From the bulletin of July 26, 2020
We’ve been looking into the development of doctrine with the help of Blessed Cardinal Newman who laid out 7 “notes” of development in one of his essays. Last week, we looked at four of those notes: Preservation of Type, Continuity of Principles, Power of Assimilation, and Logical Sequence. Today, we’ll finish with the last three.
Anticipation of its Future: This one is closely connected to the previous example of a logical sequence. It means that, when we look at a development of doctrine, should be able to spot its anticipation in and earlier explanation of that same doctrine. The example that Newman himself gives is the belief in the resurrection of the body and the veneration of relics. The creed clearly lists our belief in the resurrection of the body and that is an ancient formula of our faith. Newman points to its anticipation in the belief that our material world is capable of being united to God. In other words, the reality of Christmas – God made man in Jesus Christ – points us to the belief that our very bodies are capable of becoming holy. This anticipates the belief that every human body will be raised from the dead and that those who cooperate with God’s grace will have glorified bodies in heaven. Connected to this is the belief that bodies, while still on earth, are in some sense capable of being holy and being united to grace. We see in scripture that early believers touch cloths to Paul and bring them to the sick and they would be healed. The physical world can be an instrument of God’s grace, which anticipates the belief that the bodies of particularly holy people can continue to be instruments of grace even after their death. Hence, we have the development of keeping relics of saints, which does not contradict the commandment to “have no other Gods before me,” but is instead the development of the belief in God’s ability to work through the physical world.
Conservative Action: This simply means that a development of doctrine must protect and preserve what has come before, not try to reverse it. It is impossible for doctrine to “develop” to the point of contradicting the belief of the ancient Church. An example of this is the Apostle’s Creed (used before the rosary) and the Nicene Creed (used during Mass). The Nicene Creed is clearly much longer than the Apostle’s Creed, but it is obvious how it simply expands on and clarifies the older Apostle’s Creed without reversing any of its teachings. “Development” can never be invoked to “undo” an unpopular teaching like the all-male ministerial priesthood because it always builds on the truth we already have, it does not change it.
Chronic Vigor: In other words, this is the test of time. The Truth endures through empires, centuries, and millennia. An authentic development of doctrine comes along and never goes away (like the veneration of Mary, the Saints, and their relics), but a corruption of doctrine (also known as a heresy) is short-lived and changes often. You need only look at all the thousands of different denominations of Christianity that are constantly changing their beliefs on contraception, marriage, sexuality, and gender identity. There are even Churches who deny that Jesus is God, which is a basic part of being Christian! Many of these denominations are quickly fading or are completely unrecognizable in comparison with their starting point. An historian might have studied the beliefs of Arians and Albigensians, but who has met one?
The point of these 7 notes is to help us understand the Church’s teaching as something living and ongoing. Rather than simply reciting lists, the Church exists to connect eternal, unchanging Truth to the ever-changing and often confusing lives of people throughout history. As always, there are those who wish She would “develop” to the point of changing altogether and those who wish She wouldn’t develop at all. But we have the Church given us by Christ, against whom the gates of the netherworld will not prevail.
In Christ,
-Fr. Albert