And even if it were the case that in the past we spent
less time defending and discussing specific dogmas, there seems to me to be a much more plausible explanation than «no one really used to care
about dogma», which is this: it's not that we didn't care
about dogma, but rather that the truths of
faith have come under unprecedented scrutiny and attack in the modern period, not least fromdissenters within the Church, so it has become essential that we do
talk about what we actually believe.