sacramentalism

American  

[sak-ruh-men-tl-iz-uhm] / ˌsæk rəˈmɛn tlˌɪz əm /

noun

1. a belief in or emphasis on the importance and efficacy of the sacraments for achieving salvation and conferring grace.

2. emphasis on the importance of sacramental objects and ritual actions.

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sacramentalism British  

/ ˌsækrəˈmɛntəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. belief in or special emphasis upon the efficacy of the sacraments for conferring grace

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Other Word Forms

• sacramentalist noun

Etymology

Origin of sacramentalism

First recorded in 1860–65; sacramental + -ism

Example Sentences

“Sacramentalism is not simply nice,” said William D. Dinges, a religious studies professor at the Catholic University of America, about the Catholic rites.

From Slate

Anglicanism has always been about the attempt—sometimes successful, sometimes less so—to find a via media, or middle way, between stricter sacramentalism of Roman Catholicism and stricter scriptural literalism of other Protestant denominations.

From Time

This and two later creedal statements are included in the Book of Concord of 1580 and supply the Lutheran answers to almost every spiritual problem the Christian soul is prone to�Anti-Trinitarianism, humanism, Pelagianism, synergism, determinism, Manichaeism, spiritualism, enthusiasm, sacerdotalism, sacramentalism, mysticism, asceticism, perfectionism, antinomianism, chiliasm, apocalypticism, Donatism, Novatianism, etc.

From Time Magazine Archive

Modernist Catholicism has in my opinion antedated the irruption of crude sacramentalism into the Church, and has greatly overstated its importance in the religion of the first-century Christians.

From Project Gutenberg

This sacramentalism was not unchallenged, as we have already seen from Plato himself.

From Project Gutenberg