Docetism

[doh-see-tiz-uhm, doh-si-tiz-]

noun

1. an early Christian doctrine that the sufferings of Christ were apparent and not real and that after the crucifixion he appeared in a spiritual body.

2. Roman Catholic Church.,  an ancient heresy asserting that Jesus lacked full humanity.

Docetism

/ ˈdəʊsɪˌtɪzəm /

noun

1. (in the early Christian Church) a heresy that the humanity of Christ, his sufferings, and his death were apparent rather than real

Other Word Forms

• Docetic adjective
• Docetist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Docetism¹

First recorded in 1840–50; Docet(ae) + -ism

Word History and Origins

Origin of Docetism¹

C19: from Medieval Latin Docētae, from Greek Dokētai, from dokein to seem

Example Sentences

Docetism, with its phantom Christ, and Gnosticism with its antithesis of the just God and the good God, were not likely to satisfy mankind.

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Clement and Origen, at the head of the Alexandrian school, took a somewhat subtle view of the Incarnation, and Docetism pervades their controversies with the Monarchians.

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Docetism, originating in apostolic times, passed through many phases, to provide, at the end of the fourth century, in its most refined form, Apollinarianism, the immediate positive cause of monophysitism.

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Obviously the tendency of Ephesian Christianity was to minimise the human characteristics of the historic Jesus, and to merge into Docetism.

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The heresy combated by Ignatius is a type of Gnostic Judaism, the Gnostic element manifesting itself in a sharp form of Docetism.

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