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Glite Dictionary
🎭 Superficially real ✝️ About Christ's body
docetic

docetic

9.9
About the belief that Jesus only seems to have a real body
  • adjective
  • /dəˈsɛtɪk/
  • Specialized
: docético
  • Many theologians reject the docetic interpretation of the New Testament.

Examples

  • The docetic view of Christ has been debated for centuries.

  • Some early Christian sects held docetic beliefs about Jesus's physical form.

  • The theologian explained the docetic interpretation of Christ's nature to the class.

  • The debate centered on whether the gospel text supported a docetic perspective.

  • Some early Christian groups held docetic views, claiming that Jesus only appeared to have a physical body.

  • The debates within the early church often revolved around docetic beliefs that denied Christ's true humanity.

  • Many theologians opposed docetic interpretations of Scripture, asserting the importance of Jesus' physical incarnation.

Antonyms

real
∞ 1.0

Happening in real life, not imagined

human
∞ 1.0

Relating to people rather than animals or machines

Surface Forms

docetic positive

Morphology

docetic = docetism (opaque) = docet + ic

The adjective is a regular derivation from the noun 'docetism' (docetism → docetic) via the adjectival suffix '-ic'.

Etymology

The word docetic comes from the Greek root dokein, which means 'to seem'. It was used for the old belief that Christ only 'seemed' to have a real, human body rather than being truly physical.