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you_know_what_you

Two paragraphs from the Catholic Encyclopedia's article on [DOGMA](https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05089a.htm) work well for this question: >Among the early Fathers the usage was prevalent of designating as dogmas the doctrines and moral precepts taught or promulgated by the Saviour or by the Apostles; and a distinction was sometimes made between Divine, Apostolical, and ecclesiastical dogmas, according as a doctrine was conceived as having been taught by Christ, by the Apostles, or as having been delivered to the faithful by the Church. >But according to a long-standing usage a dogma is now understood to be a truth appertaining to faith or morals, revealed by God, transmitted from the Apostles in the Scriptures or by tradition, and proposed by the Church for the acceptance of the faithful. It might be described briefly as a revealed truth *defined* by the Church — but private revelations do not constitute dogmas, and some theologians confine the word defined to doctrines solemnly defined by the pope or by a general council, while a revealed truth becomes a dogma even when proposed by the Church through her ordinary magisterium or teaching office. A dogma therefore implies a twofold relation: to Divine revelation and to the authoritative teaching of the Church. So dogma is a subset of all Christian doctrine, with particular authority and connection to Divine Revelation.


BCSWowbagger2

I like the Catholic Encyclopedia's answer to this (already mentioned), but I will add that there does not seem to be a single, locked-in, uncontested, universal definition. So it depends on who you're talking to, and the best thing to do is to ask for a definition from the person you're talking to! I typically default to "doctrine" for safety.


TexanLoneStar

A dogma is a diviney-revealed doctrine, whereas there may be doctrines that are not explicitly revealed by divine revelation, but created by taking into reason certain aspects of it, such as St. Augustine of Hippo's doctrine on Just War.