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dispensational

dispensational

1 9.9
Relating to a way of dividing history into time periods, often used in religion
  • adjective
  • /ˌdɪspənˈseɪʃənl/
  • Specialized
: dispensacional
  • From a biblical standpoint, Reconstructionism is problematic because of the dispensational character of the Old Testament order.
  • dispensational premillennialism

Examples

  • Many theologians argue that understanding the dispensational approach is crucial for interpreting Biblical prophecy accurately.

  • " But the real reason was that his articulate defense of historic Reformed doctrine against the dispensational premillennialism of his department chair was supposed to be sapping the evangelistic zeal of his students.

    Academic text (1993)
  • But being biblical is often not enough; we must be dispensational.

    Blog text (5)
  • The dispensational place and scope of this passage is not hard to determine.

    Blog text (6)
  • I had picked up somewhere that there were some incongruences between the dispensational view of Israel and the Reformed view, especially concerning the millennial kingdom.

    Blog text (20)
  • But let me warn you, though, that when I use the term "dispensations," it does not mean that I subscribe to "dispensational theology," as I have not studied this or had it preached to me.

    Blog text (11)
  • So, we can see the dispensational nature of Judaism at work: where Judaism is weak, or in need of non-Judaic assistance in its "hester panim" phase, it wears its false, benevolent guise.

    Blog text (26)
  • The conference discussed various dispensational theories about how different historical periods relate to biblical events.

  • In some religious circles, the dispensational interpretation is favored for explaining the significance of the Old and New Testaments.

Surface Forms

dispensational positive

Morphology

dispensational = dispensation (semi-transparent) = dispense + ation + al

The adjective is built regularly from 'dispensation' plus '-al', but the noun itself has a specialized religious or historical sense that is not fully predictable from the base verb.

Etymology

Dispensational comes from the word dispense, which means 'to give out', and it was used for a way of giving rules or promises in different times. So in religion or history, a dispensational view divides time into 'periods' or systems where different rules or gifts are given.