rovides room for
knowledge only so far as it is a state of feeling and course of action,
that is a definite form of life. Between practical faith in the Gospel
and the historico-critical account of the Christian religion and its
history, a third element can no longer be thrust in without its coming
into conflict with faith, or with the historical data--the only thing
left is the practical task of defending the faith. But a third element
has been thrust into the history of this religion, viz., dogma, that is,
the philosophical means which were used in early times for the purpose
of making the Gospel intelligible have been fused with the contents of
the Gospel and raised to dogma. This dogma, next to the Church, has
become a real world power, the pivot in the history of the Christian
religion. The transformation of the Christian faith into dogma is indeed
no accident, but has its reason in the spiritual character of the
Christian religion, which at all times will feel the need of a
scientific apologetic.[10] But the question here is not as to something
indefinite and general, but as to the definite dogma formed in the first
centuries, and binding even yet.

This already touches on the second objection which was raised above,
that dogma, in the given sense of the word, was too narrowly conceived,
and could not in this conception be applied throughout the whole history
of the Church. This objection would only be justified, if our task were
to carry the history of the development of dogma through the whole
history of the Church. But the question is just whether we are right in
proposing such a task. The Greek Church has no history of dogma after
the seven great Councils, and it is incomparably more important to
recognise this fact than to register the theologoumena which were later
on introduced by individual Bishops and scholars in the East, who were
partly influenced by the West. Roman Catholicism in its dogmas, though,
as noted above, these at present do not very clearly characterise it, is
to-day essentially--that is, so far as it is religion--what it was 1500
years ago, viz., Christianity as understood by the ancient world. The
changes which dogma has experienced in the course of its development in
western Catholicism are certainly deep and radical: they have, in point
of fact, as has been indicated in the text above, modified the position
of the Church towards Christianity as dogma. But as the Catholic Church
herself m