The Apologists frequently spoke of the doctrines or "dogmas" of
Christianity; and the whole content of this religion as philosophy is
included in these dogmas.[418] According to what we have already set
forth there can be no doubt about the character of Christian dogmas.
_They are the rational truths, revealed by the prophets in the Holy
Scriptures, and summarised in Christ_ ([Greek: christos logos kai
nomos]), _which in their unity represent the divine wisdom, and the
recognition of which leads to virtue and eternal life._ The Apologists
considered it their chief task to set forth these doctrines, and hence
they can be reproduced with all desirable clearness. The dogmatic scheme
of the Apologists may therefore be divided into three component parts.
These are: (A) Christianity viewed as monotheistic cosmology (God as the
Father of the world); (B) Christianity as the highest morality and
righteousness (God as the judge who rewards goodness and punishes
wickedness); (C) Christianity regarded as redemption (God as the Good
One who assists man and rescues him from the power of the demons).[419]
Whilst the first two ideas are expressed in a clear and precise manner,
it is equally true that the third is not worked out in a lucid fashion.
This, as will afterwards be seen, is, on the one hand, the result of the
Apologists' doctrine of freedom, and, on the other, of their inability
to discover a specific significance for the _person_ of Christ within
the sphere of revelation. Both facts again are ultimately to be
explained from their moralism.
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