Catholic Word of the Day: REFORMATION DOGMA, 08-21-10

CatholicReference.net ^ | 08-21-10 | Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dic

[Salvation]

Featured Term (selected at random):

REFORMATION DOGMA

The dogmatic teaching of the original Protestant reformers. They were constrained by the logic of separating from Rome to defend their new doctrinal positions. Thus we find Luther writing numerous treatises on faith, grace, and justification, and John Calvin (1509-64) producing in 1536 his Institutes of the Christian Religion, as the first systematic compendium of Protestant doctrine. "My design in this work," wrote Calvin in the introduction, "has been to prepare and qualify students of theology for the reading of the divine word." The beginnings of the Reformation were thoroughly dogmatic in character. The earliest Reformation dogma was biblical in the direct sense. It did not take philosophy as a basis or ally. Its first business was to know and expound the Bible. It did not claim Aristotle and Plato as friends or forerunners. It used reason, but reason derived only from the Bible and put to a biblical use. Actually there was a philosophy behind this dogmatizing, notably the nominalism of William of Ockham (1280-1349), whom Luther called "my teacher" and rated in learning far above Thomas Aquinas.

Two strains in Ockham, sometimes called "the first Protestant," became imbedded in the Reformation: a distrust of reason in dealing with religion, and a theory of voluntarism which made right and wrong depend on the will of God. THe first strain appeared prominently in Lutheran or evangelical thought, with the emphasis on revelation and grace as the exclusive media of religious knowledge and salvation. The second affected Calvinism and postulated, in Calvin's words, that "God chooses some for the hope of life, and condemns others to eternal death . . . . For all men are not created on an equal footing, but for some eternal life is preordained, for others eternal damnation." The divine will, therefore, and not as in Catholic doctrine the divine wisdom, is the ultimate norm of man's existence and destiny.

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

[Salvation]

BTW, this is an open thread, but I am going to be in and out today so cannot respond to your posts.

[Salvation]

Catholic Word of the Day – links will be provided later by another FReeper.

 

Gift of Integrity	Nuncio	Epigonation
Virtue of Hope	Magic	End of the World
Apostasy (ecclesiastical)	Gerasenes	Spouse (Bride) of Christ
Funeral Rites	Infused Contemplation	Shalom
Sacramental	Miracles of Christ	Moral Theology
Eviternity	Sinai	Saul
La Divina Commedia	Saint-Anne-D-Beaupre	Royal Coronation
Bishop	Scandal of the Weak	Spiritual Rebirth
Biretta	The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.	Savior
Iesus Hominum Salvator	Episcopate	Chaldean Rite
Antecedent Grace	Vincentian Canon	Cardinal Deacon
Clergy	Diocesan Synod	Pacifism
Reformation Dogma

Catholic Word of the Day Ping!

If you aren’t on this Catholic Word of the Day Ping list and would like to be, please send me a FReepmail.

[daniel1212]

The link went to NECROMANCY
The art of divining the future through alleged communication with the dead.

[Salvation]

The link is just a general link to the site on which the random choices come up.

Once you get there, unless you are in the same place I am, you will have to click on the letter for the entry. Sorry about that.

[Belteshazzar]

This might actually be a worthwhile thread to pursue at little bit. The observation regarding the difference between Luther and Calvin is worthy of note and, I think, quite true.

There is one point, however, that is questionable regarding the Reformers: “They were constrained by the logic of separating from Rome to defend their new doctrinal positions.” I think Reformation era doctrine (we like “doctrine” better than “dogma” as a term) was a bit more positive than the sentence above avers. Also, from about 1525 onwards, Luther’s treatises were directed more against the errors of the more radical reformers rather than against the errors of Rome. After 1530 and the publication of the Augsburg Confession, this was decidedly so. With the rejection of Augsburg by Rome (cf., the Confutation) and thus the rejection of apostolic/ancient doctrine in favor of evolved medieval doctrine (this statement ought to get plenty of negative reaction from Catholics), the break with Rome and its magisterium was complete. But there was still the hope of preventing the fracturing of those who participated in the Reformation. In the end it proved impossible to prevent such fracturing for a church unwilling, as Rome had and has been, to wield the sword against those who opposed her doctrines.

[Salvation]

Do you think that statement could be the Catholic interpretation of what happened? I do.

[Belteshazzar]

“Do you think that statement could be the Catholic interpretation of what happened? I do.”

I’m sure it is. But that has no bearing on its actual rightness or wrongness. The bottom line is that it is, as I said, questionable. Which of course is a polite way of saying “wrong.” The assumption of Rome is kind of like that of the typical young person of today, that the whole world revolves around it ... or so it thinks. And Rome, like the young person of today, is simply wrong. The Reformation was and is about a great more than justifying itself vis-a-vis Rome. The Reformation is about confessing the truth before God, whom alone we fear, love, and trust above all things.

[Salvation]

The Catholic Church came before the Reformation. In my way of thinking the reformers are the teenagers.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this matter.

Ten Facts Most Catholics Don’t Know (But Should!) (Catholic Caucus)

THE RITES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH -- There are many!
How Did the Catholic Church Get Her Name?
Catholics, Protestants, and History (the faith of the early church)
Organization of the Catholic Church
How Old Is Your Church?

[Belteshazzar]

Salvation wrote:
“The Catholic Church came before the Reformation. In my way of thinking the reformers are the teenagers.”

This is so tired an excuse for not dealing with the real issues. So, let’s take your tired analogy and flesh it out for what it really is. Rome is like neglectful, disinterested parents too imbued with the idea that they should be obeyed by their teenagers without any explanation or justification for their rules and decrees, no matter how obviously and transparently wrong they are. Rome, like such parents, has no ability for self-examination and self-criticism, and thus when its teenagers leave home and never talk to them again wonder how such a thing could ever have happened to such fine parents as they. Such is the self-delusion of Roman magisterium.

The Reformation happened because mom and dad Rome were neglectful and self-satisfied parents who did not love their children and, worse, did not know that they, like all parents, are only stewards of their children, for their children are God’s.