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Webster 1913 Edition
Erastian
E-ras′tian
(?; 106)
, Noun.
(Eccl. Hist.)
One of the followers of Thomas Erastus, a German physician and theologian of the 16th century. He held that the punishment of all offenses should be referred to the civil power, and that holy communion was open to all. In the present day, an Erastian is one who would see the church placed entirely under the control of the State.
Shipley.
Webster 1828 Edition
Erastian
ERAS'TIAN
,Noun.
Definition 2024
Erastian
Erastian
English
Noun
Erastian (plural Erastians)
- (theology, historical) A follower of Thomas Erastus (1524–1583), Swiss physician and theologian, or his doctrines, associated with the idea that the State should have supremacy in ecclesiastical matters.
- 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society 2010, p. 96:
- Napoleon may not have believed in God, but he certainly believed in the desirability of religion, and, while his outlook was naturally Erastian, he was anxious from the first to restore normal relations with the Papacy.
- 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society 2010, p. 96: