Tag Archives: dogma

Hula Hoops, Fads, and the Consensus Patrum

Posted on 3 November 2021 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Who remembers the hula hoop? Released in 1958 by Wham-O, it swept the country. I was six years old and I had to have one, just like all the other kids in my neighborhood. And not just little kids. Even … Continue reading →

Posted in Theology, Universalism and Eschatology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

When Hell Becomes Dogma: The Closing of the Catholic Mind

Posted on 2 January 2021 by Fr Aidan Kimel

My working principle: once eternal damnation is accepted by an ecclesial community as dogmatically binding, three things happen: Holy Scripture and the patristic tradition will be read through the dogma. Preaching and theological speculation will be governed by this dogma, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, David B. Hart, Universalism and Eschatology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 64 Comments

Dogma, Damnation, and the Eucatastrophe of the Jesus Story

Posted on 17 August 2020 by Fr Aidan Kimel

In both The Orthodox Church and “Dogma and Dogmatic Theology,” Sergius Bulgakov cites eschatology, among others, as a topic of theology open to dogmatic definition, the implica­tion being that standard Orthodox teaching on the last things—including ever­lasting perdi­tion—can only be … Continue reading →

Posted in Theology, Universalism and Eschatology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Orthodoxy, Dogma, and the Neuralgic Question of Doctrinal Development

Posted on 19 July 2020 by Fr Aidan Kimel

The debate on apokatastasis inevitably raises the question: Has Orthodoxy definitively, infallibly, irreversibly, dogmatically rejected the universalist hope? Must Christians believe that some, perhaps many or even most, will—or as some prefer to say may—be eternally damned? Is it constitutive … Continue reading →

Posted in Sergius Bulgakov, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 36 Comments

Faith, Reason, and Moral Sensibility: One Catholic’s Reflection on ‘That All Shall Be Saved’

Posted on 5 November 2019 by Fr Aidan Kimel

by Ty Monroe, Ph.D. Chose étonnante cependant que le mystère le plus éloigné de notre connaissance qui est celui de la transmission du péché soit une chose sans laquelle nous ne pouvons avoir aucune connaissance de nous-mêmes. Car il est … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, David B. Hart | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Reversible Infallibility: When a Dogma Becomes Irrelevant

Posted on 12 February 2019 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Once a second-order doctrine is recognized by the Church as infallibly constitutive of the Christian faith, must it be considered irreformable under all conditions and circum­stances? Historically, as George Lindbeck notes, this question “is not traditional, and therefore there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 45 Comments

May an infallible dogma lose its infallibility?

Posted on 10 February 2019 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Surely the question posed in the title is absurd. How can a dogmatic statement deemed essential to the integrity of the Christian faith—that both guarantees and is guaranteed by the religion—ever be apprehended by Christians as dispensable, perhaps even meaningless? … Continue reading →

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Infallibilities of Christ Pantocrator

Posted on 5 February 2019 by Fr Aidan Kimel

Of all the religions of the world, George Lindbeck avers, “Christianity is the most abso­lutely–or outrageously–infallibilist, and therefore the one least capable of surrendering the notion of infallible dogmas” (“The Infallibility Debate,” in The Infallibility Debate, p. 120). This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment