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Development of Doctrine |
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Jesus Christ is God made man, come to redeem us and to reveal all we have to believe and do, in order to merit salvation. “I am the truth,” he said (Jn 14:6), the truth that will set us free (cf. Jn 8:32). After the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus and throughout the lifetime of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit continued this revealing of the truth that saves. Public Divine Revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. There has been and will be no new Revelation added to that already given to the Church, which was commissioned by Jesus (Mt 28:18-20) to preserve this doctrine of salvation and bring it to the world, under the guidance of Peter and the other Apostles (and their successors in each age: the Pope and the rest of the episcopal college). Christian truth thus is something given; it precedes us, has been handed down to us, and must be passed on by us to those who come after. All the saving doctrine revealed by Jesus Christ has been in the Church’s possession from the start. All is there; but the human mind does not necessarily understand all the content and riches of this truth, nor does it necessarily grasp its practical consequences, especially in its application to apparently new moral issues. The Church therefore possesses the truth; but, under the continuing guidance of the Holy Spirit, she can constantly enter on a fuller awareness of what she possesses, achieving a “better understanding of Revelation” (CCC 892). “Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church” (CCC 94). Reflection on these truths helped lead John Henry Newman into the Catholic Church and resulted in his classic study An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845). Need for Development • The rich content of God’s truth is too great and many-faceted for the human mind to comprehend fully. Good critics, according to their talents, can gradually perceive new values in a literary or artistic masterpiece, values that had perhaps escaped earlier appreciation. Yet they were already present in the masterpiece. So, in that divine masterpiece which is the life, work, and teaching of Jesus Christ, the truths remain the same; but time, reflection, and prayer give the perspective to see new aspects or values. Growing light is cast on the same truth, and growing inspiration emanates from it. Revelation not only offers truths to enlighten our mind (“He who believes and is baptized will be saved” [Mk 16:16]), it also proposes practical principles to guide our conduct (“[M]ake disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” [Mt 28:19-20; emphasis added]). We can therefore expect development to occur not only in the area of speculative theology but also in that of principles of action. While the moral message of Christ does not change, positive or negative developments in human societies can call for new applications of this message. The problems to which the Church gives an answer may appear to be new (in the field of demography, for instance), and the answers may therefore also appear as new; but the doctrine they reflect or are drawn from is not new. It is Christ’s. Moreover, the reason why we should believe these teachings come from Christ is not new, nor is it invented by the Church. It comes from Our Lord himself: “Whoever hears you, hears me” (Lk 10:16). God does not contradict himself. A truth cannot develop into its opposite. Hence a major rule governing genuine development of doctrine is that it must always follow a line of continuity: “in the same sense, with the same meaning” (eodem sensu, eademque sententia [St. Vincent of Lerins]). A “development” that changed the meaning of a doctrine would be a corruption, not a development. Development of doctrine, therefore, means our development in understanding. Our comprehension grows; revealed truth remains as always. That it remain the same, far from making it a static message, is the condition of its being dynamic, with the capacity to transform. The “given” character of Revelation would in no way justify regarding it as something inert or lifeless. The truth of Christ, which the Church possesses, is an infinite treasure of splendor and inspiration, filled therefore with a dynamism that can change persons and societies. Each age, each Christian, faces the challenge of seizing its riches without omissions, highlighting new aspects to its beauty, and responding to the further inspiration thus discovered, acting as a reflector of these truths to others.
Since development of doctrine means a deeper and more inspiring understanding of the teaching Jesus Christ entrusted to his Church, it is a constantly enriching process. “Development” that impoverished the faith (by reducing a sense of wonder and adoration in worship, for instance) could never represent true development.
A Process Open to All • This enrichment is not just for theology; it is a process that not only scholars and experts can appreciate and take part in. Each individual Christian should be constantly growing in awareness of the beauty and power of the faith, hence drawing the inspiration to sanctify his or her daily life and work. This developing grasp of doctrine should lead not only to a more informed participation in the liturgy but also to a development in the personal devotional life of each one. It is natural that each person be specially moved by some particular truth or truths drawn from the great treasury of Christian doctrine, putting them in a special place in his or her spiritual life: the Eucharist, the Passion of Jesus, the many motives for honoring Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, the Communion of the Saints. Each Christian is free to have, and wise to develop, a preferred area of devotion. Nevertheless, many people with a particular devotion fail to develop their grasp of the rich doctrine behind the aspect of Christian belief that attracts them. If they deepen this grasp by appropriate reading (papal encyclicals or other documents of the Magisterium, solid and well-recommended books), their devotional life will become stronger and more constant, less dependent on feelings, and at the same time a deeper source of inspiration and consolation. To discover “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8) should be the ambition of each Christian. There is no contradiction or opposition between development of doctrine and infallibility. Infallibility relates not to the fullness of understanding of revealed doctrine, but to the truth (the freedom from error) of the Church’s way of proposing it. Development means that the Church can always acquire a deeper understanding of Revelation, being protected by the charism of infallibility from misunderstanding or misrepresenting those truths entrusted to it. See: Divine Revelation; Infallibility; Magisterium. |
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