Precursors of an explicit Protestant theological antidogmatism go back to the Reformation period. It played a central role in the theology of the Enlightenment. Numerous theologians and philosophers of religion in the late 18th century presented the beliefs of the Christian faith with a massive criticism of dogma (e.g. J.G. Herder, Von Religion, Lehrmeinungen und Gebräuchen, 1798).
The phrase became a shibboleth in theological politics in the last third of the 19th century. It was mostly theologians holding ecclesiastical positions that…