Dogma

This is part of a series of blog entries...I'm just feeling as if I only have the time and attention for short posts right now, but read all of the posts so you can get what I mean. Of course, I'll need to start from a beginning...now which beginning will it be???

When I was a youngster in geometry class, we had to write out mathematical proofs. If you've had to suffer through this particular hellish experience, you know to what I refer. Lines upon lines of mathematical axioms and theorems that tell us things like all three angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees as do adjacent angles on a bisected plane, while their opposites are equal. Gggaach! (You'd think that someone who has more than a passing interest in art and physics would be a little more inclined to like geometry...but algebra was always more to my liking.)

When I was much older, in college, and taking Logic (and no, the class was not taught by a Vulcan) we had to write arguments like:

1. people with blonde hair think Cherrios^® are donut seeds


2. Bobbie has blonde hair


3. Therefore, Bobbie thinks Cherrios^® are donut seeds.

Ok, that was maybe not the best example, but at least you got a "blonde" joke out of it, and it didn't involve math in any way.

So now you're probably thinking what does dogma have to do with Geometry or Logic...and well, I'm going to tell you.

Dogma is typically defined as a doctrine (formulated beliefs) that is accepted as true or authoritative, often without proof; however, it's really not that. Dogma, in the Greek sense, is the given; doctrine is what is reasoned about dogma. So, if we really simplify this, looking at the hypothetical argument about Logic class Bobbie (who, it appears, might be a little like Malibu Barbie^®), the statement that Bobbie thinks Cherrios^® are donut seeds would be doctrine..."people with blonde hair think Cherrios^® are donut seeds" and "Bobbie has blonde hair" would be dogma.

Now, in terms of the Christian religion, there is a wide variety and vast amounts of doctrine; orthodox dogma, on the other hand, not so much. There really is little in the way of orthodox Christian dogma and there are very few heretics (another fun word that refers to people who reject orthodox dogma); however, there are things that some Christians want to count as dogma even though they're more likely really doctrine. Are you ready for an example?

"God is good" is an example of doctrine that many Christians would want to count as dogma. There is nothing about the definition of godhood that requires goodness. Now, one could argue that the god of Abraham is good by definition, but I believe that may really require the use of inductive reasoning and supporting statements.

So where does dogma end and doctrine begin? Now that's an interesting question.