docetism

English

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Docetism

Etymology

From Latin Docetae, Docetæ +‎ -ism, from Ancient Greek doketai, docetai (“phantasmists”), coined 197–203 CE by Serapion of Antioch, from δοκέω (dokeō, “I seem”), δόκησις (dókēsis, “apparition, phantom”). Related to latter component of synecdoche.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA: /dəʊˈsiːtɪz(ə)m/

Noun

docetism (countable and uncountable; plural docetisms)

(Christianity) The doctrine of the Docetes, that Jesus only appeared to have a physical body and was ultimately of celestial substance.
- 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 124:
  His Passion and Resurrection in history were therefore not fleshly events, even if they seemed so; they were heavenly play-acting (the doctrine known as Docetism, from the Greek verb dokein, ‘to seem’).