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Views from the Choir Loft

Dogma as the Servant of Mystery

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · May 15, 2014

HRISTIANITY LIBERATES the intellect through revealing what is true about God, Christ, man, the world. As such, Christian revelation enables the mind to know absolute truth, even if incompletely, and enables the mind to express these truths propositionally, as all the Councils from Nicea to Trent succeeded in doing.

Credal or conciliar statements are icons that reveal and conceal, signposts that cannot signify the fullness of what they target but are, for all that, in no way deceptive or false. Theology certainly has a propositional and therefore a “scientific” side to it, which must not be allowed to become totally dominant but which cannot be suppressed without damaging the fabric of revealed doctrine. As a modern theologian notes, the intention of proclaiming a dogmatic definition “aims at protecting the mystery which is the object of faith, which is not totally accessible to reason. This is possible because human reason can always see if some assertion curtails the totality or catholicity of the mystery. Thus the definitions surround the mystery like cherubs armed with swords of flame.” Theology cannot be a true spiritual exercise unless it is also episteme, that is, certain knowledge that can be grasped but not ever exhausted by the intellect. St. Thomas’s distinction between apprehension and comprehension, or Gabriel Marcel’s distinction between “problem” and “mystery,” are germane here.

In her formal and systematic theology the Catholic Church is not detracting from or ossifying a living faith but, on the contrary, drawing further riches from its inner mysteries, in order that faith may put its roots still more deeply into revelation and shield itself from the narrowness of error. In this way, dogmatic theology or the dogmatic impulse undergirds the life of prayer, mystical ascent, and communion; without it, these other things could not prosper, or prospering, would begin to deviate like a plant untended by the gardener. Each age seems to spawn its own diseases that bid fair to overtake and kill the garden; no age finds the Church unprepared to extirpate them.

Formulas intensify and clarify just what the mystery is. The mystery is amplified in its very character as mystery when it is defined, because it is no longer “floating out there” but is tied to a definite affirmation about glorified reality as revealed to us by God, even though we can never reach the bottom of this affirmation. The difference between “Christ is somehow present here in the Eucharist” and the definite idea that “the glorified Christ is truly and really present here, body, blood, soul, and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine which are no longer substantially bread and wine,” is worthy of consideration. The former is a vague, though nicely suggestive, idea. The latter is definite, a strong triumphant proclamation of a supernatural truth that we can never comprehend but can definitely and clearly believe.

From this follow many consequences for liturgy, worship, and prayer. The Scholastics were able to be ultraconceptual because of their transconceptual love of God, their great love of His glory and honor and sublimity. This is how they could work so superhumanly hard and accomplish so much. Because we moderns, in contrast, have such an anemic spiritual life, afflicted by Cartesian intellectualism, we project this cold-bloodedness back onto the medievals. But the spiritual life of the medievals was ecstatic, mystical, enveloped in prayer and liturgy. The great scholastics, such as Bonaventure, Albert, and Thomas, were holy fools, knight-errants of crucified eros. That is the only explanation of their almost divine concentration, comprehension, and devotion. Where did Albert get the strength and apostolic fervor to visit every diocese of Germany on foot, in addition to writing what will occupy some 40 folio volumes in the critical edition of his works, in addition to his constant preaching, teaching, and praying? If one reads about the life of Thomas the accomplishments are no less miraculous. The pope who said Tot miracula, quot articula―as many articles as he wrote, so many miracles did he perform―was not merely engaging in verbal wit.

Please visit THIS PAGE to learn more about Dr. Kwasniewski’s exciting new publication,
Sacred Choral Works, a 273-page collection of a cappella choir music for the Liturgy.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College (B.A. in Liberal Arts) and The Catholic University of America (M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy), Dr. Peter Kwasniewski is currently Professor at Wyoming Catholic College. He is also a published and performed composer, especially of sacred music.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“It is very curious, rather barbarous, much too ornate, immeasurably less dignified than ours now, anything in the world rather than archaic or primitive.”

— Fr. Fortescue describing the “Sarum Use” in 1912

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

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