δοκέω (dokeō)

: Something that appears right, an opinion, belief, or thought that seems to be true.

In Ancient Greece, δοκέω could mean a teaching, or even a law, or policy of the government. Dokeo was something that appeared to be true, or at least, was the best knowledge that people had at the time. It was like a person saying “this seems good to me.”

A person’s dokeo would go on to form their dogma. What is dogma? It is a judgement about what is good. A belief held without the possibility of change. A set of principles laid down as inconvertibly true.

Dokeo became dogma in the ancient world when what seemed good was determined to actually be good. Every law starts as a belief. Its one thing to have a belief. It’s another to make your belief a law. That’s the distinction between dokeo and dogma.

There are things that seem good to all of us. But are those things truly good? That’s the question. There are things that are truly good, and I want to ask questions that help me discover that.

Here I write about life, history, theology, philosophy, and other things that I think about. I do this to challenge my own thinking - and maybe yours too.