Newman and the Dogmatic Principle

Abstract

This article is an exposition and analysis of Newman’s so-called ‘dogmatic principle’ with a view to demonstrating what all is entailed in the principle and what is at stake in maintaining or rejecting it. The objective is to provide a detailed exposition of the dogmatic principle and then to outline a potential argumentation for its credibility and necessity for theology. The article first explains this principle within Newman’s historical context with attention to the primary sources. It then explains what a dogma is according to Newman. The final section critically engages with contemporary challenges and trends that in various ways undermine or reject Newman’s principle. The conclusion briefly considers how theology is conducted with and without Newman’s dogmatic principle.