theologoumena

[jgress]

Dear all,

What do people understand by the term "theologoumenon"? I have heard this term employed a lot, but its meaning remains unclear to me, at least in its current usage. Does it mean a doctrine that is not supported by a patristic consensus, but disputed by the Fathers? Or can it also mean a doctrine that may or may not be heretical, but on which the Church has not yet pronounced with a definitive voice (i.e. through a conciliar decision)? I am asking because from some quarters I hear that, e.g. theistic evolutionism and the Romanidean teaching on original sin are heresies, and from other quarters that they are only "theologoumena".

In Christ

Jonathan