The truth of faith: history or development? Two historical and theological projects of the 19th century: “The history of doctrine” and “Doctrinal development”

In this article, an exploration of the explication of the concept of history in the era of the formation of historical knowledge in relation to theology and Christianity in general is carried out. Te author offers a review and analysis of the two most influential programs of historical and theological research in the 19th century - the History of Dogma (A. Harnack) and the concept of dogmatic development (John Newman). Te author shows that both historians and theologians work in the same experimental field - the ancient patristic teaching - but they use diametrically opposite approaches. Te critical history of dogmas is the realization of the theological atitude towards the liberation of the believing consciousness from tradition by means of historical research aimed at comprehending the knowingly unatainable essence of Christianity, whereas the program of dogmatic development is a historical study that can be used as a theological method. Liberal theology in the first case leads to the denial of the value of history, and historical research in the second reveals a rich potential for the establishment of church theology. Te author distinguishes three main types in the history of dogma: the critical, the idealistic and the positive, each of which is considered on the basis of program texts. Te theory of dogmatic development is investigated taking into account its first versions associated with the Tubingen Catholic school (second quarter of the 19th century)