o the Formula of Concord,
or, in the case of the Reformed Church, to the decrees of the Synod of
Dort. But it may be objected to this boundary line; (1) That those
symbols have at all times attained only a partial authority in
Protestantism; (2) That as noted above, the dogmas, that is, the
formulated doctrines of faith have different meanings on different
matters in the Protestant and in the Catholic Churches. Accordingly, it
seems advisable within the frame-work of the history of dogma, to
examine Protestantism only so far as this is necessary for obtaining a
knowledge of its deviations from the Catholic dogma materially and
formally, that is, to ascertain the original position of the Reformers
with regard to the doctrine of the Church, a position which is beset
with contradictions. The more accurately we determine the relation of
the Reformers to Catholicism, the more intelligible will be the
developments which Protestantism has passed through in the course of its
history. But these developments themselves (retrocession and advance) do
not belong to the sphere of the history of dogma, because they stand in
no comparable relation to the course of the history of dogma within the
Catholic Church. As history of Protestant doctrines they form a peculiar
independent province of Church history.

As to the division of the history of dogma, it consists of two main
parts. The first has to describe the origin of dogma, that is, of the
Apostolic Catholic system of doctrine based on the foundation of the
tradition authoritatively embodied in the creeds and Holy scripture, and
extends to the beginning of the fourth century. This may be conveniently
divided into two parts, the first of which will treat of the
preparation, the second of the establishment of the ecclesiastical
doctrine of faith. The second main part, which has to portray the
development of dogma, comprehends three stages. In the first stage the
doctrine of faith appears as Theology and Christology. The Eastern
Church has never got beyond this stage, although it has to a large
extent enriched dogma ritually and mystically (see the decrees of the
seventh council). We will have to shew how the doctrines of faith formed
in this stage have remained for all time in the Church dogmas [Greek:
kat' exochen]. The second stage was initiated by Augustine. The doctrine
of faith appears here on the one side completed, and on the other
re-expressed by new dogmas, which treat of the