A WORD A DAY.

Southland Times, Issue 21361, 6 April 1931, Page 8

A WORD A DAY.

’ DOCTRINE. This word is accepted both as a theoretical and as a practical term, for it refers both to what is to be believed and to what is to be done. As we look at the derivation of the word, the Latin verb docere, “to teach,” we can readily relate it to the action of teaching or instructing, but it also. denotes that which is taught, the ideas laid down as true by the instructor or master. “Doctrine” is the broadest term of several, such as “tenet,” “dogma,” or “precept,” with which it .may be compared or confused. A “doctrine” is the whole body of fundamentals relating to any department of knowledge, religion, science, politics etc.; a’ “tenet” is simply one plank in the platform. “Dogma” is the specific creed formulated as the position of some church or school and insisted upon for acceptance; “precept” is generally a definite rule of conduct laid down by some competent person and to be obeyed. In Biblical literature we have translated “doctrine” from the Hebrew words which literally mean “that which is heard” and “that which is received." Then, as now, the intimate connection between what is heard and what is done was not overlooked. Right action follows right instruction or right doctrine. The first syllable of doc-trine is emphasized. Sound oas in odd, cask,i as in tin.; the e is silent. “He taught the doctrine of equality.”