History of Dogma, Volume 2 | Page 4

with apostolic, that is, indirectly,
with divine authority. This course disfigured Christianity and made a
knowledge of what is Christian an obscure and difficult matter. But, in
Catholicism, religion for the first time obtained a formal dogmatic
system. Catholic Christianity discovered the formula which reconciled
faith and knowledge. This formula satisfied humanity for centuries, and
the blessed effects which it accomplished continued to operate even
after it had itself already become a fetter.
Catholic Christianity grew out of two converging series of
developments. In the one were set up fixed outer standards for
determining what is Christian, and these standards were proclaimed to
be apostolic institutions. The baptismal confession was exalted to an
apostolic rule of faith, that is, to an apostolic law of faith. A collection
of apostolic writings was formed from those read in the Churches, and
this compilation was placed on an equal footing with the Old
Testament. The episcopal and monarchical constitution was declared to
be apostolic, and the attribute of successor of the Apostles was
conferred on the bishop. Finally, the religious ceremonial developed
into a celebration of mysteries, which was in like manner traced back to
the Apostles. The result of these institutions was a strictly exclusive
Church in the form of a communion of doctrine, ceremonial, and law, a
confederation which more and more gathered the various communities
within its pale, and brought about the decline of all nonconforming
sects. The confederation was primarily based on a common confession,
which, however, was not only conceived as "law," but was also very
soon supplemented by new standards. One of the most important
problems to be investigated in the history of dogma, and one which
unfortunately cannot be completely solved, is to show what necessities
led to the setting up of a new canon of Scripture, what circumstances
required the appearance of living authorities in the communities, and
what relation was established between the apostolic rule of faith, the
apostolic canon of Scripture, and the apostolic office. The development
ended with the formation of a clerical class, at whose head stood the

bishop, who united in himself all conceivable powers, as teacher, priest,
and judge. He disposed of the powers of Christianity, guaranteed its
purity, and therefore in every respect held the Christian laity in
tutelage.
But even apart from the content which Christianity here received, this
process in itself represents a progressive secularising of the Church,
This would be self-evident enough, even if it were not confirmed by
noting the fact that the process had already been to some extent
anticipated in the so-called Gnosticism (See vol. I. p. 253 and
Tertullian, de præscr. 35). But the element which the latter lacked,
namely, a firmly welded, suitably regulated constitution, must by no
means be regarded as one originally belonging and essential to
Christianity. The depotentiation to which Christianity was here
subjected appears still more plainly in the facts, that the Christian hopes
were deadened, that the secularising of the Christian life was tolerated
and even legitimised, and that the manifestations of an unconditional
devotion to the heavenly excited suspicion or were compelled to
confine themselves to very narrow limits.
But these considerations are scarcely needed as soon as we turn our
attention to the second series of developments that make up the history
of this period. The Church did not merely set up dykes and walls
against Gnosticism in order to ward it off externally, nor was she
satisfied with defending against it the facts which were the objects of
her belief and hope; but, taking the creed for granted, she began to
follow this heresy into its own special territory and to combat it with a
scientific theology. That was a necessity which did not first spring from
Christianity's own internal struggles. It was already involved in the fact
that the Christian Church had been joined by cultured Greeks, who felt
the need of justifying their Christianity to themselves and the world,
and of presenting it as the desired and certain answer to all the pressing
questions which then occupied men's minds.
The beginning of a development which a century later reached its
provisional completion in the theology of Origen, that is, in the
transformation of the Gospel into a scientific system of ecclesiastical

doctrine, appears in the Christian Apologetic, as we already find it
before the middle of the second century. As regards its content, this
system of doctrine meant the legitimising of Greek philosophy within
the sphere of the rule of faith. The theology of Origen bears the same
relation to the New Testament as that of Philo does to the Old. What is
here presented as Christianity is in fact the idealistic religious
philosophy of the age, attested by divine revelation, made accessible to
all by the incarnation of the Logos, and