Absolutism

 

The term absolutism is used in two different ways:

 

1.  Absolute, total, unlimited, or unrestricted power

   

or

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2.  The theory, belief, ideology, or doctrine that stipulates that there absolute, permanent, unchangeable, and everlasting truths, principles, morality, and knowledge that exist and have the potential to be known.

 

Examples:

 

1. The king favored absolutism and wanted to rule with absolute power but his power was restrained by the new constitution.

2. As a scientist, John believes that there are absolute truths in the world and that relativism is just a result of not having discovered the truth yet or merely a method of ignoring the truth in order to justify doing whatever you want.  He decided to explain using religion as Jim was religious.  John explained that if God exists then not being sure that God exists does not mean that God does not exist. It just means that you have not discovered the truth of God’s existence or lack of existence yet. The truth could not be that God exists for Jim but not for their friend Steve who was not religious.  God either exists or does not exist whether the truth is currently known or not.

 

The Episcopal Church has made significant changes to Episcopal doctrine. If the Episcopal Church seeks to change absolute truths according to the Christian faith, such as the divinity of Jesus Christ, because the church’s teachings do not coincide with current societal trends, then church leadership must no longer believe in the absolutism of Christianity. As a Christian is a person who believes that Jesus Christ was God on earth then can the Episcopal Church still be considered a Christian religion if it no longer believes in the divinity of Christ?

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Terms Often Used:

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"The Truth"

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(See Relativism)