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  2. Dogmatic relativism

Dogmatic relativism

Nature

Dogmatic relativism asserts that all the dogmas of the Christian faith are time- and circumstance-conditioned; that human understanding is so bound to historical conditions that as these change, the understanding of “the Gospel” changes with them, inevitably and profoundly. In particular, it is claimed, that revelation is still going on, and new religious insights, deriving from experience, change and even replace former doctrines of the Church's teaching authority.

Claim

It is evident from what We have already said, that such tentatives not only lead to what they call dogmatic relativism, but that they actually contain it. The contempt of doctrine commonly taught and of the terms in which it is expressed strongly favor it. Everyone is aware that the terminology employed in the schools and even that used by the Teaching Authority of the Church itself is capable of being perfected and polished; and we know also that the Church itself has not always used the same terms in the same way. It is also manifest that the Church cannot be bound to every system of philosophy that has existed for a short space of time. Nevertheless, the things that have been composed through common effort by Catholic teachers over the course of the centuries to bring about some understanding of dogma are certainly not based on any such weak foundation. These things are based on principles and notions deduced from a true knowledge of created things. In the process of deducing, this knowledge, like a star, gave enlightenment to the human mind through the Church. Hence it is not astonishing that some of these notions have not only been used by the Oecumenical Councils, but even sanctioned by them, so that it is wrong to depart from them. (Papal Encyclical, Humani Generis, 12 August 1950).

Broader

Relativism
Yet to rate

Aggravates

Reduces

Religious dogmatism
Unpresentable

Value

Dogmatism
Yet to rate

Reference

Metadata

Database
World problems
Type
(F) Fuzzy exceptional problems
Biological classification
N/A
Content quality
Unpresentable
 Unpresentable
Language
English
1A4N
J2251
DOCID
12022510
D7NID
147977
Last update
Aug 2, 2022