Hopkinsianism

[ hop-kin-zee-uh-niz-uhm ]

noun

1. a modified Calvinism taught by Samuel Hopkins (1721–1803), that emphasized the sovereignty of God, the importance of His decrees, and the necessity of submitting to His will, accepting even damnation, if required, for His glory, and holding that ethics is merely disinterested benevolence.

Other Words From

• Hop·kinsi·an Hop·kin·so·ni·an [hop-kin-, soh, -nee-, uh, n], adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Hopkinsianism¹

1805–15, Americanism; Hopkins + -ian + -ism

Example Sentences

He developed an original system of divinity, somewhat on the structural plan of that of Samuel Hopkins, and, in Emmons’s own belief, contained in and evolved from Hopkinsianism.

From Project Gutenberg

First, there was the unmitigated Scotch Calvinism; secondly, there was the modification of this system, which became naturalized in the church after the Great Awakening, when Jonathan Dickinson and Jonathan Edwards, from neighbor towns in Massachusetts, came to be looked upon as the great Presbyterian theologians; thirdly, there was the "consistent Calvinism," that had been still further evolved by the patient labor of students in direct succession from Edwards, and that was known under the name of "Hopkinsianism."

From Project Gutenberg

Hopkinsianism was in fashion then, and the minds of men in many parts of the country had accepted the logic of its founder, negatived as it was, in its practical application, by the sweetness of his Christian benevolence and his large humanity.

From Project Gutenberg

Their fame is still in all the churches; effeminate clerical dandyism still affects to do homage to their memories; the earnest young theologian, exploring with awe the mountainous debris of their controversial lore, ponders over the colossal thoughts entombed therein, as he would over the gigantic fossils of an early creation, and endeavors in vain to recall to the skeleton abstractions before him the warm and vigorous life wherewith they were once clothed; but Hopkinsianism, as a distinct and living school of philosophy, theology, and metaphysics, no longer exists.

From Project Gutenberg

Their fame is still in all the churches; effeminate clerical dandyism still affects to do homage to their memories; the earnest young theologian, exploring with awe the mountainous debris of their controversial lore, ponders over the colossal thoughts entombed therein, as he would over the gigantic fossils of an early creation, and endeavors in vain to recall to the skeleton abstractions before him the warm and vigorous life wherewith they were once clothed; but Hopkinsianism, as a distinct and living school of philosophy, theology, and metaphysics, no longer exists.

From Project Gutenberg