Although theologians in the early church like Origen (3rd century CE) engaged de facto in dogmatics, the term dogmatics itself (Latin theologica dogmatica, from Greek dogmatikḗ, “teaching regarding the church’s teaching – dógma – i.e. “theological teaching, doctrine”) did not gain currency until the theology of the 17th century. During the early Enlightenment, J.F. Buddeus was the first to offer a definition, in his encyclopedic introduction to theology (1727) [11]: the term dogmatic…