dreamsDOCTRINE
Derived from the Latin doctrina, the concept refers to the body of teach-
ings of a church or religion. In the Christian context, doctrine is what a
church believes, teaches, and confesses, based on the word of God, giv-
ing the church an opportunity to define itself and its structure. What is
believed is doctrine present in devotion, spirituality, and worship,
whereas the church teaches worship based on the word of God and com-
municated to practitioners by proclamation, instruction, and theology.
What is confessed refers to the testimony of the church against false
teaching from within the church and attacks from outside of it, using
polemics, apologetics, creeds, and dogma. In short, Christian doctrine is
the saving knowledge derived from the word of God. The definition of
the nature of the Trinity, virgin birth, transubstantiation, Immaculate
Conception, Calvinist predestination, and grace are all examples of
Christian doctrine, whereas the doctrine of the Buddha is summarized by
the Four Noble Truths that define the root problem of human existence
and the means of overcoming it.
Overall, doctrine operates to form a person’s attitude towards the world
and the divine. Doctrines describe the way things are in fact, explain
things and why things are the way they are, and they reconcile apparent
contradictions. By defining what is orthodox, doctrines contribute to
defining the boundaries of community, and thus avoid motivating heresy
or dissent. Doctrines support apologetic functions. Finally, doctrine can
respond to external contradictions possibly caused by new developments
in the sciences.
Further reading: Pelikan (1971); Smart (1996)DREAMS
Occurring during sleep, dreams are often bizarre images of physical dis-
tortions, strange environments, character metamorphoses, unrealistic
juxtapositioning of people’s actions, sudden alterations of locations,
supernatural achievements, impossible happenings, and odd behavior.
Humans encounter themselves, other people from daily life, deceased
people, and total strangers and creatures in an inexplicable realm of fan-
tasy that dreams enable people to reach. Dreaming is a universal human
phenomenon that reflects something about a person’s identity and what a