Topic summary
Erastianism
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Thomas Erastus.
Erastianism
In his Theses, he argued that the sins committed by Christians should be punished by the State, and that the Church should not withhold sacraments as a form of punishment. Thus, not only civil offences but also ecclesiastical ones would be punished by the state. The term Erastianism initially referred to this position, but later, in the course of debates that took place in England during the 17th century, acquired a more general meaning and came to refer to the view that the state should have supremacy over the church in ecclesiastical matters (cf. Caesaropapism).