Antinomianism

Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί [anti] "against" and νόμος [nomos] "law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so.[1] The term has both religious and secular meanings.

In some Christian belief systems, an antinomian is one who takes the principle of salvation by faith and divine grace to the point of asserting that the saved are not bound to follow the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments.[2][3] Antinomians believe that faith alone guarantees eternal security in heaven, regardless of one's actions.[4]

The distinction between antinomian and other Christian views on moral law is that antinomians believe that obedience to the law is motivated by an internal principle flowing from belief rather than from any external compulsion.[5] Antinomianism has been considered to teach that believers have a "license to sin"[6] and that future sins do not require repentance.[7] Johannes Agricola, to whom Antinomianism was first attributed,[8] stated "If you sin, be happy, it should have no consequence."[9]

Examples of antinomians being confronted by the religious establishment include Martin Luther's critique of antinomianism, the Ranters of the English Civil War,[10] and the Antinomian Controversy of the seventeenth-century Massachusetts Bay Colony. The charge of antinomianism has been levelled at Reformed, Baptist and some Nondenominational churches.[11][12][13]

By extension, the word "antinomian" is used to describe views in religions other than Christianity:

  1. ^ "antinomianism". Dictionary of the English Language (online ed.). Merriam-Webster.
  2. ^ Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America. ABC-CLIO. 2006. p. 306. ISBN 978-1-57607678-1.
  3. ^ Marie, André (17 September 2013). "Simian Antinomianism". Catholicism. Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  4. ^ Street, N.L.; Wimberley, A. (2019). On the Frontlines: Exposing Satan's Tactics to Destroy a Generation. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-7252-5124-3. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  5. ^ Como, David R. (2004). Blown by the Spirit: Puritanism and the emergence of an antinomian underground in pre-Civil-War England. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-80474443-0.
  6. ^ Anizor, U.; Price, R.B.; Voss, H. (2021). Evangelical Theology. Doing Theology. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-567-67715-0. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  7. ^ Thurman, S.F. (2019). Equipped for Holiness. WestBow Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-9736-6776-6. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  8. ^ "religion". Encyclopedia Britannica. 20 July 1998. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  9. ^ Beeke, J.; Smalley, P.M. (2021). Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 3: Spirit and Salvation. Crossway. p. 437. ISBN 978-1-4335-5994-5. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Ranters | religious sect | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  11. ^ Dorner, I.A. (1871). History of Protestant Theology: Particularly in Germany : Viewed According to Its Fundamental Movement and in Connection with the Religious, Moral, and Intellectual Life. T. & T. Clark. p. 352. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  12. ^ Howson, B. (2021). Erroneous and Schismatical Opinions: The Question of Orthodoxy regarding the Theology of Hanserd Knollys (c. 1599–1691). Studies in the History of Christian Traditions. Brill. p. 80. ISBN 978-90-04-47422-2. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  13. ^ Smith, M. (2001). An Ethics of Place: Radical Ecology, Postmodernity, and Social Theory. G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. State University of New York Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-7914-4908-0. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  14. ^ Urban, Hugh B. "Five". The Power of Tantra: Religion, sexuality, and the politics of south Asian studies.
  15. ^ Wedemeyer, Christian K. (2011). "Locating Tantric antinomianism - An essay toward an intellectual history of the 'practices/practice observance' (caryā/caryāvrata)". Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. 34 (1–2): 349–419. ISSN 0193-600X.
  16. ^ Urban, Hugh B. (2010). "What About the Woman? Gender Politics and the Interpretation of Women in Tantra". The power of tantra: Religion, sexuality, and the politics of South Asian studies. London: I.B. Tauris; Bloomsbury. pp. 125–146. ISBN 9780857731586.