Α. ON DOGMATICS AND DOGMAS

A. 教義學和教義

2. The term “dogma” and its significance

「教義」 (dogma) 這個詞以及其意義

The term is derived from the (Greek) verb “dokein” (= seeming, believing) and originally, its literal meaning was “that which seems good or proper to someone”; it also pertains to belief, ideology, principle, opinion, faith, and other related meanings. (Plato’s Soph.256C: «by making use of the many dogmas and words…»). From its original meaning of a personal opinion, the term was transposed to the field of philosophical positions; in other words, it became a knowledge belonging to a (philosophical) School. (e.g. Plutarch, Ethica 14B: “the dogmas pertaining to souls” or the Stoic philosophers’ dogmas, etc.) The transposing over to this meaning is justified, by the fact that ancient thought demanded eclecticism in philosophy. Later on, this term was transposed to public life (the state) and it signified decisions or decrees bearing state authority (Plato’s Laws, 644D: “the city dogma”, also in Luke, 2:1: “a decree (dogma, in the Greek text) was issued by Caesar Augustus to conduct a census of the population”. Thus, the term took on the meaning of something compulsory, something characterized by authority and prestige. It afterwards took on a religious meaning, through the Old Testament and Judaism, with a legal-compulsory character. This is why it had a rather negative inference in Apostle Paul (Colossians, 2:14), where Christ is said to have “erased the manuscript of dogmas that were against you” and in (Ephesians, 2:15), where Christ abolished the enmity in His Body, by “abolishing the dogma of the Law of the Commandments”). In Luke, however, they specifically adopted the initial, affirmative meaning that was to prevail from then onwards in Christian usage. Acts, 16:4: “……as they passed through the cities, they delivered unto them the decrees (‘dogmas’ in Greek text) that were validated by the apostles and the elders…”. We thus arrive at the dogmas of the Church, as being the authentic decisions pertaining to faith, that are delivered for compulsory acceptance, and are linked to the presence and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A classical example is in Acts, 15:28: “…it seemed proper (refer above, to the origin of the word ‘dogma’) to the Holy Spirit and to us (=us the Apostles)” The usage of the term with its contemporary, technical meaning is rare, in the Fathers of the Church. Whenever it appears, it has the following characteristics: A) For the original, Apostolic Fathers, the term is most likely linked to practice rather than theory (ref. Ignatius, Megnesians 13:1, Barnabas, etc.) B) It is equally used in instances pertaining to the Church and heretics (Vasilios the Great, To Esychasts: “…possible to destroy the heterodox dogmas…” ; also, in John The Chrysostom: the devil “has sown these deceitful dogmas of irreverence; in the Menaion of January “as for the dogmas of the infidel, they are justly drowned…” C) Very important: the dogma is linked to worship, contradistinguishing it to kerygma (teaching, sermon). This is expressed in a monumental proposal by Vasilios the Great, in his work on the Holy Spirit: “…..for, dogmas are hushed, whereas sermons are publicized...”. This passage gave rise to younger patrologists to interpret Vasilios’ hushing as pertaining to the divinity of the Holy Spirit. But for our present topic of discussion, this phrase of Vasilios has the following significance: Dogmas are those things that the Church (as a worshipping community) confesses, and not those things that it promulgates to others, who are outside the Church. The deeper meaning of this viewpoint will preoccupy us again later on, but for the time being, we can just make a note that according to Vasilios the Great, the meaning of ‘dogma’ has the community of the Church as a prerequisite, along with a participation in its worship, otherwise it bears no authority. This basic position of the Fathers - which we often forget – is also expressed by Gregory the Theologian, in the familiar phrase of his Address to Eunomians: “let us philosophize, within our own boundaries”. As testified by these words, the meaning inferred is: “within the holy territory” (and not in Egypt and Assyria), in other words, within the Church. From this, we surmise that the authority of a dogma does not belong to the sphere of logic, nor to a blind obedience to -and resignation from- logic, but to a new logic, which is generated from the relations between the people of the ecclesiastic community. But we shall talk more about this later on. Summary: ‘Dogma’ is that which an ecclesiastic community embraces as an (existentially) salvatory truth that applies to every man, and requires its members to accept it (through personal experience) as authoritative, because of the specialized relations that it ordains between members, as well as towards the world and God. The kerygma (sermon) on the other hand is whatever is addressed to all persons, publicly, in order that they may become members of the Church, and only then (as members of the Church) confess it as a dogma, having experienced it personally. The truth does not become a dogma, unless it has been experienced and certified from within the Church. From this, it is obvious that the dogmas of the Church are not limited in number; new dogmas can be formulated in every era, because the Church is a living organism and the Holy Spirit is not associated to certain isolated periods of history. But, for a truth to become a dogma of the Church (and not a personal opinion), it must necessarily go through the community of the Church in its totality, and not only through a few people – be they theologians in the current (academic) sense, or saints. This point needs clarifications, because two important issues are posed: 1st: How the dogma is linked to the Holy Bible and 2nd: The authority of a dogma in general and in respect to Dogmatics itself.

「Dogma」這個詞是起源於希臘文的動詞「dokein」（= 像是真的，相信），其原來的意思是「看起來像是好的或是恰當的」; 這也可用於信念，意識和觀念，原則，見解，信仰，以及其他相關的意思。 （柏拉圖的 Soph. 256C：「以利用許多教條 [dogmas] 和文字 ...」）。 這個詞從其原來的「個人看法」的意思，被轉換到哲學的主張見解；換句話說，它成為一個屬於某個哲學學校的思想知識。 （Plutarch， Ethica 14B：「屬於靈魂的教條 [dogmas]」或者，斯多葛 [Stoic]  哲學家的教條，等等）。 這個意思的轉換是以古代思想要求哲學中有折衷主義 (eclecticism) 的那個事實而被證實的。 後來，這個詞被轉移到公眾生活（國家治理）中，它表示着擁有國家權威的決定或判決（柏拉圖的「法律」 (Laws)， 644D：「城市的教條 （dogma)」，同時， 路加福音  2:1：「該撒亞古士督有旨意 （在希臘版本中：dogma）下來，叫天下人民都報名上冊。」）。因此，「Dogma」這個詞開始具有一種強制的意思，一種擁有權威和特權之特徵的東西的意思。 然後它又透過舊約聖經和猶太教開始具有一種宗教的意義，一種被法律所強制的意思。這就是為甚麼它在傳道者保羅中得到一個否定性的含蓄（比如，歌羅西書 2:14 說到，基督「塗抹了在律例 (dogma) 上所寫攻擊我們，有礙於我們的字據」， 以及在以弗所書  2 :15 中有道 ，基督以「廢除記在律法上的規條 (dogma)」來廢除在他身體中的冤仇）。 但是在路加中，他們特地的採納了這個詞的最初的肯定性的意思， 而是這個最初的意思將從此以後在基督教中被普偏使用的。使徒行傳 16:4：「...... 當他們經過各城，把耶路撒冷使徒和長老所定的條規 （在希臘版本中：dogma）交給門徒遵守 。」.我們因此來到教會的教條 (dogma)，也就是一定得接受的，關於信仰的真實的決定，它並且是與聖靈的在場和啟示有所聯繫的。 一個典型的例子出现在使徒行傳裡， 15:28 ：「... 因 為聖靈和我們（= 我們傳道者）定意（指的是 dogma 這個字的起源 ）....」 「Dogma」這個詞的今日的術詞意義在教父的書寫中是罕見的。而每當它出現時， 它皆有以下的特點： A) 對使徒教父們來說，這個詞通常是與實踐行為而不是與理論等等有所聯繫的（比如，徐匯 [Ignatius]， Megnesians 13:1，巴耳納巴斯 [Barnabas]，等等）。 B) 這個詞不論是在教會的還是在異教徒們的書寫中皆同樣地有被使用（比如，大巴斯里耳斯 [Vasilios the Great] 對誦唸祈禱者們（Esychasts）道：「... 非正統的教條 [dogmas] 是能够被摧毀的 ...」 ； 還有，在約翰金口若望 （John Chrysostom）中，有道：魔鬼「播種了這些非禮不敬而又欺詐的教條 (dogmas)」；在  Menaion of January 中， 也有道：「至於異教徒的教條 [dogmas] 呢，它們被淹没可是很公正的 ...」 C) 非常重要的：教條是與崇拜聯繫的， 於此它與福音宣示 （kerygma: 教書，說教）不同。這曾在大巴斯里耳斯的一個不朽的提議中表達出。 在他的「關於聖靈」中， 他道：「..... 因為，教條 (dogma) 是沈默安靜的，而說教則是大大宣傳的 ...」。 由於這句話，新一代的教父學者們將大巴斯里耳斯的沈默安靜解釋為屬於聖靈的神格。但是對于我們目前正在討論的主題來說， 大巴斯里耳斯的這段話有以下的意義：教條 (dogma) 是一個教會（一個崇拜團體）自己所告解承認的東西，而不是它對教會之外的其他人所傳播的。我們以後會再度地來更深刻的了解這個觀點的意義，現在，我們只想指出，大巴斯里耳斯的意思是， 教條是必須先有教會的團體， 與其崇拜的參與一起， 而後才可有的；否則， 它就没有權威。 教父們的基本主張 （我們經常忘記這個） 也有在我們所熟悉的神學者格利高里 (Gregory the Theologian) 對烏奴米耳信徒們 （Eunomians） 所講的短語中被表達過：「讓我們只在我們自己的邊界以內講哲學」。這話可以證明，這裡所推斷的意思是：「在神聖的領域以內」（不是在埃及或在 亞述内），換句話說，在教會以內。 從此，我們推測教條的權威不屬於邏輯的範圍，也不在於盲目地服從 （以及絕望地讓渡於) 邏輯，而是在於一門新的， 產生於教會團體的人人之間的關係中的邏輯。我們關於這點將在後來更加談論。 總結：教條 (dogma) 是一個教會團體所接受的，適用於其每個成員的，並且要求其成員（經過他個人的體驗）將它如權威性的來接受的（存在性的）救世真理； 這是由於它在教會成員互相之間， 以及在其成員和世界和上帝之間， 所規定的特别關係之故。而在另一方面，福音宣示 （ kerygma） 则是對所有人們公開宣告的，以便他們成為教會的成員，而只有在此以後他們才能以教會成員的身份， 經由個人的體驗， 來告解承認教條。 一個真理是只有在于教會內被體驗和證實過之後，才可成為教條。 從此可以看出，一個教會的教條不將限制在某個數字之中；每個時代皆可有新的教條的成立，因為教會是一個活的機體， 並且聖靈不是只與歷史的某些單獨的階段所聯繫的。但是，如果一個真理想要成為教會的教條（而不僅僅是一個個人的看法）的話，它就必須經過教會的整個團體，而不是僅僅經過某些特定的人 ， 即使這些人是（今日學術中所谓的）神學者或是聖人。這點需要更加澄清，因為在此有二個重要的問題： 1：教條與聖經的關系是如何的； 以及 2：教條的一般性的權威， 以及對教義學本身的權威。