Terminism is the
Christian doctrine
Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exeg ...
that there is a time limit for repentance from sin, after which God no longer wills the conversion and
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...
of that person. This limit is asserted to be known to God alone, making conversion urgent. Among
pietists
Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...
such as
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
, the doctrine permitted the co-existence, over the span of a human life, of human
free will
Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.
Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...
and God's sovereignty.
Terminism in salvation
Terminism in
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...
is also mentioned in
Max Weber's famous sociological work ''
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'' (german: Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus) is a book written by Max Weber, a German sociologist, economist, and politician. Begun as a series of essays, the original ...
''. "
erminismassumes that grace is offered to all men, but for everyone either once at a definite moment in his life or at some moment for the last time" (Part II, Ch. 4, Section B). Weber offers in the same paragraph that terminism is "generally (though unjustly) attributed to
Pietism
Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy an ...
by its opponents".
Philosophical terminism
Terminism is defined by rhetorician
Walter J. Ong, who links it to
nominalism
In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are at least two main versions of nominalism. One version denies the existence of universalsthings ...
, as "a concomitant of the highly quantified formal logic of medieval
scholastic philosophy, and thus contrasts with theology which had closer connections with metaphysics and special commitments to rhetoric" (135).
[ Walter J. Ong (1958), '' Ramus, Method and the Decay of Dialogue: From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason'', Cambridge, MA: Harvard.]
See also
*
Bartholomaeus Arnoldi von Usingen
*
Nicholas of Autrecourt
Nicholas of Autrecourt ( French: ''Nicholas d'Autrécourt''; Latin: ''Nicolaus de Autricuria'' or ''Nicolaus de Ultricuria''; c. 1299, Autrecourt – 16 or 17 July 1369, Metz) was a French medieval philosopher and Scholastic theologian.
Life a ...
*
Gabriel Biel
Gabriel Biel (; 1420 to 1425 – 7 December 1495) was a German scholastic philosopher and member of the Canons Regular of the Congregation of Windesheim, who were the clerical counterpart to the Brethren of the Common Life.
Biel was born in Spe ...
*
Jean Buridan
Jean Buridan (; Latin: ''Johannes Buridanus''; – ) was an influential 14th-century French philosopher.
Buridan was a teacher in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris for his entire career who focused in particular on logic and the wor ...
*
John Cantius
John Cantius ( la, Joannes Cantius; pl, Jan z Kęt or ; 23 June 1390 – 24 December 1473) was a Polish priest, scholastic philosopher, physicist and theologian.
Biography
John Cantius was born in Kęty, a small town near Oświęcim, Polan ...
*
Pierre Ceffons
*
Johann Eck
Johann Maier von Eck (13 November 1486 – 13 February 1543), often anglicized as John Eck, was a German Catholic theologian, scholastic, prelate, and a pioneer of the counter-reformation who was among Martin Luther's most important int ...
*
Robert Holcot Robert Holcot, OP (c. 1290 – 1349) was an English Dominican scholastic philosopher, theologian and influential Biblical scholar.
Biography
He was born in Holcot, Northamptonshire. A follower of William of Ockham, he was nicknamed the ''Doctor ...
*
John Mair John Mair may refer to:
*John Major (philosopher)
John Major (or Mair; also known in Latin as ''Joannes Majoris'' and ''Haddingtonus Scotus''; 1467–1550) was a Scottish philosopher, theologian, and historian who was much admired in his day ...
*
John of Mirecourt John of Mirecourt, also known as ''Monachus Albus'' ('the White Monk'), was a Cistercian scholastic philosopher of the fourteenth century, from Mirecourt, Lorraine. He was a follower of William of Ockham; he was censured by Pope Clement VI.
Life a ...
*
William of Ockham
William of Ockham, OFM (; also Occam, from la, Gulielmus Occamus; 1287 – 10 April 1347) was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, apologist, and Catholic theologian, who is believed to have been born in Ockham, a small vil ...
*
Henry of Oyta
Henry of Oyta (german: Heinrich Totting von Oyta; c. 1330 – 1397) was a German theologian and nominalist philosopher.
Life
He was born at Friesoythe in present-day Lower Saxony.
Henry graduated M.A. at the University of Prague in 1355. He was ...
*
Durandus of Saint-Pourçain
Durandus of Saint-Pourçain (also known as Durand of Saint-Pourçain; c. 1275 – 13 September 1332 / 10 September 1334) was a French Dominican, philosopher, theologian, and bishop.
Life
He was born at Saint-Pourçain, Auvergne. Little is kn ...
*
Adam de Wodeham Adam of Wodeham, OFM (1298–1358) was a philosopher and theologian. Currently, Wodeham is best known for having been a secretary of William Ockham and for his interpretations of John Duns Scotus. Despite this associational fame, Wodeham was an in ...
References
Further reading
* John Pascal Mazzola (1939), ''The Writings of John
Wessel Gansfort
Wessel Harmensz Gansfort (1419 – October 4, 1489) was a theologian and early humanist of the northern Low Countries. Many variations of his last name are seen and he is sometimes incorrectly called Johan Wessel.
Gansfort has been called one of ...
(1419-1489): Considered as a Critique of the Theological and Ecclesiological Problems of the Fifteenth Century'', PhD dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
*
Heiko Oberman
Heiko Augustinus Oberman (1930–2001) was a Dutch historian and theologian who specialized in the study of the Reformation.
Life
Oberman was born in Utrecht on 15 October 1930. He earned his doctorate in theology from the University of Utrecht ...
(2001), ''The Harvest of Medieval Theology:
Gabriel Biel
Gabriel Biel (; 1420 to 1425 – 7 December 1495) was a German scholastic philosopher and member of the Canons Regular of the Congregation of Windesheim, who were the clerical counterpart to the Brethren of the Common Life.
Biel was born in Spe ...
and Late Medieval
Nominalism
In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are at least two main versions of nominalism. One version denies the existence of universalsthings ...
'', revised edition, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.
Christian soteriology
{{Christian-theology-stub