DOGGEREL, an epithet given to a kind of loose, irregular, burlesque poetry, like that of Iludibras.
DOG'_fil A, a principle, maxim, tenet, or setticd opinion, particularly with re gard to matters of faith and philosophy; as, the dogmas of the church; the dog mas of Aristotle.—In theology, dogma has been defined to be a fundamental article of belief derived from acknowl edged authority, a d is usually applied to what are considered as the essential doctrines of Christianity, deduced either from the Scriptures or from the fathers of the church. There arc, however, many other dogmas peculiar to the different sects into which Christianity is divided. Thus the bulls and decretals of the pope, together with all the councils both of ear lier and later times, arc regarded by the Roman Catholics with as much venera tion as the authority of the Scriptures and the holy fathers. The Greek church,
on the other hand, acknowledges the au thority only of the earlier councils, in addition to that of the Scriptures and the fathers ; and the Lutheran and other Protestant churches have embodied their dogmas in their respective confessions of faith and other ecclesiastical standards. Dogmatic theology, as this branch of divinity is called, in contradistinction to moral and scholastic theology, forms an important object of study in many of the continental universities. In the Protes tant universities of Germany there are chairs set apart for the history of dog-Inca, or, as it is termed, dogmatik ; in which the origin and nature of the dogmas of the various Christian sects are examined, and the merit of the arguments by which they are supported.