neology

Etymology

From neo- + -logy. In the theological sense, originally implying its proponents were innovators departing from religious tradition.

noun

1. The study or art of neologizing (creating new words).
   The word burned through the thin, dry-timbered wall of political neology in 1984, as Senator John Glenn’s campaign manager in South Carolina, John Lawson, told the A.P. that Glenn’s campaign “considered six Deep South states to be the crucial states for Glenn — the fire wall, if you will, between Mondale and the nomination.” February 24, 2008, William Safire, “Bird-Dog Minute”, in New York Times
2. (historical, originally derogatory) A reformist school of 18th- and 19th-century Christian theology influenced by doctrinal rationalism and the methods of historical criticism.
   What else can be the tendency of such miserably gratuitous assertions, but to plant the pernicious germs of Continental and Anglican neology and rationalism in the breasts of fledgling “ministers” of the Church? 1876, Moses Margoliouth, The Lord’s Prayer No Adaptation of Existing Jewish Petitions[…], page 146
   Neology was the most influential religious movement during the second half of the eighteenth century in Protestant Germany. […] The adherents of the movement sought true Christianity, or natural religion, by way of historical-critical study of the Bible and critical examination of Christian doctrines. 1995, Sabine Roehr, A Primer on German Enlightenment[…], page 69