Development of Doctrine -- East and West

An interesting exchange was sparked when Michael Luccione took to task the Orthodox Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon for what he took to be his caricatured misunderstanding of the Catholic understanding of the development of doctrine. Luccione's original article was entitled "That homoousios again" (Sacramentum Vitae, 12/11/06). Reardon responded the next day in his "Pastoral Ponderings" Newsletter with a brief reply, stating he had not denied the notion of doctrinal development, but only the supposition that this notion was capable of being defined as a dogma. Just a couple of days later, Scott Carson jumped in with some added backup, with a piece entitled "Development of Doctrine East and West" (An Examined Life, 12/13/06). Two days later Luccione posted a more searching post entitled "What does 'development of doctrine' mean?" (Sacramentum Vitae, 12/15/06), in which he amends some of his earlier statements, accepting that Reardon does accept some notion of doctrinal development. But he goes on to offer a detailed analysis of the question, challenging Reardon, in effect, to state what his understanding of development is. All very interesting; and some excellent minds at work!