A History of Christian Doctrine

Abstract

"It is important to distinguish between " the growth <>f doctrine" and" the history of Dogmas." The former -takes into account all the va..riations in doctrines from time t-0 time, wherea..s the latter, strictly speaking, deals with those forms of doctrine accepted as Canons of the Church and embodied in a definite Creed, e.g., the Apostles' Creed, or the Creed as drawn up by the Council of Nicea. With this definition of our task in mind we must begin by tracing the growth of doctrine in the New Testa- ment itself. In all the books of the New Testament the person of Christ is regarded as the key-stone of the arch, -0r the coping-stone of the pyni.mid of Christian truth. In -the light of the claims of J~sus it could not have been otherwise"