Is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception--dogmatically defined only in 1854--simply a pious superstition cobbled together by the Catholic mind? Or, thinking of the Eucharist, is the doctrine of Transubstantiation, a term found nowhere in Scripture, a corruption of gospel-purity by the medieval adoption of ancient Greek philosophical terminology and conceptualizations?
Such questions draw the Catholic mind to the notion of the development of doctrine. Thinking in this way, we realize that the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception was the culmination of a gradual unfolding toward greater fullness of our understanding of God's revelation. Similarly, Transubstantiation is understood as a helpful articulation and development of the Church's perennial belief in Christ's Eucharistic presence. And we can presume that even though someone like St. Paul never used the terms "Immaculate Conception" or "Transubstantiation," he nonetheless would have assented to them, seeing them as the result of the Church in history coming to understand more fully what God has lovingly revealed to his people.
In his own time and manner, John Henry Newman devoted considerable care and attention to these questions and realities. His work on the development of doctrine has been one of the more impactful theological contributions of the past few centuries. More personally, his thinking on this matter had a significant part to play in his eventual departure from the Church of England and entry into the Catholic Church.
Guiding us through Newman's ideas concerning the development of doctrine in this episode is Bud Marr, who is Director of the National Institute for Newman Studies and Associate Editor of the Newman Studies Journal.
- The National Institute for Newman Studies
- "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine" by John Henry Newman
- The Newman Studies Journal
- Bud Marr
- To Be Perfect Is to Have Changed Often: The Development of John Henry Newman's Ecclesiological Outlook, 1845-1877 by Bud Marr
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