medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
John Wickstrom wrote:
>
> The term "probable opinion" for such an ancient and universal
> doctrine such as the Assumption/Dormition sounds much more like
> Anglican (or perhaps modern-democratic) than Catholic thinking.
No, I took it from the old Catholic Encyclopedia (which pre-dates the dogma,
of course): "according to Benedict XIV it is a probable opinion, which to
deny were impious and blasphemous." [To deny a dogma is heretical.]
> I don't know the formal theological status of all the Catholic beliefs
> that are not "infallibly" proclaimed (indeed, all but two would fall into
> that enormous category, I guess: papal infallibility and the doctrine of
> the Assumption).
No, the Immaculate Conception became dogma in 1854, of course. [It may have
become infallible retrospectively.] Ecumenical Councils can also be
infallible - wasn't it Vatican I that defined papal infallibility? (Papal
infallibility is only about the infallibility of papal infallible
statements - if you see what I mean...)
The old Catholic Encyclopedia says of dogma: "It might be described briefly
as a revealed truth defined by the Church". "All doctrines defined by the
Church as being contained in revelation are understood to be formally
revealed, explicitly or implicitly." [Immaculate Conception and Assumption
fall into the latter category.]
John Briggs
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