antinomianism

Etymology

From antinomian + -ism, coined by Martin Luther, notably used in his Against the Antinomians (1539).

noun

  1. (Christianity) The belief or teaching that because only the spiritual "law of faith" (Romans 3:27) is essential for salvation, obedience to any practical or moral law has no role to play, even as a guide to conduct or as a test of the genuineness of faith.
    Always containing seeds of antinomianism, mysticism inevitably undermined that authority, but because the church's hegemony rested on mystery, mysticism could not altogether be prohibited. The common will to reach God was too strong, and the church was political before it was anything else. 1989, Greil Marcus, “The Assault on Notre-Dame”, in Lipstick Traces, Faber & Faber, published 2009
    In the 1970s, [Daniel] Bell saw antinomianism all around him, and his thesis struck a chord with many. Well, antinomianism never hit many places in America, like the evangelical Christian communities. 1997-09-15, David Brooks, “The Rise of the Latte Town”, in Washington Examiner
  2. (Judaism) Opposition to the Torah.

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