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total depravity

noun

  1. the Calvinist doctrine that humankind's entire nature, including its reason, is corrupt or sinful as a result of the Fall and that people are therefore completely dependent on God for regeneration.


total depravity

noun

  1. Calvinist the doctrine that man's nature is totally corrupt as a result of the Fall
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of total depravity1

First recorded in 1785–95
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Example Sentences

It’s just hard to believe that it steered a slightly crooked, often endearing and largehearted man into total depravity.

Lingan added, “It’s about greed. It’s about anger. It’s about torture. And it’s about total depravity.”

Indeed, the doctrine of total depravity was invented by the priests to create a demand for the offices of the church.

But the earlier Fathers did not connect the notion of the vicarious atonement with that of original sin and total depravity.

He can never resist the temptation to draw a moral, and his dogmatic bias in favor of the doctrine of total depravity is only too evident.

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