Religion:Theologumenon
Theologoumenon comes from an ancient Greek word that means “something that is theologised” or “that which is said about God or divine things” .[1]
This word is an expression of a theological statement which cannot be directly regarded as the official teaching of the Church, as truth binding in faith. It is the outcome and communication of an endeavour to understand the faith by establishing connections between binding doctrines of faith by challenging dogmatic teachings with the whole of secular experience and all a man or an age knows.[2]
Karl Rahner proposes that such an arrangement need not necessarily greatly differ from one, which is actually of faith. He suggests that it can be enclosed in a truth of faith as a means to understanding that faith. Adding to this Rahner goes on to say that these theologumena are completely necessary for theology in the understanding of the faith. Revelation does not compose of all knowledge of reality in its origin and a person in his cognisance cannot understand, to assimilate something that bears no relation to his own knowledge. What is revealed can only be truly known and personally understood in a gathering of man's secular knowledge.[2]
Thus when revelation is received by man in the present state of valid knowledge it combines with the experience and worldview of the hearer. Thus theolougumena are not necessarily the element of binding dogma contained in the meaning of a statement, they are the intellectual frame of reference that is expressed with it. This position is so that the dogma can be understood more clearly. Ultimately joining man's history with man's historic knowledge of truth.[2]
In conclusion Theologoumenon is a belief or clarification by a group of the fathers and theologians of the Church upon a spiritual or theological matter that is not clearly communicated in the Scriptures or formulated in Church dogma as it is a work in progress.[1] No theologoumenon can assert more than probability and it should not be accepted if it has been rejected by Church authority.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sanidopoulos, John (28 June 2017). "On the Application of the Term "Theologoumenon"". https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2017/06/on-application-of-term-theologoumenon.html.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rahner, Karl (1975). Encyclopedia of Theology. London: Burns & Oates. pp. 1685–1686. ISBN 0 86012 006 6.
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