius, but
this
episcopate
gence on the question of
lowed
it
than the con-
meant a
diver-
and the bishops
upon them
to be forced
it
faith,
to terms.
(a
al-
few exceptions
Paulinus of Trier, Lucifer of Cagliari, Eusebius of Vercelli; also Hosius, Liberius, Hilarius
into exile).
had
to
go
Athanasius anticipated his deposition by
Union seemed
flight into the desert (356).
restored,
was as state ecclesiasticism, against which orthodox Western bishops fiercely inveighed, now only remembering that emperor and state should but
it
not meddle with religion.
The union of the victors was only J a seeming ° one, for it became apparent that it did not go beyond negations. Strict aggressive Arianism again came forward in Aetius and Eunomius and wanted to carry through the "anomoian" doctrine {av&fiotoi xal '
xard ndvTa xai xar
obcriav)
Arianism placed
.
In opposition to
itself in
changeable likeness",
this,
Aetius and
Eunomins.
semi-
sharp contrast (the "un-
OfLOtos
xard ruhra xa) xard rr v out
These homoiusians (Georgius of Laodicea,
$Sn™'
Eustathius of Sebaste, Eusebius of Emesa, Basilius
of Laodicea,
oiav).
of
Ancyra) had learned that the Son must
being, of like essence with the Father
men
;
be, as to
as scientific
(cosmologians) they did not wish to abandon
the cosmic potentiality of the Logos and the descend-
ing trinity.
They understood how, with
tures as a basis
and
in connection
with Christology,
to so formulate their doctrine that it 17
the Scrip-
made an im-
u
J |^g|
B
Ancyra
°
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
258
pression even upon Nicene Occidentals, who, to be
were
sure,
still
The
half idiots in scientific theology.
was that of the politicians, who applauded that formula which had the best prospect of settling the contest (Ursacius and Valens: opoiog xard r«?
third party
From 857-301
The period from 357-361
Y<>a
is
the time during
Consranthia
Openly Favors Arianism.
which the emperor, openly dropping the Nicene creed, sought for a Christological imperial formula,
and proposed with the synods. Ypa
Here,
all
energy to carry
finally,
could be presented
it
through at
only the " onow<s xarä tö$ for
;
with this unmeaning
formula, the Arians, semi-Arians and even the ortho-
dox could make friends, since
it
directly contra-
The Sirmian synods had not as yet accomplished what they ought, and they even showed a passing tendency to strict Arianism. At Ancyra (358) the semi-Arians rallied powerfully. dicted no doctrine.
SemiArians,
Synods at Seleucia
Two
great contemporaneous sjmods in the East and
and Rimini.
West
(at
Seleucia and Rimini) were expected to pro-
claim the 4th Sirmian formula, a dogmatico-political masterpiece of the emperor.
But when the one
sumed a homoiusian, the other an orthodox
as-
attitude,
they were terrorized, kept in suspense, and the ho-
moiusian imperial creed was forced upon them in
exchange for concurrence in the expulsion of
strict
Arianism (synods at Nice and Constantinople
360).
Afterward
all
homoiusians were nevertheless ban-
ished from the influential positions, so that, in spite of the expulsion of Aetius,
an Arianism, moderated
—
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. through want of principle, actually established in the
Church as the
259 itself
state religion.
Until the Councils at Constantinople, 381, 383.
3.
In the year 301 Constantius died.
Julian sue-
ceeded him, and accordingly, instead of the
colfstanS
artificial ju i!an km-
union, the real parties succeeded again to their rights.
But the homoiusians were no longer the "middle party", no longer the " conservatives " in the old sense; for in opposition to Arianism, they
had deep-
ened and strengthened their doctrine (conservatives Conservative and conciliatory
possess elasticity).
were the homoians who ism.
Here the change
deed, only in the
logians
—
is
minds
inclined toward Arian-
in the Orient of the
—at
in-
most prominent theo-
The homoiusians,
shown.
first,
disciples of
Origen, distinguished alike for ecclesiastical feeling,
asceticism and pure science, capitulated to the
homousios,
an alliance which Hilarius zealously
urged forward. Julian permitted the banished bishops, therefore also Athanasius, to return. (302)
The synod
marks the turning-point
of Alexandria
in so far as
Atha-
nasius there admitted that the Nicene creed sans
phrase should be valid; that "
nounced the phrase
and thus
allowed
o;mon<7u^ as
made
one being
such
it "
is,
"
he expressly
re-
{one hypostasis)
an interpretation of the
one essence
" (instead of "
one
^ih?? E
U n
m
fro Exile.
260
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
being"), which constituted therefore three hypostases.
But
concession and the great leniency
this
toward those who once had signed the 4th Sirmian formula provoked Lucifer.
the displeasure of
West one
In the
felt
(the substantial unity of the
the plurality
that the old doctrine
Deity
unity
the problem)
is
the rock
,
friends in Asia Minor, Cappadocia
of
science of Origen
new
scientific
and Antioch
had been rescued
The great theologians, Apollinaris
doxy.
and the
and Athanasius himself was
not able to add real friends to his
now the
the rock and
is
the mystery) had been inverted (the
is
trinity of the divine Persons is
ris
of the
prominent Occidentals (Lucifer) and martyrs of the faith.
Apollina-
some
;
for
for ortho-
of Laodicea
Laodicea and the Three Cap-
and the three Cappadocians, started from Origen and
padocians.
the oiiowuatoq
and were able lations
with
but the}7 recognized the
;
to carry
it
By
now
on their philosophical specu-
and by the side
of it; for one could
say that there are three hypostases, and dox.
6ßoooaio<s
still
creating a firm terminology,
be ortho-
they suc-
ceeded at the same time in producing apparently clear formulas.
Ohaia
now
received the middle sense
between the abstract idea of
"
being " and the con-
crete idea of " individual being " it
;
so,
however, that
very strongly inclined to the former.
'T-öara<j^ re-
ceived the middle sense between person and attri-
bute (accident,
i.e.
modality), in such
ever, that the conception of person Ilp6au)7tuv,
since
it
sounded
avoided, but not rejected.
away, how-
was the
stronger.
Sabellian-like,
The unity
was
of the Deity,
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
261
*
which the Cappadocians were concerned about, was not the same as Athanasius and the Occidentals had
\*o x -.>
in
mind,
formula.
Mia
oucria
iv rpitrh
hizoaxda^aiv
became the
®
In order to render clear the real difference
in the Persons within the unity of the Deity, Greg-
ory of Nyssa added to them yapay-runZourrat, igatpera
Father the
dyevvyjffia
rpoTtot bitdp^sca^ {ldi6rrjrs<s
Mtd/iata),
and indeed
as being, but as
(not
being [*£&«?] of the Father), to the Son the
to the
mode
of
yevvrjaia
—
even the older homoiusians had been here more served than Gregory
—and
The Origenistic-Neo-Platonic
came
to
the Spirit
re-
ixTz6p&oai<s.
trinity-speculation be-
The Logos idea again came to the front. The unity of the Deity was again proved from the monarchy of the Father,» not from the <>p-ooufftos. Thus "science" formed its alliance with the Nicene doctrine. While in the beginning scientists
—also
rehabilitated.
among
the heathen
be in the right,
-
palm branch.
scientific
Arms
now men became champions
Nicene doctrine, to the
— acknowledged
origenistic eC tion
Rehk-
to
of the
whom
even a Libanius extended
They
stood upon the soil of a
contemplation of the world," were in ac-
cord with Plato, Origen and Libanius, and refuted
Eunomius amidst the applause of the philosophers. At the same time it was a victory of Neo-Platonism over Aristotelian dialectics. Thus orthodoxy in UlllOn with science had from about 370-304 a beautiful spring-time, followed, however, by destructive •
i
i
'
storms, or, rather, by the blight of traditionalism.
Men dreamed
the
dream
of
an eternal union between
fPmeaf Orthodoxy.
C
262
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
faith
and
The
True,
science.
was not undisturbed. the Occident and in An-
it
old-faith orthodoxy in
In Anti-
tioch remained distrustful, even repellent.
och a kind of schism broke out between the old and the
new
The
orthodoxy.
scientific
the former Sabellian, although off the Political
Events Favor
Homo-
it
latter considered
could hardly shake
suspicion of teaching "homoiusian".
But not only did science prepare the victory
for
the homousios, the course of the world's events did
usios.
In Valens the Orient obtained a power-
so as well. ful
Arian emperor.
sians
had
to
each other.
go into
They again sought support from the
orthodox West. clined,
V
Liberius of
and Basilius harsh
old
synods
(in
R
of Caesarea
standpoint,
was
Rome
of
and
it
new orthodox
not disin-
after 370 in vig-
returned to
needed several
the seventies) to convince
orthodoxy of the last
Rome was
Yet Damascus
orous activity. the
The orthodox and homoiuexile, and they drew nearer to
him
Orientals.
of the
These at
signed (at Antioch 379) the formulas of faith of
Damascus, without, however, being able to schism in Antioch.
settle the
But the subscription was already
a sequence of the world-historical events that in the
West
Gratian Succeeds
year 375 in the
Valentin-
devoted to the Church and orthodoxy (Damascus,
ian.
the youthful Gratian, wholly
Ambrose) succeeded the after 378
became
tolerant Valentinian,
sole ruler
and
(Valens died at Adri-
anople contending against the Goths).
In the year
Theodosius Be-
comes Emperor in
Orient.
was elevated Orient. He was
379 the orthodox Spaniard Theodosius to be co-regent
and emperor of the
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
26',]
determined to govern the Church like Constantius, but in the sense of strict Occidental orthodoxy celebrated edict of Thessalonica
showed
:
The
this in the
year 380 (issued by the emperor immediately after his baptism
He
*).
deprived the Arians of
all their
churches in Constantinople and forbade the heretics
But he soon
in general to worship in the cities.
per-
ceived that he could rule in the Orient only with
Oriental orthodoxy, that he dare not apply the severe standard of the West, and that he must win halffriends entirely over.
He
called, therefore, in 381
an
Oriental council at the capital and appointed as pre-
siding officer Meletius, that
is,
orthodox party in Antioch.
gave offence
the leader of the
Thereby he
to the Occidentals
new
of course
and Egyptians, but
secured to himself the Cappadocians and the Asia
At
Minor theologians.
the synod the contrast
so strongly expressed that a rupture
hand zen,
(the
had
new
presiding
But
to resign).
ops) proclaimed the
officer,
was
was near
at
Gregory Nazian-
finally the
synod (150 bish-
Nicene doctrine sans phrase, the
complete homoousion of the three Persons, and also expelled the Macedonians. ity of
being
"
In
fact,
however, "equal-
conquered in the sense of
*"Cunctos populos
.
.
.
" equality of es-
in tali volumus religione versari,
quam
di-
vinum Petrum apostolum tradidisse Romanis religio usque ad nunc ab ij)so insinuata declarat quamque pontificem Damasum sequi claret et Petrum Alexandrine episcopum virum apostolicae sanctitatis, hoc est, ut secundum apostolicam disciplinam evangelicamque doctrinam patris et filii et spiritus sancti unam deitatem sub pari maiestate et sub pia trinitate credamus. Hanc legem sequentes Christianorum catholicorum nomen iubemus amplecti, reliquos vero dementes vesanosque iudicantes hozretici dogmatis infamiam sustinere, divina primum vindicta, post etiam motus nostri, quern ex ccelesti arbitrio sumpserimus, ultione plectendos".
constant? nople.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
264
sence", not unity of essence.
But the symbol, which,
since about 450 in the Orient
and 530 in the Occident,
is
considered to be that of this synod and obtained the
highest consideration in the Church and which has
supplanted the Nicene as being only a mere nominal
enlargement of
it,
not the symbol of this synod,
is
which, moreover, was only by a quid pro quo afterCreed of Constantinople.
ward stamped as ecumenical.
The
stantinopolitan creed is older;
it
so-called
is
the baptismal
symbol of Jerusalem, probably edited by Cyril after 362
when he accomplished
semi-Arianism to the obffias too rtazpo? " is
his transition
c
In
fioovatos.
wanting, and
it
Con-
the
it
so.on
from
~>
" £*
contains a formula
about the Holy Spirit which does not proclaim the orthodox doctrine, but avoids the question at issue XOptOVj TO
(zu
trbv TTOLTpl xai
Xatfeav
dux.
£ä)07TOtOV) ului
TO cX TOO TZCLTpuS
ffovizpoaxovoufi&vov
t&v -poyrjTwv)
.
How
xal it
TO
k'/.TZOpeUO fJ.SVOV f
o~ovdo^a^ö/xevov
came
zd
into the rec-
ords of the synod (through Cyril? Epiphanius?) and
how
it
afterwards became the symbol of the council
Ecclesiastical
LegendMaking.
is
quite obscure.
Still ecclesiastical
legend-making
has here exercised a strange justice in appending to the synod of the newly orthodox bishops a symbol
which the anti-Arian anathemas and Nicene watch-words are wanting. In reality under the
in
cover of the ofwooaw?
men
indeed continued in the
Orient in a kind of homoiusianism, which this *
day orthodox
in all their churches.*
Concerning the symbol see
Aufl.
is to
my
article in Herzog's
R. Encyclop.
2.
.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
2G5
The Occident was highly displeased with the course of the synod, since,
among
other things,
it
Occident Displeased with Council.
had acknowledged the orthodoxy of men who in
Rome were
strongly
suspected.
Representations
were made, a schism was threatened.
But the Orient
was no longer disposed to hend further under the dogmatic rule of Rome, and Theodosius, keeping the two halves of the empire separate, remained firm and prudent, and avoided consenting council,
to a general
which Gratian (Ambrose) wished
to call.
In the j^ear 382 they drew nearer together, since in
Rome, as well
as in Constantinople, synods
were
contemporaneously in session, and since these showed themselves more questions
—to
conciliatory
this point the
regarding
personal
controversy had nar-
rowed down inasmuch as the Antiochian schism But, above
continued.
all this,
circumstance greatly
contributed to a reconciliation; the spiritual leader of the
Occident, Ambrose, went to school to the
science of the Cappadocians
influenced by
and became powerfully
it.
In the year 381 perhaps nine- tenths of the Orient
was Arian. them,
Theodosius
endeavored
to
frighten
however, also to win them (synod of
later,
383 at Constantinople
;
even Eunomius was invited)
Bat soon he abandoned the gentle method and
him
brose seconded
in the
West.
Am-
One dare assume
that most of the Arian and semi-Arian Greek bish-
ops did submit
(Eunomius)
.
;
only the extreme
left
remained firm
More rapidly than Hellenism did Arian
In 381 NineTenths of Orient Arian.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
266
ism die out among the Greeks.
True, the orthodox
laymen, always conservative, considered the ortho-
dox formula more as a necessary plicable
evil
and an inex-
mystery than as an expression of their
The victory
of orthodoxy
was a triumph
faith.
of priests
and theologians over the indeed deeply rooted of the people; but it did not
make
faith
this faith
any
clearer.
Supplement The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit and of the trinity. :
Doctrine of spirit.
i.
Since the early days, alongside of a belief in the
Father and Son, there was a belief in the Holy Spirit but what the latter was, or what significance
became wholly obscure
after the declining of
tanism and the retiring of the combination ecclesia".
The
it
has,
Mon-
" spiritus-
scientific theology of the apologists
did, in general, not
know what
do with
to
it,
and
even in the 3d century the majority viewed the Holy irenaeus, Tertullian.
Spirit as a power.
f
.
However, alreadv J Irenseus and >
Tertullian tried to honor
the Deity.
it
as a divine power within
Tertullian admitted
it
as "
God " and
as
"Person" into his descending but consubstantial trinity
(filio
speculation, origen.
subiectus).
science, also
postases necessar}'.
Now
the Neo-Platonic
found three Divine hy-
Origen in accordance with and
following the Bible took the Holy Spirit into his
theology as the third constant Being
;
to be sure as a
creature subordinate to the Son, governing the small-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. est sphere, the circle of the sanctified.
of disposing of the doctrine of the
2G7
The manner Holy Spirit by
Tertullian and Origen, wholly analogous to their
treatment of the Logos-doctrine, shows that in gen-
a specific Christian interest
eral there did not exist
in this point of doctrine.
That Sabellius
obliged to take into view the Holy Spirit
was
also is
Sabellius.
only a
proof that the claims of the general scientific doctrine
and of the Biblical formulas could no
of the trinity
longer be passed over.
Nevertheless within the churches and
among
the
majority of the bishops no notice was taken of these
Church Did Not Take up Question till
by the beginning
scholarly advances, even
century
;
Holy
Spirit,
without addition or
explanation. Athanasius during the
thought of sense
Whoever
it.
deemed
personal, took fact it
4th
Century.
the ISTicene creed itself merely gives a place
to the belief in the
full
of the 4th
was
it
it
for
first
considered
a power
;
he
Divine in the
it
who
decade never
conceived
something quite subordinate
really only a
word and
it
it
as
:
In
remained such
within the trinity even afterward.
The Arians
solicited the farther formulation of the
doctrine, since, of the
Holy
by the concession of the inferiority
Spirit,
they were able to support easily
the subordination of the Son.
however,
son,
Exactly for this rea-
orthodox became
the
thoughtful.
Athanasius, after about 358, gave his attention to the
Holy
Spirit
and never wavered a moment
gard to the formula he
is
Arians Discuss Question.
:
in re-
Since he must be worshipped,
#eo? 6fioouffto$ like the Son,
and belongs in no
Athanasius then Also.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
2G8 inserted in
ad Serap.). At the synod doctrine of the Holy Spirit was
sense to the world (epp.
Nicene creed.
.
f
Alexandria this
.
placed under the protection of the Nicene creed
who it is
denies
it is
Spirit
words)
between the agenc}^ of the
and that
formula
— in
the Orient not only the Arians
but also the semi- Arians saw in vation
;
remained empty
of the Son,
But thus strongly did the Occident agree
.
to this
He
a hypocritical Arian (the attempts,
true, to discriminate
Holy
:
even those
who
it
a manifest inno-
in the doctrine of the
Son
accepted the homousios refused to acknowledge the
novum, and took under Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, a firm stand. Yet more even the Cap-
—
padocians, although they countenanced the formula,
and confessed the lack
of all tangible tradition, ad-
vised the greatest caution and considered to
keep back the formula at
pealing to the fact that
by a
Tzapddoais aypaipos.
it
first
it
necessary
as a mystery, ap-
was indeed sustained only
In their embarrassment in as-
signing to the Holy Spirit a proper kind of being in relation to the Father, they decided to attribute to
him, according to John, the eternal ^orcir Doctrine
on orient,
But
eUfT t?. .
..
_
£x7rep<{us
and
h.-op-
after 362 the theologians in the Occident .
were mdeiatigable in imposing upon the half-won Oriental brethren the Holy Spirit as #£o?
ößooofjco^,
and, in union with the Cappadocians, they succeeded. It is true that still in the
year 381 the Macedonians
(pneumatomachoi) were invited to the synod, but only to hear their condemnation and to be expelled.
The anathemas
of
Damascus strengthened the
situa-
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
269
Henceforth one was no longer permitted to
tion.
teach that the Holy Spirit
subordinate to the Son
is
indeed, since to the Greek the Father remained the root of the Deity, the homousios of the Spirit safely secured only
when he
is
seemed
traced back to the
Father alone, the Son thereby not being taken at
all
into account. 2.
The Cappadocians, and before them
their great
teacher Apollinaris, established the orthodox doctrine of the trinity (vid.
page 260)
:
One Divine
in three Subjects, the equal nature of
and
is afcwv,
is (really
mulas
"
of
still
immanence).
now
said,
mode of being but the Father ;
Tertullian
nature " and
was
stamped in
the two others ahiatd^ yet not as the
world
trinity
essence
activities; their differences in the
characteristics of their
alone
Trinity.
which contained
in their consubstantiality is distinctly their qualities
c?aSM)oc-
"
had already used the
person
" ;
for-
to him, however, the
entirely a trinity of revelation, not
By means
Christianity
of the trinity, so they
distinguished from the
is
pagan polytheism and the "stark" Jewish monotheism.
Ever since the appearance
of the homoiusians, re- DoctrSe
gard for Christology exerted in the Orient an
influ-
ence upon the establishment of the doctrine of the trinity (there also nature
and person
;
ußota>j±a origi-
nated there, and also the turning to account of the
analogy of the conceptions
"
humanity
in their relation to the individual
"
and
man.)
"
Adam "
A subor-
dination and Aristotelian element remained in the
of Trinity Has subordination
Element,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
270
Oriental orthodoxy, and in the
trinity-doctrine of
later Christological contest the latter
sympathy with
it
was drawn
(however not strongly
for
;
it
into
had
A few Apollinarian grown already too stubborn) monophysites worked after 530 upon the conceptions .
"
nature
"
and
"
way, and thus
telian
the trinity at brJ>6zo.Gir,
also arrived in the doctrine of
of
modalism
tritheism or at
=
(
Askusnages, Johannes Philoponus, Peter of
Kallinico; against these
John
Christology in an Aristo-
" in
person
The
Damascus).
theism, gave to the
Leon ti us
of
latter, in
dogma
Byzantium and
opposition to
tri-
of the trinity a turn ap-
proaching the Occidental conception (the äys^r^ia formally declared equivalent to the äUrjXois of the three
thereby the
Persons
-zpr/üitn^is,
aovaXoHpij
the difference existing only for the
the most decisive point
tionism to continue proceedeth aJone Son).
Deity. anSocci-
nations
:
;
;
this con-
effect, since in
allowed the fine subordina-
John
from
The Father,
it
&
and eupyupcrcs
liavoia)
remained without
ception, however,
the
strongly emphasized,
is
but not
yevvyffia,
is
also
the
taught that the Spirit
Father
{i.e.
through the
therefore, remains the äpxv of the
Consequently
it is
one spiritual picture which
the Orient, and again another
which the Occident,
formed of the trinity; in the former the Father
re-
Dissimilar.
mained the
root of the
two ainard
;
the full reciproc-
ity of all three Persons appeared to the Orientals to
jeopardize the monarchy, and especially the deduction of the Spirit
homousion.
from the Son
Here Photius
(867)
to jeopardize the
struck
in,
search-
:
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
271
«
ing for a dogmatic point of dispute, and reproached the Occidentals,
who taught
cessio of the Spirit from the
innovations,
immanente p?'0Father and Son, with the
of falsifying the holy
severer charge
still
symbol of Constantinople by
the addition of " filioque
This word was really an
".
innovation therein that had originated in Spain. contest broke out
which
to the
suspicious.
prSceSo.
even with Manichsean dualism, and
heightened this reproach with the
in
^'j;
which has never been
Greek even the
settled,
" Sta zoo oloo "
A and
became
tween East and West Filioque.
The Occidentals, however, were obliged
to cling to their doctrine, because, according to their
spiritual picture of the trinity, they
found the true
faith expressed only in the full unity, therefore also
only in the
full
reciprocity of the Persons.
Greeks did not understand
this,
The
because secretly they
always remained cosmologically interested, just as the doctrine of the trinity, under incessant scientific
treatment, has remained the vehicle which the phi-
losophy of antiquity has handed
and Germanic nations: idea of the revelation of
ment
It
down
to the Slavic
contains the Christian
God
in Jesus
of the ancient philosophy in a
and the
testa-
most peculiar
mixture. In the Occident the doctrine of the trinity had not as a rule been treated as an object of speculation.
The
unity was the safest thing, discrimination between
was understood more in the sense of a (through the jurisprudence) current formal substance and person
distinction.
Augustine in his great work,
"
de
tritt-
n D<S:?rfne of
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
272 itate
",
intended to give expression to this conception
by means
of the trinity
of (Neo-Platonic) science,
was guided also by his religious consciousness which knew only one God.* The consequence was but he
a complete obliteration of every remnant of subordination! sm, the
(the old
changing of the Persons into relations
Occidental modalism merely veiled)
same time there arose such a mass
at the
;
but
of contra-
dictory and absurd formulas as to cause a shudder
now
exulting in the in-
now skeptical
(the three together
even to the author himself, comprehensible and are equal to one
stood as triple
;
;
the absolute simple
must be under-
the Son takes an active part in his
generation; sunt semper invicem, neuter solus; the
economical functions, of as separate
also, are
—therefore:
never to be thought
dictum
est " tres per-
sonae", non ut illud diceretur, sed ne taceretur). This confession and the analogies which Augustine
makes use
of regarding the trinity (they are alto-
gether modalistic)
show
have hit upon the
trinity, if
to tradition.
that he himself never could
he had not been bound
His great work,
also the procession of the Spirit
Son
is
emphasized
concerned
—became
—for
in
which naturally
from the Father and
in every act all three are
the high school for the technico-
logical cultivation of the intellect
and the mine of
scholastic divinity in the Middle Ages.
Augustine,
first
Through
the Spanish church, then others also,
Iu regard to Augustine's relation to the establishment of the Oriental doctrine of the trinity, see Reuter, Zeitschrift f. Kirchengesch. V. 375 seq. *
and VI.
155 seq.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. 273 permitted themselves to be induced to proclaim the filioque.
The paradoxical formulas of the Augustinian doctrine of the trinity, which deny every connection
FaT
^
xi ~
Formuas
-
with the history of revelation and with reason, but possess their truth in the endeavor to sustain complete
monotheism, became wide-spread in the Occi-
dent and were comprised in the so-called
Symbolum
Athanasianum, which arose gradually during the early part of the Middle Ages, and was on its reception (8th to 9th century) proclaimed as holy Church doctrine.*
"He who
will be saved
must
believe
must submit to them. In the Athanasian creed as a symbol stands foremost the transforma-
them",
i.e.
tion of the trinity doctrine, as
thought of
adopted
law, upon the pends. cisive
faith,
into
an inwardly-to-be-
an
ecclesiastical
observance of which salvation de-
With Athanasius thought of faith
;
intellectually over-subtle
the o/xooOatu?
was the
de-
with the Cappadocians the theological
the later Greeks the hallowed relic
;
dogma; with with the later
Occidentals the ecclesiastical law which demands obedience. *On the " Athanasianum " see Köllner, Symbolik I. 53 seq. and the works of Foulkes (1871), Swainson (1875), Ommaney (1875), Lumby (1887). 18
s
^ana^ sianum.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
274
CHAPTER
VIII.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE PERFECT EQUALITY AS TO NATURE OF THE INCARNATE SON OF GOD AND HUMANITY. Sources The fragments of Apollinaris, the writings of Athanasius, of the Cappadocians and of the Antiochians. :
Humanity.
The
question of the Divinity of Christ
was only
preparatory to the question of the union of the Divine
and human
Into this problem the whole
in Christ.
of dogmatics flowed.
and afterward Atha-
Irenaeus,
had established the Divinity
nasius,
er with respect to redemption, i.e.
of the
Redeem-
upon that assump-
tion.
But the question
of the
union presupposed not only
a precise conception of the Divinity, but also of the
humanity
of the
Redeemer.
contest the reality of the
secured
(Tertull.,
de
True, in the gnostic
came
docetism had in spite of
it
of Christ
had been
yet a fine
Christi);
continued to exist, and
that not only with the Alexandrians but also with all teachers. fect
human
Scarcely one of
self-consciousness,
attributed to the tations
tainly
not as the
first
soul and a free will
tion between the
shown
human nature
;
per-
and not a single one of Christ all the limi-
which surround our nature.
—and
human
them thought of a
Origen
—attributed
cer-
to Christ
a
but he needed a connec-
God-Logos and matter, and he has
definitely in his Christology
— in
so far as he
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. did not separate the Jesus and the Christ
most evident docetism
275
—that the
remains active when one
conceives the *dp$, because wholly material, as with-
out quality and capable of every attribute.
With
among
the Origenistic theologians, and
the
Christian people generally, existed at the beginning of the 4th century the
most varied conceptions
Theories
About
in-
carnation.
re-
garding the incarnation and humanity of Christ.
Only a few thought thought of the
flesh
human
of a
and many
soul
of Christ as heavenly, or as a
transformation of the Logos, or as a vesture.
were softened by Neo-Platonic
docetic conceptions
speculative ideas (the finiteness a
the unfolding Deity really thought
of
Crass
No
itself).
moment within
one in the Orient
two natures; one eternal God-
incarnate nature, one nature having become Godincarnate, a Divine nature having been changed for
a time into
human,
in the ity
human i.e.
— these were
nature, a Divine nature dwelling
clothed in the covering of
the prevailing conceptions, and the
answers were just as confused to
(Was
siifgle
questions
the flesh born of Mary, or the Logos with the
flesh?
Was
human
nature?
nature and
made man, or did he assume much can be wanting to this
the Christ
How
it still
be considered human?) and to the
Biblical considerations
gered?
Who
rance?
The God
Or
human-
died?
(Who
Who
or the
suffered?
Who
hun-
acknowledged his igno-
man, or the God-man?
in reality are not all these ttö&j only apparent,
economic?).
A
more
or less fine docetism
was
i.e.
also
„
Var ons i
.
.
(^)u est ions.
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
276
But by the
in concreto taught in the Occident. side of
it,
after Tertullian
and Novatians, stood upon
the basis of the symbol the juristic formula
:
Two
This formula, as though
substances, one person.
it
were a protection and boundary thought, was never further investigated but it was destined to become ;
some day the saving phrase
in the conflicts of the
Orient. Unity of Personality
Fundamental.
The unity
of the supernatural personality of Christ
was here the common starting-point. How to provide a place for humanity in it was the problem, sharpness and gravity Apollinaris of
which in
its
Laodicea
first
impulse, since
merely as
The Arians had given the they conceived the humanity of Christ
discerned.
in order to express the full unity of
the personality of the
Redeemer and
at the
same
time to be able to attribute to their half-divine Logos the limited knowledge and capability of suffering
They threw
found in the Christ.
dox, that their doctrine leads to
two natures (which were
or to Apollina-
tical)
ris.
was (1)
.
it
up
to the ortho-
two Sons
still
of God,
considered iden-
now recognized that this reproach he made the problem of his theology
Apollinaris
justified
;
To express
just as strict a unity in the person of
Christ as Arianism did in
with the
£,
of Christ.
(2)
Here
To is
its
Logos clothed merely
unite with
the problem
it
the full humanity
which occupied the
Church of the 3d century, and indeed Apollinaris surveyed it in its whole range as the chief problem of Christian theology, as the nucleus of
all
expressions of
:
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. faith,
and he treated
it
277
accordingly with the greatest
ingenuity and with a dialectics that anticipated terminologies of °
the
all
With the orthodox Orthodox. £ r ic ses
future.
il-
i
(Athanasius) he found fault, because they, in order to escape the objections of the
Ar
i
ans,
and in spite
of their better intentions, constantly discriminated in Christ
did
between what the
thereby
;
is
man and what
the
God
the duality established and redemp-
made dependent thereon for Christ must so have been made man, that everything which is valid tion is
of
;
humanity
(true,
like
is also
valid of the Deity and vice versa
Athanasius never used the expression
Origen
but he was obliged against his will to
;
divide the unity of the Myo<s
(rapxwftsls
in its applica-
He
censured the Arians because they also
away
the comfort of redemption in so far as
tion).
take
8öo
Christ did not assume entire humanity, but only the flesh.
He
himself, holding fast to the idea of unity
as to a rudder, but not rejoicing like an Aristotelian in the mystery of the faith, as did Athanasius, estab-
God- Logos had taken
lished the doctrine that the
human flesh and a human soul (which constitute human nature as nature) but not a human Logos, i.e. — as we should now express it — not that
unto himself
,
which in
man
constitutes the (individual) person,
therefore not free will.
human
With
the thus-constituted
nature, however, the Logos
was
able to fuse
into a complete unity, because there never existed
two subjects;
for the rocks
which Apollinaris had
recognized as dangerous were
Also Arians.
—
.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
278
The idea of_two Sons,
(1)
the
,
i.e.
the separating of
the Jesus and the Christ
man and the God,
two
("
natures are two Sons"),
The conception that Jesus was an
(2)
avftpwxos
The idea that he had a free, changeable nature. The subject must be removed from the human nature of Christ, otherwise one would arrive at a (3)
double-being (h}r brid, minotaur) tion renders the
pio.
;
whereas his concep-
zoo Xöyoo
<jt$
ffe
clear,
proveshis
This Apollinaris proved soteriologically (what the
e fcai iy,°Bib-
man
specuia-
God must have done and
did
wise the same has no power to save
:
suffered, other-
Mvaro?
dv&pdtxou
tively.
oo xarapysT rov
the
vol)?
and
Mvarov the Deity became through Christ ;
X6yo<s
of the entire
humanity
nature became through Christ the Biblically
trdpg
;
the
human
of the Deity)
—he was a very able exegete—and specula-
tively (the
human
the Divine
is
the
nature
mover
is
this relationship
;
the Myos aapxa>$ei$ to
its
manifestation;
is
Christ
always the thing moved,
comes in
the heavenly
Adam, who
consequently possesses incarnation potentially
way he always was
hidden ofiooofftos
accidental
Logos
is
;
If the
differs
from
always Mediator
and humanity T^Sne.
he was
fitted for
way
therefore is the incarnation in no
and
Apollinaris
in a
;
»od? eWa^xo?; his flesh is
to his Divinity, because
incarnation
and
perfect development
;
all
mere inspiration
p.ea6nq<s
— between
however, one does not
went
;
the
Deity
know how
far
here)
mystery two
=
one (see the parallel to the
1MB DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. mystery, three
=
279
one) is at all to be described, then
the doctrine of Apollinaris, measured by the presup-
and aims
positions
of the
Greek conception of Chris-
tianity as religion,
is
he found faithful
disciples,
yes,
For
perfect.
and
this reason, too,
monophysites,
all
even the pious Greek orthodox are at the bottom
Apollinarists
:
The acceptance of an individual human
personality in Christ does
away with
his
power as
Redeemer, just as the idea of two unmixed natures robs the incarnation of
Apollinaris struck out the believers before
and
and
For that reason
its effect.
after
human voD? like all Greek him —he, however, openly
energetically.
But the demand
for a complete *
human nature once
proclaimed could no longer be passed over in silence
One could the of
to
still
say according to Apollinaris, that
human voug would God also appeared
have
:
not be saved;
sypod of Alexanipoiiinasecedes.
the doctrine
God was made Therefore the full humanity was
suffered.
to totter, if
already acknowledged at the Synod of Alexandria, 362,
and the Cappadocians rose against
teacher,
who was
obliged (375) to withdraw from the
Church, but formed a church of his also
their revered
condemned him.
The
full
own
the
West
homousios of Christ
with humanity was exalted to a doctrine. the gospel reports had a part therein
the Cappadocians were able to set to
;
;
Certainly
but that which
up
in opposition
Apollinaris were only wretched formulas, full
of contradictions
only one
;
:
There are two natures, and yet
there are not
two Sons, but the Divinity
The Cappadocian Formulas.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
280
acts in Christ in one
way, the humanity in another
Christ had
human
necessity.
In reality the Cappadocians thought like
freedom, but acted under Divine
Apollinaris, but they " perfect
mand
had
make a
place for the
man", while the Greek piety did not de-
this consideration.
had dictated the doctrine Athanasian
to the
to
oßoou
The sovereignty to Apollinaris;
of faith
he added
the corresponding Chris-
tology; like Athanasius he hesitated at no sacrifice for the sake of his faith.
in upholding the full
His opponents, however,
humanity (human
after all a great service to the
Church
subject) did
of the future.
They were now obliged to try and reconcile the contradictions (not two Sons, and yet two independent In what form that was to issue no one natures) .
knew
as yet.
CHAPTER
IX.
CONTINUATION: THE DOCTRINE OF THE PERSONAL UNION OF THE DIVINE AND HUMAN NATURE IN THE INCARNATE SON OF GOD. Sources
:
The writings of Cyril and of the Antiochians, Hef ele, Conciliengesch. Bd.I.and II.
the acts of the councils.,
N
n rnn°tr!fContro versy
*
^
ie
complete being?
,
Nestorian Controversy.
God and
the complete
— How
man
can
the
be united in one
The most zealous opponents
of Apollinaris
were his compatriots, and in part also his philosophical
sympathizers, the Antiochians.
from the formula,
"
complete
They deduced
God and complete man",
.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. two
the consequence of of Tarsus
and above
281
Diodorus
different natures.
Theodore of Mopsuestia,
all
Diodorus of Tarsus
and Theodore of
Mopsu-
distinguished for their sober theology, excellent exegesis
estia.
and severe asceticism, were thorough Nicenes,
but they at the same time rightly recognized that
complete humanity without freedom and changeableness
a chimera
is
ity are contrasted
consequently Deity and human-
;
and cannot by any means be fused
into one (incapable of suffering, capable of suffering)
In accord therewith they constructed their Christology,
which was therefore not fashioned according
to soteriological conceptions, but rather
Christ consists of two sep-
gelical picture of Christ.
arate natures (no
sumed the nature dwelt therein
and
ivtoat?
of
4' U(7Uy! t)
the God-Logos as-
;
an individual man, that
this indwelling
;
by the evan-
was not
is,
Two Separate Natures.
he
substantial,
also not merely inspirational, but xaräxdpw, i.e.
God united and
joined
(
himself to the
man
Jesus in an especial manner, yet analogous to his
union with pious
as in a temple; his
what
tially
it
The Logos dwelt
souls.
human
was but ;
to a perfect condition
it
nature remained substan-
developed
and constancy.
therefore only a relative one
was
in Christ
itself
gradually
The union was
(£va>ffts ffjfentjf)
in the beginning only relatively perfect ;
itself
a moral union
altation
;
(poaets,
odore uses the later formula son "
;
it
it is
in
but by the verification and ex-
one adorable subject was
exhibited ifowp&w tos
and
ivä r^v :
"
finally
and forever
npo
Two
The-
natures, one per-
but with him the unity of the person
is
merely
Two Natures,
One
Person.
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
282
one of names, of honor and adoration
He
substantial unity.
sons, because
an adorable
incarnation, therefore, one
may
The functions
strictly distributed
To A Entheos
S
call
Mary
= nature)
and,
Of an
izpoewTzov.
man on
the part of
of Jesus Christ are to be
between the Deity and humanity.
fteoröxos is
This doctrine
no sense a
not definitely speak,
but only of an assumption of the the Logos.
in
has quite distinctly two per-
two natures* (person
besides, for believers
;
is
absurd.
distinguished from that of the
Samosatians only by the assertion of the personality of the
invito
God-Logos
Theodoro
in Christ.
—nevertheless
That the Antiochians
In truth
an
is
Jesus
avti-ptitizois
ev&eog.
contented themselves with
was a consequence of their rationalism. However deserving of acknowledgment their spiritual
this
conception of the problem
is, still
they were farther
removed from the conception of redemption as a new birth and as forgiveness of sin, than the repre-
They
sentatives of the realistic idea of redemption.
knew
of a Perfecter of
humanity who conducts
through knowledge and asceticism unto a araffis,
but they
knew nothing
new
xard-
But
of a Restorer.
since they did not docetically explain away, or
accommodation
set
forth
Christ, they held before the
the
its
when
by
qualities of
Church the picture
historical Christ, at a time
obliged to depart in
human
it
of the
the Church
was
formulas of doctrine farther
and farther from the same. True, a picture could have no great effect in which they emphasized the
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. empty freedom and capacity equally with wisdom and asceticism. points of
283
of suffering
Their opponents, the Alexandrians, relied upon the tradition
became man;
and even
and that he
later,
their deductions lacked
apprehensible clearness;
could not be otherwise
;
serving of
little
many
but that the
all
respects de-
and had tradition on
This piety demanded only a strong and
sure declaration of the mystery, nothing Ttpo(T7.u\>zi<jftu>
ment
431,
esteem, strove for the fundamental
idea of piety, like Athanasius, his side.
till
and their faith was
C}T ril of Alexandria, in
surer.
candria.
which embarrassed the Antiochians,
that Christ possessed the Divine physis really
cjrii
to appTjzov).
Upon
of the faith Cyril never
more X fftat7: V
the theor'etical state-
wasted
many words
but he was immediately in danger of transgressing the limits of his idea of faith, to explain the mystery, definite.
whenever he sought
and his terminology was
His faith did not proceed from the
in-
histor-
God who was made man. This God was incorporated in the complete human nature, and yet he remained the same. He did not
ical Christ,
but from the
transform himself, but he took humanity into the unity of his being, without losing any of the
latter.
He was the same afterwards as before, the one subject. What the body suffered, he suffered. Therefore Cyril used
phrase\:
els
with special preference the following
xal 6 a»r6?,
namely, the God-Logos^
Tzoielv TTJv ffdpxa oixovofitxtog. fisßivjjxev otcep qv, ix els",
duo
töiav
(/'offecov
Goviksuais duo (püaswv xaff ivwaiv ädtd
T1
}ncar-° nation.
f
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
284
Hence
xai arpirtTco?.
ßia
tween
and
ivtooi? (puoty.rj
:
osfrapxw/jLivrj)
birooxaot?
.
and
(xatf vizooxaotv
The difference be-
Cyril hardly touched upon.
Yet he never said ixdbo b-ooxdoewv, or evtoocs zarä (pbavj. With him y>uot$ and 01*00x0.01$ coincide as regards the Divine nature
He
not.
as regards the
;
human
nature they do
became an
rejected the idea that Christ
individual man., although he acknowledged
humanity
constituents of
Logos which has assumed
n Natu?e
can he be the Redeemer.
human nature;
:
distinguished as fcwpta for suffering
the
only thus
two natures,
there-
The God-incarnate, which is 1*0*1%. The Deity's capacity
to be sure, not the consequence of
is,
own
the unity; but the Logos suffers in his
Nevertheless he
is
Before the incarnation
there were, according to Cyril, after only one, to wit
the
Christ
in Christ.
Assumes
all
is #eo?
For that reason,
also,
and Mary
flesh.«
is aea&lx&s.
can the odp% Christi in the
eucharist give Divine life
;
for the
same
is filled
with
the Deity. 1"
SyMwfophysitic.
^kis conception itism
;
but
it
is
at the bottom pure
does not wish to be
so,
monophys-
and, in assert-
ing the humanity of Christ as not to be explained
away, itic
it
guards against the consequent monophys-
formula.
Cyril
was
really orthodox, that
is,
he
taught what lay as a consequent in the orthodox doctrine respecting Christ.
apparent
—both
But the contradiction
is
natures were to be present, una-
bridged and unmixed, inclusive of a
human
Logos,
and yet there should be but one God-incarnate na-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
285
I
and the human part
ture,
subjectless.
is
It is also
apparent that the picture of the real Christ cannot j
be maintained by this view
:
\
Docetic explanations
must necessarily be admitted* (i.e. accommodation). I
But
more valuable than that of the Chalcedon creed, because by it faith can make it clear to itself that Christ assumed the comthis doctrine
plete
human
is
after all
nature, substantially united
himself and elevated
it
it
The
to the Divine.*
with
contro-
versy broke out in Constantinople through the vain, blustering, but not ignoble bishop Nestorius (428),
who, hated by the Alexandrians as an Antiochian
and envied
for his chair, stirred
up hatred impru-
dently by his sermons and by his attacks upon those
favoring Cyril, and specially by branding the word öeuTöxo?
now
and the
to eradicate the " rottenness of
linaris"
;
He sought
like as heathenish fables.
Arius and Apol-
as a Christologian, however, he
by no means
stood at the extreme left of orthodoxy, like Theodore.
He
stirred
up an agitation
and the imperial
now
ladies
took a hand in
in the capital
was rather
to the üsoToxo?
;
the
monks
were against him, and Cyril
it.
The formulas which each
used did not sound very differently self
;
— Nestorius him-
inclined to agree, with reservations,
but behind the formulas there lay a
deep dogmatic and ecclesiastico-political contrast. Cyril fought for the one God-incarnate nature, and for
He was able to Roman bishop, to whom at
primacy in the Orient.
for himself the
the bishop of Constantinople seemed a
gain over that time
more power-
Nestorius
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
286 cceiestius.
f u j r i V al
than the one of Alexandria.
Coelestius,
also personally irritated at Nestorius, repudiated his
own
Christological
view which approached very
nearly to that of Nestorius, joined the anathematization of Cyril
and demanded
Cyril,
tion.
hurling
of Nestorius a recanta-
counter-anathemas
against
Nestorius, compelled the calling of a general council
But he was able
by the emperor who favored him. council of Ephesus.
to
general council at direct the ö
Ephesus
(431)
in
.
such a manner, that from the beginning
The decrees
split.
of the
it
began to
Egyptian-Roman party
were recognized afterwards as the decrees of the council, while the
emperor did not originally recog-
nize either these, or the decrees of the Antiochian party.
Cyril allowed no
new symbol
to be estab-
lished, but caused the deposition of Nestorius
declaration of his
own
and the
doctrine as orthodox.
Con-
trarywise the Council which was held by the Anti-
ochian sympathizers deposed Cyril. at first confirmed both depositions Nestorius Dies in Exile.
Nestorius the matter rested there.
But
The emperor and as regards
He
died in exile.
Cyril, influential at court, succeeded in
main-
taining himself, and in order not to lose his influence, he even
formed in the year 433 a union with
the Antiochians, whose ambiguous creed stood, ac-
cording to the ogy.
Yet
text,
nearer to the Antiochian theol-
for that very reason Cyril
of the situation,
remained master
and he knew how to strengthen more
and more the Alexandrian doctrine and the tical
domination.
ecclesias-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
287
The Eutychian Controversy (vid. Mansi, Acts ^JntrS versy the Councils, VI. VII.).— Cyril died in the year
11
2.
-
of
444,
,
and there were people
never
forgiven the union of
through the desire to successor
;
rule.
own
who had 433 which he made
in his
party
Dioscuros became his
Dioscuros
he was not equal to him and yet he was
not unlike him.
Dioscuros endeavored to carry out
the scheme of his predecessor in the chair of Alexan-
make
Egypt a domain, to rule the Church of the Orient as pope and to actually subject to himself emperor and state. Already Theophilus and dria, to
of
Cyril had relied upon the this matter,
and
had an equal
also
monks and
the masses in
upon the Roman bishop, who
interest in suppressing the bishop of
Constantinople.
They had, furthermore, relaxed the
union with Greek science (contest against Origen-
power
ism), in order not to displease the great
the age, pious barbarism. really gain his object
odosius
II. (council of
of
Dioscuros seemed to
under the weak emperor TheEphesus, 449)
;
but close upon
the greatest victory followed the catastrophe.
This
was brought about by the powerful empress Pulcheria,
Empress J.
and her consort Marcian, who recalled
more the Byzantine state-idea and through Leo
I.,
who
to
of ruling the Church,
at the decisive
relinquished the traditional policy of the
moment
Roman
chair to assist Alexandria against Constantinople,
made common cause with of the capital
moment
the emperor and bishop
and overthrew Dioscuros.
of his
fall,
uiciicriä.
mind once
But
at the
the opposition between the hith-
LeoL
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
288
erto united to
come
powers (emperor and pope) was destined
out.
Both wanted
to take
advantage of the
The emperor was not willing to surrender the Church of the Orient to the pope (who had been called upon for assistance), although he set up the victory.
dogmatic formula of the pope as the only means of saving the Oriental Church
;
and the pope could not
endure that the patriarch of the capital should supplant the other patriarchs of the Orient, that this
church as a creature of the emperor should be at the latter's
beck and
call,
and that the chair should be
placed on a level with that of St. Peter's. counciiof Chalcedon.
In con-
sequence of the Chalcedon council the state indeed rL
momentarily triumphed over the Church, but in giving to the same
more than
its
own dogmatic formula, which had
half the faithful against
it, it
split the
empire, laid the foundation for the secession of large provinces, south
and north, strengthened
its
most
powerful adversary, the bishop of Rome, at a mo-
ment when by the the latter
fall of
was placed
at the
the "West
Roman
empire
head of the Occident, and
thus prepared a condition of affairs, which limited the Byzantine dominion to the eastern Mediterra-
nean coast provinces. These are the general circumstances under which the is
in Eutyches.
Eutj'chian controversy occurred, and thereby declared
what an important part
politics
had
it.
Through the union of 433 the Christological question had already become stagnant. According to
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
289
the interpretation of the formula, everybody could
The Alexandrian
be taken for a heretic.
which
made
really tallied
in fact
doctrine,
with the faith of the Orientals,
more and more progress
in spite of the
energetic counter-efforts of the honest and best-hated
Theodore; and Dioscuros carried himself like a chief bishop over
and
Palestine
surrendered the Church to
The emperor
Syria.
him
Dioscuros
outright.
persecuted the Antiochian sympathizers, endeavored to
exterminate the phrase "two natures", and even
allowed creeds to pass which sounded suspiciously Apollinaristic.
But when the
old Archimandrite
Eut} ches in Constantinople expressed his Cyrillian r
Christology in terms like the following not of like essence with us, he has no
but a
of Antioch, then
:
"
My God is
ßa
personal opponents
ä^p6r.oo^
(Domnus
Eusebius of Dorylaeum) took this
occasion to denounce
him
to the patriarch Flavian,
who, himself no decided Christologian, profited by the opportunity to get rid of an ecclesiastic favored
by the
court.
At a synod
in Constantinople (448)
de
^^"
at
Eutyches was condemned as a Valentinian and nopfefm Apollinarist, although he after some hesitation ac-
knowledged the formula
:
"
Out
of
two natures, one
From both sides, the court, the capital and the Roman bishop were now set in motion. Dioscuros saw that the moment for settling the quesChrist".
tion of
power had come, but not
less did
Leo
I.
While the former obtained from the emperor the calling of a council and was being equipped for it 19
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
290
with unheard-of sovereignty as the true pope, the latter
now saw — in
spite of the decision of his prede-
cessor, Ccelestius, in favor of Cyril
—in Eutyches the
worst heretic, in Flavian his dear, persecuted friend,
and sought
to frustrate
letters to influential
the council by numerous
persons and he wrote to Flavian
the celebrated epistle, in which, as respects ChrisLeo's Celebrated Letter.
toward the Tertullian-Augustinian
tology, he veered
In this letter the doctrine of two natures
conception. is strictly
alt er ins seil,
carried out
i
("
communione, quod proprium
operante quod verbi est et
quod carnis expedient
forma cum
agit utraque
est"),
came
est,
exsequenti
and the old Occidental,
expounded, that
one
verbo
juristic
must believe
in
one Person, which has two separate natures (substances)
at
its
disposal,
—an
expedient which
truly neither monophysitic nor Nestorian, since
is it
sharply distinguishes between the Person and the
two
natures,
magnitudes
;
and therefore but
it
really introduces three
certainly stands nearer to Nesto-
rianism and does not do justice to the decisive interest of
faith,
but excludes every concrete form of
thought and consequently
nor
knows only the heresies docetism and Samosatianism. Leo certainly ac-
intellect.
of
satisfies neither piety
Besides this Leo
knowledges in his tion;
letters the interest of
our redemp-
but he gave an interpretation which Cyril
would have strongly repudiated. Council of Ephesus, 449.
In August (440) the great council of Ephesus as-
sembled under Dioscuros' direction.
Rome was
at
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. treated as non-existent, then
first
persons of
humbled
in
291 the
who, moreover, acted with
its legates,
Dioscuros put through the resolution
uncertainty.
must
that the matter
and Ephesus
(431),
stop with the synods of
which expressed the
Mcsea
old creed:
"After the incarnation there exists one incarnate nature"
;
no symbol was established
;
Eutyches was
^Instated,
reinstated and, on the basis of the Nicene creed, the chiefs of the Antiochians
;
but at the same time Fla-
vian, Eusebius of Dorylaeum, Theodoret,
nus of Antioch were deposed
;
and Dom-
in short, the
Church
was thoroughly purified from "Nestorianism". All this was done with almost unanimity. Two years later this unanimity was declared as enforced by
many
bishops
who had taken
part
(latrocinium
JEphesuinm, says Leo).
niumEpkesinura.
•
.
Dioscuros certainly, with
the aid of his fanatical monks, terrorized the synod,
but a far stronger pressure was afterwards necessary at Chalcedon.
Dioscuros in reality raised the faith of
the Orient to a fixed standard, and the incomparable
which he enjoyed had, unless foreign powers state, Rome) should interfere, the guarantee of
victory (the
But Dioscuros roused against himself
permanence.
the pope and the Byzantine state-idea, and did not calculate
wing
upon the wide-spread aversion
to the right
army, the masked Apollinarists.
of his
rehabilitated Eutyches, without expressly
He
condemn-
ing the doubtful terms which he and his followers habitually used. s-\
On
l
i
t
\t-»ii
•
the 28th of July (450) Pulchena and Marcian
Marciau and Leo.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
292
succeeded Theodosius; until then Leo had vainly
Now
endeavored to raise opposition to the council. Marcian,
who was determined
to
break the indepen-
dence of the Alexandrian bishops, stood in need of
Leo desired the condemnation
him.
and the acceptance
of his
own
of Dioscuros
didactic epistle ivith-
out a council; but the emperor was obliged to sist
upon one, in order
order of things.
to bring
about a wholly
in-
new
Such a one could succeed only
if
a
new dogmatic formula were established, which placed the Egyptians in the
wrong and
the point to the Antiochians.
still
did not yield
Politics counselled the
formula of the Occident (Leo's) as the only chafcedoSf
The
way
out.
council really took place at Chalcedon in 451
to the pontificial legates
honor
;
were conceded the places of
Leo had instructed them
from the dignity
of
Rome.
to derogate
nothing
The greater part
of the
500 to 600 bishops were like-minded with Cyril and Dioscuros, highly opposed to tile to
council.
all
Nestorianism, hos-
Theodoret; but the emperor dominated the It
was
settled that Dioscuros
must be
de-
posed and a dogmatic formula in the sense of Leo's ac-
was annulled as having been "extorted". But it was just as sure that the memory and doctrine of Cyril must not be sacrificed. Dioscuros therefore was deposed after a most shamecepted, since the decree of 449
8
DepSed.
ful process, not as
an heretic, but on account of his
disobedience and
irregularities.
The majority
of
the bishops disavowed their past before the face of the imperial commissioners and abandoned Dioscuros
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. and the decree of 440; but only by
293
false representa-
and threats did the bishops allow themselves to be induced to acknowledge the canon of Leo, which tions
every Oriental could not but understand as Nestorian,
and
to sanction the doctrine that also after the
incarnation there were two natures existent in Christ.
Even vain
at the last hour
it
was attempted
—although in
—to exalt to a dogma a merety notional distinc-
tion between the natures.
At
the 5th sitting the de-
and 431 were confirmed and
crees of 325, 381
sufficiency acknowledged, but
their
was remarked,
it
on account of the heretics (who, on the one
that
side, re-
jected the &eoj6zo$ and, on the other, desired to intro-
duce a aoyyofTK; and
y.f>d.<Ti?
of the natures, " irrationally
inventing only one nature of the flesh and the Deity
and considering the Divine nature as capable
was necessary to admit the letters of to Nestorius and the Orientals, as well as the of Leo. The declaration reads rob? duo p.h
suffering
C}r ril letter
") it
:
Tipo
r^9
rrjv
hoxnv
lv(i)(7eu)$
xuptou fj.uftzUovTas^
iva xai tuv
auruv
xai
ävftpco-ov
Xpiarbv
5
rwv
was the
pszd
Sacri-
6/j.oXoysJv
uluv
riv
tO.ewv
r!)v
xbpwv auruv
riXstov rov aoruv iv ävHpwTÖz^ri^ #sov akrfi-m^ aXy-ftd)?
.
.
.
rov aordv^ Iv
duo
then
later correction, favorable to T(i>?
fiiav dk
'E-xoftevot roivov roT?
Jlp. (jufj.
zv fteozTjTt
auruv
ro 7)
ava-Kh'trrovra^^ ävaSs/iari^et (this
~azpä(7VJ
yj/iwv V.
xai
a>u
the thoughts of the heart).
fice of aylots
of
it (ix
reads
:
%va xai ruv
duo
monophysitism)
is
a
dauyyu-
ärpiirrats ädtaipiro)^ ä%wpiOTto§ yviopi^Ofiev^ ouda,uoi> T7t <s v
dca
rr^v
ivatfftVj
aai£ofiivi)$
Letters of Cyril and
Leo Admitted.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
204 dt
fiäXXov r^c ldiOT7jro<s Ixaripas
xui
fiepi£6ftevov
Full
secured.
By
Staipobpevov^ äXXä
7}
oöx
er's
duo
izpoawxa
eva xai rov aurov ulov
xai
&edv Xdyov.
pLOvoyevrj
Humanity
Guvrpzyona-q? ,
UTtöffTCLfftv
fxtav
between nature and person the
this distinction
p 0W6 r of the mystery of faith was paralyzed, a conceivable mystery established, and yet the clearness
humanity
of
The formula
is
of the Antiochian conception of the
Jesus was after
not reached.
all
negative and cold
the pious
;
How
saw
their comfort, the
our nature
profit
by what occurred in the Person of Christ?
The
huxnq
vanish.
shall
hated "moralism", or the mj-sticism of the union of the Logos with every
human
soul,
seemed
to be the
was expected to believe in a
And,
besides, one
!
as an incontestible article of faith, invaluable for the
was too dearly bought. Peace was also not restored. Emperor and pope w ere at variance over future,
r
the 28th canon, even
SS:
ter to
come
Orient
fell
3
troversies.
cil.
-
to
if
they did not allow the mat-
a rupture,- and the Church of the
into dissolution.
The Monophysite Contests and the 5th Coun(Mansi, T. VII-IX; Loofs, Leontius von By-
zanz, 1887).
councils
— The
century between the 4th and 5th
shows the most complicated and confused
relations;
during the time the dogmatic situation
also constantly changes, so that a short survey is
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
295
Therefore only a few principal points
impossible.
can be here stated. (1)
The opponents
monophysites, spiritual
were
power and
Chalcedon creed, the ^JPgjSj? superior to the orthodox in creed, of the
In Egypt, parts of
activity.
Syria and Armenia, they kept the upper hand, and the emperors succeeded neither by threats nor by
concessions in gaining
them over
for
any length
of
time; these provinces rather alienated themselves
more and more from the empire and joined the monophysitic confession with their nationality, preparatory to founding independent national churches hostile
to
the
In the main persevering
Greek.
and rejecting
steadfastly in the doctrine of Cyril
the farther-reaching Apollinarian-Eutychian formulas, the
monophysites showed by inward spiritual
movements that
in their midst alone the dogmatical
legacy of the Church was
still
alive.
The newly-
awakened Aristotelianism, which as scholasticism took the place of Platonism, learned defenders,
found among them
who (John Philoponus)
,
to be sure,
approached in their speculation very near to ism.
trithe-
In regard to the Christological question there
were two main tendencies
Monoph. (Severus,
(Gieseler,
Comment, qua
opin. illustr., 2 Part., 1835 seq.).
Severians,
"
Agnoetians",
These
"Phartola-
treans ") were really opposed to the Chalcedon creed
only as a formal innovation, but agreed even to a notional distinction between Christ, and,
still
the two
natures
in
more, were zealously anxious to
— OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
296
keep the natures unmixed and to lay stress upon the creature-ship and corruptibility (in theory) of the
body
of Christ as well as
upon the limits of knowl-
edge of the soul of Christ, so that they offended even
They might have been won,
the orthodox.
Chalcedon formula,
the epistolary teaching of
i.e.
Leo, had been sacrificed.
The
others,
on the con-
Aph-
trary (Julian of Halicarnasses, " Aktistetes," " thartodoketes")
,
rejecting
it is
true the transforma-
tion of the one nature into the other,
consequences of the Phusike.
of the
the
if
tvw
assumptio the body
:
From
drew the
the
all
moment
also should be consid-
ered as imperishable and, indeed, as uncreated;
all
the attributes of the Deity were transferred to the
human
nature;
strictions,
which one observes
ture of Christ, X<*pw,
accordingly
all
affections
and
re-
in the evangelical pic-
were assumed by him freely
xard
but were not the necessary consequences of his
This conception, influenced solely by the
nature.
idea of redemption, alone corresponds to the old tradition (Irenaeus, Athanasius, etc.).
Gregory of Nyssa,
Finally there were also such monophysites
yet certainly they were not numerous
A
h0 " r!tes
—as advanced
P antne istic speculation (" Adiaphorites ") The creature is in a mysterious manner altogether conto a
:
substantial with
God; the
hioat?
in Christ is
only the expression for the general consubstantiality of his nature
the mystics;
Erigena).
and the Deity (Stephen bar Sudaili; influence
upon the Occident; Scotus
Since the 5th Council and
still
more
since
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
297
the advent of Islam, the monophysitic churches have
pined
away
in isolation, the wild national
ious fanaticism
relig-
and the barren phantasy of the monks
have delivered them over (2)
and
to barbarism.
Since coercion had no
effect,
a few emperors
Henotikon of
Zeno.
sought, in order to maintain the unity of the empire, to
suppress temporarity the Chalcedon creed (En-
cyclica of Basiliscus, 476), or to avoid
But the consequence
of Zeno, 482).
it
(Henotikon
of this policy
always was that they won over only a part of the monophysites and that they the Occident.
Thus
fell
arose,
out with
Rome and
on the account of the
Henotikon, a thirty-five years' schism with (484-519),
which served only
more independent.
make
the pope
still
The emperors could not reach a
decision to sacrifice either
Rome
or the Orient, and
In the year 519 the Chalce-
finally they lost both.
don creed was
to
Rome
fully restored, in alliance
with Rome,
by the emperor Justin, who was influenced by his
nephew Justinian.
But the theopaschite
contest
(enlargement of the trishagion by the addition: (jraupwiM? "
One
di r),uaj, i.e.,
identical, for
the validity of the formula:
was the one was
of the trinity
6
crucified "
a cultish
They are not innovation and :
could be understood in a Sabellian way, while the other
is
good orthodoxy) shows, since
518, that in
the Occident every Cyrillian explanation
of
the
Chalcedon creed was regarded with suspicion, while the orthodox in the Orient would tolerate the Chal-
cedon creed only with a Cyrillian interpretation,
C hite°con-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
298
hoping thereby
always for a reconciliation with
still
the monophysites. T
Lenntius
(3)
tium
\\ hJi e in the 5th century the
Chalcedon ortho-
doxy had upon the whole no noted dogmatic repre-
*
sentative in the Orient
was foreign
—the
strongest proof that
to the spirit of the Orient
it
—several ap-
peared after the beginning of the Gth century.
The
formula had not only in time become more venerable,
but the study of Aristotle above
weapons
for its defence.
all
furnished
The scholasticism not only
permitted the retention of the Chalcedon distinction
between nature and person, but even also welcomed it
and gave
formula
to the
lian interpretation. the Scythian
still
a strong Cyril-
This was brought about by
monk, Leontius
of
Byzantium, the most
eminent dogmatist of the 6th century, the forerunner
John
of
He
of
Damascus, and the teacher
pacified the
of Justinian.
Church by a philosophically conceiv-
able exposition of the Chalcedon creed
the
dogma
and buried
in scholastical technicalities.
He
is
the
father of the Christological new-orthodoxy, just as
the Cappadocians were the fathers of the trinitarian
new-orthodoxy.
Through
his doctrine of the en-
human
nature, he paid, in the
hypostasis of the
form
of a fine Apollinarianism, full regard to the
idea of redemption. Jl
n poi?cy
s
W
Henceforth the policy of Justinian, the royal
dogmatist, must be understood as a religious policy.
By unexampled
luck he had brought the whole em-
pire under his sway,
and he wished in
like
manner
to
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. settle finally the
law and the dogmatics
The following points
pire.
of
creed as a
emperor was inclined
to
own
and Ephesus,
discourses,
formula,
(c)
(d)
(b)
The carrying out
it
were
S :
used
Public religious
of the theopaschitic
Suppression of every more liberal and
more independent theology; that of Origen,
among
to
religious edicts in the sense
of the Christology of Leontius,
tine,
(b)
monophysites and to
The means
inclination.
Numerous imperial
side,
Chalcedon
go as far as aphthartodoket-
in order to gain over the
follow his (a)
(a)
C}T rillian interpretation of the symbol (the
Strict
,
:
em-
equal in standing to
capital decision
those of Nicaea, Constantinople
ism)
of the
view guided him
Strict adhesion to the verbal text of the
200
therefore, on the one
who had many
sympathizers
the monophysitic monks, especially in Pales-
and, on the other side, of the Antiochian theol-
ogy which >
(as the
also still possessed
numerous adherents
emperor had closed the school at Athens, so
he intended likewise to close only the
schools;
all
Christian scientific
scholastic should
remain),
(e)
Enforced naturalization of the new-orthodoxy in the Occident. difficult
:
The execution of (1)
By
these plans
was rendered
the secret monophysitic co-regency DE^coun-es
of the empress Theodora, (2)
By
the refusal of the
Occident to consent to the rejection of the Antiochians,
i.
e.
of the " three articles " (person
and writ-
ings of Theodore, anti-Cyrillian writings of Theodoret, letter of Ibas to Maris)
.
In the later condem-
nation of the Antiochians, the Occident (Facundus
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
300 of
Hermiane) rightly recognized an attempt
away with
the doctrine of the
had meant
it,
and
do
two natures, as Leo
to substitute in its place a fine
However, the emperor found
monophysitism.
Rome
to
in
a characterless pope (Vigilius), who, in grati-
fying the emperor, covered himself with disgrace
Origen and "Three Chapters " Condemned, 553.
and jeopardized his position
in the Occident (great
schisms
The emperor obtained
in the Occident).
the condemnation of Origen and of the " three chapters "
he restored the dogmatic ideas of the two
;
Ephesian councils of 431 and 419 without touching the Chalcedon creed, and he caused
all
this to be
sanctioned by obedient bishops at the oth council
But in
in Constantinople, 553.
one could
now speak with
spite of the fact that
Cyril of one God-incarnate
nature (by the side of the doctrine of the two natures)
and that the
spirit of Oriental
dogmatism had thus
gained the victory, the monophysites would not be
won; Monergis-
and Mono-
tic
theletic
Controversies.
for the
Chalcedon creed was 'too
much
detested
and the antagonisms had long since become national. 4. The Monergistic and Monotlieletic Contro-
and John of Damascus X. and XI.).— With the decisions of the
versies, the
(Mansi, T.
6th Council
4th and 5th councils, the doctrine of one will in Christ would agree, as well as the doctrine of tico
In fact before the 6th century, no one had
wills.
spoken of two wills in Christ; for the Antiochians also
had
human will
said, as once
will
was
(unity of
Paul of Samosata, that the
entirely blended
will,
with the Divine
not singleness of will).
But
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
301
the theology of Leontius tended on the whole toward
Yet
the doctrine of two wills.
—
would hardly have the dogma had alread}T since it
come
to a controversy
553,
been surrendered to theological science (scho-
lasticism)
and the cultus
had not taken possession
The rpatriarch the
,
powerful
(mysticism)
—
if politics
of the question.
of the capital,' Sersrius, counselled ö
emperor
* Heraclius
'
(610-641)
to
Emperor Heraclius, Ser g ius -
strengthen his reconquered territory in the south
and east by making advances
to the
monophysites
with the formula: The God-man, consisting of two natures, effected everything with one God-incarnate
energy. in 633
Upon this basis a union was really formed with many monophysites. But opposition
arose (Sophronius, afterward bishop of Jerusalem)
,
Honorius,
Sophro
and Sergius in union with Honorius of Rome now sought to do justice to
word
:
One should be
(that Christ
all
self-evident).
ekthesis (638).
Thus
-
by giving out the watch-
silent in
had only one
nius
regard to the energies
ü£k-q>i.a
also ran
But not only
was
still
an imperial
considered edict, the
in the Occident
were
the consequences of the doctrinal letter of Leo re-
membered, but
in the Orient the ablest theologians
(Maximus the Confessor) were the Chalcedon creed
also so attached to
through Aristotelian scholas-
ticism, that they classed the will
with the nature (not
with the Person) and therefore demanded the duality.
Now
Roman who
even monotheletism was condemned at a
synod, 641 (Pope John IV.).
rejected
the ekthesis, fled to
The
Orientals,
Carthage and
iJJJSftoSöaVi!!!!,,'.-.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
302
Rome and
prepared, in union with the pope, a formal
revolution.
was thwarted (the questo the freedom of the Church in relation the effort continued in the image con-
tion
was
This, indeed,
as
to the state
;
Yet the emperor found himself obliged surrender the ekthesis, replacing it by the typos
troversy). to
which forbade, under severe penalties, the controversy over one or two wills. But Rome did not consent to this either. (Martini.), which
At
the Lateran synod, 649
many Orientals
attended, the con-
spiracy continued against the emperor, Two-win
The two-will
give orders to the Church.
to
who dared doc-
Doctrine at
Rome,
was formulated
trine
in
strict
language,
but,
649.
strangely enough, the right of the correctly understood Sentence
:
A
conceded.
fäa (pbais too #eoD löyou
large
number
6-s
Constantinopolitan
of
patriarchs of the latter days were condemned. tin
showed
was
Mar-
signs, like a second Dioscuros-, of ruling
and stirring up the churches
of the Orient, but the
emperor Constans, the sovereign of the pope, succeeded in subduing disgraced,
him
(653).
Dishonored and
he died in the Chersonesus.
the Confessor also had to suffer.
Constans soon
found in
Rome more accommodating
remained
until his death (668)
tion,
making
Maximus popes,
and
master of the situa-
the typos of importance and putting
forward the reasonable expedient, that the two natural wills
had become, in accordance with the hypo-
static union,
The
one hypostatic
reaction
will.
which followed in Constantinople
is
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
o03
Perhaps because one needed no
Constan-
longer to pay regard to the monophysites, perhaps
fgathon.
not perfectly clear.
because wills,
science "
"
was favorable to the doctrine of two
men
perhaps because
desired to fetter, through
dogmatic concessions, the uncertain Occidental possessions
and bind them more firmly
made advances
the emperor Constantine Pogonatus
and sought to
new
entice the powerful pope
Agathon
The latter sent a doctrinal Leo I. once had, which proclaimed the inof the Roman chair and the dyotheletism.
negotiations.
epistle as fallibility
At
to
to the capital,
the 6th
council in Constantinople (680) x v
it
was
carried through after diverse proposals of intermediation and under protest, i.e.
which however finally ceased,
the formal consequences of the decree of 451
were deduced (two natural energies adtoupgrw^
üeXy/iara
arpiTtruxs;^
and two natural
ä/ieptarcuSy
a<7oyyu-w$
in
the one Christ; they were not to be considered as contradictory, for the
human
will follows
not resist nor contradict, rather
is it
Divine and almighty will; the
human
and does
subject to the will is not
suspended, but, on the other hand, a communication takes place: It as the less
the
human
is
the will of the God-Logos, just
nature, without suspension, neverthe-
became the nature of
same time many
the God-Logos).
of the Constantinopolitan patri-
archs and pope Honorius were condemned.
Rome
again dictated
its
Thus
formula, balanced the 5th
council by the 6th and insinuated itself Orient.
At
But the agreement was
into the
of short duration.
Council of
Con stan tinople 68a '
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
304
Already at the second Trullan council in 692 the
Rome
Orient took a strong position against ters of cult
— and
these were already the
in mat-
more
de-
cisive things. I
The formulas
11 "
t?SflrSy
Damascus.
cidental
;
of the Byzantine dogmatics are Oc-
but the
expressed
itself,
which
spirit,
in 431
and 553 had
retained in the interpretation of
the formulas the upper hand, and the cultus and
mystic-system have always been understood monophysitically.
On
the one side, this
was shown
in the
image-controversy, on the other, in the Christological
dogmatics of John of Damascus.
dyophysitical
In spite of the
and dyotheletical formula and the
sharp distinction between nature and person, a fine Apollinarianism, or monophysitism, has been here preserved, in so far as
it
is
taught that the God-
Logos assumed human nature (not of a man) in such a manner that the same was b}T the God-Logos.
That
is
first
individualized
the intermediate thing
already recognized by Leontius, which has no hypostasis of its
own, yet
is
also not without one but
possesses in the hypostasis of the Logos
was adjusted by the doctrine
and the idiomae-communication. w(TL?, ävTidotjis)
Damascan of
an
indepen-
Furthermore, the distinction between the na-
dence. tures
its
ei<s
directly
of the r.zpixwpr^is
The psradofj^
of the attributes of the
(oixei-
two natures, the
will so definitely conceive that he speaks
aXhjka r&v ßipwv neptzmpTjffts.
The
flesh in-
became truly God and the Deity pervades the
deified flesh.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
C— THE TEMPORAL ENJOYMENT
305
OF REDEMP-
TION.
CHAPTER
X.
THE MYSTERIES AND MATTERS AKIN TO THEM.
Already opment
in the 6th century the
dogmatic devel-
Greek Church was concluded and
of the
Tradition-
uahsm
-
even before that each advance was obliged to con-
The reason
tend against aversion and suspicion. for
it
lay in the traditionalism or,
more
correctly, in
which more and more gained the
the ritualism,
upper hand. This ritualism also has a tender, religious, even En^{feent It originated in
Christian root. point out
and
realize the
the endeavor to
enjoyment of an already
which springs from the same source from which the future redemption flows from the God-incarnate Person of Christ and which, present
salvation,
—
—
therefore, is the ally
men
same
in kind as the latter.
thought, touching the present enjoyment of
salvation,
more
of spiritual blessings, of knowledge,
of the strengthening of etc.
Origin-
freedom unto good works,
Bat since the future redemption was
sented as a mysterious deification*,
it
sistent that they should consider the
as mysterious secrations,
and
and
to be
repre-
was only
con-
knowledge
also
communicated by holy con-
that, in accordance
with the idea of
a future physical union with the Deity, they should *
20
See page
199, note.
M y stenes
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
306
way
endeavor to verify for the present time also the unto, Mathesis
foretaste of, this divineness.
This tendency, however, leads directly over to the
becomes Mystagogia
and
paganizing of Christianity
symptom
of
The
it.
spiritual
In this the ritual
nothing, however,
mony;
it
now
the
as the formulas of faith lost
divine,
cere-
In so
more and more
and became in ever
fid&rjats
ritual,
expressing
same time the meaning and purpose
make
magic
the chief thing;
does not bear the slightest change.
higher degree constituents of the
to
is
to
more sensitive than a
is
significance as
at the
iiutnaycayia^
and sensuous, tends more and more
and jugglery.
their
becomes
tuför)
however, originally a shadowy union of the
latter,
far
already a
or, rather, is
of
it, i.e.,
they permitted no longer of any
Wherever the dogma appear valuable
change.
only as a relic of olden times, or only in ritualistic
ceremony, there the history of Mystagogic Theology.
In
its
place
indeed the
dogma
is
at
an end.
comes the mystagogic theology, and
latter,
together and in close union with
scholasticism, took already in the 6th century the
dogma.
place of the history of
two
theology, however, has in
sides.
On
the one side,
creating for itself upon the earth a
and in making
of things, persons
terious symbols
and
ion of necromancy, religion;
for
theologians,
the
The mystagogic
to
new world
and times mys-
vehicles, it leads to the religi.e.
the
back
to the lowest
grade of
masses, and finally even
to
the spirit vanishes and the phlegma,
consecrated
matter,
remains.
As
the
Neo-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
307
Platonic philosophy degenerated into religious bar-
barism, so also Greek Christianity, fluence of the expiring antiquity to it its highest
On
worship.
ogy retains
ideals
and
under the
in-
which bequeathed
became image-
idols,
the other side, the mystagogic theol-
for the "
knowing ones "
its
primitive
pantheistic germ, the fundamental thought that
God
and nature, in the deepest sense, are one, and that nature
is
The Christian
the unfolding of the Deity.
mystagogic theologians also more or thought out and retained these ideas. lation all
less
clearly
Through specu-
and asceticism one can emancipate oneself from
mediums, mediators and
phy takes the place
vehicles.
of the mysteries
;
Mysterioso-
these, like every-
thing concrete and historical, become for the knowing ones pure symbols, and the historical redemption through Christ especially is explained It is
away.
not stransre that two such different forms as .
pantheism and fetishism, although balanced by
Pantheism, Fetishism.
ritu-
alism, should be the final product of the development,
since both were lodged already in the beginning of
the
movement and
are blood-relations;
then they
have their root in the conception of the substantial unity of
opment
God and of
The history of the develthe mysteries and of the theology of mysnature.
teries, strictly taken,
does not belong here, therefore
only a few hints will follow. 1.
At
the beginning of the 4th century the
Church
already possessed a great array of mysteries, the
number and bounds
of which,
however, had by no
gM^S, uieJTtc".
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
308
means been
definitely
determined.
Among them
baptism, together with the accompanying unction,
and the eucharist were the most esteemed; from these also some of the other mysteries have been evolved. to
Symbolic ceremonies, originally intended
accompany these mysteries, became independent.
Thus confirmation had
its origin,
out as
it
the Areopagite called
men
"
,
it ixoarijpiov
"
'pludte
tsX^t?^ ßopoo.
Later
spoke also of a mystery of the sign of the
cross, of relics, of exorcism, of six Mys-
al-
sacramentum" Augussacramentum chrismatis, and
ready numbered as a special tine pointed
which Cyprian
the Areopagite
mT °S<)
l
marriage,
etc.,
enumerates six mysteries:
GOvd%Ew<$^ sir
rsXet(ü(Tewv y povaytxy^
uuv xoixovias^ T£Ä£~7,s /j.opoo y
reXziwaew^
and /J.u
fit)
v''
and wr ^-
Uparuwv zwv iepw$
The enumeration was very arbitrary; mystery was anything sensuous whereby something holy might be thought or enjoyed. They corresponded to the heavenly mysteries, which have their source in the trinity and incarnation. As each fact xexoip.r)p.ii«ov.
of revelation is a mystery, in so far as the Divine
has through is
entered into the sensuous, so in turn
it
each sensuous medium, even a word or action, a
mystery, so soon as the sensuous vehicle
is
—there has never been a strict
a symbol or distinction be-
tween
them— of
teries
were celebrated in the highest terms as union
the Divine.
The
effects of the
mys-
with the Deity; but since they cannot restore
communion with God able to do that)
,
strict
(only Christ
lost
and freedom are
dogmatics was able to say very
< DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. little
The
about them.
feeling,
i.e.
true effect
is
purely one of
experienced in the fantasy:
is
saw, heard, smelt, and
felt
300
Men
the celestial, but a dis-
turbed conscience they could not comfort with the mysteries, nor did one hardly try to do so.
On
this
basis, since
the coarse instinct of the
masses pressed forward, mysteriosophy was develIts roots are as old as the gentile
oped.
Church and
two converging developments may be discerned, the Antiochian and the Alexandrian. The first (Ignatius, the Apostolic Constitutions, Chrysostom) attaches itself to
the cult and priests, the second to the true
gnostic, i.e. to the
The
monk.
first
sees in Divine
worship and in the priest (bishop) the true bequest of the God-incarnate life of Christ
and binds the
layman, viewed as entirely passive, to the cultus hierarchical system,
by which one becomes consecrated
immortality
the second desires to form indepen-
to
;
The Alexandrian myste-
dent virtuosos of religion. riosophy
is
heterodox, but
did not neglect a single
it
phase of the positive religion, rather did use of them
all
by the side
vancing knowledge
it
make
of the graduated ad-
(sacrifice,
blood, reconciliation,
atonement, purification, perfection, means of salvation,
mediator of salvation)
;
true,
viewing them
all
as transition stages, in order to gain through specu-
and asceticism a standpoint from which each vehicle and sacrament, everything holy which ap-
lation
pears under a sensuous cover, becomes profane, be-
cause the soul
now
lives in the
most holy and
be-
Spiiy" ochian andrian.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
310
cause in each
^he ^ W0
11
ArecTa
-
man
a Christ should be born
napou^
;
niysteriosophies, the hierarchical
gnostic, converge in the
and the
mysticism of the great un-
known Dionysius Areopagita
(preliminary
stages
are represented by Methodius, Gregory of Nyssa,
Macarius), who, on the one side, viewed the cult and priesthood as an earthly parallel to the heavenly
hierarchy (to the graded world of spirits as the unfolding of the Deity), on the other, adopted the in-
dividualism of the Neo-Platonic mysticism.
Maximus Confessor
Through
combination became the
this
power which ruled the Church, tried to monarchize
and inoculated
it,
the state
was Mys
°f
7 the Eucharist.
or
^
with the monkish resistance
it
—the only form in which
is
the Greek
to
Church
able to assert its independence.
P ecu ^ ar character of mysteriosophy, as a speculation regarding the making of the Divine perie
ceptible to the senses
and the making of the sensuous
Divine, could in no mystery be more strongly expressed than in the eucharist (Steitz, lehre d.
griech
Theo!., Bd.
Kirche,
IX-XIIL).
i.
d.
Jahrb.
Abendmahlsf.
deutsche
This, long since recognized
as the ground upon which the sublimest spiritualism
can extend
became
its
hand
to the
so developed, that
most massive sensualism,
by
it
the Christological
formula, the fundamental dogma, appeared alive and
comprehensible.
Without giving
to the speculation
on the Lord's Supper a strictly instructional the
same was
cast,
so treated in general, especially after
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
was considered as the directly upon the incarnation
Cyril of Alexandria, that
mystery which
rests
311
it
and perpetuates the mystery
of the
&£iu
su£™anti-
All other
mysteries, in so far as they also contain the blending into one of the heavenly
and
earthly, exist in reality
only by reason of the Lord's Supper.
Here only
is
given an express transmutation of the sensuous into the divine body of Christ; for this conception gained
more and more ground, abolished symbolism and finally carried
its
point altogether.
The transub-
stantiation of the consecrated bread into the
Christ
is
the continuation of the process of the in-
Thereby pure monopliysitic formulas
carnation.
were used in relation to the Lord's Supper characteristic
made
its
body of
— and
—highly
gradually the conception even
way, that the body into which the bread
per assumptionem the very body of Christ, borne by the virgin, of which formerly hardly any one had thought since the older is
transformed
is
theologians also understood under
thing "pneumatic".
Xpiaroo some-
But as the Lord's Supper as a
sacrament was united in the closest manner with the
dogma
of the incarnation
and the Christological
mula (hence the sensitiveness it
of this formula), so
for-
was
likewise connected as a sacrifice with the death on
the cross (repetition of the sacrifice on the cross howJf^esacever, the conception has not been so definitely ex- the cross. ;
fl
pressed in the Greek
Accordingly ical events,
it
Church as
in the Occident).
re-enacted the most important histor-
not as a remembrance, but as a continu-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
312 ation,
a repetition, whereby those facts were
i.e.
deprived of their meaning and significance.
At
the
same time the immoral and irreligious thirst after " realities " changed the sacred act into a repast, in which one
bit the
Deity to pieces with the teeth
(thus already Chrysostom; completion of the doctrine of the Lord's ImageWorship,
of
Greek Christianity
into image-worship, superstition
and poorly veiled
2.
Superstition, Polytheism.
Supper by John of Damascus).
The whole development
polytheism may, however, also be conceived as the victory of a religion of the second order,
which
is
always prevalent in the Church, over the spiritual religion.
The former became legitimized and was
fused with the cloctrina publica, although theolo-
As
gians enjoined certain precautions. temples were reconsecrated and churches, so
was the
angel-, saint-, image-
ligion
made
the pagan
into Christian
paganism preserved as
old
and amulet-worship.
certain measure morally obtuse.
and became in a
True, the connect-
ing links are found in the doctrina publica f
seäud°
W
re-
whose strength had once been the abomination
of idols, finally surrendered to idols
K
The
itself
;
for,
This was constructed out of the material of the
Greek philosophy; but
this
philosophy was inter-
twined by a thousand threads with the mythology
and
superstition, (2) It sanctioned the
Old Testa-
ment, though originally prescribing a spiritual interpretation of
which
it;
but the letter of the Old Testament,
in fact expressed a subordinate religious stage
of development,
became more and more powerful
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. and made advances Church, which
it
313
to the inferior tendencies of the
then appeared to legitimize,
(3)
The acts of baptism and the Lord's Supper, conceived as mysteries, opened in general the doors and windows
The
to the
faith in
inroad of the mystery-nuisance,
(4)
angels and demons, handed down from
antiquity and protected by the doctrina publica,
grew more and more powerful, was fostered
in
a
crude form by the monks, in a spiritual form by the
Neo-Platonic theologians, and threatened more and
more
become the true sphere of
to
which the inconceivable God and the of the
Church doctrine)
was hidden
piety,
(in
behind
consequence
just as inconceivable Christ
The
in the darkness, (5)
old idea that Worship
of
Saints.
there are " saints " (apostles, prophets, ecclesiastical
had already very early been culsuch a manner that these saints interceded
teachers, martyrs)
tivated in
and made atonement for men and took now more and more the place of the dethroned gods, joining themselves to the angel-hosts.
Among them Mary
stepped into the fore-ground and she
— she alone—has
of virgin Mary.
been specially benefited by the trend of the develop-
ment
of the
dogma.
A
woman, a mother now
ap-
peared near the Deitj^, and thereby at last was offered the possibility of bringing to recognition the thing after all
most foreign
to original Christianity
Holy, the Divine in female form
—the
— Mary became the
mother of God, the one who bore God*,
(6)
From
the
* Concerning angel-worship, in so far as the angels serve as mediators of the benefits of salvation, see the Areopagite concerning the spread of ;
angel-worship (especially of the idea of guardian angels) as early as the
0f Relics
-
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
314
earliest times,
death had been sacred to Christians as
the birth-hour of true life; accordingly everything
which had any connection with the death of Chris-
The antique
tian heroes obtained a real sanctity. idol
and amulet business made
relic-
home, but as
and bone- worship in the most disgusting form
in the ful
itself at
contrast between the
form and
its religious
insignificant,
fright-
worth Christians made
plain to themselves the loftiness of their faith,
and
the more unsesthetic a relic appeared, the higher
must be
its
worth
embodiment and f
M?Jcac ies,
of Oracles,
the guarantee of
opened
its
to those
who
recognized in the dis-
obliteration of all sensuous charms, its holiness,
(7)
Finally the Church
doors to that boundless desire to live in
etc.
a world of miracles, to enjoy the holy with the
five
4th century, see Didynius, de trinit. II., 7.— The worship of saints (churches consecrated to a certain saint) was already by about the year 300 highly developed but in the 4th century counter efforts were not wanting (also not concerning angel-worship; see the synod of Laodicea). The Gallic priest Vigilantius especially fought against it, as also against the worship of relics. But the most eminent teachers (Jerome) declared against Vigilantius and worked out a "theology of saints", reserving to God the Aarpeta, but conceding to the saints ti/u.>/
:
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. senses, to receive miraculous hints
315
from the Deity.
Even the most cultured Church fathers of later times did not know how any longer to discern between the real and unreal they lived in a world of magic and loosed completely the tie between religion and moral;
ity (aside
the
more
from asceticism), joining the closely
The ceremonies little modified, came
again
Consulting of oracles of
:
judgments of God, prodigies,
kinds,
thereby
with the sensuous.
out of the gray past of religion, to the surface
latter
etc.
The
all
syn-
ods, originally hostile to these practices, finally con-
sented to them.
The newly gained °
peculiarity J of the r
•
found
its
plainest expression in
the image-controversy
.
Greek Church
image-worship and
After image-worship had
slowly crept into the Church,
it
received a mighty
invigoration and confirmation, unheard of in antiquity,
by the dogma
of the incarnation
and the
cor-
responding treatment of the eucharist (since the 5th Christ
century). being,
yes,
Ttveuim
is
eixt&v
of God,
^woizmov
;
and yet a living
Christ
has rendered,
through the incarnation, the Divine apprehensible to the senses;
the consecrated elements are
same time, the body
sixdvsg
of
Christ,
and
itself.
These ideas called up a new world for con-
templation. to the
yet, at the
of Christ
Everything sensuous, which pertained
Church, became not only a symbol, but also a
vehicle of holy things
men and
;
monks and laytheologians. But among
thus
thus taught the
felt
the
sensuous things the image shows plainest the union
i
m a?e-
Worship church.
in
;
316
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
Images
of the holy with the material.
Mary and
of
of saints
of Christ,
were already in the 5th
century worshipped after the antique fashion
were naive enough
to
fancy themselves
now
;
(4th)
men
secure
from paganism, and they transferred their dogmatical representation
from the
deified
matter in an espe-
— the Aristotelian scholastics also was called in to aid — they were cial
manner
to the images, in
which
able to see the veritable marriage of earthly
and the heavenly tious belief in
form
(hoty)
(besides, the supersti-
images not painted by hand)
scholastics
and mystics gave
But monasticism
also
it
Monas-
.
and traded with
ticism fostered image- worship
Monasticism.
matter
it;
dogmatic form.
advanced the struggle of the
Church toward independence, in contrast with Justinian's state constitution
which
fettered the Church.
In the ?th century the ecclesiastico-monkish resist-
ance to Byzantium retreated behind dyotheletism, just as in the
behind
5th and 6th centuries
monophysitism
;
it
it
had
fled
grew more and more
powerful and sought to gain ecclesiastical freedom,
which the Occident already partly enjoyed. ful
but barbarous emperors endeavored to put an end
by substituting the army for and monks, and to break the independence
to this effort
Church by striking imagetroversy.
Power-
at its peculiarity
— the
priests
of the
image-
Thus originated the frightful image-controversy, which lasted more than a century. In it
worship.
the emperors fought for the absolutism of the state,
and had as an
ally only
a single power, the military
i^mmm
,
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. remaining
for the
317
namely, religious enlight-
allies,
enment and the primitive
tradition of the Church,
which spoke against the images, were powerless. The monks and bishops had on their side the culture,
and science
art
doras Studita)
the
Roman
and living tradition
piety tral
,
of that time (John
Damsc, Theo-
bishop and, furthermore, ;
they fought for the cen-
dogma, which they saw exemplified
in the image-
worship, and for the freedom of the Church.
they could not obtain.
latter
was that the Church retained definitely lost its
The
state.
ob
9
fiövy rjy
ßi-jV tyjV
TU7:ou diaßa(vzi).
Holy, as
peculiarity, but
its
independence with reference to the
(«(TxaGfidv
xard
#e{a
pal points
xai Tt/iTjTtxijV -puay.ovTjfftv a-o-
tzigtiv i^/iäiv älrjfhv^v Xarpziav^ y\-!zpiTzzi
...'*]
t9j<$
Its logical
eüzovos
TL/iij
to
-npioTÖ-
its princi-
The Divine and
descended through the incarnation into
the sensuous, created for itself in the
tem
E7z\
development in
was obviously concluded. it
rather,
7th council at Niceea (787) sanctioned v '
image- Worship vifieiv
The outcome,
The
Church a
sys-
which
offer
of sensuous-supersensuous objects,
themselves for man's gratification.
The image-the-
osophy corresponds to the Neo-Platonic idea (joined with the incarnation-idea) of the One, unfolding himself in
a multiplicity of graduated ideas (prototypes)
reaching
down even
to the earthly.
To Theodorus
was almost more important than dogmatic watch- word for in the authen-
Studita the image the correct tic
;
image one has the real Christ and the real holy
thing
— only the material
is different.
council at Nicsea, 787.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
318
CHAPTER CONCLUSION.
— SKETCH
XI.
OF THE
HISTORIC
BEGIN-
NINGS OF THE ORTHODOX SYSTEM.
(
Origen's Ihnstian system.
A
l.
Christian system upon the foundation
fa e f our p r i nc ipl e s
God, world, freedom and Holy
:
toward the doctrina publica,
Scriptures, tending
and making use
tails
of the total yield of the 'EMyvui)
Origen bequeathed; yet
natd&ia^
of
it
was
in
many
heterodox and as a science of the faith
intended to outbid faith
it
de-
was
Moreover the idea of
itself.
the historical redemption through the true God, Jesus
was not the all-controlling one. 2. The Church could not rest satisfied with the system. It demanded, (1) The identity of the expresChrist,
church not Content system,
sions of faith with the science of faith (especially
since Methodius),
the
c
Such a
(2)
EAAt)M7) -atosia
restriction of the use of
that the realistic sentences of the
regula fielet and of the Bible should remain intact (the opponents of
Origen
:
Epiphanius, Apollinaris,
the monks, Theophilus, Jerome), of the idea of the real
and
(3)
The introduction
historical redemption
through the God-man as the central idea (Athanasius
and his
followers)
ried out, broke
the bottom it
down
was a
down, no one
either
These demands, thoroughly car-
.
the
S}T stem of
Origen, which at
philosophical system.
But break
of the cultured Christians at first
would or could
;
for they estimated
it
as the
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP INCARNATION.
319
science from which one dare not depart and which the Christian faith needed for
its
defence.
In consequence thereof, indistinctness and free- ^esJ^nd dorn ruled till the end of the 4th century in the Ori- ^Jff 400" 3.
ental Church, into which, since Constantine, the old
world had gained an entrance.
To be
through
sure,
Arius and Athanasius the idea of redemption had
become a critical problem, and
later
it
obtained
recognition essentially in the conception which the
Christian faith at that time demanded; but every-
thing on the periphery was entirely insecure:
A
wholly spiritualistic philosophical interpretation of the Bible stood side by side with a coarse realistic
anthropomorphism by the side
one, a massive
of a
Christian-tinted Neo-Platonism, the modified rule of faith
by the side
erable shades
and the
;
of its letter.
Between were innum-
steersman and rudder were wanting,
religion of the second order, thinly veiled
paganism, forced
itself
by
its
own
into the Church, but also into the
power, not only
Church
doctrine.
Right well did the Cappadocians (Gregory of Nyssa) maintain the science of Origen in the midst of tacks right and that
it
was
at-
and they lived in the conviction
left,
possible to reconcile ecclesiastical faith
with free science. like Socrates
Ecclesiastically inclined
acknowledged them
laymen
to be in the right,
and at the same time Greek theology penetrated into the Occident and
But by the side the
fall of
became there an important leaven.
of
it
there
grew
up, especially after
Arianism, in close alliance with barbar-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
320
ism a monkish and communal orthodoxy, which was very hostile to the independent ecclesiastical science,
off the
no means of warding
latter surely neglected
and the
Were
heterodox Hellenism.
bishops (Synesius),
who
there not even
gave a different
either
terpretation to the principal dogmas, or denied contest Against S g sys tem
4.
Under such circumstances the
rowed down
was the
nius,
situation nar-
to a contest against Origen.
"EXXrjvtxij Ttatdeia
it
them?
His name
a principle, the well-known use of
signified
who
in ecclesiastical science.
passionate, learned
in-
the
In Palestine
and narrow Epipha-
disturbed the circles of the monkish ad-
mirers of Origen, together with
bishop John of
In Egypt the bishop Theophilus found
Jerusalem.
himself obliged, in order to retain his influence, to surrender Origen to the
This
is
monks and
to
condemn him.
one of the most consequential facts in the
history of theology.
Of not
less
consequence was
it,
that the greatest theologian of the Occident (Jerome), living in the Orient, once an admirer of Origen,
made common cause with Theophilus, in order to preserve his own ecclesiastical authority, and stamped Origen as a heretic.
In the controversy into which
he on that account
with his old friend Rufinus,
the
Roman
demned
in
However,
bishop took a part.
Rome
it
tical action lost
fell
(399)
Origen was also con-
and Rufinus was censured.
did not come as yet to general ecclesias-
against Origen.
The controversy was
sight of in the contest of Theophilus against
Chrysostom.
Even
in the 5th
and 6th century Ori-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION.
321
gen had numerous admirers among the monks and
laymen in the Orient, and partly hushed
his heterodoxies
were
up by them, partly approved.
The great controversy about the Christological dogma in the 5th century next silenced all other contests. But the difference between the Alexandrians and the Antiochians was also a general scientific one. 5.
The former took
idea of redemption)
istic if
left
upon tradition and
their position
counting
,
wing who
still
on some adherents
inclined toward the Origen-
Neo-Platonic philosophy and
who were tolerated
they hid their heterodoxies behind the mysticism
were sober exegetes with a
of the cult; the latter
tendency, favoring the philosophy of Aris-
critical totle,
but rejecting the spiritualizing method of Ori-
gen.
The heterodox element
in so far as they
the
arms
had not
fully
in the Alexandrians,
thrown themselves into
of traditionalism, pointed
still
in the direc-
pantheism (re-interpretation of the regula)
tion of
in the Antiochians
central dogmas.
the old
heresies
to the East,
it
;
lay in the conception of the
Forced to stand on guard against
which had
wholly
withdrawn
the Antiochians remained the "anti-
gnostic " theologians
and boasted that they carried
The last of them, Theodoret, appended to his compendium of heretical fables a 5th Book: "ftetcuv doy/jArcM krurop:q ", which must be
on the battles of the Lord.
recognized as the
first
systematic effort after Origen,
and which apparently had great influence upon John 21
g"
inThesth
(concerning the realistically conceived
speculation
on the
s
^cai con
Theo-
compeu
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
322 of
The "epitome"
Damascus.
and Christological
It unites the trinitarian
tance.
dogmas with the whole upon the
creed.
It
of great impor-
is
circle of
dogmas depending
shows an attitude as obviously
Biblical, as it is ecclesiastical
and reasonable.
keeps everywhere to the "golden mean".
It
It is al-
most complete and also pays especial regard once more It admitted none of the to the realistic eschatology. offensive doctrines of Origen,
A system
not treated as a heretic. not, but the
and yet Origen was this epitome is
uniform soberness and clearness in the
treatment of details and the careful Biblical proofs give to the whole a unique stamp. course satisfy
person of
its
;
in the first place,
It
could not of
on account of the
author, and then because everything
mystical and Neo-Platonic
is
wanting
in its doctrinal
content. Mysteri-
6.
After the Chalcedon creed
science
all
came
to
osophy and scnoiasticisni.
a stand-still in the orthodox Church
:
There were no
longer " Antiochians", or " Alexandrians " logical
work died out almost completely.
;
free theo-
However,
the century preceding the 5th council shows two
remarkable appearances.
First,
a mysteriosophy
gained more and more ground in the Church, which did not work at dogmas but stood with one foot upon the ground of the religion of the second order (superstition,
cult),
with the other upon Neo-Platonism
(the pseudo-Areopagite)
;
second, a scholasticism
grew up, which presupposed the dogma as given and appropriated it by means of apprehensible distinc-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. tions (Leontius of
Byzantium)
.
323
In the spirit of both
tendencies Justinian carried on his religious politics.
thereon he closed the school of
.Relying
Athens,
and
also the old ecclesiastical schools, the Origenistic
Antiochian.
The 5th council sanctioned the
demnation of Origen
(in 15
con-
anathemas his heterodox
sentences were rejected) and the condemnation of the "
three chapters".
origen's
Teaching dei£n"d
by
council.
Henceforth there was no longer a
theological science going back to
first
There existed only a mysticism of cult
principles.
(truly,
with a
hidden heterodox trend) and scholasticism, both in
ways
(Maximus Confessor). Thereby a condition was reached for which the "conservatives" at all times had longed; but certain
in closest connection
through the condemnation of Origen and the Antiochians one was
now
defenceless against the massive
Biblicism and a superstitious realism, and that was
a result which originally
men had
not desired.
In
the image-worship, on the one side, and the fussy
Gen.
literal translation of
1-3,
on the other,
is
re-
vealed the downfall of theological science.
As
the Cappadocians (in addition papp^^}^ to Athanasius and Cyril) above all were considered PMÜhr«S, 7.
to the
n authoritative;
ßäürj
,,
/
i
a
•
as to the ^uarayuyyta^ the Areopagite
Aristotle
andciuysostom
and Maximus; as öfitXta,
all
Chrysostom.
these,
who
to
Aristotle; as to the
But the man who comprehended
transferred the scholastico-dialectic
method, which Leontius had applied to the dogma of the incarnation, to the
vine
dogmas"
whole compass of "the
di-
as Theodoret had established them,
A
ri ~
"ie°
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
324 John
of
Damascus T»,'!i!o.iox
was j hn
Church gained Church
him the Greek Through °
Damascus.
of
its
orthodox system, but not the Greek
The work
alone.
John was none the
of
became the founda-
important for the Occident.
It
tion of mediaeval theology.
John was above
Each
scholastic.
difficulty
was
less
him only a
to
all
a
chal-
lenge to artfully split the conceptions and to find a
new
conception to which nothing in the world corre-
which
sponds, except just that difficulty
to
be
The fundamental
removed by the new conception.
question also of the science of the Middle
him
is
Ages was
The question of nomialism and realism he solved it by a modified Arisalready propounded by
:
;
All doctrines had already been provided
totelianism. for
him; he
and the works considered
them
finds
it
of the
in the decrees of councils fathers.
He
work them
over.
acknowledged
the duty of science to
Thereby the two principal dogmas were placed within the circle of the teachings of the old anti-gnostically
Of the
interpreted symbol.
Holy Scriptures a very modest use
of the
The any
letter of Scripture
rate
docians.
ogy
much more
ture narrations,
strict
linaris
made.
decidedly than with the Cappa-
concealed
this, the natural theol;
highly realistic Scrip-
which are piously
themselves around
is
dominates on the whole, at
In consequence of
is also closely
—the
allegorical explanation
it.
But what
received, twine
most perplexing
is
connection which in Athanasius, Apol-
and Cyril unites the
tion, in general, the
trinity
dogma which
and the incarna-
is
associated with
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF INCARNATION. the benefit of salvation,
'
is
325
John
entirely « dissolved.
has innumerable dogmas, which must be believed; -,
.
-,
but they stand no longer clear, under a consistent
The end to which the dogma once contributed as a means still remained, but the means are changed it is the cult, the mysteries, into which the scheme.
;
4th book also overflows.
Consequently the system
lacks an inward, vital unity.
In reality
it is
not an
explanation of faith, but an explanation of
its pre-
form
of treat-
suppositions,
and it has
its
unity in the
ment, in the high antiquity of the doctrines and in the
Holy Scriptures.
The dogmas have become the
sacred legacy of the classical antiquity of the Church
but they have sunk, so to speak, into the ground.
Image-worship mysticism and scholasticism dom>,
inate the Church.
•'"'"!
llf
"
quires
numerable Dogmas.
BOOK
II.
EXPANSION AND RECASTING OF THE DOGMA INTO A DOCTRINE CONCERNING SIN, GRACE AND THE MEANS OF GRACE UPON THE BASIS OF THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER
I.
HISTORICAL SURVEY. Baur, Vorl. üb. d. christl. DG., 2. Bd., 1866. Bach, Die DG. des MA., 2 Bde., 1873 seq. Schwane, DG. der mittl. Zeit, 1882. Thomasius- Seeberg, Die christl. DG., 2. Bd., 1. Abth., 1888. Basal Eie-
ments
Dogma
ril HE
history of
dogma
in the Occident during
of
History of
the thousand years between the migration of J °
JL_
iu
Occident.
^ie na ti ons
Reformation was evolved from
an(j the
the following elements
:
(1)
From the distinctive pecu-
liarity of Occidental Christianity as represented
Tertullian, Cyprian, Lactantius, etc.,
(2)
From
by the
Hellenic theology introduced by the theologians of the 4th century, •
(3)
From Augustinianism,
the Christianity of Augustine,
degree
— From
manic nations.
the
new needs
The
Roman
(4)
—in
of the
dogma
in the Middle 326
from
a secondar}^
Romano-Ger-
bishop became in an
increasing measure the decisive authority. tory of
i.e.
Ages
is
The his-
the history of
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
dogma
the
had
of the
Roman
home, not in
its
327
SIN, ETC.
Church, although theology-
Italy,
but in
North Africa
and France. 2.
The carrying out
of spiritual monotheism, the
disclosure of individualism
and the delineation
inward process of the Christian
life (sin
^J^|"
of the
and grace)
indicate the importance of Augustine as a pupil of
But since he
the Neo-Platonists and of Paul.
also
championed the old dogma and at the same time
new problems and aims for kingdom of God upon the earth,
brought forward
the
Church as the
his
rich
mind bore within
itself all
the tensions whose
living strength determined the history of
dogma
in
Even the system of morality and the sacramental superstition, which later almost absorbed Augustinianism, were placed by Augustine among the Occident.
the
first
new later
As
principles of his doctrine of religion.
element, Aristotelianism
a
was added during the
Middle Ages, and this strengthened the afore-
said system of morality, but on the other
hand
it
beneficially limited the Neo-Platonic mysticism. 3.
The
piety of Augustine did not live in the old
dogma, but he respected
it
as authority and used
as building-material for his doctrine of religion.
cordingly side,
dogma
other,
far-reaching transformations within theology self.
Ac-
in the Occident became, on the one
Church discipline and law and, on the
it-
The consequence was that during the Mid-
dle Ages, in spite of all changes,
men
gjjjf^g: d
it
surrendered
themselves to the illusion of simply persisting in the
TEeoiogy
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
328
dogma of
new was either
the 5th century, because the
not recognized as such, or
was reduced
ministrative rule in the indeed thority of the
Roman bishop.
the Tridentine council, of affairs.
still
to a
controverted, au-
The Reformation,
dogma
i.e.
put an end to this state
first
Only since the 16th century,
can the history of
mere ad-
in the
therefore,
Middle Ages be sep-
arated from the history of theology, and described. Pietism, Sacra-
ments, Scientific
4.
Especially to be observed are,
(1)
The history
of
pietism (Augustine, Bernard, Francis, so-called re-
Theology.
formers before the Reformation) in for the recasting of
raments, totle,
dogma,
(3) Scientific
significance
The doctrine of the sac-
(2)
theology (Augustine and Aris-
fides et ratio) in its influence
tivation of doctrine.
its
Back
there lay in the later Middle
of
upon the
these
free cul-
developments
Ages the question of per-
sonal surety of faith and of personal Christian character,
which was repressed by the active power
of the visible Church. efficient of all spiritual
until
it
The and
was the silent cotheological movements
latter
became plainly audible in the contest over
the right of the pope. Divisions in
of
History
Dogma
ot's'infetc.
5.
Division:
(1)
Occidental Christianity and Oc-
cidental Theology before Augustine, (2) Augustine, (3)
Provisional Adjustment of Prse-Augustinian and
Augustinian Christianity until Gregory Carolingian Revival,
Epoch,
(6)
lasticism tion.
(5)
I.,
(4)
The
The Clugnian-Bernardine
Epoch of the Mendicant Orders, of Schoand of the Reformers before the Reforma-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
CHAPTER
SIN, ETC.
329
II.
OCCIDENTAL CHRISTIANITY AND OCCIDENTAL THEOLOGIANS BEFORE AUGUSTINE. Nöldechen, Tertullian, Förster, Ambrosius, 1884.
Hieronymus,
1865.
Cyprian, 1885. Reinkens, Hilarius, 1864. Zöckler, Völter, Donatismus, 1882. Nitzsch, O. Ritschl,
1890.
Boethius, 1860.
Occidental Christianity, in contradistinction ^ Oriental, was determined by two personalities
1.
to
—
Tertullian
and Augustine
policy, conscious of its
the
aim
Roman Church and The Christianity J
2.
its
and the
in serving
and
was determined enthusiastic and strict
anti -gnostic rule of faith.
In accord-
everywhere in religion legal axioms and formulas,
and he conceived the relationship between God and Furthermore his theology
bears a syllogistic-dialectical stamp osophize, but
it
;
it
does not phil-
reasons, alternating between argu-
ments ex auctoritate and
e ratione.
On
the other
hand, Tertullian frequently strongly impresses one
by his psychological observation and indeed by an empirical psychology. ifest
Finally his writings man-
^practical, evangelical attitude, determined by
the fear of
God
e
popes.
bishops.
old,
as that of civil law.
a
ruling, of
ance with his juristic training he endeavored to secure
man
Augustine
the
of Tertullian
through contrast by the faith
— and, in addition, by
Tertuinan,
as the Judge, and an insistance upon
will and action, which the speculative Greeks lacked.
christianity of
Tertulhan
-
;
330
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
In
these points
all
tianity Naturalized in
Occident
by Cyprian.
and in
became typical
their
mixture his Chris-
for the Occident.
The Christianity of Tertullian, blunted in many respects and morally shallow (" de opere et eleemosynis "), yet clerically worked out (" de imitate eccle3.
siae"), became naturalized in the Occident through
Cyprian, the great authority of Latin Christendom side
by side with
it
that Ciceronian theology with
apocalyptical additions, represented
Lactantius,
maintained
itself.
by Minucius and
Religion
was "the
law", but after the Church had under compulsion declared all sins pardonable (Novatian crisis), religion
was
also the ecclesiastical penitential institute.
theologian, however, before Augustine really adjust
"lex" and "venia".
In
was
No
able to
Rome and
Carthage they labored at the strengthening of the Church, at the composing of an ecclesiastical rule of morals possible of fulfilment, and at the education of
community through divine service and penitential rules. The mass-Christianity created the clergy and the sacraments, the clergy sanctified the monthe
grel religion for the laity.
most entirely Tertullianic,
The formulas were alyet his spirit was being
crushed out. Occident Receives Origenistic
Theology and Monasticism
from Orient.
The Occident and the Orient were already separated in the age of Constantine, but the Arian contest brought them again together. The Occidental 4.
orthodoxy supported the Oriental and received from it
two great
gifts
:
and monasticism.
Scientific (Origenistic) theology
These were in reality a single
:
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
SIN, ETC.
331
monasticism (the ideal of divinely inspired
gift, for
celibacy in close union with God) plication
of
is
the practical ap-
Thus the Occidental
that "science".
theology of the last half of the 4th century
is repre-
sented by two lines which converge in Augustine
The
line
of
the Greek scholars
(Hilary,
Victor-
inus Rhetor, Rufinus, Jerome) and the line of the
genuine Latin scholars (Optatus, Pacian, PrudenIn both lines, however, must
tius).
named
as
theologically
Ambrose be
most important
the
fore-
runner of Augustine. 5.
The Greek
scholars transplanted the scientific x
Ambrose, \ ictorinus,
(pneumatic) exegesis of Philo and Origen and the ^SSSiiJ speculative orthodox theology of the Cappadocians pagite.
5
"
With
into the Occident.
the
first
they silenced the
doubts in regard to the Old Testament and met the onset of Manichseism, with the second they, especially
Ambrose, relaxed the tension which existed
until after the year 381,
between the orthodoxy of the
Through three suc-
Orient and that of the Occident. cessive contributions
Greek speculation entered into
the theology of the Occident,
Victorinus and Augustine,
Through Ambrose, Through Boethius in
(1)
(2)
the Gth century (here Aristotelian), (3)
Areopagite in the 9th century.
Through the
In Victorinus
is al-
ready found that combination of Neo-Platonism and Paulinism, which forms the foundation of the Augustinian theology
;
in
Ambrose
is
already conspicu-
ous that union of speculation and religious individualism,
which characterizes the great African.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
332 Problem of Latin Church.
The
G.
real
problem of the Latin Church was the
application of the Christian law, and the ecclesiasti-
In the Orient they laid
cal treatment of sinners.
greater weight upon the effects of the cultus as a single institution
and upon
self-education
silent
through asceticism and prayer; in the Occident they
had a greater sense of standing in religious relations to law, in
which they were responsible
but also might expect from
it
to the
Church,
sacramental and pre-
catory assistance through individual appropriation.
The sense
of sin as open guilt
This reacted upon their conception of the
developed.
As
Church.
was more strongly
regards the development of the
latter,
Optatus (de scliismate Donatistarum) was the fore-
runner of Augustine, as regards the stricter conception of sin, Donatist Controversy.
Ambrose.
The Donatist controversy,
in
which the Montanist
and Novatian controversies were continued under a
had
peculiar limitation, rels
;
but
it
its roots
in personal quar-
soon acquired an importance on principle.
The Donatist party (in the course of development it became an African national party, assumed in opposition to the state, siastical attitude
which oppressed
it,
a
free, eccle-
and even cultivated a revolutionary
enthusiasm) denied
the validity of
an ordination
administered by a traitor, and therefore also the validity of the sacraments
which a
bishop, conse-
crated by a traitor, administered (consequently the
demand the old
for re-baptism)
demand
that in
.
was the last remnant of the Church not only the inIt
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF above
stitution, but
all
SIN, ETC.
333
the persons must be hol}T
,
and the Donatists were able
to appeal for their theses
to the celebrated Cyprian.
At
least a
minimum
personal worthiness in the clergy should necessary, in order that the the true Church.
idea.
Optatus above
holiness of the
it
the Catholics
of the "objective"
all
be
still
Church might remain
In opposition to
drew the consequences
of
Church
asserted that the truth and
Church resides
in the sacraments,
optatus
and
that therefore the personal quality of the adminis-
una est, cuius sanctitas de sacramentis colligitur, non de superbia personarum ponderatur") he furthermore showed, trator is immaterial (" ecclesia
;
that the Church, in contrast with the conventicle of the Donatists, held the guarantee of its truth in
They
Catholicity.
also hit
ciple in so far as they
upon an evangelical prin-
emphasized faith at the side
and with the sacrament, in opposition sanctity.
Thus already
ation for the
Roman
its
to personal
prior to Augustine the found-
Catholic doctrine of the Church
and the sacraments was laid by Optatus.
But
Am-
brose especially had emphasized faith in connection
with a deeper conception of
sin.
Since Tertullian
the conception of sin as Vitium originis and as sin
against
God was known
in the Occident.
Ambrose
extended the view in both directions and appreciated accordingly the importance of the Pauline idea of gratia, justification and remissio peccatorum ("il-
lud mihi prodest, quod
bus legis
.
.
.
non justificamur ex
operi-
gloriabor in Christo; non gloriabor,
Ambrose
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
334
quia iustus sum, sed gloriabor, quia redemptus
sum ")
.
It
was
in the Occident
sin
of epochal significance that people
became attentive
and grace, law and
when they
to Pauline ideas of
gospel, at
the very time
externalized the conception of the
and created a doctrine
of the sacraments.
Church
Ambrose
was strongly influenced by the common Catholic views respecting law, virtue and himself,
it is
true,
merit.
Peculiariiies of
cSätfan-
The more
God, the strong c feelm & °f responsibility to the Judge, the consciousness of God as a moral Power restrained or relaxed by no vital conception of j.
speculations concerning nature, the conception
man whose work
Christ as the sight of
God an
for us possesses in the
infinite value, the
factio) Dei through
of
placatio (satis-
Church as a peda-
his death, the
gogical institution securely relying upon the
means
Holy Scripture as
of salvation (the sacraments), the
lex Dei, the symbol as the sure content of doctrine,
the conceiving of the Christian
view of
more
guilt,
life
atonement and merit, even
ecclesiastically
than religiously,
represented the peculiarities of Augustine Affirms
^fornS forms Them.
18 "
from the points of
He
tianity prior to Augustine. L °
transformed them.
Above all
tion awaited a solution.
By
if
conceived
— in
these are
Occidental
Chris-
affirmed and Jyet
the soteriological ques-
the side of Manichsean,
Origenistic-Neo-Platonic and stoic-rationalistic conceptions of
evil
and
of
redemption there flickered
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP also near the year 400 here
and there
Pauline conceptions, which, as a laxities,
yet nevertheless in
SIN, ETC.
335
in the Occident
rule,
covered moral
some representatives
were expressions for evangelical convictions which did not harmonize with the times and would therefore of necessity be fatal to the Catholic
vinian)
one considers in addition that about the
If
.
Church ( Jo-
year 400 paganism was
still
a power, one can com-
He
prehend what a problem awaited Augustine!
would not have been able
to solve it for the
Occidental Church, had the latter not been
and
existed,
able existence
it
almost seems as though
had only been prolonged
world-historical
still
a
The Western Roman empire
unit at that time. still
whole
work
of
Augustine
CHAPTER
to
its
miser-
make
the
possible.
III.
THE WORLD-HISTORICAL POSITION OF AUGUSTINE AS REFORMER OF CHRISTIAN PIETY. Bindermann,
Böhringer, der h. Aug., 3 Bde., 1844-69. 1877 f. Reuter, August. Studien, 1887. Harnack, Aug. 's Confessionen, 1888. Bigg, The Christian Platonists of Alex., 1886.
Augustin,
2.
Aufl.,
One may
seek to construct Augustinianism from
the premises of the current Occidental Christianity (see the previous chapter) or
from the course
of the
training of Augustine (the pagan father, the pious Christian mother, Cicero's Hortensius, ManichsBism, Aristotelianism, Neo-Platonism with
its
mysticism
Elements AugUSiniamsm.
in t
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
and skepticism, the influence
Ambrose and
of
of
monasticism), but neither of these methods of proced-
even both of them, will entirely accomplish
ure, nor Augustine Redis-
covered Religion.
Augustine in religion discovered
the end in view.; religion
living
he recognized his heart as the lowest, the
;
God
as the highest good
;
lie
possessed an en-
chanting ability and facility for expressing inward observations: In this consist his individuality his greatness.
dued grief
man
lifts
In the love of
of his soul
united Religion
and
Morality.
in the sub-
he found that elation which
above the world and makes him another
being, while prior to
that
God and
and
him
theologians had dreamed
man must become another
being in order to be
able to be saved, or
had contented themselves with
striving after virtue.
He separated nature and grace,
but bound together religion and morality and gave to the idea of the good a the
phantom
moralism;
new meaning.
He
destroyed
of the popular antique psychology
he
discarded
the
intellectualism
and
and
optimism of antiquity, but allowed the former to vive again in the pious thought of the in the loving
God
true existence
;
re-
man who found
and in terminat-
ing Christian pessimism, he at the same time passed
beyond Made Religion a
Thing of the Heart.
it
through the surety of pardoning grace.
But more than
he held before every soul
all,
gloiy and responsibility
and
its
God.
munal and
He
cultus
— God and
form and restored life.
own
the soul, the soul
rescued religion from
as a gift and as a gracious
its
it
its
com-
to the heart
Love, unfeigned
humility and strength to overcome the world, these
— DEVELOPMENT OP DOCTRINE OF are the elements of religion and
its
SIN, ETC.
blessedness
337
they
;
spring from the actual possession of the loving God.
men who
"Happy
are
strength,
who from
the
consider Thee their
their heart
walk in Thy
steps".
This message Augustine preached to the Christianity
and of
of his time
all
times.
The Prge-Augustinian piety was a wavering between fear and hope. It lived not in the faith. Knowing and doing good, it taught, brings salvation, 1.
man
after that
own
;
man
but
does not experience
sal-
Neither baptism nor asceticism freed from
men
fear ;
Piety.
has received forgiveness for past sins
through baptism vation.
Prae-Augustinian
did not feel strong enough to trust in their
virtue, nor guilty
and believing enough
comfort in the grace of
God
in Christ.
hope remained; they were tremendous
to take
Fear and
Fear and Hope.
They
forces.
shook the world and built the Church but they were ;
not able to create for the individual a blessed
Augustine advanced from sins to sin and °
ing
God
is
him from only,
all
have
I
affiliated the guilty
the
new
sinned
"
quod vis
—
the liv-
—
"
Thou,
"
Against Thee, Thee
O
Lord, hast created
us in thy likeness, and our heart "
man and
teaching which distinguishes
his predecessors.
finds its rest in
from
The exclusiveness and firmness
baptism to grace.
with which he
quilt,' u
life.
Thee"
is restless
"da quod
till it
tubes, et tube
quod quisque novit, non fruitur, nisi et id diligit, neque quisquam in eo, quod percipit, X)ermanet nisi dilectione". This is the mighty " eo,
concord which his ear caught from the Holy Scrip-
G} nt and i Grace.
;
338
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
tures,
from the deepest contemplation of the human
heart and from the speculation concerning the A11
is
Sn' Against
God
In a
aD ^ ^ as ^ things.
that the Spirit exists
Sin
is
devoid of
spirit is
God all
against
God
Furthermore,
all
ing relationship, namely that to God.
life of
sin
for a created spirit has only
;
is sin
the only good remaining.
the sphere and the form of the inner
every natural man.
first
is
one
Sin
is
sin last-
the
disposition to be an independent being (superbia)
and unrest.
therefore is its form desire
never appeased lust and fear.
rest is revealed the
The
;
In this un-
latter is evil, the
former when striving after
when striving after perishable goods is evil. We must strive to be happy ("infelices esse nolumus sed nee velle possumus") this striving is the life bestowed upon us by God bliss (blessedness) is good,
but
—
which cannot be Mihi Adhaerere Deo Bo-
num
Est.
lost
—but there
is
only one good, one
"Mihi adhaerere deo bonum Only in the atmosphere of God does the soul est." live and rest. But the Lord who created us has redeemed us. Through grace and love which have bliss
and one
rest:
been revealed in Christ, he traction to himself,
calls
us back from dis-
makes ex nolentibus volentes and
bestows upon us thereby an incomprehensible
being which consists of faith and love. inate in
Gratis Data.
"
;
to us.
But
with that humility which renounces
The
living
faith is faith in the
gratia gratis data", and love is joy in
vidual.
These orig-
God they are the means by which the
God imparts himself Gratia
new
all
God that
blended is indi-
soul regards these favors as a perpetual
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF gift
and a holy mystery,
thing that faith
God
requires
which
God and
forget that
and in
justice
endowed with which prevails
possesses that peace
above unrest and
fear. it
sin, yet it
It
is still
339
acquires every-
it
for a heart
;
and love acquires that
before
ment
in
SIN, ETC.
which
exalts
cannot indeed for a mo-
entangled with the world
always associates grace with
sin.
Sin and misery overcome b$ faith, humility and love
—that
of faith rest
In the absorbing thoughts
Christian piety.
is
which thus continually recur the
and yet
In this
Occident
ever strives irrepressibly upward.
mode
closed itself of piety
it
soul is at
and thinking disO religion O more deeply, and the Augustinian type of feeling °
became the authoritative standard till
the Reformation, yes even
in the
Augustinlan
p ie ty
ItlnTard Occident.
this day;
till
however a quietistic, one might almost say a narcotic element is hidden therein
which
is
not found
in the Gospel. 2.
In the foregoing the piety of Augustine
one-sidedly defined.
is
only
There was also in his piety a
Catholic spirit; yes, he
first
ic
E 5^n t
in
hls Piety
*
created that intermin-
gling of the freest, individual surrender to the Divine
with the constant, obedient submission to the Church as an institution
endowed with the means
of grace,
so characteristic of Occidental Catholicism. tail
In de-
the following points are especially to be empha-
sized, in
which he affirmed the
and even enhanced the same:
"
Catholic " element,
(1)
First,
he trans-
formed the authorit}' of the Church into a religious
power and gave
to practical religion a doctrine con-
Authority t'
lmrch
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
340
In this he was guided by two
earning the Church. considerations, viz.
Skepticism and an appreciation
:
communion as an historIn the first place, he was convinced that ical power. the isolated individual could not by any means arrive
of the value of ecclesiastical
at a full
and safe understanding
revealed teaching
—
it
of the truth of the
presents too
many
stumbling-
blocks; like as he therefore threw himself into the
arms
of the authority of the
general, that the
the faith,
Church, so he taught in
Church stands for the truth of
where the individual
is
not able to rec-
ognize the same, and that accordingly acts of faith Church Organ of Grace.
are at the
ond
same time
place, while
In the sec-
acts of obedience.
breaking with moralism he recog-
nized that the gratia had had an historical effect and
had made the Church position of the
its
Church
organism.
Insight into the
Roman em-
in the tottering
pire strengthened this view.
But not only as skeptic
and historian did Augustine recognize the importance of the Church, but also by virtue of his strong piety.
This piety wanted external authority as
every living religious faith has always wanted will God Exchanged Grace and Sacrafor
want
of the
it.
Augustine found
Church.
(2)
it
it
and
in the testimony
Although he unequivocally
knowledged in his Confessions
:
Religion
is
ac-
the pos-
n if nits.
sessing of the living God, yet in the interpretation of his theology he
exchanged the living God for
the gratia, the latter for the sacraments, and thus
compressed, as
and most
it
were, that which
is
most living
free into a material benefit entrusted to the
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
SIN, ETC.
341
Misled by the burning conflicts of the time
Church.
(Donatist controversy)
he thus paid the heaviest
tribute to current ideas
and founded the sacramental
Church
of the
Middle Ages.' But wherever he goes
beyond the sacraments back
to
God
himself, there
he has always been in danger
in subsequent times
of neutralizing the importance also of Christ
and
of
losing himself in the abyss of the thought of the sole-efficiency of (3) v '
God
(doctrine of predestination).
Although with ö he acknowledged ö
his heart
all
Doctrine of Merits.
the gratia gratis data and, consequently, the sover-
eignty of faith, yet he also united with
it
the old
scheme, that the ultimate destiny of the single individual depends upon
He
"
merits
"
and upon these
only.
accordingly saw in the merita resulting from
the fides caritate formata,
munera, the aim
of all Christian development,
he thereby not only made tain the old
which indeed are Dei
it
and
easy for futurity to
scheme under the cover
re-
of his words,
but he himself also failed to perceive the real essence of
faith
(i.e.
steadfast confidence
in
God,
result-
ing from the assurance of the forgiveness of sin) as the highest gift of God. instilled love
Christ.
(4)
was
His doctrine, however, of
neutral as regards the historical
Although Augustine was able
to the joy of that blessedness
^ffS*
which the Christian
Thls Llfe
already possesses in faith and in love, yet he
was
not able to present a definite aim to the present
life
he shared in general the traditional Catholic disposition of mind,
and the quietism
6
to testify
of his piety imparted
:
342
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA. Christian activity no
to
new
That
impulses.
it
work "de civitate not intended by Augustine.
should receive such through the dei " was in reality 7
Augustine's theology
basis of the peculiar
is to
form
be understood upon the
His religious
of his piety.
theories are in part nothing else than theoretically
explained frames of in these
mind and
But
experiences.
were also collected the manifold religious
experiences and moral reflections of the old world
The psalms and Paul, Plato and the Neo-Platonists, the moralists, Tertullian and Ambrose, all are
—
found again in Augustine.
CHAPTER
IV.
THE WORLD-HISTORICAL POSITION OF AUGUSTINE AS TEACHER OF THE CHURCH. Augustine
The the
Doctrines.
ancient Church expounded
centres
of
theology from
Christplogy and the doctrine
freedom (doctrine of morals)
two centres
its
together.
;
of
Augustine drew the
The good became
to
him
axis for the contemplation of all blessings.
the
Moral
good and redemptive good should include each other (ipsa virtus et
praemium
virtutis)
dogmatics down from the heavens
;
.
He
yet did not dis-
card the old conception but amalgamated the new.
brought
it
with
In his interpretations of the symbol this
Through his prsetSne^ow- union i s most clearly manifest. m e Catholic development and conversion, then through pHcated "
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
343
with Donatism and Pelagianism, Chris-
his conflict
tianity appeared to
much
SIN, ETC.
him
in a
new form; but
inas-
as he considered the symbol as the essence of
doctrine, his conception of doctrine necessarily be-
came complicated ogy and
of
—a union of the old Catholic theol-
the old ecclesiastical scheme with his
new thoughts on into the
the doctrine of faith compressed
frame of the symbol.
This mixture of
ele-
ments, which the Occidental Church has preserved until this day,
subsequently caused contradictions
and rendered the old dogma impressionless. In detail the following discrepancies in the theol- 5S? m^'s eo ogy ogy of Augustine are especially to be noted (1) The '
:
discrepancies between .symbol
who those
him.
and
Those
Scripture.
place Scripture above the symbol, as well as
who
prescribe the opposite order, can refer to
Augustine strengthened Biblicism and at the
same time
also the position of those ecclesiastics
who
The
dis-
with Tertullian refuted the Biblicists.
(2)
crepancy between the principle of Scripture and the principle of salvation.
Augustine taught, on the
one hand, that only the substance
(i.e.
salvation) is
of importance in the Scriptures; yes,
he advanced
as far sometimes as that spiritualism
which skips
over the Scriptures
;
on the other hand, he could not
rid himself of the thought that every
Scriptures
is
absolute revelation.
(3)
word
The
of the
discrep-
ancy between his conceptions of the essence of ion
;
on the one hand,
it is faith,
love,
hope
;
relig-
yet,
on
the other, knowledge and super-terrestrial, immortal
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
344 life;
it
grace,
should aim to secure blessedness through
and again through the amor intellectualis.
Faith as conceived by Paul and a non-cosmic mysticism contend for the primacy.
The
(4)
discrep-
ancy between the doctrine of predestined grace and a doctrine of grace that is essentially an ecclesias-
and sacramental doctrine.
tical
(5)
Discrepancies
Thus
within the principal lines of thought.
in the
doctrine of grace the thought of the gratia
per
Christum not infrequently
with
{propter)
conflicts
the conception of a grace flowing independently from
Christ out of the original being of
mum bonum
summum
and
God
esse.
as the sum-
Thus,
in his
ecclesiastical doctrine, the hierarchical-sacramental
basal element is not reconciled with a liberal, uni-
versal view, such as originated with the apologists. P
One can
narfan! logic,
of
and
Ecclesiastico-sacra-
mental
-
Elements.
distinguish three planes in the theology
Augustine
The
:
predestinarian, the soteriologic,
plane of the authority an d the r J and of the sacraments Q £ ^e Church but one would not do him justice, ;
if
one should describe these elevations separately, for
in his
summary
of the
whole they are united.
because his rich spirit embraced cies
these discrepan-
and characteristically represented them as
periences, has
Church and mystics;
ex-
he become the father of the Church
of the Occident. -
all
Just
He
is
the father of the
Roman
of the Reformation, of Biblicists
yes, even
the
and
of
Renaissance and modern
empirical philosophy (psychology) are indebted to
him.
New
dogmas, in the
strict sense,
he did not
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF introduce.
was
It
a very
left to
SIN, ETC.
much
345
later period
dogmas out of the transformation wrought by him in the old dogmatic to formulate strictly definite
material,
the
new
i.e.
the condemnation of Pelagianism and
doctrine of the sacraments.
Augustiners Doctrine of the First and Last
1.
Things. Siebeck, in
d.
Ztschr.
Phil. u. phil.
f.
Kritik, 1888, S. 161
Gangauf, Metaphys. Psychol, cl. h. Aug., 1852. Storz, Die Phil. d. h. Aug., 1882. Scipio, DesAurel. Aug. Metaph., 1886. Kahl, Primat d. Willens b. Aug., 1886. Kühner, A.'s Anschauung v. d. Erlös, bedeutung Christi, 1890. ff.
The
With
fear of the
the
life of
Lord
is
the beginning ° of
wisdom
:
prayer Augustine united an inward
Augustine "Alter Arlstoteles "-
contemplation which led him, the pupil of the NeoPlatonists
and
theology.
He became
making
of Paul, to a
the
new psychology and
" alter
Aristoteles " in
the inner life the starting-point for thoughts
He
concerning the world.
first
absolutely put
mind and with it same time, however,
the näive-objective frame of antique-classical,
at the
remnants of the polytheistic view the
first
sense of
monotheistic the word)
away
theologian
among
the
the
He was
also.
(in
the
tke
Church
strict
fathers,
since he lifted the Neo-Platonic philosophy above himself.
Not unfamiliar with the realm
of knowl- ^now only
edge of the objective world, he yet wished to know but two things,
God and the
had dissolved the world
soul; for his skepticism
of external
phenomena, but
the soul,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
346
in the flight of these
inner
him
life
facts of the
had, after painful struggles, remained to
Even
as facts.
God, there
Out
phenomena the
still
if
and no
there exists no evil
exists unquestionably the fear of evil.
of this, i.e. through psychological analysis, one
can find the soul and
Hence the
world.
God and
sketch a picture of the
skeptic can arrive at the knowl-
edge of truth, for which the marrow of the soul sighs.
The fundamental form
H^piness.
of the life of the soul is the
amor) as a desire
desire for happiness (cupido,
All inclinations are only developments
blessedness.
fundamental form
of this activity)
for
(as
and they are valid
receptivity
and as
for the sphere of the
spiritual life as well as for that of the sensuous.
The
will is connected
theless
a power rising above sensuous nature
it is
(Augustine
with these inclinations, never-
is
In concreto
an indeterminist).
indeed bound to the sensuous instincts,
i.e.
it is
not free.
Theoretical freedom of election becomes real freedom
when
only only the Good Will is
Free.
the cupiditas {amor) boni has become the
only qood will is v the v Moral goodness and freedom of will coincide.
ruling ° motive for the will,
•>
free.
The
i.e.
truly free will has its freedom in the impulse of
the good (beata necessitas boni)
freedom, because
it
withdraws the
minion of the lower instincts and
and disposition ence and is
life.
of
man
This bondage
.
will
is
from the do-
realizes the destiny
to be filled
with true
exist-
In attachment to the good, therefore,
realized the higher appetitus, the true instinct of
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF self-preservation in
about his stincts
.
own
man
SIN, ETC.
347
while he gradually brings
;
destruction,
if
he follows his lower in-
For these 1 ines of thought Augustine claimed he knew that every man, meditat-
strict validity, for
With them
ing about himself, must affirm them.
Augustine united the results of the Neo-Platonic
cos-
Neo-piatonie Cbs-
mological speculation; but the simple greatness of his living conception of
them and coerced the
love
;
he
is
artificial!}^
powerfully upon
:
"
The Lord
of
Adopted,
gained elements of
God again and again
the doctrine of plest confession
God worked
gSjjSj?
into the sim-
heaven and earth
the salvation of the soul ;
whom
is
should ye
fear"? ,
V/
TiieSumThrough (through ° the Neo-Platonic speculation jt o mum Esse. proof of the nothingness of phenomena and through 6niy t True \
progressive elimination of the lower spheres of the
sensuous and conceivable) Augustine arrived at the conception of the one, unchangeable, eternal Being
(incorporea Veritas, spiritalis substantia, lux in-
commutahilis)
.
At
the
same time
this
summum
esse alone corresponds to the simplicity of the highest object of the soul's desire.
alone
is in reality
This
summum
esse
the Being, since every other being
has the quality of non-being, and can indeed not exist
but really perishes.
also be conceived as the
But, on the other hand,
development of the
it
sole
can
Sub-
stance, as the radiant artistic expression of the latter,
and in
this conception the metaphysically dissolved
phenomena and the interest therein recur thetic form. Yet this natural feeling is
in
an
still
aes-
only
Being.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
548
He
the establishing of the Augustinian conception.
does not surrender himself to
it,
but rather passes
over at once to the observation, that the soul strives
Being and seeks
for this highest
in all lower good
it
with indestructible, noble concupiscence; yet after
Monstrous
paradox presented
itself to
Here a dreadful
same.
all it hesitates to seize the
him, which he designates
"monstrum", viz., that the will does not actually want, what it wants, or rather what it seems to
as
Together with the whole weight of man's
ivant.
in-
dividual responsibility Augustine conceived this state of the case,
which was ameliorated by no
aesthetic
was so smooth to him and shadow as the " pul-
consideration, yet at times (the
cosmos with light
chrum ", Metaphysics
Trans-
formed into Ethics.
as the simile of the fulness of life of the
Hence metaphysics was formed for him into ethics. Through the
universal One).
of responsibility, to
him
as the
dividual
This
life,
God
(the
summum
summum bonum;
summum bonum
is
life for
an expression
will, as the evil.
and the
which
for the shall-be, for that
shall give to the will its
therewith for the
intoxicat-
the life-loving mortal, but
become the ruling fundamental motive for that
selfish, in-
not only the constant rest-
ing-place for the restless thinker,
ing joy of
first
time
of the natural, for that structible inclination of
feeling
esse) appeared
and the
which determines the
trans-
its
it is
which
also
shall
of the will,
freedom and
power over the sphere
which
shall free the inde-
man toward
the misera necessitas peccandi
the good from
—expression
of the
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF Thus
good.
and
ail
for
him
SIN, ETC.
inferences of the intellect
all
eudemonistic wrappings dropped from the
conception of the good to the ground. line of
For
this
thought also he claimed general validity.
But
all
fronted
him
by
now
another experience r
still
scorned
seized
349
it
followed and
Yonder good not only
analysis.
as the " shall be", but he
felt
ingly the conception of
mighty,
God
The good which
:
con-
himself
Transinto Religion.
Person,
Love.
Accord-
new
received an entirely
able to do this, the Al-
is
The summum
is
the
holy good in Person, working upon the will as
al-
is
Metaphysics and
as love and lifted out of the misery of
the monstrous contradiction of existence.
meaning
it
esse
Metaphysics and ethics are trans-
mighty Love.
formed into
is
religion.
Evil
is
not only privatio
substantiae and therefore not mere privatio .^oni, but godlessness (privatio Dei) in the creature existence
good
is
the ontological defect
;
and the moral defect in the
a defect in the attitude of love toward
but to possess
God is everything,
and peace.
free-will
is
God
being, good being,
Henceforth a stream of Divine
thought flowed forth freely from Augustine. just as inherently natural to
God
It is
to be gratia,
im-
parting himself in love, as to be causa causatrix non
causata;
That he
man however
— embarrassed
which points back only
bj^
grace,
lives by the grace of love.
by a monstrous
to a serious fall into sin
may
still
be explained
grace of love really exists
Man
is
;
existence,
—can live
but that the
a transcendent
fact.
does not arrive at freedom through indepen-
b
S aD urace
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
350
dence as regards God, but through dependence upon -
oS
him Only that love which has been bestowed upon him by God renders man blessed and good. :
16
^ n ^ ne detailed
^Res
God and and
deductions of Augustine respecting
the soul the notes of metaphysics, ethics
of the deepest Christian experience vibrate with-
God
in one another.
be enjoyed (frui
is
the only " res
= alicui
which may
amove inhaerere
rei
may
propter se ipsam), other things This sounds Neo-Platonic, but
",
it
is
only be used. resolved in a
Christian sense into the thought fide, spe et caritate :
He
is
Person.
God is Person, whom one can trust — ^.—
colendum deum.
<
above
The
all
fides
other things and
whom
one should love.
quae per dilectionem operatur becomes
the sovereign expression of religion.
The aesthetically
grounded optimism, the subtile doctrine of emanation, the idea of the sole
predestination), " non-existent "
agency of God (doctrine of
the representation of evil as
which
the
limits the good, do not indeed
entirely disappear, but they are joined in a peculiar
manner with the representation of God as the Creator of mankind which has through its own fault become a massa perditionis, and of God as the Redeemer and ordinator peccatorum. also after absolute
The
striving
knowledge and the conception of
the Christian religion in accordance with the scheme
A
ne
Aaopts Apo?ogists.
°^
^ ne
apologists (rationalistic) never failed in
gustine,
and the love
of
God which he
to
him only under the authority
to
which he obediently submitted
of
felt
Au-
was secure
outward revelation, ;
but in his
relig-
DEVELOPMENT OP DOCTRINE OF ious thinking, in
SIN, ETC.
which the appreciation
351
of the im-
portance of history was indeed not so well developed as the capacity for psychological observation, the
Christian spirit nevertheless ruled.
From
his youth J
up r Christ was the
guiding & & the apparently purely
And
principle of his soul.
many ways
philosophical deductions were in
enced by the thought of him.
silent
Christ ins
Guiding Principi«.
influ-
All of Augustine's
attempts to break through the iron plan of the immutability of God, and to discriminate between God, the world and the ego, are to be explained by the
impression of history upon him,
i.e.
of Christ.
Thus
Christ appeared to him, the religious philosopher,
more and more plainly as the way, the power and the authority. tion in general
How
often did he speak of revela-
and mean only him
!
How
often did
he speak of Christ where his predecessors spoke of revelation in general tion of the idea of the
became a certainty
to
The
!
speculative representa-
good and of
its
agency as love
him only through
the vision of
Christ and through the authoritative proclamation of the
The vision of Christ v^jjfs °f
Church respecting him.
was a new element, which he Ignatius) again introduced.
the trinity received a tion,
first (after
Paul and
Just as his doctrine of
new form through
the convic-
experienced through faith, of the unity of God,
although he adopted the old formulas, so also did his Christology, in spite of (rigid
all
adherence to tradition
combating of Apollinaris) receive a new con-
tent through the preaching of
,
Ambrose and
his
own
frtm^aui.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
352
experience. Sublimity
and Humility of Christ.
Mediaeval Key-note.
(1)
In the
place as regards Christ
first
the representation of his sublimity in his humility
was
of decisive importance to him, the actual veri-
fying of the sentence,
omne bonum
in humilitate
perflcitur (the incarnation also he represented from this point of view)
;
in this
he began to strike the
mediaeval key-notes of Christology,
whole
stress
come near us an exaltation
He
laid the
now won, that man, can apprehend God since he has
upon the
lying in the dust,
He
(2)
possibility
in our lowliness (the to be able to grasp
construed not
Greek waits
God
for
in Christ), (3)
infrequently the personality of
Christ also from the
human
and he saw in the endowments
soul of the
Redeemer
same the great example of the gratia praeveniens, which made the man Jesus what he became, (4) He conceived the man Jesus Mediator, Sacrifice, and Priest.
of the
Jesus as Mediator, as Sacrifice and Priest, through
whom we have
been reconciled to the Deity and
deemed, whose death, as the Church proclaims
it, is
the surest foundation of our faith in redemption. all
these respects Augustine introduced
new
re-
In
ideas
dogma, joining them thereto indeed only insecurely and artificially. A new Christological into the old
formula he did not create; to him Christ became the rock of faith, since he this
knew
that the influence of
Person had broken his pride and given him
strength to believe in the love of self
be found by
and he who
is
it.
The
God and
living Christ
is
proclaimed by the Church,
and the authority.
to let
him-
the truth, is
the
way
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF The
soul
is
353
guided by the quae per dilectionem This
operatur unto the vita beata. peace in the vision of God. still
SIN, ETC.
is
the blessed
Therefore knowledge
remains the aim of man.
It is
not the will that
holds the primacy, but the intellect.
Finally Augus-
tine retained the vulgar Catholic
form of thought
which confines man knowledge; in this answers
in the hereafter to
life
to it (hence
it is
Augustine's defence of monas-
The kingdom
of God,
The
earthly, is also perishable.
must be freed from the world ilitudes
an adoring
asceticism and contemplation
ticism as against Jovinian). so far as
Vi taBeata.
soul
of appearances, of sim-
and compulsory conduct.
Nevertheless Au-
gustine exerted indirectly a powerful influence upon the current eschatological ideas: the highest good, but dependence
representation of
(1) v '
Virtue
is
nepend-
not "
upon God
ence upon
G
(in the
the decisive significance of the
merita this point of view was indeed abandoned), (2)
The
priestly ascetic life should be a spiritual
S
1
5J55£
one; the magico-physical elements of Greek mysticism recede entirely (no cultus mysticism),
(3)
In
"mihi adliaerere deobonum est", intellectualism was broken down the will received its due position, (4) Love remains even the same in eterr \ nity as that which we possess in this life therefore this world and the other are still closely united, (5) the thought,
inteiiectu-
alism I>iscounted.
;
Love Abides.
;
If love
remains also in the other world, then
tualism reappears in a modified form, earthly
life,
.
intellec-
Not the
but the earthly Church has a higher
meaning; the 23
(6)
^ftu
I JJ°f1
latter is, so to speak, the holy
above
Ecciesias-
,;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
354 all
that
most holy, and
is
it is
a duty to build
it
up
not a religion of a second order supersedes the religion,
but ecclesiasticism, the service of the Church as
a moral agency for reforming society, as an organism of the sacramental powers of love, of the Fides, tas.
the right in which Christ works, all
(7)
good and of
Higher than
monasticism stand fides, spes and Caritas; hence
the scheme of a dreary and egotistical contemplation
To be
broken.
is
ing in
sure,
all directions,
tions, the
new
Augustine succeeded in unit-
although indeed with contradic-
lines of
thought with the
The Donatist Contest.
2.
D&MiviChurch and of
The Work,
TheJDoctrine of the
tate Dei."
old.
"
Means of Grace.
the Reuter,
a.
a.
Reinkins, Gesch. phil.
O.
d. h.
Aug., 1866.
Ginzel, L. Aug. v. d. Kirche in d. Tub. Theol. Quartalschr.
Köstlin, D. Kathol. Auffass. v. d. K. in d. deutschen
1849.
Ztschr.
Lehre
f.
Begriff
Schmidt, Aug. 's Wissensch., 1856, Nr. 14. Yahrbb. f deutsche Theol. 1861 Seeberg, christl. K. I. Th., 1885. Ribbeck, Donatus u.
christl.
v. d. d.
K. in
d.
.
,
.
Aug., 1888. Augustine Adopts iSctriSeof the church,
J n the contest
with Manichseism and Donatism
Augustine, following Optatus, formulated his doctrine of the
Church upon the basis
of Cyprian's con-
ception, excluding, however, the Donatistic elements of
C}^prian and moderating the hierarchical.
In
describing the Church as authority, as an indestructible institution
of salvation, he believed that he
was merely describing a divinely produced representing
it
as
verity
communio sanctorum, he
;
in
followed
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF his
own
posed the
subjectivism
and the puritanism
make
355
In the former he op-
religious experience. critical "
SIN, ETC.
" of
the Manichseans
of the Donatists
who
desired to
the truth of the Church dependent upon the
purity of the priests;
in
the
he used his
latter
doctrine of salvation in defining his conception of the
Church.
Complicated views were the conse-
Not only does the Church appear, now as
quence.
the goal of religion,
now
as the
way
to the goal, but
the conception itself becomes a complexity of divers conceptions.
Finally the doctrine of predestination
presented itself to I.
one
as out-and-out questionable.
The most important 1
1.
Church
him
is its
unity
(in faith,
side, in Catholicity
unity of Church.
characteristic of the
hope and
on the
love,
on the other), which the same
Spirit produces that holds the trinity together
the midst of the disruption of
humanity
the divineness of the Church.
is
;
this in
a proof of
Since unity flows
•
only from love, the Church rests upon the governing
power of the divine spirit of Love; community of faith alone
is
not entirely sufficient.
From this view
•
there
follows: Caritas Christiana nisi' in imitate eccles-
iae
non potest custodiri,
teneatis,
love only
i.e.
baptismum
et fidem
unity only exists where love
where unity
phrase with
etsi
its
is.
The
is
and
application of this
consequences declares
:
Heretics not
only do not belong to the Church (for they deny the
unity of the faith) side of
it
;
,
but schismatics also stand out-
for their very separation
from the unity
proves that they are wanting in love,
i.e.
in the
•
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
356
Holy
operations of the
one great Church
is
the Church,
there can indeed exist faith,
H
f
church°
Therefore only the
Spirit.
and outside
heroic
of
it
even
deeds,
means of salvation, but no salvation. 2- The second characteristic of the Church is its The Church is holy as the place of the holiness. activity of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, and as the
means which
possessor of those
That she does not succeed with
vidual.
rob her of her holiness of the
sanctify the indi-
mali
et
;
cannot
even a numerical superiority
hypocritae does not endanger this
otherwise one unholy
member would
der her right questionable. discipline
all,
already ren-
The Church
exercises
and excommunication not so much
serve her holiness as to educate.
to pre-
She herself
is al-
ready secure against contamination with that which is
unholy, in view of the fact that she never sanc-
tions
it,
and she demonstrates her
holiness, since in
her midst, and only within her, real saints are begotten,
and since she everywhere elevates and sanc-
the morals of men.
tifies
In the
strict sense
only
the boni et spirituales belong to her, but in a wider
sense the unholy also, in so far as they are to be spiritualized
the sacraments
dei "
;
still
able
and remain under the influence
("
of
vasa in contumeliam in domo
they are not the house of God, but
"
in
domo "
;
communione sanctorum" but sacrament orum"). Thus the Church is a " corpus permixtum", and even heretics and schismatics they are not "in "
ultimately belong to her, in so far as they have ap-
:
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF propriated the
means
357
and remain under the But the holiness of the
of grace
discipline of the Church.
Church includes as
SIN, ETC.
its
aim the pure communio sanc-
torum (communio fideli urn), and all religious predicates of the Church are valid for this communion.
The
Church
is its
Catholicity (universality as regards space).
This
3.
third characteristic of the
Cl
$£ ot~ church -
furnishes the strongest outward proof of the truth of the Church
;
for
a fact perceptible to the senses
it is
and at the same time a miracle with which the Donatists
church
at
Church by
Carthage evidences its
itself
The great as the
true
union with Rome, with the old Orien-
churches, and with the churches of the whole
tal
world "
have nothing comparable.
(in
the Donatists
opposition
Quantum ad
totius
mundi
rightly said
pertinet partes, modi-
ca pars est in compensatione totius mundi, in qua fides Christiana no?ninatur"). 4.
The fourth
which manifests
characteristic itself, (1)
apostolical writings
the
Church
and
to trace
apostolical churches
is its
apostolicity,
in the possession of the
doctrines, (2) in the ability of
back
its
by the
existence as far as the
line of episcopal succes-
sion (this point Cyprian emphasized
more
Among
is
these churches the
portant on account of
Roman
its first
strongly).
the most im-
bishop, Peter.
He
is
the representative of the apostles, of the Church, of
weak Christians and of the ecclesiastical function the bishops. The old theory that it is necessary
of to
be in union with the sedes apostolica and cathedra
-
ApostoUc-
church
-
.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
358
Petri, Augustine retained libility of the
Roman
as undecidedly
see,
;
but as regards the
he expressed himself just
and contradictorily as
in regard to
the councils and the episcopate (naturally to
Roman
council stood higher than the Infallibility of
Church.
5.
The
sidered as firmly established
and
sufficient.
him a
bishop)
Church Augustine con-
infallibility of the
produce the arguments for
infal-
;
it
but he was able to
re-
only as relatively sound
In like manner he was convinced of
the indispensableness of the Church; but he pro-
pounded ideas (regarding the doctrine of predestination and the immutability of the eternal working
God) which annulled the same.
of Church
is
Kingdom of God on Earth.
,
6.
As
kingdom of God upon earth. Augustine, indeed, in making use of this
The Church
a rule
is
the
conception had no reference to the Church, but to the
work of God in the world, in contrast with the work of the devil. But whenever he identifies Church and kingdom of God, he means entire result of the
by the former the communio fidelium (corpus verum). But since there is only one Church, he could not but consider, in a given case, the corpus
permixtum
also as the
with the abolition of
all
he saw the millennium
kingdom
of
God; and since
apocalyptic representations
now
already realized in the
Church, in contrast with the perishing evil state of
was driven almost involuntarily to the consequence that the visible Church with its ruling priests and its regulations is the kingdom of God {de civitate dei, XX. 9-13). Thus the idea of the the world, he
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF kingdom from
of
God
passes with
359
SIN, ETC.
him through
all stages,
a historico-theological conception, which
X^ewed
y
is
neutral as regards the idea of the Church (the king-
dom
God
of
in
heaven and has been organizing
Abel upon the earth for heaven)
self since
Church
is
of the priests, but
clesia as a heavenly "
peregrinans"
ris
it
has
its
,
it-
to the
centre in the ec-
communio sanctorum
in ter-
Parallel with this conception
.
goes that other of the societas of the godless and reprobates (including the demons), which finally passes
over into the idea of the earthly kingdom (the state) as the
magnum
latrocinium.
communion originating in
sin
In opposition to this
and condemned to
nal strife, stands in general the state of
only rightful union of men. this
form
of the
of statement
Church and
But the
God
eter-
as the
latter points of
which ends in a
real theocracy
in a condemnation of the state,
Au-
gustine neither elaborated nor especially emphasized.
He had and first
mind almost throughout
spiritual strife
;
spiritual
view respecting the
pax
terrena
is
a community (the good.
powers
the popes of the Middle
drew the theocratic consequences.
to his
the
in
He also gave
state the turn, that, since
a good (even state)
Ages
if
a particular one),
which protects
it is
also
But since the pax terrena can be brought
about only by justice, and inasmuch as the latter
undoubtedly in possession of the Church alone cause as resting upon the Caritas
God)
,
it
is
(be-
originates with
the state can obtain a relative right only by
submission to the state of God.
It is clear that this
^fnated i
.
360
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
view
also,
by which the earthly
tain independence (because
state receives a cer-
has an especial mis-
it
can be easily introduced into the theocratic
sion),
Augustine himself drew only a few con-
scheme.
sequences, yet he
serve the
drew these
Church by means
That the
:
state
must
compulsory measures
of
against idolatry, heretics and schismatics, and that the Church must in general exercise an influence
upon the word and Sacrament.
n.
i.
state's right of
The Donatist
punishment, contest also necessitated a
closer consideration of the
In the
first place,
sacraments
was the
it
(vid. Optatus).
greatest advance that
Augustine recognized the word as a means of grace.
The formula,
"
ivord
and sacrament", originated
with him, yes, he esteemed the
"
ivord
" so
highly
verbum visi" crede et mandu-
that he even called the sacrament " bile ",
and with the sentence
casti " he opposed
working through mysteries and
all
to the conception "
gave
:
sacrament " so wide a range
that every sensible sign with which a redemptive
may
named (" accedit verbum ad elementum et fit sacramentum ") An especial doctrine of the sacraments is not to be drawn thereword
is
joined
be so
.
from
;
Augustine indeed not seldom goes so far in
spiritualization, that the sensible sign ible
word need only
imago
and the aud-
to be considered as
of the invisible act
signa and
accompanying them
(for-
giveness of sin, spirit of love) Baptism and Lord's supper,
2.
But, on the other hand, the sacraments
— Au-
gustine has reference as a rule in this connection only
.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF to
baptism and the Lord's Supper
thing higher.
They are
of a higher object,
STN, ETC.
—are after
signs, instituted
«361
some-
all
by God,
with which, by virtue of the con-
stituted order of creation, they stand in a certain relationship, to
and through them grace is
him who makes use
really imparted
them (assurance
of
of the
miser icordia Christi in the sacrament, but on the other hand, actus medicinalis) tion is dependent
where the
This communica-
upon the administration
the sacraments), but
ity of
.
spirit of
it is
(objectiv-
redemptive only
love (the true Church) exists.
Thereby arose the double contradiction, that the
sac-
raments are effective everywhere and yet only in the Church, are independent of
men and
yet bound up
with the Church in their redemptiveness.
Augustine
resolved this contradiction by discriminating between
the character which the sacraments impart (stamp-
ing
it,
as
it
were) and the real communication of
The sacraments
grace.
"
sancta per se ipsa
"
can
be purloined from the Church and yet retain their efficacy,
but only within the Church do they tend
non considerandum, quis det sed quid det" but on the other hand, "habere"
effectively to salvation ("
is
not yet " utiliter habere 3.
Only with baptism (character: Inalienable
lation to Christ
(character: rifice
")
and
re-
Do
n of
gae r a-
n m and his Church) and ordination ^tioned
Inalienable
preparation
to
sac-
offer
to administer the sacraments), however,
could this view be harmonized, not indeed with the
Lord's Supper; for in this the res sacramenti
is
the
!
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
362
invisible incorporation into the
body
of Christ (con-
cerning the elements Augustine taught symbolically),
and the Lord's Supper with the
and there
the sacrificium caritatis;
was ever allied Lord's Supper (sacramentum unitatis) could exist no " character", which was inthe
therefore
is
Church
Catholic
dependent of this Church. this difficulty.
Augustine glided over
His general doctrine
of the sacra-
ments was obtained from baptism, and he discriminated therein thus artificially, in order that he might,
(1)
place the Donatists in the wrong,
(2)
maintain the characteristic of the sanctity of the Church, it
(3)
give to faith a firm support, upon which
could rely
— independent
of men.
Afterward the
was made the most of, especially in the hierarchical sense. But Augustine's emphasis " " upon the word and his spiritualism have given simultaneously offence in another direction (to Luther and to the Free- Reformers). discrimination
idea of the Church a
d p°ictu?e
Augustine's ideas in regard to the Church are full ° ° of contradictions. The true Church should also be visible,
evil
and yet
men and
to the visible
hypocrites,
Church belongs
nay even
heretics.
terna societas sacrament or um, which
is
also
The
ex-
communio
fidelium et sanctorum and finally also the nume-
rus praedestinatorum are one and the same Church
The "
"
in ecclesia esse
"
has in truth a
triple sense.
In ecclesia" are only the praedestinati, including
!
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF those
still
lievers,
sia
"
unconverted
including those
are all those
The Church
is
first
in ecclesia
who
predestination, no
It is
!
will relapse
upon
"
It is
in eccle-
founded upon
faith, love, hope,
no upon
But while taking account
!
the thought that the
foundation, and that
nem peccatorum
it "
is
forget
the
communio fide-
hope and love are
faith,
its
in terris stat per remissio-
in caritate."
Church
must not
if
humble Christian with
Church
sanctorum, that
of these
which are contradictory
that Augustine lived as an
idea of the
;
from the beginning and
there is to be only one Church, one
et
are the be-
part in the sacraments
by Christ!
divers important points
Mum
"
363
properly in heaven and yet visible as
instituted
the sacraments
"
who have
civitas upon earth yet
;
SIN, ETC.
(in reality
The predestinarian
the dissolution of the
Church) belongs to the theologian and the theosophist, the empirical idea to the Catholic polemic. is
not to be overlooked also, that Augustine
sacraments from the magical
rescued the
It first
aspect
under which they were to counterbalance a moralistic
mode of them to
thinking, and coordinated and subordinated faith.
He
first
rendered the doctrine of the
sacraments reformable.
The Pelagian Contest.
3.
Doctrine of Grace and
of Sin. Jacobi, Lehre d. Pelagius, 1842. Wörter, Pelagianismus, 1866. Klasen, Die innere Entw. d.
Reuter,
Der
a. a.
O.
Pelagianismus, 1882.
Wiggers.
Augustinismus
and
Pela-
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
364
gianismus,
2
Gnade (Meckl.
Bdd.
1831
,
Theol.
Dieckhoff,
f.
Ztschr.
,
I.
,
1860)
.
A.
Lehre
's
Luthardt, L.
v.
d.
v. f r.
Willen. 1863.
Doctrine of Sin and Grace.
Augustine had not formulated his doctrine regard ° ö j n g g race anc| s j n when he permitted himself to be baptized into the Catholic Church (see his anti-
Manichaean writings), however he had done so before
he entered into the Pelagian contest.
Pelagius
also did not formulate his doctrine first during the
when he took offence Augustinian expression, "da quod jubes but he held
contest,
the
The two great modes
jabe quod vis".
— whether grace it sets
it
is to
nature free
at et
of thought
be reduced to nature or whether
— rose
in
arms against each
other.
The Occident, prepared through Ambrose, accepted Augustinianism with incredible alacrity. Augustine, the religious
man and
the virtuoso, encountered
in Pelagius an earnest ascetic
man
eunuch, in Julian a gay
monk, in of the
Caelestius a
world
also a resolute, determined rationalist
who was
and an inexor-
able dialectician. la ia
ism
fs
Ra10
^onasti-
Redemp-
Pelagianism
is
Christian rationalism, consistently
developed under the influence of Hellenic monasticism
;
it is
stoic
and Aristotelian popularized Occi-
tion.
dental philosophy, which
dinate to
The
itself
made
the attempt to subor-
the traditional doctrine of redemption.
influence of the Antiochian theology ca'n be
shown.
The sources
Cselestius, Pelagius
are the writings and letters of
and Julian (mostly in Augustine
and Jerome), the works
of Augustine, Jerome, Oro-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF sius,
Marius Mercator, the papal
SIN, ETC.
letters
365
and synodal
Pelagius himself was more cautious, less
decrees.
and
aggressive
The
Julian.
less
latter
truthful than Cselestius
completed
first
(without him, Augustine says,
"
and
doctrine
the
Pelagiani dogma-
machina sine architecto necessario remansis-
tis
Elements Formally and Pelagianism J Augustinianism ° ° Common to are herein related and opposed to the previous mode of jamfm and
set"). '
thought,
(1)
Each
is
founded upon the desire to unify
Each
the religious, ethical knowledge, (2)
ian
e
m
if
expelled
from tradition the dramatico-eschatological element, (3)
Each was not
culto-mystically interested, but kept
the problem within the sphere of the spirit, and
(4)
Neither puts the highest emphasis upon traditional proof (Augustine often confesses that the proof difficult to
fathers)
deduce from the extant writings of the Pelagius was anxious to show that in the
.
whole controversy
it
was not a question
but a practical question contest
power
is
of
dogma,
Augustine carried on the
;
with the conviction that the essence and
of the Christian religion
with his doctrine of grace
;
must stand
Cselestius
was
or fall
especially
interested in overthrowing the doctrine of hereditary sin
;
Julian was consciously defending the cause of
reason and freedom against a " stupid and impious
dogma"
through
which the Church was being
plunged into barbarism and the educated minority given over to the masses
who do
not understand
Aristotle. I.
Pelagius appeared in
Rome and
proclaimed to
Pe Rome.
m
366
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
common Christians monasticism and the ability every man to rise in his own strength unto virtue,
the of
avoided theological polemics but contended against
His
the quietism of the Augustinian confessions. ca?iestius
Seconds Teaching,
Both went
friend Cselestius seconded him.
Roman
North Africa, from which Pelagius however soon Cselestius applied at Carthage for a presdeparted. to
byter's
But he was complained
office.
by the Milanese deacon, Paulinus,
of (412 or 411) at a
synod at
Carthage, because he considered mortality as something natural
(to
Adam
and
universal consequences of
men) denied the
to all
,
Adam's
sin,
taught the
perfect innocence of the new-born babe, esteemed the benefit of the resurrection of Christ as not necessarily
attributable to
all,
misunderstood the difference be-
tween law and gospel, spoke of
sinless
men
before
the appearance of Christ and thought in general superficially of sinlessness
commandments tentions.
of Christ, if only
of the
one has good
in-
In spite of his assertion that he acknowl-
edged the baptism excommunicated.
unto the
for-
therefore orthodox, he
was
of children (but not
giveness of sin) and csBiestius
and the fulfilment
was
He went to Ephesus and Constan-
Excommiuiicated.
tinople.
Pelagius was in Palestine and sought to
His
maintain peace with Augustine and Jerome.
keen friend with his polemic against the tradux peccati and the baptism of infants in remissionem pec-
catorum was uncongenial his
more recent
of Jerusalem.
to
him more valuable were ;
friends in the Orient, especially
He and
others pronounced
John
him
in-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF nocent
(at
SIN, ETC.
367
the synods at Jerusalem and Diospolis
415), while the Augustinian disciples, Orosius and
Jerome, accused him of misunderstanding the Divine
5JW3 atsySodof *
415.
But only with a mental reservation did Pelagius give up the incriminating tenets of Cselestius, grace.
which accordingly remained condemned
in the Orient
In his literary labors he became simply more
also.
The North African
cautious, but did not give in.
churches (synods of Carthage and Mileve, 416) as well as Augustine applied to Innocent the condemnation of the
two
I.
in
heretics.
Rome for
The
innocent
1.
pope,
glad to have been approached by North Africa, complied (417), yet kept a
pathway
of retreat open for
Although Zosimus, his successor, induced
himself.
Zosimus.
through a cunning confession of faith by Pelagius
and won over by
Caalestius
cautious, reinstated
who now
them and
to the representations of the
general synod at Carthage
which expelled both
edict,
lowers from Rome, pope,
who
in
at first
also
grew more
remained deaf
North Africans (418)
;
yet a
and an imperial
heretics with their fol-
made an impression also upon
an epistula tractoria assented
the
to the
condemnation and required the Occidental bishops to sign the
same
(418).
Still this
ened the opposition party. clined.
Eighteen bishops de-
Their leader was Julian of Eklanum.
juvenis confidentissimus pen.
imputation strength-
He
wrote daring
of Thessalonica,
now
letters to
This
took up his sharp
Zosimus and Ruf us
which Augustine answered
(420).
Therewith began a ten years' literary feud between
Julian of
Eklanum.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
368
the two (fragments of the Julian writings in Aug.
de nuptiis et concupisc, libri sex imperf.
c.
Jul.).
c.
and opus
Jul.
During the same Augustine was
often driven into a close corner
by Julian
but the
;
feud took place post festum: Augustine was already victor
;
Julian wrote like one
He
to lose.
who has nothing more
evolved therefore his naturalism and
moralism out of his royal reason with great casting aside
all
license,
monkery, yet without any compre-
hension of the needs and right of religion.
He was
with his companions into the
finally forced to flee
Orient and he there found protection with Theodore Pe
ans
con council of 43i.
'
The Ephesian
°^ Mopsuestia.
did the
Roman
council, i.e. Cyril,
bishop the favor of condemning the
In the Orient
Pelagians (431).
men had no compre-
hension of the contest indeed at the bottom they were ;
inclined toward Pelagianism as regards the freedom of the will
;
but in the Occident also
men were
only on the points, that every baptism
sionem peccatorum, that there
is
agreed
in remis-
exists since the fall
Adam a tradux peccata which delivers the children of Adam over to death and condemnation, and of
that the grace of
God
as a power for good
is
neces-
sary unto the salvation of every man. DoSfines
* ^- Pelagius cared nothing
for
new dogmas and a
system; Julian's stoical system with dialectics, Christian etiquette
its
Aristotelian
and tendency toward
naturalism belongs to the history of theology. it is
Yet
important to note the principles of the Pelagian
doctrine
;
for
it
has
made
its
appearance in a subtle
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
SIN, ETC.
369
The monastic tendency was
form again and again.
not an essential thing with Pelagius, but subordinate to the
aim
of the spontaneous development of
and
character,
to the ancient idea of moderation.
may
Just on that account one
do that which
of thought
is
is
good, and the want of clearness
righteousness, there
is
is
the kind Creator and the just Leader.
thing that he has created creature, the is
and
on religio-ethical questions unite them.
Because there
God
class Pelagius
Courageous faith in man's ability
Julian together. to
good
law and
is
;
Eveiy-
v
good, therefore also the If
free-will.
then not convertible
a God.
nature
is
good,
it
accordingly there can exist
no peccata naturalia, only peccata per accidens. ^J^ff a Human nature can be modificated only incidentally.
The most important and best endowment of this nature is free-will ("' motus animi cogente nullo") ;
reason it
comprised within the
is
to pass that
man
tio necessitatis
glorious gratia
may do
Both bring
latter.
does not live under the condi-
and does not need
prima
of
help.
It is the
God, the Creator, that we
both and can do either.
The possibilitas
boni comes from God, the voluntas and actio .
our concern. termination
Evil
is
without
is
a momentary, false
consequence to the
selt-de-
nature,
According
to
Pelagius these are bad in themselves, but can be
subdued; according to Julian
the}* are not
themselves, only so " in excess u".
Were
it
bad in other-
must baptism abolish concupiscence; and 24
^^\
voluntas" et Act im
originating in the sensuous faculties.
wise, then
v
Ours,
is
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
370 if
concupiscence
Man
good.
f
must do
is
is
bad, then the Creator
God
not
is
able to resist every sin, therefore he
so; there
have indeed been
According to Pelagius everybody goes acts contrary to
men.
sinless
to hell
who
The attempt
his better ability.
to
adjust these teachings to the Scriptures and ecclesi-
was fraught with difficulties. It was admitted that Adam, endowed with freedom of astical tradition
choice, fell; yet natural death, since
it
is
natural,
was not the consequence of his sin, but spiritual death. Inasmuch as death has not descended from him,
much
less
tradux peccati
has not sin; for the acceptance of a (original sin) leads to the absurd as-
sumption of soul-generation and to Manichaaism
(evil
nature), abolishes the Divine justice, causes matri-
mony stroys sin is an Affair of the will,
to appear unholy, therefore unlawful, all possibility of
a redemption
(for
and de-
how can
redemptive message or a law influence nature?)
always remains an
punished only for his the condition of
arbitrium
et
own
Adam ")
;
men
before his fall
("
is
stand in
liberum
quam
certainly to be acknowl-
that account grace also
edged as adjutorium.
is
only a sinful habit keeps them
down, the power of which
On
All
post peccata tarn plenum est
fuit ante peccata
edged.
sin.
Sin
.
and each
affair of the will
a
must be acknowl-
According to the degree of
convenience, the Pelagians declared grace as simply necessary, as alleviating, as superfluous. sidered
it
They
in truth only a comfortable crutch
Christians; for the sentence,
"homo
confor
libero arbitrio
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF emancipatus
est
a Deo
",
SIN, ETC.
371
excludes grace in princiG
There exists also in truth only one grace, the
ple.
enlightening, deterring, reward-offering law
may
also
ment),
(2)
distinguish,
but one (endow-
the law (illuminatio et doctrina),
gratia per Christum: of his
creational grace
(1)
;
example,
(a) his
work applied by baptism
On
giveness of sin.
(3)
(b) the fruit
to our benefit as for-
were
this point the Pelagians
not permitted to waver;
is
g£J
but they disclaimed the
gratia praeveniens, did not see in the baptism of infants a baptism in remissionem
peccatorum and
did not acknowledge the absolute necessity of forgiveness.
Children dying unbaptized are also saved,
but are not admitted into the regnum cae'lorum.
The
^
thesis of the Pelagians, that Christian grace is G
cl
secundum merita,
conferred only just as
much
abolishes grace
as the other thesis, that
sentially in the
works
same manner as the law.
judging August inianism, as ManichaBisin,
it
now
now
c
(
J°; tc
°Me?ft.
es-
While
as an innovation,
now
as inward contradiction, they
themselves brought forth the greatest contradictions (dialectically concealed),
and were innovators
in so
far as they really held fast to the old ecclesiastical
doctrine of freedom but not to the opposite pole, the
mystical doctrine of redemption, and they accord-
y
ingly sold religion to an irrational rationality and to a profoundly immoral theory of morality. III.
Augustine did not
arbitrium, but from its
start
God and
guilt in his presence
from the liberum
the soul which feels
and yet has experienced
his
\%g*
,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
372
In seeking to explain therefrom nature, the
grace.
history of the world and the history of the individual,
he
fell
into
many
contradictions
.too easily gainsaid.
and
into assumptions
But there are theses which
are,
outwardly considered, entirely untrue, but, inwardly
Thus
considered, true.
Augustine's doctrine of
is
As an
grace and sin to be judged.
expression of
psychological religious experience
it
projected into history
Besides
itself also
it
not consistent
thought that
"
God
;
false.
is
for
ity ",
God
it is
in
dominated by the
it is
in Christ creates faith
as by the other thought that "
but
true;
is
",
as well
the only Causal-
is
and these are brought only seemingly into con-
sonance by the definition of grace as gratis data. 11
Smentf
Besides Manichsean elements are visible; the letter of Scripture (generally misunderstood)
obscuring
panied
effect,
by a
had
and the religious view
moralistic
(merita)
also
an
is
accom-
which
finally
makes the decision. Humanity is, according to experience, a massa peccati, i.e. void of God; but the God-man, Christ, he alone by his death brought the power to replenish empty humanity with Divine love: that
—
—
Gratia Gratis Data.
is
the gratia gratis data, the beginning, middle
a nd end of our salvation.
massa perditionis there merus electorum. Such
Its
called,
them by virtue
justified,
is
that out of the
shall be saved a certus nu-
will be saved because
has predestined (Augustine elected,
aim
is
an
God
inf ra-lapsarian)
sanctified
and preserved
of his eternal decree.
This takes
1
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP
SIN, ETC.
37:
Church through grace, which, (1) is x* vraeo o veniens, i.e. withdraws man from his condition of sin place in the
x
\
7
and creates the good will
(
=
/
finally are not saved, because
cöoper ans
(2)
—this
Is '
Praeven
opSaS" Pe
vocatio, but this and
fis.
who
further acts of grace take place in those also
all
(;,; "
they are not elected),
developed in a series of gra-
is
dations as far as the entire and actual regeneration of
man, which makes
possible for him,
it
with love, to earn merita. lows the fides; this is
is
Out
(visible)
of the vocatio fol-
Parallel with
working of grace
it
goes the actual
in the Church, i.e.
which
which
It
be-
with bap-
which removes the reatus of hereditary
blots out past sins.
it
obedience,
belief,
gins with the remissio peccatorum, tism,
filled
gradually augmented, since
developed upon the stages of
fiducia and love.
when
sin
and
terminates in the justification
not a judgment upon the sinner, but the
is
completing of the process by virtue of which he has actually passed from
an impious
to a just state.
This takes place through the infusion of the
spirit of
love into the heart of the believer (and through the
Lord's Supper), whereby, admitted into the unity of the
communion with Christ
as sanctus desire ("
(Church), he receives
and spiritalis a new disposition and
mihi adhaerere deo bonuin
est ")
and now
has the capacity for good works ("fides impeirat,
quod
lex
imperat").
the fides and act;
is
Justification depends
upon
sub specie aeternitatis a concluded
empirically considered,
completed in this world.
it
is
The being
a process never filled
with
faith,
Justifica-
gg£j
—
.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
374
hope, and love
is
evidenced by the demonstration of
and by withdrawal from the world (asceticism). This is in turn evidenced in good works, which now
love
have merit before God (merit a), although they are
Not to
his gifts since they are begotten of his grace.
every one are perfect works granted (consilia evangelica)
but every justified person has works of faith,
;
hope and
love, (3) the highest
and best
gratia is the perseverantia which the
The vocati
elect.
have this will be since
it is
But
tion
Why
lost.
"
certain is
adhaerere Dei
He
be decisive.
only
who do
it
— in spite
is,
there also
God's
is
—that at the final judgment
"
but the moral habitus will
who can show merit a The
cance of the forgiveness of sin and of faith
love
it,
of predestina-
such are Dei munera) will be saved.
ever misconceived.
not
some only receive
secundum merita,
and sovereign grace
not the
irresistibilis in
(et sanctificati ?)
not bestowed
mystery.
is
gift of the
Augustine's thesis
is bliss
is:
(but
signifiis
how-
"Where
corresponding to the mea-
sure of love" sin,
Fan
On
this basis
Augustine formed his doctrine con-
and Origin-
the fall and the original state.
Sin
al state,
cerning
P iV io B ni
privatio boni (lack of being and of true being),
sin,
turning of
man
unto himself (pride) and concu-
piscence (sensuality)
l( :
misera necessitas non posse
non peccandi", although formal freedom dominion without the "
exists
of the devil (therefore redemption
is
amor
is
necessary).
from
Augustine desires to retain
sui " as the principal conception of sin,
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
but in reality he ranks concupiscence above latter
manifests
above
itself
all in
375
SIN, ETC.
it.
sexual lust.
The Since
this acts spontaneously (independent of the will),
it
proves, that the nature is vitiated (natura vitiata).
For that reason
propagates sin
it
consummated with
tion,
lust,
The
:
is
Ä
act of genera-
a testimony that
humanity has become a massa peccati.
Since Au-
gustine hesitated to teach traducianism as regards the origin of the soul, the body inal deposition
—becomes
the bearer of sin which
The tradux peccati runs as vitiam
infects the soul.
originis through humanity. sin, life
This hereditary sin
punishment for sin and guilt
and surrenders
(unbaptized
Church
it
Thus
vitia").
man
children
poena"), after
Since
also
—
has defiled
it
originis.
destroys the true
non posse non mori however " mittissima
all his acts ("
splendida
testify Scripture, the practice of the
Adam
natura vitiata.
and the conscience
His
of the
this hereditary sin exists as
was terrible, a complexity and concupiscence) it was Adam had not only been
fall
of all heinous sins (pride
more
;
is
ScStf
to the
(infant baptism)
sinner.
the
—contrary to the orig-
terrible, since
;
created good, but also possessed as adjutorium the
Divine grace
(for
taneous goodness)
without this there exists no spon.
This grace he
forfeited,
and
so
was its loss, that " in him " the whole human race was corrupted (not only because all wer.e that Adam, but also because from him the evil contagion
great
spread)
,
and even baptism
reditary sin
(human
lust)
is ,
not able to eradicate he-
but can only remove
its
^| d Adam
s in
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
376
Augustine's idea of the original state ( posse
reatus.
nonpeccare and adjutorium) stands tradiction with his doctrine of grace
jutorium in the original
;
m flagrant con-
for gratia as ad-
state is the grace of
redemp-
tion, in so far as, totally unlike, it leaves the will free
and
really has
no
effect,
but
is
merely a condition of
the free decision for good, therefore not irresistibilis.
This adjutorium
way
is in
truth conceived in a Pelagian
(his doctrine of the original state
ard of the
final
judgment
doctrine of grace) and the as
human
lust) gives
rimony, and
is
is
and of the stand-
not compatible with his
natura vitiat a (when taken
no longer a place for holy mat-
therefore Manichsean.
But
all
these
grave offences cannot dim the greatness of the truth that
God works
possess nothing to adhere to
4.
AugusEn-
tine's
chindion.
which we have not received, and that
God
is
good and our good.
Augustiners Exposition of the Symbol. Neiv Doctrine of Religion. in
order to understand
know which
The
how Augustine transformed °
^e traditional doctrine of to
we
the "willing and doing", that
religion (the
of his thoughts
dogma) and ,
have passed into
clesiastical possession, it is necessary to
ec-
study his ex-
planations of the symbol, especially his Enchiridion.
In the
first
teaching
is
place the
common
here revealed.
Catholic trend of his
Conformably with the old
symbol, the doctrine of the trinity and of the doublenature
is
explained
;
the importance of the Catholic
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP öhurchis
strictly
Baptism
maintained.
377
SIN, ETC.
is
placed in
,
the foreground as the is
referred back to the death of Christ, by
dominion of the is
most important mystery, and
broken.
inary
devil, after
''
,
,
I
,',','
^
1
;
(
st
l
ÄSy!
which the
he has received his dues,
Faith often appears as something prelim-
eternal life is granted only to those meriting
;
these continue in works of love, lastly however
it;
in asceticism.
But
all
are not obliged to live thus;
one must distinguish between
His
treatment of
alms
man data and consilia.
is
broad;
it
constitutes
is
forgiveness
Within the Church there
penance. of all sins,
congrua.
under the assumption of the satisfactio There are degrees in
sin,
ranging from D |fn e|ud° f
crimes to insignificant every-day sins; in the same
manner there are also degrees of good and
of
bad men
even the best (sancti, perfecti) are not free from light sins.
There
a gradation of
bliss (according to the
The departed, but not benefited by the sacrifice of
merita) are
is
prayers
.
;
they are in a purifying
The common,
perfected good souls
the mass, alms and fire of
punishment.
many wa}'s gj™^ °n
superstitious views were in
farther intensified
by Augustine; thus
t
in regard to
,.
who
Church
of this world, to the completing
deemed
of the heavenly
mated through the of
fall of
Mary in partu and
vi e i°
Em-
phasi/jii.
,!
purgatory, to the temporary amelioration or the pun-
ishment of the condemned, to the angels
U
aid the
by the
Church which was
re-
deci-
the angels, to the virginity
to her singular purity
and
conception, to the mild beginnings toward the calculation of the value of the sacrificial death of Christ,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
:57s
finally— to the conception of salvation as visio et
fr u it to Dei, which again and again comes to the surface, and to the joining of the spiritual powers to mysteriously operating sacraments. But, on the other side, the doctrine of religion in
1
1
;
*r,
church
To the
the Enchiridion is new.
old
symbol material
was added which could be united with it only very loosely and which at the same time modifies the origIn
inal elements.
all
three articles the treatment of
sin, forgiveness of sin
and perfection in love
main thing (Ench. 10 Everything
which the very
25 seq. 41 seq. 64-68).
seq.
briefly treated old
most
new
explicitly.
appears
dogmatic material
Therefore the 3d article
appears as subordinate.
sketch the
Already in the brief
Everything depends upon
:
inward
is
religion (3-8).
In the 1st article no cosmology
is
given;
faith, hope, love; so truly
physics as the content of dogmatics aside
(0,
16 seq. )
.
dogma,
is
In reality in nd sin
The
trinity,
compressed into a unity it is
is
indeed
expressly put
Hence the various Logos-doctrines
are also all wanting.
G(
the
represented as an inward process, to
is
is treated the
is
one person
:
handed down as It is
the Creator.
(the persons are
moments
God and have no longer any cosmological mean-
m »)
•
Everything in religion
is
related to God, as the
sole source of all good,
and
tinguished from error.
Thus was a break made with
the old intellectualism.
ence to
to sin; the latter is dis-
AVhenever there
sin, there is also
is
a refer-
one to the gratia gratis
data, the predestining grace, which alone frees the
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
With
shackled will.
SIN, ETC.
a reference to the misericordia
praeven iens and subsequent the exposition
How
article closes.
differently
would
its
of the 1st
words have
sounded, had Augustine been able to treat strainedly that
!
379
— In the 2d article
which the symbol
is
it
unre-
touched quite briefly
really contains (the return of
Christ, without chiliasm)
But the following come
.
The unity of Christ's personality as the homo with whose soul the Word united itself, the predestining grace which brought this homo into to the front:
s'
J^.
of ugustintr
t(
unity of person with the Divinity, although he pos-
no
3ed
deserts, the close connection
between the
death of Christ and the redemption from the devil, the atonement and baptism, on the one side, the
thought of the appearance and history of Christ as exaltation in humility
and as the prototype of the
vita Christiana, on the other.
portance of Christ 5sed
in
this
was
to
The redemptive im-
Augustine as strongly ex-
humility in exaltation and in the
prototype (vid. Bernard and Francis) as in Christ's
The incarnation as such recedes, i.e. is placed a light which was entirely foreign to the Greeks.
death. in
Accordingly the
'2d
article
was
quite changed; the
old dogmatic material is only the building rial.
— In the 3d article
mate-
the unrestrainedness and as-
surance with which an ever-enduring forgiveness of sins within the
and the new laxity
had
Church
point.
is
Among
taught
is
the principal
the masses the growing
called forth the inexhaustible
of atonement; but
sacrament
with Augustine the new knowl-
^p^ 1
^tkS
18
*"
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
380
edge had been given through an intensifying of the consciousness of sin and a burrowing into the grace vu'Üsti.H.,
God, as Paul has taught
of
it.
True, the question of
the personal assurance of salvation
touched his soul
—he
Church and Luther of
my
his
sins
and be
—
;
had as yet not
stands between the ancient the question,
filled
How can I be rid
with the power of God? was
fundamental question.
In following the vulgar
Catholic teaching he looks about for good works
;
but
he conceived them as the product of grace and of the will
which
is
dependent upon grace
;
he accordingly
warned men against relying upon outward tus and even alms he put aside; he
acts.
knows
that
Culit is
a question of inward transformation, of a pure heart
and a new ness Sofsfn
At the same time he is sure way also to forgiveness of
that
ever stands open to the penitent, and that he
who
spirit.
a ^ er baptism the
sins
does not believe in this commits the sin against the
Holy
Spirit.
This
an entirely new interpretation
is
of the Gospel passage.
Very
explicitly
was
the con-
clusion of the S3mibol {resurrectio carnis) explained.
But the main point
here, after a short explanation
of the real theme, is
:
The new doctrine
nation as the strength of his theology the idea, essentially
new
as a doctrine
;
of predesti-
furthermore (it
stands in
place of Origen's doctrine regarding the apokatastasis), of a purification of souls in the hereafter, to-
ward which the prayers and
sacrifices of survivors
are able to contribute. Piety.
Piety: Faith and love in place of fear and hope;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP religion
Something higher than
:
doctrine, a
new
— God)
tology
:
all
that
is
called
Religion.
life in the strength of love; the doc-
trine of Scripture
hope
381
SIN, ETC.
The things
:
(the Gospel, faith, love,
God
Doctrine.
Chris-
Trinity
The one Mediator, the man Jesus, with whose
Christology.
;
the trinity
:
The one
living
;
soul the Divinity has been united, without the former
having deserved efit
;
redemption
and humility
of enemies
The new
it
:
Death
in exaltation; grace:
power
creative, changeless
for the ben-
of love; the sac-
The Word along with the sign bliss The beat a necessitas of the good the good Dependence
raments
;
:
;
upon God to his
;
history
dogma grew
True, the old
!
:
this the
Greek dog-
the more rigid,
the farther they were pushed into the background (not abolished)
;
The new
order.
they became ecclesiastical law and doctrines remained
still
fluid
had not as yet received the form and value
;
they
of dog-
Through Augustine Church doctrine became more indefinite as regards extent and importance. mas.
On
the one hand
the other
it
it
defined
to theology, since
ing.
Around the
was traced back its
to the Gospel,
on
limits less sharply in relation
a definite formulation was lack-
dogma, which maintained
old
themselves in rigid validity, a large indefinite circle of doctrines
was formed,
in
which the most impor-
tant thoughts concerning faith lived,
and which
not-
withstanding could be surveyed and firmly fixed by
no one.
That was the condition of the dogma dur-
ing the Middle Ages.
By
tion.
Grace. Sacraments.
:
God does everything according
Compare with
pleasure.
matics
:
Redemp-
the side of the rigidity
The Good. History.
382
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
there
had already begun the process of inward
dis-
solution.
CHAPTER
V.
HISTORY OF DOGMA IN THE OCCIDENT TILL THE BEGINNING OF THE MIDDLE AGES (430-604). Semipelagianismus R. E. 2 Wiggers, i. Z. and elsewhere. Lau, Gregor d. Gr. 1845.
Möller,
1854
hoiic
Church B
s
w5t £! Empire,
f
.
,
f.
h. Th.,
,
The Western Roman empire
collapsed.
The
Catholic Church stepped in as the heir of the empire, the
Roman bishop
as the heir of the emperor (Leo
and his successors in the 5th century).
I.
But the
papacy, scarcely put at the head, experienced in the
time of Justinian a severe reverse, from which Gre-
gory alone succored turies the
Roman
church was not as yet able
the barbarian nations;
pline
and Rome was not The
During the 5th and 6th cen-
it.
for they
to disci-
were Arian
free but chained to the Orient
The Franks alone became
from the 6th century on.
Franks.
Catholic, yet they at first
Rome. the
remained independent of
Nevertheless just at this time the claim of
Roman
bishop, that everything valid of Peter
was also valid of him, obDogmatic efforts were limited
(especially Mt. 16 :17 seq.)
tained recognition. to the reception
and toning down
in the sense of gluing it lic
bol,
teaching. it
As
obtained
ent form,
in
in
of
Augustinianism
on to the common Catho-
regards the old
Gaul
at
Roman sym-
that time
its
pres-
which especially the new expression
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF "
communio sanctorum " (Faustus
383
SIN, ETC.
of Reji)
is
of
importance.
I.
Contest between Semi-Pelagianism and
Augustinianism. Grateful esteem for Augustine, rejection of Pe-
Predestina-
lagianism, recognition of the universal hereditary
resistibiiis.
peccability
and
of the necessity of grace (as adiuto-
riam) did not as yet mean the recognition of predestination
and
of the
cation by works, for
gratia irresistibilis.
Justifi-
which Augustine himself
left
a
concealed place, and a correct instinct of ecclesiastical self-preservation reacted against these doctrines.
During Augustine's
life-time they
called
and doubt among the monks
forth uneasiness
Hadrumet (Aug. de gratia et corruptione et gratia)
libero arbitrio
him
and de
that in the south
Gaul (monks at Massilia and other
was an opposition
of
A year or two later (428-429)
.
his devoted friends reported to of
had already
places) there
to the doctrine of predestination
and of the inability of the the Christian preaching.
will,
because
it
paralyzed
Augustine by his writings
de praedest. sand, and de dono per sever antiae confirmed his friends, but rather goaded his opponents.
After his death the
advanced for
more
Augustine
possessed
is
not
yet
great
of Vincent,
ecclesiastic
above, p. 221),
servi dei" in southern Gaul
daringly,
Commonitorium strictly
"
quite
authority.
openly
The
which formulates the
traditional
point of view (see
aimed, at least indirectly, against
^assnia*
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
384 I,,,in
Cassian.
doctrine; the newness of Augustine's °
John
Cassi-
an, the father of
the south Gallic monks, gave in
his " collationes "
expression to semi-Pelagianism,
although he had learned
much from Augustine. The
Points of
decisive points of semi-Pelagianism are the actual
gianism.
universality of grace, the accountability (responsibility)
of
man —herein
is it
grace.
God
is in
—and
the
Accordingly the gratia
importance of good works.
praeveniens
evangelical
general admitted only as outward
created the conditions, opportunity and
possibility of our salvation
;
but inward (sanctifying)
grace concurs with the free will, which ingly a co-ordinate factor.
is
accord-
Therefore the one as well
may lead the way, and a gratia irreas much excluded as a predestination in-
as the other sistibilis is
dependent of the Divine prescience (of free actions).
The
latter involves
ism), even Hiiarius
Am hor
of
"Praedes-
an ingens sacrilegium
the reservation
if
{i.e. fatal-
must stand that God's
ways are incomprehensible (like Hilarius of Aries, _ _. n n and more decidedly, but at the same time sriven to lying, the unknown author of the " Praedestinatns ", the origin of which is still a riddle the representa_
.
—
tion
is fairly
in keeping
general doctrine
it
is
with that of Jerome, as
more hesitating than that
of
Augustine, as an expression of Christian self-judg-
ment
The defenders of Augustine, Prosper and the unknown author of the libri IL de vocatione gentium (milder than it is
a desertion of the truth).
Augustinianism) did not produce a decisive ,
effect,
although pope Cölestius reprimanded their opponents
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP During the
as over-curious people.
SIN, ETC.
last
385
decades of
the 5th century semi-Pelagianism obtained an excellent representative in the
renowned teacher
of south-
ern Gaul, Faustus of Reji, an amiable and mild
abbot and bishop,
who
Faustus. of Reji.
turned as well against Pe-
lagius "pestifer", as against the grave error of pre-
destination (in his writing, de gratia
mentis liber o arbitrio), and
clei et
humanae
who induced the
strictly
Augustinian presbyter Lucidus to recant, after that the doctrine of predestination
had been condemned
at the
synod of Aries
is still
more monkish than Cassian and
He
by Augustine. itly
Faustus in his doctrine
(475).
less influenced
already brought forward implic-
meritum de congruo et condigno. knowledge and in the endeavors of
the doctrine of
In the fides as
Meritum De Congruo et Condigno.
the will to reform itself there lies a meritum, born of the gratia
prima, which
participates in the re-
deeming grace that now works in union with the will, so that perfect
merita are produced.
Like as Pelagianism and Nestorianism, which are inwardly united, were once drawn into a fate, so also
common
was semi-Pelagianism entangled
Christological controversy visional end.
The
and found therein
theopascliite Scythian
Constantinople (see above,
p.
297),
who
in the
its
pro-
monks
in
in their
Christology especially emphasized the Divine factor,
denounced the Occidental theologians (Faustus) as enemies of the correct Christology and as opponents of grace, taking their stand
with Augustine.
The
pope gave an evasive decision, but the monks found 25
Scythian
Monks
in
Constantinople.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
386 allies Fuigentius of Ruspe.
among
who had been banished
the bishops
rom North Africa into Ruspe wrote about 520 f
Sardinia.
Fulgentius of
several important
letters
against the authority of Faustus, in which complete
Augustinianism
forth (particularity of grace,
is set
praedestinatio adpoenam). These and the reading of Augustine's sermons
had
its effect also
in south-
The age saw but the one dilemma, either Augustine is a heretic, or a holy teacher. The great Gallic preacher, who had obtained his education en-
ern Gaul.
Caesarius of Aries.
tirely
from Augustine, Caesarius of Aries
(f 542),
averted the South-Gallic opposition, which had be-
come boisterous
at the synod of Valence
by the pope he gained the victory 25
of
Orange
(525)
with the 25
;
supported
at the small
" Chapters",
synod
which the
Chapters.
pope had extracted from the writings of Augustine
and Prosper and sent
to the southern
doctrine of the early fathers.
Gauls as the
A few only in
south-
ern Gaul supported Caesarius (Avitus of Vienne, 523)
;
f
but most of the bishops were perhaps no longer
capable of following the point under controversy. Boniface II.
The approval
of pope Boniface II. strengthened the
authority of the decrees of Orange, which were later tolerantly considered
by the Tridentine council.
The
"Chapters" are Augustinian, but predestination is wanting; and the inward process of grace upon
which Gratia Praeveniens.
for
Augustine the principal emphasis lay
not deservingly appreciated. is
The gratia praeveniens
taught unequivocally, because the
of hereditary sin
and with
is
it
strict conception
the doctrine of grace
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
387
SIN, ETC.
were emphasized by the monkish views regarding
But otherwise the doc-
the impurity of matrimony. trine is in reality
an Augustinianism without Augus-
could easily be understood as such;
tine, or
i.e.
the
vulgar Catholic views concerning outward grace and
works could and would maintain themselves alongside of
it.
2.
Rome
Gregory the Great (590-604).
finally
advanced the formulas of Augustin-
ianism to victory, although
its
Gregory i.
bishops in the 6th
century withdrew far from the same.
Gregory
I.,
a
pope highly influential through his personality (a
monk) his ,
letters,
writings (regula pastoralis, dia-
expos, in Job seu moralia, Jiomil. in Ezeck.)
logic
and liturgical reforms, under the cover of Augustinian language
by means
type,
expression to
strengthened the vulgar Catholic
of superstitious elements, then
it
gave
again, and brought forward into
00
prominence the old Occidental conception of religion as legalistic organization. characteristic of religion. angels, rites,
devils,
sacraments,
punishment of
sure confidence in
Even
if
The miraculous became The latter lived among
sins, fear
sacrifices,
penitential
and hope, but not
God through
in
Christ and in love.
Gregory personally indulged in Augustinian
thoughts and manifested in his gentleness and
own way
justice,
freedom, yet the variegated form
of his theology testifies that even the best
that time were not able to
men
withdraw from the
at
relig-
Miraculous in
Rehglon
'
388
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
which antiquity had dissolved.
ious barbarism into
Gregory was in after time more read and lauded than Augustine. For nearly half a millennium he in dominated without a rival the history of dogma ^ Hai? omu- the Occident, and he really dominates Catholicism even now. He indeed created nothing new but by Gregory Doih mates
;
manner in which he accentuated the various doctrines and Church customs and introduced a secthe
ond-rate religion into theology, he created the vulgar
type of ReprodUCeS Augustine with Semi-
Modmca-
Roman
mention are the following: •
most valuable
Especially worthy of
Catholicism.
series of
cerning the inner effect
He
(1)
reproduced the
•
A
Augustine °
thoughts con° and appropriation of grace, s
in part even independent of the latter, attributing
also to the
Word (verbnm fidei)
but he gave to
all
great importance;
phases of the Augustinian ordo
salutis a semi-Pelagian cast, since he conceived the
liberum arbitrium as a factor coordinate with grace (" sacrifice of Christ Replated h>
supper.
nosmet ipsos liber are dicimur, quia liber anti
nos domino consentimus
") ;
(2) V '
He
tance of the death of Christ, perhaps ^.j
ian Augustine, but
among
view under which he placed
felt
the imporl
more
intensely
the different points of it
the apocryphal pre-
dominates: Through Christ's death the devil was overcome, after he had been cheated; in the Lord's
Supper the
sacrifice of Christ is actually repeated
(here Gregory's doctrine has
become
especially the
standard), and thus an imaginary sacrifice takes the place of the historical
;
but otherwise also the his-
torical Christ appears supplanted, viz.
by his own
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP meritum, which as the holy death
389
SIN, ETC.
result of a sinless life
and
separated from him, an actual good
is
necessary to every one in order to appease the angry
God, but in
value to the individual quite an un-
its
certain treasure
With this conception of the inmeritum Christi. Gregory to J united
(3)
;
tercession of the
'
the hitherto uncertain thoughts regarding the inter-
and the service
cession of the saints
and exalted them
He
of
Saint s,
etc.
of the angels,
to the lofty plane of "theology".
legitimized the pagan
need
intercession of
demi-gods and
which had
superstition
graded
had
deities,
re-
course to the holy bodies of martyrs and joined the service of Christ closely with that of the
classifying
saints,
and commending the archangels and
guardian-angels, and fortifying the evil practice by his doctrine
;
(4)'
Hierarch more in practice than in "
doctrine, he brought out strongly the similarity of
the
Church and the civitas Dei,
time
He
when nothing
for he lived at
of value existed save the Church.
extolled the latter as the congregatio
but in reality
it
was
to
tion, repelling the evil
idea the selves.
men
a
of that
sanctorum,
him an educational
and dispensing grace
day dare not
;
institu-
a higher
set before
To him the Roman bishop was
them-
the master
only of the sinning bishops (the laity no longer play
any part at
all),
but sinners were they
all
("si
qua
culpa in episcopis invenitur, nescio quis Petri
non sit; cum vero culpa non omnes secundum rationem humilitatis ae-
successori subiectus exigit,
quales sunt")
;
(5)
Gregory
still
knows what inner
™
cl r? h and CivitasDei .
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
390 .
»l.i
Roman
Statutory p'roi'Srfted.
f
o-jfts O
Roman to
him
grace and virtue are, but the exterminated o paganism had notwithstanding transmitted
also its
inventory and
thought in such a perfect religious duties
its
way
which were
in part adopted old
tle that
was new, but he elevated first
Church ity,
;
lit-
to ecclesiastical
rank the
Roman
with the remnants of the mysteries
which long since had obtained
civic rights in the
Gregory had a feeling for true humil-
(6)
but he strengthened the trend which this virtue
had taken toward monastic
and
spiritual self-deception
" :
humilitas", self-denial
With
the simple sense
of truth the sense of truthfulness died out
night; and the world of the inner
—
it
became
which
life also,
Augustine had enlightened, grew dark again; Penance.
out-
customs; here also he created in reality
" religio" together
of
that he encased all
Roman
ordinances of salvation of the
n ityi s if Demai.
mode
and virtues in statutory, firmly
lined ceremonies,
Hu
religious
(7)
Gregory's deductions concerning penitence became the most consequential
;
in these his theology lived
and from them one could wholly construe
God
inscrutable
unpunished sin,
but
;
it is
is
it.
The
the Requiter and leaves no sin
in baptism he has overlooked inherited
our concern to gain blessedness through
penance and good works by the aid of the hand of grace.
Of the three parts
of penitence (conversio
mentis, confessio oris, vindictapeccati) the penalty to be paid for sin tant.
By
becomes in reality the most imporGregory the fatal transposition was first
carried out that the " satisfactiones"
,
which
origin-
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP ally
SIN, ETC.
391
were considered a sure attestation of repentance,
are the satisfying penalties for sin, to
which one
sf tfonl
i£
sions,
Masses, etc.
submits in order
to
avoid eternal punishment.
The
merit of Christ and the power of the Church seem to consist in the very fact that eternal
changed into temporal;
punishment
is
these temporal penalties,
however, are again diminished, abbreviated, or prevented by the intercession of Christ and the saints,
by masses fact
for the soul,
relics,
amulets,
etc.
The
which has always been observable in the history
of religion, that
morals
it
wherever religion takes
becomes immoral,
is
its
aim from
exemplified here also.
In the main principle the severe idea of retribution dominates, in the subordinate salvation
come
tian etiquette,
all
possible
means
of
into play, in part not even with Chris-
and in the
fear rule.
Long
for this life
and
final instance casuistry
and
before this view sufficed no longer
for time,
and yet men had not dared
to reach over into eternity
considered saved?
—for who
could then be
—but Gregory was the
first to se-
curely introduce purgatory into theology, thereby
conquering an immense province for the Church, to
remove
hell farther
uncertainty a
new
away, and thus
to procure for
comfort, but no rest.
392
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
CHAPTER
VI.
HISTORY OF DOGMA IN THE TIME OF THE CARLOVINGIAN RENAISSANCE. Bach, DG. des MA., 2 Bdd., 1873 f. Reuter, Gesch. d. reHauck, KGesch. Aufklärung im MA. 2 Bdd. 1875 f Schwane, DG. d. mittleren 1887 f Deutschlands, 2 Bdd.
lig.
,
Zt. z.
,
1882.
Mitte
.
Spiess, Gesch. d. d. 13.
Jahrh.
.
,
,
1885.
,
Unterrichtswesen i. Deutschi, bis Hatch, The Growth of Church
Institutions, 1887.
Clovis' conversion to Christianity and Gregory's
ciovis.
missionary efforts
among
the Anglo-Saxons laid the
foundation for the history of the
Church among the Germans. Arianism died out
;
in the 8th
Roman
Catholic
In the 7th century
Rome was
forced to
transfer the centre of gravity of its politics to the
P
d 3harfe^
Newly converted Engat once Roman. Pepin and Charles the Great made advances to the pope. At first the new kingdom of the Franks gained more
Romano-Germanic empire. ^ an ^ an(^ Germany became
than the pope
;
but
it
soon became apparent that the
latter obtained the highest benefit
from the confeder-
ation, not because the idea in itself of the Christian
conqueror signified less than that of the successor of Peter, but because
it
demanded the foundation
of
an
actual world-empire, which, however, could be only
temporarily created. Spiritual life
and theology had, prior
of Charles the Great,
to the time
no progressive history; the
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
SIN, ETC.
Carlo vingian epoch was a great and, in
393
many respects,
abortive attempt at a revival of antiquity and likewise
Whatever
also of the theology of the fathers.
of
was at hand prior to about the year 800 is compendium and excerpt (Isidore of Seville, Bede, theology
later
Rabanus),
tion", like the
is
whole of
religion.
was
revived.
Alcuin, Augustine
vance when
in a certain
men began
" institu-
measure
^Tarsus Aicum.
Through Bede and It
to really
was a great adunderstand him
— in some respects better than did Gregory (Alcuin, Agobard and others) — as an independent again
;
still
thinker Scotus Erigena alone can be named, whose
mystical pantheism, derived from the Areopagite
and Augustine
("
de divisione naturae") remained ,
however wholly without
The
was a very
ture in the 9th century (see the
effect.
effort at cul-
respectable one
manuscripts preserved to us).
England (Theodore
of Tarsus, Bede, Alcuin)
over the continent and ture of Italy,
guished.
Starting in
was strengthened by
which had never been
it
swept
the cul-
entirely extin-
But during the great convulsions
after the
third quarter of the 9th century everything seemed
again to be engulfed. of the
but
The dogmatic
controversies
age originated, in part, in the hitherto hidden
now strictly drawn consequences of Augustinian-
ism, and, in part, in the relationship then sustained
toward the Orient.
mass and
The
farther development of the
of penance, in practice
serves especial attention.
and
in theory, de-
scotus Erigena.
;
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
394
A. The Adoption Controversy.
1
Hauck, ciiristoiojry or otli
a.
j n the
a.
O.
II.
;
Gams, Kirchengesclii elite Spaniens
II.
Occident after severe contests the Christol-
of the 5th council gained the victory,
DoSnait
ogy
Occident,
spite of the 6th council this mystical view,
and
in
under
the guise of monophysitism, supplanted the strict
Chalcedon, since the superstitious ideas about the
Lord's Supper favored
it.
Spain was
less influenced
In the Muzarabic liturgy stood
by this development.
the Augustinian formula of the passio filii adopEJipandus
tivi.
Elipaiidus, the tyrannical bishop of
full of national pride,
Toledo,
brought into notice about the
year 780 the old doctrine that Christ as regards his
human
nature
is
filius dei adoptivas, the
redeemed
therefore in the fullest sense brethren of the Jesus.
Very
from that
of
which was conviction
NapL?
son J esus
>
likely
Rome
man
he desired a formula different
as an expression of the orthodoxy
From inward and with high regard for the human perFelix, bishop of Naples, who occupied to be
found only in Spain.
a chair in the empire of Charles, championed the
same (reading
of Antiochian scriptures is probable).
After that Beatus and Eterius had defended the opposition doctrine in Spain, the Franconian theolo-
gians, especially Alcuin, interfered.
Monophysites and Nestorians faced each other under new helmets
but to Charles the opportunity of proving himself the guardian of orthodoxy and the master of the
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
SIN, ETC.
395
was condemned Church was welcome. Adoptionism r at the synods of Regensburg (792), Frankfurt (794),
Adoptionism Con-
demned
'
was repeatedly forced to and Frankish Spain was recalled through
and Aachen recant,
(799), Felix
theology and gentle pressure (wheel of torture) to
The
the unity of the mystical faith.
John
doctrine of
Damascus, which conceived the human na-
of
ture in Christ as impersonal
sumed nature
of the
and placed
it
as the as-
Logos in complete unity with
him, gained the victory in the Occident
Yet
also.
in spite of the realistic doctrine concerning the Lord's
Supper which crowded out the historical Christ and
demanded a tion ideas
fine
monophysitism, Augustinian-adop-
were preserved through the
later theolo-
gians of the Middle Ages.
1
B. The Predestination Controversy.
Wiggers, d.
Th.
,
i.
1859.
d. Z.
f.
h. Th., 1859.
Weizsäcker,
i.
d. Jh.
f.
Monographs on Hinkmar, by von Noorden
u. Schrörs.
The dominating
system was semi-
ecclesiastical
Pelagian; but in the 9th century Augustine was
again diligently studied.
That during the
which arose Augustinianism was stated,
notwithstanding
all
phrases, is a proof of the
The monk Gottschalk trine of predestination
it
i
?e
fa n nf" Dominant
-
crisis
after all not rein-
the good Augustinian
power of
of Orbais
ecclesiasticism.
maintained the doc-
with the power of Augustine,
likewise as the chief and original doctrine, finding in
Sei
the key to the riddle of his
own
life.
He
pro-
0tt
of
o?S
396
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
claimed the praedestinatio gemina {ad vitam et
ad
mortem) yet was of the opinion that God predestined only the good and that he merely had a fore-knowl,
edge of the Isidore
evil.
Not ivhat he said (Fulgentius and
had tanght nothing
ner in which he presented
it
to the
but the man-
Church aroused
He was condemned
Maye nce (848) by Rabanus, at Chiersey (849) by Hincmar and taken into custody as a " miser abilis monachus", enemies against him.
Rabanus,
different)
at
from which he never escaped, since he persistently fused to recant.
went over
But the most eminent theologians
to his side, not so
much
because they were
in earnest about Augustinianism, as to ties for
re-
Hincmar and
make
difficul-
to preserve as traditionalists
the Augustinian "language".
From
the
kingdom
of
Lothar especially came the opposition to the Raban-
Hincmar thesis,
that predestination should be deduced
from the prescience and be limited to the saints. Hinc-
mar
tried to defend himself at the
(853) against the
of Troyes,
synod of Chiersey
herd of Alcuin disciples (Prudentius
Ratramnus, Lupus of Ferneres, Servatus
Lupus, Remigius of Lyon, the provincial bishops)
by making in the
"
Chapters" large concessions to
Augustinianism, yet retaining in his doctrine of
one predestination, God's purpose of universal salvation, etc. "
In these objective and subjective untrue
Chapters" the point under consideration was no
longer clearly expressed.
Those
who by word
of
mouth acknowledged the whole of Augustinianism meant at that time only the half, and those who, like
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF Hincmar, rejected
any
at
a
SIN, ETC.
want Sens and in
part did in truth not
In the archbishopric of
all.
307
the south of France the resolutions of Chiersey did
At Valence,
not give satisfaction.
855, the
gemina
praedestinatio was proclaimed and Augustinianism
At
in general announced.
was not
much
so
and Toucy
(860) a
secured as a paralyza-
tion of the controversy through agreement.
mar 's
conception of the doctrine,
First's,
was
natl °*
the great synods of the
three empires at Savonieres (859) unification
prf^jsti
in reality victorious.
Hinc-
Gregory the
i.e.
The doctrine
of
God's purpose of universal salvation, of the quick
and sure
efficacy of the
sacraments and of the con-
currence of free-will continued in force
the doctrine
;
of predestination reappeared as a decorative element
in theology.
Only in
form was
this
it
compatible
with empirical ecclesiasticism.
2.
The Controversy about the Filioque and about Images. Hefele, Concil. Gesch., Bd. III.
Pichler, Gesch. d. kirchl.
Trennung zwischen dem Orient und Occident.
2 Bde.
,
1864
f.
The Augustinian-Spanish formula "filioque" (see Auf£j in I. p. 271) had been accepted in France (see the Fmoque. synod of Gentilly, 767) and was defended by the theo-
"
logians of
process,
Charlemagne
s. s.).
(libri
At Aachen,
Carolini; Alcuin, de
809, the
Frankish church
resolved that the filioque belonged to the symbol.
This resolution was provoked by a grave injustice
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
398
which the Western pilgrims were
called
upon
to en-
Although the pope approved the
dure in Jerusalem.
Spanish-Frankish doctrine, he nevertheless refused Rome Did Not Adopt 111
1
Century
admittance to the watch- word in the symbol. ^ until the 10th century does
cepted
it.
If
Rome
Not
appear to have ac-
Charlemagne widened the opening
breach between the Orient and Occident by the
"fili-
oque" and had therefor only a half-ally in the pope, he alienated himself still
more from the orthodoxy of the
Orient by his rejection of image-worship, which
woSSp
^
^e
approved. The barbaric tradition P°P e a^ so s of the Frankish church and an Augustinian element (with Charlemagne perhaps also an enlightening
one) determined the attitude of the Occidentals.
At
Frankfurt, 794, the decrees of the 7th council were laid aside, j^et the resolutions of the
also rejected.
The
church accepted the
synod of 754 were
self-confidence of the Frankish first six
councils as an expres-
sion of ecclesiastical antiquity, refused, however, to
be dictated to by Byzantium at the modern councils. Libri Carolini.
The "libri Carolini" standpoint:
We
will neither worship images, nor
attack them, but treat
was
still
retain the old ecclesiastical
them
piously.
This attitude
taken by Louis the Pious (synod of Paris,
825) and Hincmar. silence,
The pope preserved a discreet and the 7th council, which was favorable
to images, gradually obtained through
ence recognition in the Occident
also.
Rome's
influ-
;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
399
SIN, ETC.
The Development, in Practice and in Theory,
3.
of the Mass {Dogma of the Eucharist) and of Penance. Bach, Reuter,
a.
O.
a.
a. a.
O.
I. I.
Abendmahlslehre
Rückert, i. Hilgenfeld's Ztchr., 1858. Choisy, Paschase, 1888. Geschichte d. Dieckhoff, Ebrard, Kahnis.
v.
Steitz,
D.
röm. Busssacrament, 1854.
The thought of image-representation was kept aloof in
an increasing measure from the Lord's Supper;
Miracle
and
öcicrci"
^minote"
men lived in a world of miracle and of sacraments, so much did the tendency necessarily increase to portray the content of the highest sacrament in an ex-
travagant manner, in order to give
among
the multitude of holy things
which allowed the
;
it
prominence
the Christology
historical Christ to disappear be-
hind the unity of the two " natures" tended toward
an ever-present
was considered chief characteristic and compendium of religion idea of the attributes of God was more and more
could be the the
mysterium, which
Christological
felt
and enjoyed
;
the mass
concentrated in the one, that he
wonder-working Will
—
all
is
the almighty,
these forces
worked
gether to bring about the following result torical rist,
body of Jesus Christ
is
:
The
to-
his-
present in the eucha-
since the elements are transformed into
identification of the sacramental ical)
and the
it.
The
real (histor-
body of Christ could the more easily be carried
out, since
men
considered
it
The Mass
from the moment of
in-
carnation a pneumatic (mysterious) body assumed
Docetism
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
400
by the Divinity, and held docetic views in regard it, as is proven, e.g., by the controversy in regard
new
doctrine of the eucharist
mulated without age, because
it
difficulty
Paschasius Radbertus.
would have been
for-
during the Carlovingian
already actually existed, had not the
then- revived study of the
of sacrament
to
The
the birth of Jesus out of Maria clauso utero. Doctrine of Eucharist.
to
and his
Augustinian conception
spiritualistic doctrine of the
eucharist had a restraining influence.
Radbertus, abbot of Corbie,
who wrote
Paschasius the
first
mon-
ograph on the Lord's Supper (de corpore et sanguine dornini, 831), was, on the one side,
an Augustinian
and reproduced without inward sympathy or
real
comprehension the Augustinian doctrine, that the act belongs to faith
ing
but,
;
realistic,
and represents a
on the other
side,
he carried
spiritual eatit
on to the
popular doctrine, that in every mass by a
miracle of the Almighty the elements are transformed
inivardly but actually into the body which was born
Mary, and are now brought to God as a sacrifice. Outwardly as a rule no change takes place, in order
of
that the body of Christ 1
lous Trans-
>n
*
5f Elements.
teetn
-
God performs this
may
not be bitten by the
miracle,
which Paschasius
conceives as a miracle of creation; the priest simply directs his supplications to
holy food
is
in reality
now
God.
But even
if
the
the real body of Christ
himself (the obvious appearance of the elements the symbol), the fact
still
is
remains that only be-
lievers partake of the spiritual food unto immortality
— not,
however, unbelievers.
Paschasius
drew
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF neither
all
401
SIN, ETC.
the hierarchical, nor "objective" conse-
quences of the doctrine of transubstantiation, but at-
tempted to adjust the miracle to faith.
He was
not
a theologian primarily of the mass, but wished to be a theologian in the sense of Augustine and the
Greek mystics.
Nevertheless he encountered an un-
Rabanus expressed
expected contradiction.
himself,
in a letter to Eigel, in opposition to this doctrine,
and Ratramnus, a monk
of Corbie, found in his writ-
Ratramnus.
ings to Charles the Bald {de corpore et sanguine
domini) that Paschasius had not done justice to the "
" of
spirituale
tions suffer
But
Augustine.
from old
own
his
explana-
ecclesiastical cloudiness.
Ap-
parently he desires, as in the controversy about the
uterus clausus, like a good Augustinian to set aside the unwieldy miracle of almightiness contra natu-
ram and stress
to place, in the interest of faith, the
upon the
"
spiritualiter geri "
;
whole
but since he
likewise does not doubt the presence of the corpus
domini
after the consecration,
he
is
compelled to dis-
tinguish between the real body and the body. born, crucified body
was the
old
there is the ibilis
is
not in the sacrament
churchly idea
power
of the
body
substantia and, in so
receivable only
—but
—that
in the sacrament
of Christ as
far, the
by the mind
The
an invis-
invisibiiis
Substantia.
pneumatic body,
of the faithful.
over Ratramnus in a few deductions
made
More-
still far-
ther advances toward Paschasius; nevertheless the plainest
conception
creari in mysterio" 26
potentialiter
F ^lf^'
but even this conception was
MySeria
is ;
that of the
"
;
!
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
402
no longer clear
to their superstitious contemporaries
men wanted more than
and soul nour-
Paschasius had spoken the deciding word.
ishment.
The awe
faith reality
inspired by every
mass seemed
to confirm it
and the same was even heightened by the power of
SS ReheSsecL
Incarnation
tüe definite formulation of the doctrine.
and
crucifixional
mass.
What
sacrifice
were repeated at every
then could even approximate this?
was not necessary
to
change the old wording of the
prayers of the mass, which, fice,
It
emphasized the
if
they treated of sacri-
sacrifice
of praise;
for
who
The mass, however, as a sacrificial act, in which the God-man was offered up to God, had its culmination long since no more in gave heed to the words?
real
enjoyment, but in the consummation of the
ting out of sin and removal of evil.
It
blot-
had been
adopted into the great institution of atonement, and
M
S
and
masses without communion (requiems) were multi-
The primitive commemorative element of the celebration had become independent, especially since the da^ys of Gregory I., and the communion was changed, as it were, into a second celebration. The first celebration, the mass, belonged
MuitipS. plied to pacify
God.
to the laity only in so far as cially efficacious
was the only apparent of
represented an espe-
form of the Church's intercession
for the lightening of the
cant one,
it
punishment of
effect of the act
important only through
sins.
This
— an insignifi-
its
summarizing
an immense mystery
The mass was subordinated
to the institution of
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF penance
;
in the latter
was
403
SIN, ETC.
reflected the religious life,
Punishment ruled the world and the conscience.
ordlnatetö Penance -
The conception of God as almighty Will, as Retribution and Indulgence (a Christian modification of the old Eoman idea) was the ruling one. The consequence thereof was the idea that merits and satisfactions
were needed
to
of contract occasioned
had Gregory in the
I.
German
compensate for the breaches
Thus ,..,,,, view blended
by sin and oft repeated.
taught; moreover this
church and State Blended,
nations with their national ideas of
law and with their legal ever, the Occidental
restrictions.
Church did
how-
Since,
not, like the Oriental,
relinquish the administration of law
and questions of
morality entirely to the state, but rather interposed to discipline
and punish, there was developed,
to the state institution of law, the
tion of penance. institution
The
Church
parallel
institu-
detailed development of this
was a consequence
and
of the transfer
application of the discipline of penance within the cloisters to the secular clergy it
and
originated with the Irish-Scottish,
church.* Anglo-Saxon ö
punishment of
with the
i.e.
But through ° the fear
sin, of hell
and
to the laity,
of the
and purgatory, the
laity He5iienp U r-
favored the practice and established the influence of the
Church
itself.
in its entire range, even over private life
A certain deepening of
was the consequence
:
the conception of sin
The people had recourse
Church, not only in the case of grave *
Wasserschieben, Die irische Kanonensammlung,
ner, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte L, 1888.
2.
sins,
Aufl.
,
to the
but also 1885.
Fear of Punish-
Brun-
gatory
-
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
404
on account of the "roots of sin" and the hidden faults (gluttony, sexual lust, avarice, anger, humor, anxiety, heartfelt aversion, arrogance, pride),
now
they
which
considered also deadly sins ; however, this
deepening was counterbalanced by the stupefying readiness with
which men acknowledged themselves
ever as sinners, and by the thought that intercession
and
satisfaction possess the
In
punishment.
ited
power
truth
to cancel the mer-
men bestowed more
thought upon punishment and the remission of the
same than upon
sin.
During the Carlovingian age
the hierarchical side of the institution of penance
Satisfactions.
was
as yet
still
lagged behind
little
developed, and the dogmatic theory ;
but the satisfactions experienced
a new development in connection with the exercise Prayers,
Alms, Exclusion O. T.
and
German Codes.
of penance in the
To the
old,
more
form of voluntary confession
:
(1)
or less, arbitrary rules in regard to
the choice and duration of the compensating punish-
ment
(prayers, alms, lamentations,
temporary exclu-
were added, in increasing measure, rules from the Old Testament and from the German code. The sion)
consequence was that the measure of the compensatory punishment itself appeared in the light of a Rehearsal of Death of Christ.
Divine ordinance,
The compensatory means were looked upon as things pleasing to God, which therefore, if nothing had been omitted, in themselves es(2)
tablish merits; the sacrificial death of Christ
be considered as the most efficacious
;
must
therefore the
rehearsal of this death (pretii copiositas mysterii
passionis) was the efficacious and convenient means
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF (masses for the dead)
;
besides,
SIN, ETC.
405
one should gain the
good will of the saints for their intercessions ought
God can demand nothing from able to bring him valuable gifts,
to be efficacious, since
them, while they are (3)
Since the exercises of penance have a material .
value before God, thev can be exchanged, ° **
'
i.e.
lessened
changes, Indulgences, Remissions.
-
by a repentant disposition here especially the Church ;
steps in,
since
institutes
it
such exchanges; thus
originated a whole system of indulgences, exchanges,
and remissions,
which the
to the establishing of
Germanic law contributed
(origin of indulgences;
remissions are of primitive antiquity),
(4)
In addi-
Substitu-
tion to exchanges, however, substitution is also possible
;
here the Germanic law had a
fluence
;
tutes, (5)
The consequence
and the
to reconcile
saints as substi-
of the whole conception
that in the doing of penance
much
stronger in-
yet the idea has also an ecclesiastical root
in the conception of Christ
was
still
men
sought not so
God, the Father, as much more
escape from God, the Judge tice entirely inverted
!
to
This soul-killing prac-
Augustinianism
;
it
had
enced Christology in the time of Gregory
I.,
influ-
and
it
operated decisively during the classic times of the
Middle Ages upon
all
and created new ones.
dogmas
of ancient standing
Augustinianism averted,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
406
CHAPTER
VII.
OF DOGMA IN THE TIME OF CLUGNY, ANSELM AND BERNARD TO THE END OF THE
HISTORY
12TH CENTURY. Reuter a. a. O. Weltanschauung, Advance Movement of Church.
Through
v.
Eicken, Gesch. u. System d. MAlichen,
1887.
the institution of penance the Church
became the decisive power in men's
An
dental Christendom.
lives in Occi-
advance movement of the
Church, therefore, must of necessity benefit the whole
This advance took place
of Occidental Christendom. at the
end of the 10th century and continued until
the 13th century, during which time the supremacy of the
Church and the mediaeval
ecclesiastical con-
ception of the world attained their perfection. ^tetjanC
^r
e
Life
one regards Christianity as doctrine, the Middle
Ages appear almost of the ancient
like
Church
if
;
a supplement to the history one regards
it
as
life,
ancient Christianity only attained
its full
ment
Church.
in the mediaeval Occidental
ancient age the motives, ancient
Monasticism.
If
life
then
develop-
In the
standards and ideas of
confronted the Church as barriers.
It
was never able to overcome these barriers, as is shown by the Greek Church Monasticism stands by the side of the Church the earthly Church is the old :
;
world supplemented by Christian etiquette.
But the
Occidental Church of the Middle
able to
carry out
much more
Ages was
securely its peculiar standards
,;
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF of
monkish asceticism and
old cultus alongside of
domination of this
of the
by the one beyond, because
life
it
did not have an
Gradually
it.
407
SIN, ETC.
gathered
it
strength so as to be able finally to enlist into
its ser-
vice even the old enemy, Aristotelian science, and to
transform the same into an instrument of power.
made
all
the elements of
It
and knowledge subject
life
The inner strength of its activity was the Augustinian-ascetic piety, which broke forth in ever to itself.
new the
creations of monasticism
Roman
pope, who,
the outer power
;
as the successor of
was
Peter,
secured for himself both Christ's right and that of the
Roman
Caesars.
The Revival of Piety.
1.
Harnack, Das Monchthum, 3. Aufl., 1886. Neander, d. Bernard (hrsg. v. Deutsch, 1889) HüfTer, d. h. Bernard .
1886.
Ritschl,
i.
d.
Stud. u. Krit. 1879, S. 317
From Quedlinburg
(Matilda)
h. I.
f.
and Clugny the
re-
Quedlin-
burg and
vival of piety
the "
new
had
The Gregorian
popes,
congregations" and Bernard enforced
the laity received clergy,
its rise.
upon
it
whom
it
it
more readily than the worldly
made
greater demands.
It is
most plainly represented by the crusade enthusiasm
and by the founding of innumerable Strict discipline
in the convents,
tion of the secular clergy,
monkish regula-
the domination of the
monkish-regulated Church over the
and nations
— these were
its
convents.
aims.
laity,
Upon
princes
this found-
ciugny.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
408
ation alone Christian,
froÄe
it
i.e.
appeared possible to create a truly
an unworldly
poral life should serve the life effort of the
The whole temhereafter: Supreme the Church to gain
life.
world dominion of
the most perfect victory over the world,
Freedom from the world appeared
from the world. possible only
minion.
under the condition of universal do-
Many monks
also permitted themselves to
be blinded by this dialectics, tion between the
who
the contradic-
felt
aim and the means, and preferred
for themselves the direct
way
of popularizing flight
from the world by fleeing from the world.
Church was indeed
also
Therefore did
To perfectly exemplify
the difficult trait of a renunciation
German and
youthful.
it
courageous to battle against Simonistic
princes and worldly clericals.
the
But the
God's state and not simply
the bestower of individual bliss! incite the
escape
i.e.
The
the
Romance
world,
of the
peoples were
still
too
violent disposition toward the con-
quest of the world united with this and produced that strange frame of mind, in
which the conscious-
ness of strength alternated like a flash with humility,
longing after enjoyment with resignation, cruelty
with sentimentality.
Men
desired nothing
this world, they desired only heaven,
from
and yet they
wished to own this beautiful earth. P
of
chrtot
^^
rst re ^gi° us
individualism was not as yet
kindled (yet take note of the heresies which found access in the 11th century, partly imported from the
Orient
— Bogomils—partly
springing
up spontane-
— DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF ously), still visions
SIN, ETC.
400
were brought back from the Holy
Land crusade for which indulgences had been The picture of Christ was recovered and granted. piety was enlivened by the most vivid representations of the suffering and dying Redeemer: We should follow him in every step of his passion jourAccordingly in place of the defunct
ney.
ism", the
man
" adoption-
Jesus came again to the front and
negative asceticism received a positive form and a
The cords of Christie-mysticism, ^ which Augustine had struck only with uncertainty grew into a rapturous melody. By the side of the new, fixed aim.
— penance
sacramental Christ stepped'
medium — the image
christic-
Mysticism.
formed the
of the historical Christ sublime
in his humility, innocent, suffering punishment, life in death.
which
It
is
this piety,
impossible to estimate the effects
newly induced through the
homo", had, and in how many forms
it
"
Ecce
has developed.
a strong ° and effective form; he was the religious genius of the 12th cenSt.
Bernard
first
gave °
and therefore
tury,
it
at the
the most powerful ecclesiastic.
same time however In so far as Bernard
a system of thought and portrays the gradual
progress of love (caritas and liumilitas) even to excess,
he revived Augustine.
mined by that
His language
of the " Confessions".
ate love for Christ he
eration for that
.
m
?£
f
cen-
tury.
also the leader of the epoch
Augustinus redivivus, offers
B ?F n ard „ Religious
But
is
deter-
in passion-
went beyond Augustine.
which
is
"
Ven-
beneath us", for suffering
and humility (devotion) dawned upon him as never ,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
410
before upon
s.m°f and
He
any Christian.
venerated the cross,
shame and death as the form of the Divine appearing upon earth. The study of the Song of Songs and
('l'llS'lllt*
the crusade enthusiasm conducted
image of the
before the
Redeemer, the Bridegroom of
Into his image he sunk himself
the soul. there
crucified
him
beamed
for
him
true love
;
from
it
and shone the living
To him the sensuousness Christ's wounds melted into
truth.
of the contemplation
of
spiritual exaltation,
which, however, always rested upon the foundation of the ecclesiastical system
Bernard
of penance.
united the Neo-Platonic exercises of ascent unto
God
with the contemplation of the crucified Redeemer
and unfettered the subiectiveness of the Christic-mys-
eristic
and
ync ism
"
ticism and Christie-lyricism. led
him
in his
This contemplation
sermons on the Song of Songs to a
which not infrequently gains the Pauline and Lutheran faith unto salvation
self- judgment,
height of ("
non modi Justus sed etbeatus, cui non imputabit
deus peccatum").
had
to
But, on the other side, he also
pay the tribute of
mysticism, not only in
all
so far as the feeling of especial exaltation alternated
with that of abandonment, but also in his not being able to
Bernard as Prophet,
ward off a pantheistic tendency.
Bernard also taught that from the Christ in the
flesh
weD^a, that the historical
is
clung to
it
a
Like Origen,
was necessary to step.
the
to rise
Christ xard
This
trait
has
mysticism since his time; mysticism has learned from Bernard, whom men reverenced as a all
prophet and apostle, the Christ-contemplation; but
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF the
at
same time
it
SIN, ETC.
411
has adopted his pantheistic
The excedere et cum Christo esse" means, that in the arms of the Bridegroom the soul ceases to be an individual self. But where the soul is merged "
trend.
in the Divinity, the Divinity is dissolved into the
All-in-One.
Immeasurable
for Christology OJ has the significance °
of the
new
He
prototype and power
The scheme of the two natures was indeed retained, yet there was in truth by the side of the sacramental Christ a second Christ, the man Jesus, whose sentiment, sufferings, and deeds portrayed and propagated Divine life. is
is
vision of Christ been.
;
Augus-
View
tine's
Perfected
-
his death sacrifice, also,
the sacrifice of the man, in
whom God
was.
Thus
the Augustinian conception, already inaugurated by
Ambrose, attained here its perfection. r
In the second
1
half of the 12th century this ing, humility)
new
piety (love, suffer-
was a mighty power
But as Bernard represented between the world
in himself the contrast
of pious
and the hierarchical policy
in the Church.
Christian
sentiment
of the world-dominat
ing Church, so also most believers, naively attached to the
Church, considered
power and of humility
the
ideals of
reconcilable.
As
worldly yet the
great beggar of Assisi had not stepped forth, whose
appearance was destined to create a
crisis in the tur-
bulence of flight from the world and dominion over the world;
still
at the
end of the 12th century there
already hovered about the Church angry curses of " heretics"
who
recognized in
its
secular rule and in
e s fJ^°7 T^ fering, Humillty>
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
412
the sale of old babel,
dispensations of grace the traits of the
and Bernard himself warned the popes.
On
2.
its
the History of Ecclesiastical
Law.
V. Schulte, Gesch. d. Quellen d. Kirchenrechts I. u II. Hiuschius, Kathol. Kirchenrecht. Dentfle, Univers. d. MA., Kaufmann, Gesch. d. deutchen Univ. I. 1888. 1885. ,
PseudoIsidorean Decretals.
All that had ever been claimed by popes appeared
gathered together in the great falsification of PseudoIsidore
and was represented as ancient papal law: The
independence of the Church and
its
organs as regards
the laity, and the papal supremacy over the bishops
Upon
and the national churches.
the foundation of
Pseudo-Isidore the popes of later times built.
them
it
was not a question
of theology, but, as
To Ro-
mans, of the perfection of the law, which they had obtained for themselves as a Divine law. contest between emperor
as to
which should be the
God, and as to
whom
In the
and pope the question was real rector of the state of
the bishops should be subject.
The reformed papacy was developed under the imClugny,
Gregory Vll.
pulse of Clugny and Gregory VII. into an autocratic
power in the Church and formulated
its legislation
accordingly through numberless decretals, after hav-
ing freed
itself
in
Rome from
older constitutional best
men
the last remnants of
conditions.
Allied
with the
of the times the popes of the 12th century,
having obtained the investiture, began to design a
new
ecclesiastical law.
The
decretals
took their
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF by the side
place
413
SIN, ETC.
of the old canons, even
of the decrees of the old councils.
by the
Still,
side
strictly
taken, their authority as yet remained uncertain.
The papacy while developing into a jurisdictional LawAiS? supreme court would never have been able to gain gamated -
the monarchial leadership as regards faith and mor-
Church, which
als in the
and
faith
tion of self
cult,
had not in
is
indeed communion of
this period the
dogma and law become
perfect.
amalgamaIn
Rome
it-
the form of the dogmatic retreated completely
behind that of the law (lex dei), and the Germano-
Romance
nations at
first
them as Roman law and The great were monks and Jjurists. popes L c °
Church had once come order.
The
were defenceless; for the
juristic-scientific
to
treatment of
all
functions of
Popes,
Monks and Jurists
-
Church became the highest aim.
The study of law exercised an immense influence upon the thoughtful contemplation of the Church in all its length and breadth. That which formerly had the
been evolved under constraining influences,
Church as a
legal institute,
now became
ened or developed by thought.
The
viz.,
the
strength-
spirit of juris-
prudence, which spread over the faith of the Church,
began also dogmas.
to subordinate to
itself
the traditional
Here scholasticism had a strong
root; but I^Ratio
one must not forget that since Tertullian the Occi-
dogmas were prepared for a juristic treatment, out of which they partly originated. Upon aactoritas and ratio the dialectics of the jurists is founded. dental
It also
belongs to the great contrasts of the Middle
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
414
Ages,— Bernardine piety and Roman juristic thinkIn this way the Church was to become a ing. court of law, a merchant house in this epoch
But
it
still
and a robbers' den.
stood at the beginning of
the development.
The Revival of Science.
o.
Histories of Philosophy by Überweg, der Logik v. Prantl, Bd. II. -IV.
Erdmann, Reuter
Gesch.
Nitzsch,
mann,
i.
RE
d.
a. a.
schoiasticism.
.
it
ff.
Denifle
Kampf Zweischen
O.
KaufNominal, u.
a. a.
d.
O.
Deutsch, P. Abelard, 1883.
was the
Scholasticism
In
XIII. S., 650
Löwe,
O.
Realism. 1876.
2
Stöckl. a. a.
science of the Middle Ages. °
there were strikingly displayed the
power of the
thinking faculties and an energy capable of reduc-
ing everything real and valuable to thought, such
But scholasticism
is
"from the very centre outward
",
as perhaps no other age offers. in truth thinking
for while the scholastics principles, these
and
real history,
ment
first
were not gained from experience though in the course of the develop-
of mediaeval science increasing regard
Auctoritas and ratio
to experience.
Diaiec-
always went back to
was paid
(dialectical-de-
tical-
6
^lethod"
furtive method) dominate scholasticism, which difered from the old theology, in that the authority of the
dogma and
the practice of the
firmly adjusted,
and
in that
Church were more
men no
longer lived in
the philosophy (the antique) which went with
added the same from without. position
was drawn— at
it,
but
Its principal presup-
least until the
time of
its
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF dissolution
—from the thesis, that
all
SIN, ETC.
415
things must be
understood from theology and that therefore also
all
things must be traced back to theology.
This thesis
presupposes that the thinker himself
sensible of
dependence upon God.
his full is
is
Piety
therefore
But
the presupposition of mediaeval science.
the nature of
the mediaeval
in
piety itself lies the
Piety the Presupposcholasticism.
foundation for that contemplation which leads to for piety is the
this science ;
advancing knowledge
obtained by constant reflection upon the relation of the soul to God.
Therefore scholasticism, since
deduces all things ° Jfrom
them in him,
On
fest.
God and again comprises u ±
piety become conscious and mani-
is
that account
from mysticism
it
it
does not differ in
its
scholasti-
cism
„
is
Sel ?~
Conscious Piety *
root
the difference consists only herein,
;
that in scholasticism the knowledge of the world in its relation to
tive interest sible, to
God
gains a more independent, objec-
and the theological doctrines
be proven
;
are, if pos-
while in mysticism the reflective
trend of the process of knowledge (for the increase of
one's
own
piety)
comes out more strongly,
In the former, as a rule, more use lectics, in
made
of dia-
the latter of intuition and inward experi-
But the theology
ence.
is
also according to its
of
Thomas,
for example, can
end and aim unhesitatingly be
designated as mysticism and, vice versa, there are theologians,
but
who
who from custom
in the strength
are called mystics,
of their desire to
know
the world and to understand correctly the doctrine of the
Church do not lag behind the
so-called scho-
Theology of
Thomas
is
Mystical.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
416 Mysticism is
the
sV-hoiasti*
The aim not only
l as tics.
same (mysticism
the
is
means
the practice of scholasticism), but the also the
same
spiritual
The
(the authoritative
experience,
difficulties
traditional
the
which at
dogma of
first
made
is
are
the Church, philosophy).
their appearance
in mediaeval science were therefore removed, after
men had lectic
learned the art of subordinating the dia-
method
dogma and
to the traditional
to the
thirst for piety. tlnceof the
d(iIe
Ages
The Middle Ages received from the old Church the Holy Scriptures, the essentially completed dogma, the theology which led to this dogma, and a treasure of classical literature
loosely connected
with this
theology and the philosophico-methodical doctrines.
With
these additions to the
transmitted,
John of
hostile to the
dogma, or
at
threatened to become so (Neo-Platonism and
least Damascus.
which were
dogma elements were
In the theology °* of John of Damas-
Aristotelianism). '
7
was made to reconcile scientifically everything that was contradictory, but the Occident could not thereby be spared the work of adjustment. cus the attempt
During the Carlovingian age the strength of the Occident
was
still
the capital
it
had
made themselves undertaking was by a ius
°and Isidore.
to
work independently upon
inherited.
A
few theologians
home with Augustine, still this already followed, as we have seen,
at
partial crisis,
foreign garment B
weak
too
— others clothed themselves
in the
of the
in the
classical
authors;
scno °l s ^ ne y learned from the writings of Boethius and Isidore the rudiments of the dialectical
method and a
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
No
mild use of the ratio.
theologian except ° r Scotus As soon as they became
Erigena was independent.
more
417
SIN, ETC.
knowledge of
self-conscious, they rejected the
nature, the devil's mistress,
and antiquity.
Indeed
out these,
means of culture they could not do withand dialecticism, that is, that method
which
exposes contradictions in order to recon-
as a formal
cile
first
them,
made an
scotus
Engena.
increasing impression.
From
the Carlovingian age there runs through the learned
down
schools a chain of scientific tradition as far
But Gerbertof Rheims did
into the 11th century.
not as yet bring
it
to
an epochal climax
logical dialecticians did so first after the
that century.
as G of
||^
s
the theo-
;
middle of
Already at that time the principal
philosophico- theological question of the future
was
considered, viz. whether the conceptions of species exist respecting things or within things, or
whether
same are merely abstractions (Boethius
in Por-
the
phyry, realism and nominalism).
The
instinct of self-preservation turned
which mysticism demanded.
ecclesiastical
toward realism,
When
Roscellin in
consequence of his nominalism arrived at the consequent tritheism, both he and his
were rejected as heretical
(1092).
way
of thinking
In the 11th cen-
tury the dialecticians were viewed with great distrust.
Indeed they frequently not only attacked the
coarse superstition in religion and the barbarian
way
of thinking, but they also jeopardized orthodoxy, or
rather
what was thought
to be orthodoxy.
lighteners" they were not. 27
Looking
at
But
" en-
them more
Rosceiiin.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
418
even the boldest of them stood upon the basis
closely,
Church,
of the Bci<
";
Offends
or,
hundred same by J a
any
at
ties.
were bound
rate,
to the
True, every science, even
the most trammelled, will always find within itself
an element offensive to that faith which longs for peace;
it
which
display a freshness and joyfulness,
will
to devotion will
never be able, even in end
and aim,
when
it
it
of the
Church
;
it
will
agrees with the Church
a negative tendency, be-
to disclaim
always rightly
cause
will
appear like boldness
find, that
the principles
in the concrete expression of life
have
and have been marred by superstition
deteriorated
Thus was
and. inclination.
it
also at that time; but
was a consequence the Church, so the Church also
as the revival of science
of the
revival of
finally
recognized in theology Revival of Science;
By J
insults,
tained:
its
own
life.
the elevation of science three results were ob(1)
A deeper
insight into the Neo-Platonic-
Augustinian principles of theology as a whole,
A higher virtuosity in the art of and rational demonstration, pation with the Church philosophers.
(3)
dialectical analysis
An
fathers
The danger
(2)
increasing occu-
and the ancient
of this
deeper
insight
was a non-cosmicomystical pantheism, and the more
men devoted themselves to realism, the greater was the danger. The danger of dialecticism consisted in the dissolution of the dogma instead of naively
Dangers,
the proof of them
;
the danger of the intercourse with
the ancient philosophers lay in the reduction of historical Christianity to cosmopolitanism, to
a mere
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
general philosophy of religion upon the neutralized history. there
was
Till the
419
SIN, ETC.
the
soil of
end of the 12th century
as yet no real philosophy alongside of theo-
logy; in so far as anything of the kind existed,
was
and thus
feared,
luded to under first
" (2)"
it
happened that the danger
al-
(Berengar and his friends) was
The danger alluded
felt.
it
to
under "(1)" was
the least noticed, since Anselm, the greatest theo-
logian before Thomas, whose orthodoxy
was above
moved about most unconcernedly among
question,
the Neo-Platonic-Augistinian
Perhaps
principles.
he would have soon brought the dialectical science,
which he knew how honors, and have
to use
made
with authority, to
Willi,
von
Champeaux.
full
credible the reconcilableness
of mysticism (meditatio) with reason, of authoritative faith with ratio {credo, ut intelligam,
one
rationabili necessitate intelligere
side,
oportere
on the
omnia
ilia,
esse
quae nobis fides catholica de
Christo credere praecipit, on the other
side),
had
not some of his pupils, like Willi, von Champeaux,
drawn some
of the
dangerous consequences of Pla-
tonic realism (the one passive substance, the natural
phenomena as mere semblance) Abelard a bold
,
and had not
scientific talent appeared,
not but terrify the churchmen.
in
which could
In Abelard the trait
of the " enlightener" is not entirely
wanting
was more bold than
and his "ration-
alism" had revelation.
its
consequential,
limitations in the
;
but he
acknowledgment of
Nevertheless he opposed faith in mere
authority, yet
by no means
at all points ; he
wanted
Abelard.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
420 to
know what he
how be
and he wanted
to
show
unsafe and contradictory was the uncontrolled
orthodoxy and sicetNon.
believed,
infallible
the
which pretended
tradition
Non
{"Sic et
v
to
Thus he looked
).
upon the foundations of faith just as he looked upon the theological points represented in the dogma. His opponents, above of the trinity
all
Bernard, considered his doctrine
and the whole method
of his science
(which indeed with him and his pupils often degenerated into a formalistic art of disputation and
coupled with
unbearable
all
foreign
condemned him.
heretical; they therefore
not at
arrogance)
and
They did
observe that the questionable sentences of
the bold innovator originated in part from the fathers
was
Church
and in part were the consequences of that mys-
tical doctrine of
God, which they themselves shared
(thus his conception of history,
which seems
tralize historical Christianity in favor of
osophy compare Justin) ;
.
It is still
to neu-
Greek
phil-
more paradoxical
that Abelard, even while on the one side
drawing
these consequences, on the other introduced a kind of "
conceptualism" in the place of realism, granted to
sober thought a material influence upon the contemplation of fundamental principles, rejected the pantheistic deductions of the current
Ec
as "
Ticai 6'
"nulnded
orthodoxy and thus
laid the foundation for the classical expression of me di
dogma demanded
realism, but
was not
able to be re-
tained in thought under the complete dominion of the mystical, Neo-Platonic theology.
A lowering of
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF the Platonic celestial flight " Aristotelism",
SIN, ETC.
was needed,
as the latter
421
therefore of
was understood and
used at that time, namely, that view of things according to which whatever appears and like is not the transitory
supernatural
God
is
creature-
form of the Divine, but the
as creator has, in the real sense of
the word, called forth the creature and
same with independence.
With
this
endowed the
view Abelard
began anew, and much of that which at his time provoked opposition afterward became orthodox.
was his own fault, the fault of of clearness in the positions
the fault of his
break through.
Yet
his character, the
it
A
^}^
s
want
which he assumed, and
many heterodoxies, With Bernard and
that he did not
the mystics he
brought science into such discredit that the next generation of theologians " sentences" of
had a
difficult
footing.
The
Peter Lombard, which with a certain
jj^^nj
scientific freedom gather together the patristic tradition,
opinion and contrary opinion, and which give
a judicious review of doctrine in the spirit of the
Church, came near being condemned (1164, 1179). of St. Victor zealously opposed
Walther
Abelard as well.
But the task
him and
of theology, to fur-
nish a review of the whole territory of dogmatics and to think everything out, once undertaken, could
no
longer be put aside, and in the carrying out of this task the followers of Abelard and of Bernard drew
nearer to
each other.
Moreover, the intercourse
Mohammedans demanded an intelHugo St. Victor, however, apologetics.
with Jews and ligent
1
viltor
'
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
422
bard, contributed New
Piety
The new
c j es<
Lom-
already influenced the followers of
who had
most toward uniting the tenden-
piety,
even with
its latest require-
ments, exercises, and means of devotion, died out gradually, though not entirely, during the second half of the 12th century, together with the dialectical
Yonder
science. rejected,
with which, however,
was lost. pressions ies.
implicit faith, here boldness
many
a fresh truth
This occurred under the overwhelming im-
made by
Her law
the Church, radiant in
in life
its victor-
and doctrine became the most
worthy object of investigation and exposition. this
were
aim was blended another
With
—that of referring
all
things back to God, and of construing knowledge of Patristi-
sialism,
However,
the world as theology.
course
f
was only
in the
the 13th century that patristi cism, ecclesi-
asticism, mystic theology
came consolidated
and Aristotelianism
into powerful systems.
matical works of the 12th century the works of tion.
it
Hugo— still
Thought,
if it
The dogperhaps,
bear the stamp of aggrega-
wished
duction and meditation,
—except,
be-
was
to be still
more than
repro-
looked upon with
suspicion. 4.
Be
n
an cP Anseiui.
r
Work upon
Aniong the number
the
Dogma.
of theological disputes
and
separate condemnations, the controversy with Ber-
engar concerning the eucharist and Anselm's
new
conception of the doctrine of atonement acquired
prominence.
These alone mark a progress in the
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OP dogma, which during
history of
423
SIN, ETC.
period
this
was
otherwise not enriched.
A. The Berengar Controversy. Bach, a. a. O. I. Reuter a. a. O. Schwabe, Stud. z. Gesch,
1850.
1887.
Sudendorf, Berengarius, 2. Abendmahlsstreits,
d.
Schnitzler, B. v. Tours, 1890.
The second controversy regarding
from the theological, also a philosophical
has, aside
and
the eucharist
The
ecclesiastico-political interest.
latter
Eucharist versy
-
may
Berengar, a pupil of Fulbert of Chartres,
rest here.
was the first dialectician, who, full of confidence in the art which he thought to be identical with reason, turned against an ecclesiastical superstition which
had very nearly become a dogma. the
dogma
A
criticism of
of the eucharist, however, was, in consid-
eration of the prominent standing of this doctrine, a criticism of the ruling ecclesiastical doctrine in general.
Not as a negative "enlightener", but
to op-
pose a bad custom by true tradition, and at the same
time also to
ming up
let
his light shine, Berengar wrote (sum-
in the work, de sacra
coena adv. Lanfran-
cum, 1073) and founded a school.
He saw
in the
want
of rea-
ruling doctrine of transubstantiation a son,
and he revived the Augustinian doctrine
of the
whose book, however, was considered as belonging to Scotus Erigen a, and as such
eucharist (like Ratramnus,
was condemned
at Vercelli, 1050)
the
and
Xoyixrj
in order to restore
combat the barbarous passion Berengar opened the controversy with
Xarpeia
for mysteries.
,
to
Be
ar
25Jf Lanfranc
-
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
424
Lanfranc and showed that the acceptance of a bodily transubstantiation was absurd and that therefore the words of Christ must be understood a
letter to
figuratively. Signum
et
mentum.
A
purely symbolic conception he did
not teach, rather like the fathers,
m cut am, element
in the sacred act is
added by the
:
Signum
Some holy but
" coiiversio" ,
et sacra-
invisible
which means
however the ivhole Christ; bread and wine are only
He
relatively changed.
taught that the opposite
doctrine strives against reason, wherein the Divine
image B
G
r S
Do c°mi e Con-
demned.
lies
enclosed
;
he
at
Rome and
sence; he himself (1059)
favors " ineptia" casts
Berengar's doctrine was con-
aside the Divine part.
demned
who
Vercelli (1050) during his ab-
was forced
and he condescended
recant at
to
Rome
a confession,
to sign
composed by Cardinal Humbert, which showed that Berengar had not exaggerated the ruling doctrine for ;
in the confession
it
was
stated, that the elements
after the consecration are not only sacrament, but
the very hodj of Christ (sensualiter, sacra7ne7ito),
which then
the teeth of the believers.
is
also
(Hildebrand), restrained himself for
afterward
Now
masticated by
Berengar, protected in
the following years by influential
Controversy Re-
non solum
Roman some
began anew the literary
the principal writings were
first
friends
time, but
controversy. issued (Lan-
newal.
franc,
de
co7*p.
et sang,
domini adv. B.c.
1069).
Gregory VII. was in no haste to make heretics; yet in order not to prejudice his ally forced
own
authority, he fin-
Berengar for the second time to submit.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF The learned
scholar
425
SIN, ETC.
was broken down and
his cause
Paschasius' doctrine of transubstantiation
perished.
was further developed by the opponents of Berengar (manducatio infidelium; coarse realism) still ;
even in these ence" to the
one commenced to apply
circles
dogma
" sci-
in the interest of the Church.
The coarse representations were disregarded, the tire Christ (not simply bloody pieces of his body)
acknowledged in the act
(in every particular)
,
en-
was
the dif-
Signum and sacramentum was taken into account in order to distinguish between mandatio infidelium and fideUum (especially important is Guitmund of Aversa, de corp. et sang. Christi veritate in eucharistia) The " scientific" concepference between
Guitmund of Aversa.
.
tions also concerning substance
and attributes were
already set forth, whereby the coarse corrected
itself,
while a few,
it is
"
sensualiter"
true, believed in
an incorruptibility of the attributes of the converted substances.
Furthermore there were already begin-
nings of the speculation about the ubiquity of the
The expression
substance of the body of Christ. "
trayissubstantiatio" can be traced
of
first to
Hildebert
Tours (beginning of the 12th century)
final
;
as the
Hildebert of Tours; Transubstantiation.
argument there remained always the almightj^
sovereign will of God. transubstantiation
As
a
dogma
was expressed
the doctrine of
in the
new
sion of faith at the Lateran council (1215),
confes-
which
prior to the xprofessio Jfidei Trident, was, next to the J '
Nicene, the most influential symbol. the eucharist
was here joined
The
doctrine of
directly to the trinity
Doctrine of Eucharist
^nnfty an
ls
toiogy.
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
426
and
Therewith was also expressed
to Christology.
in the symbol that the trines,
same
is
and indeed in the form
substantiation
and with
("
one with these doc-
of the doctrine of tran-
transsubstantiatis
strict hierarchical trend.
pane
et vino")
Joined thereto
was a statement regarding baptism and penance ("per veram poenitentiam semper protest repa-
Boldest
Middle Ages.
rari").
Therewith indeed this development ended,
and with
it
the allied one, that every Christian
confess his sins before the parochus
(c.
21).
must The
innovation in the symbol (combination of the doctrine of the eucharist
ogy)
is
with the trinity and Christol-
the most peculiar and the boldest act of the
Middle Ages, having "filioque".
On
symbol shows
dogma were
much
greater weight than the
the other side, however, the
still
new
very plainly that only the old
dogma, and not the Augustinian
truly
sentences concerning sin, hereditary sin, grace, etc.
Catholic Christianity old
is
constituted, aside
Church dogmas, by the doctrines
from the
of the three
sacraments (baptism, penance and the eucharist).
The
rest are
no dogma at (till
dogma all.
of the second order, that
means,
This condition was for the future
the Reformation) of the greatest importance.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
427
SIN, ETC.
Anselm's Doctrine of Satisfaction and the
B.
Doctrines of Atonement of the Theologians of the 12th Century. Gesch. d. Versöhnungslehre v. Baur u. Ritschi. Hasse, Ansehn, 2 Bde., 1852 f. Cremer, i. d. Stud. u. Krit., 1880 S. 7
ff.
Anselm
in his
work
"
Cur deus homo
"
attempted
cu^ieus
to prove the strict necessity (reasonableness) of the
death of a
God-man
for the redemption of sinful
humanity (even in Augustine are found doubts of this necessity),
and thereby raised the fundamental
the practice of penance (satisfactio
principle of
congrua) to the standard of religion in general.
Herein consists his epochal importance.
His
pre-
His Presupposi-
supposition
that sin
is
is guilt,
and indeed
guilt
against God, that the blotting out of this guilt the
main point
God
-
is
in the ivork of Christ, that the cross
of Christ is the redemption,
grace of
tion
is
nothing
(Augustine here
still
else
and that therefore the
than the work of Christ
manifested uncertainty).
In
momentous thoughts lies the evangelical truth Anselm 's deductions. Yet they suffer from grave G rave
these of
imperf ections
;
for since they take into consideration
only the " objective", they do not contain the proof of the reality of redemption, but primarily only the
proof of
its
atonement).
conditions (they contain no doctrine of
Furthermore they are based upon a
contradictory view of the honor of God, they place the Divine attributes at an intolerable variance, they
im-
tions.
428
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
make God appear
not as the Master and as almighty
Love, but as a powerful private citizen
who
is
man's
partner, they misconceive the inviolableness of the
sacred moral law and therefore the suffering of pun-
ishment, and finally they allow
mankind
deemed by human
without making
plain
how
in
man
what. Faith
jie
Anselm
(!)
himself a change of heart
The great Augustinian and
brought about. He Did Not c ian
sacrifice
to be re-
really did not
is to
it
be
dialecti-
know what faith
is,
and
therefore fancied himself able to formulate a doc-
trine of redemption in strictly necessary categories (for the
conversion of Jews and heathen), without
troubling himself about the establishing of religion in the heart, that
is,
about the awakening of faith.
That, however, means a purposing to treat religion
without religion
;
for the creating of faith is religion,
problem
^he °^
jectee""
demption and "subjective" adoption had
jective."
here also, even more than formerly;
splitting of the
problem into
" objective" reits
for
effect
Anselm
grappled with the principal problem energetically.
So much the worse were the consequences, which prevail to this
day
;
for if the
problem must be divided
into the " objective" (dramatic
and the
" subjective",
tianity proved
management of God) then has God even in Chris-
by the death
of Christ only a general
possibility of the true religion;
the religion
itself,
however, every individual must procure for himself, be it alone or by means of numerous little assistants
and expedients
(the Church).
view thinks Catholicly, even
He who if
he
shares this
calls
himself a
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
429
SIN, ETC.
Anselm in the most important problem, which it was his merit to place at
Lutheran Christian.
view the false Cath-
the head, first brought to full olic idea
God and
of
expression in the practice of penance. is
n
Doctrine of Religion.
the false old Catholic con-
ception of religion which had long since
sense he
^^\
found In this
a co-founder of the Catholic Church,
although his theory in detail has in been abandoned
—in favor of
a
still
many
respects
more convenient
Anselm in different writings
practice of the Church.
—
Monologium" "Prologium" concerning the conception of God; ontological proof) gave expression ("
,
to the conviction, that
authority,
one should believe
and then one would be able
dialogically
to prove faith
However, only
a necessity of thought.
to be
composed writing
"
upon
first
in the
Cur deus homo"
has he comprised the whole of the Christian religion
under one head and treated cally.
which
After
it
uniformly and
a very remarkable
logi-
introduction, in
Through
as a God of his especially r L J the old idea about redemption Honor.
satisfaction of the lawful claims of the devil is reflected,
he lays down the principle that the creature,
endowed with reason, has through of the
him
honor due
that
which
ent subjection. since freedom
to
this
him
sin robbed
God
in no longer rendering to
honor demands, namely, obedi-
Since
God cannot lose his honor, and
from punishment would besides bring
about a general disorder in the kingdom of God, either restitution (satisfactio)
Only thing possible.
The
,
or punishment
latter
indeed
in
is
the
itself
Restitution or Punish-
ment,
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
430
would be
suitable, but since
could result only in
it
destruction and thus in the ruin of one of the most
God
precious works of
the honor of
God
(the rationabilis creatura),
does not permit
Therefore the
it.
satisfactio alone remains, which must be a restitution
Man, however,
as well as the price of punishment. Guilt of Sin
cannot render
Infinite.
to
it
he could give
for everything that
;
God, he would be compelled from duty to give to
him; moreover the guilt of sin
is infinitely great,
since already the slightest disobedience results in
nondum
endless sin (" sit "
God-Man Alone Sufficient.
considerasti quanti ponderis
How
peccatum").
totum quod deo
then
abstulit", "
alone
able to do, for only
is
quod majus
suo,
sonality is required
his
own
free
for that alone
he
bring
not in
;
But in
rendered
("
dare deo,
.
It
the sinless one, is
se
of
it
Infinite
The acceptio mortis good
God
(!),
While the least
has an infinite negative value, the
life
Good to God!
to
homo magis
morti tradit ad honorem
illius"), indeed its value is infinite.
Acceptio Mortis
bound
this sacrifice full satisfaction is
quam cum
free surrender
who of God his
natures and
nullatenus seipsum potest
injury of this
"de
must be his life, duty bound to sacrifice to
God everything else he also, to give up.
offer
Therefore a per-
can and does offer to
(sinlessness)
is
God can
it.
who has two
ivill
Divine-human life
This the God-
quam omne quod praeter deum
est
man must
and the
est",
restore
ut sicut deusper ilium
perdidit, ita per ilium recuperet"'?
man
man
shall
has an infinite positive value. of such a
which
God-man is an infinite
far exceeds his loss through
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF sin.
Christ has done
all this
"
can have resulted only
SIN, ETC.
431
his voluntary death
;
honorem
in
another purpose cannot be discovered.
dei",
for
For us
this
^
The
hitherto crush- dSS} 8 T1 d ing guilt of sin has been removed, (2) can take Resui°t!
death has a three-fold result
(1)
:
We
example of
to ourselves heartily the
death, and,
God, in acknowledging the rendering
(3)
of the satisfactio as a
man, gives us the
meritum
benefit of this
also of the
of this benefit are
This
we
a
is
Only by reason
become imitators of
able to
turn
last
God-
meritum, since he
can indeed give nothing to Christ.
Christ.
this voluntary
genial attempt of
Anselm's to transmit into the hearts of men the
power of the dramatic scheme suffers
;
but he
from a want of clearness which then prevailed
in the practice of
penance.
factio and meritum the
of redemption
In themselves satis-
are irreconcilable, for one and viewS?
same action can be only the one or the other
Merit.
(the
was no occasion for an action greater than was obligatory) But from the practice of penance one was accustomed to see " merits" in actions latter, if
there
.
in excess of duty, sation.
even
if
they served as compen-
Thus did Anselm
also jolaced the satis-
factio Christi under the point of view of merit,
which continues, even transaction, to pacify
could do this so
much
after the conclusion of the real
and appease God.
Anselm
the easier, since he considered
the service of Christ far greater than the weight of sin.
But he joined
though
leather
satisfac-
to the
thought of meritum,
by intimation, the subjective
effect of
as
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
432
the action
;
in the
framing of the conception
of sat-
he did not find a point where he could pass Nevertheless, he ended over to the "subjective". with the strong consciousness of having reasonably proved "per unius quaestionis solutionem quicquid is/ actio
in novo veterique testamento continetur". Abelard [gnored Ansel id's Satisfaction
Theory.
Anselm's satisfaction theory in subsequent times was accepted only with modifications. Abelard made no use of
it,
but went back, whenever he treated of
redemption through Christ (Comm. on Romans), to the
New
Testament and patristic tradition, bringing
prominence the important thought that we must
into
be led back to necessary). elect
God
(no
change in God's attitude
is
Primarily he refers redemption to the
and therefore teaches that the death of the God-
man must
be conceived only as an act of love, which
inflames our cold hearts
;
however he
also gives the
matter the turn, that the merit of Christ as head
of the community benefits
however
is
members;
its
no aggregation of certain good deeds, but
the fulness of the love of
God dwelling
Christ's merit is the merit of his love
tinues in constant intercession
personal Claims of the Devil.
t'h e
this merit
communion with
devil on us
>
;
in Christ.
which con-
the atonement
Christ.
is
the
Of the claims
of
Abelard would also recognize none,
and, together with the idea of the necessity of a
bloody sacrifice to appease God, he repudiated the idea of the logical necessity of the death
The righteousness of the idea ishment remained hidden
to
on the
cross.
of the suffering of pun-
him as
well as to Anselm.
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
433
SIN, ETC.
Bernard's thoughts concerning the atonement lag
behind those for Abelard
still
;
he knew
how
to ex-
Bernard Less Advanced.
more edify ingly than the
press his love for Christ
The conception of the merit of Christ (according to Anselm) became in after-times the deWhenever men meditated about the cisive one. satisfaction the strict categories of Anselm were latter.
loosened at
many
Indeed even in the
points.
pline of penance all necessity
uncertain
disci-
and "quantity" was
Moreover the Lombard contented himself
!
with recounting
all
the possible views in which, ac-
cording to tradition, one can look at the death of Christ, even that of the purchasing of
the devil,
together with the deception, and of the value of pun-
ishment, but not of the doctrine of satisfaction, be-
cause
it
has no tradition in
its favor.
At
the bottom,
however, he was a follower of Abelard (merit, awak-
ening of reciprocal love)
.
After him the haggling
and bargaining began about the value of sin and the value of the merit of Christ.
CHAPTER
VIII.
HISTORY OF DOGMA IN THE TIME OF THE MEN-
DICANT ORDERS TILL THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY.
The
conditions under which
during this period made
and more 28
placed
as a system of lata
more
—for which reason also the Reformabefore the old dogma — but caused more
stable
tion halted
it
dogma was
Peter
Lombard Recounts All Theories.
.
:
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF DOGMA.
434
dissolution, since it
no longer
satisfied the individual piety, or held its
ground in
and more an inner the presence of the
1.
On
new knowledge. the History of Piety.
Hase, Franciskus, 1856. Müller, Anfänge des MinoritenMüller, die WalThode, Franciskus, 1885. 1885. In addition the works on the Joachimites, denser, 1886. Spiritualists, German Mystics (Preger) Unitas Fratres, Husordens,
,
and heretics of the Middle Ages. Döllinger, Beitr. z. Sectengesch. d. MA., 1890. Archiv, f. Litt. u. K. -Gesch. des M. A. 1 ff (especially the works of Denifle) sites
The Bernardine piety
st.
Francis Humility, Love, Obedience.
of
immersing oneself en-
tirely in the sufferings of Christ St.
"
was developed by
Francis into a piety of the imitation of Christ in
humilitate, caritate, obediential.
Humilitas
is
complete poverty, and in the form in which he represented
it
by his
life
and joined
it
with an ex-
ceeding love for Christ, Francis held before
men an
inexhaustibly rich and high ideal of Christianity, capable of the most widely different individual phases,
and breaking Classical
Expression Of Catholic Piety.
it
its
way
through, because first in
did Catholic piety receive
sion.
its classical expres-
Francis was at the same time animated by a
truly apostolic missionary spirit
and a most fervent
men's hearts and to serve ChristianHis preaching was aimed at the indi-
zeal to enkindle ity in love.
vidual soul and at the restoration of apostolic life. In wider circles it was to work as a thrilling peniA
Call to
Repentance.
tential sermon, and with this in ferred believers to the Church,
view Francis
whose most
re-
faithful
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF
SIN, ETC.
435
son he was, although her bishops and priests did not
This contradiction he overlooked,
serve, but ruled.
who had
but others
sians, humiliates),
preceded
and in
him did not (Walden-
their endeavor to restore
apostolic life they suspected the ruling
withdrew from
The mendicant
it.
Church and
orders have the
Mendicant
merit of having kept a great stream of awakened and active Christian life within the boundaries of the
Church side,
not a
;
of its waters already flowed out-
little
anew
took a hostile direction, stirred up
saw
apocalyptical thoughts and
in the
the old
Church the
great babel, reserving the approaching judgment at
A
one time for God, at another for the emperor. small part of the Franciscans
made common
cause
They spread over Italy, France, and J x J Germany as far as Bohemia and Brandenburg, fostering here and there confused heretical ideas, sharpening however as a rule only the consciences, awakening religious unrest or independence in the with them.
'
form of individual,
'
ascetic religiousness,
and
relax-
A
ing or combating the authority of the Church. lay Christianity developed itself tuithin the side of the Church, in religious independence
ceticism
is
at last
blessedness,
it
its
sacraments.
tie all "heretics",
to the
but since as-
always aimless and can create no
evangelical ideal of
bound
;
stands in need of the Church, of
authority and of
very firm
and by
which the trend toward
became strong
life
who
By
Awaken Religious unrest,
its
a secret but
write the ascetic-
upon their standards, remain
Church from whose oppression,
rule
La y c.nrisDevel °Ped
-
OUTLINES OP THE HISTORY OP DOGMA.
436 e «sects" Not
Enduring.
From
an(* worldliness they wish to escape.
the sects
o £ Bibii c i s t S) Apocalyptics, Waldensians and Hus-
They were truly "heretical", for they still belonged to the Church from which thejr wished to escape. The numerous pious brotherhoods, which grew up and remained sites
no lasting result was gained.
(although with
Church, had
many
sighs) within the pale of the
enough
elasticity
still
"poverty" and evangelical
life,
to
make room
and
mendicant orders into membership.
for
to receive the
She soon en-
ervated them and they became her best supports.
To the
individual piety of the laity, firmly chained to
the confessional, sacraments, priest and pope, a sub-
was accorded in the Church of the Thus the mediseval Church wearily fought
ordinate existence priests. its
way through
whatever
make
the 14th and 15th centuries.
sacrifices
the minorites were
to the hierarchy, they in
For
forced
to
a manner indemnified
themselves by the unheard-of energy with which
they served the purposes of the universal Church Eitti^in-
by wallenMendi-
through the
The universal, historical impormovements caused by the Waldensians
laity.
tance of the
and mendicant orders cannot be reckoned
in
new
cants.
doctrines tirely
and
institutions,
although these were not en-
wanting, but consists in the religious awaken-
ing and in an unrest leading to a religious individualism, which they caused.
mendicant
orders
and
the
In so far as the
"ante-Reformation"
movements induced the individual
to meditate
the truths of salvation, they were the
first
upon
advance
DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINE OF toward the Reformation.
SIN, ETC.
Bat the more
religion
carried into the circles of the third rank laity in general, the
437
and
was
of the
was the watchfulness
greater
touching and the J of the old dogma, ö the inviolability ö great majority of the laity indeed desired to respect '
dogma
in the
oid
Dogma
Inviolable.
their firm standpoint amidst the un-
certainty concerning the standard of the practical
problems and concerning the correct state of the empirical
To
Church.
must
enter into particulars, especial attention
be paid, for the purpose of the history of dogma, to
Me
c nt
g[*
