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In Christianity, docetism (from the Greek δοκέω dokeō, "to seem") is the belief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die. This belief treats the sentence "the Word was made Flesh" (John 1:14) as merely figurative. Docetism is regarded as heretical by by the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, and many others.^[1]^[2]

Christology and theological implications

This belief is most commonly attributed to the Gnostics, many of whom believed that matter was evil, and as a result God would not take on a material body. This statement is rooted in the idea that a divine spark is imprisoned within the material body, and that the material body is in itself an obstacle, deliberately created by an evil, lesser god (the demiurge) to prevent man from seeing his divine origin.

Docetism can be further explained as the view that since the human body is temporary and the spirit is eternal, the body of Jesus must have been an illusion and, likewise, his crucifixion. Even so, saying that the human body is temporary has a tendency to undercut the importance of the belief in resurrection of the dead and the goodness of created matter, and is in opposition to this orthodox view.

Docetism was a form of early Christianity, developing around 70 AD, which was most prominently espoused by Gnostic sects.^[3] Its origin within Christianity is obscure and it has been argued that its origins were in heterodox Judaism or Oriental and Grecian philosophies.^[4] Some of the books of the New Testament condemn docetic teachings and the early creeds developed to counter docetic beliefs.^[5] 1st century Gnostic Christian groups developed docetic interpretations partly as a way to make Christian teachings more acceptable to pagan ways of thinking of divinity.^[4] Docetism largely died out during the first millennium AD. Gnostic movements that survived past that time, such as Catharism^{[citation needed]}, incorporated docetism into their beliefs, but such movements were destroyed by the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229).

Ignatius of Antioch wrote against docetism around 110 AD in his letter to the Smyrnaeans. In 7:1, he said, "They [the docetists] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes". Since one of the main beliefs of docetism was that the body of Jesus was an illusion, docetists could not accept that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist were (representationally or ontologically) the actual flesh and blood of Jesus. Other detailed criticisms were given by Irenaeus and Tertullian.

Earl Doherty and Timothy Freke have suggested docetism arose from the nonexistence hypothesis^{[citation needed]}.

Islam and docetism

The Qur'an Sura 4:157–158 reads:

"And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger — they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah was ever Mighty, Wise."^{[Quran 4:157–158 (Pickthall)]}

The Qur'an was compiled in the mid-seventh century AD (around 650 CE), corresponding to the period when docetism was still commonly accepted and taught among some Christian sects.

While in this sense Islam is undeniably docetic, Muslims reject the divinity of Jesus; thus, many of the theological objections to the idea are irrelevant for Islam.

Texts including docetism

Non-canonical Christian texts

Gospel of Phillip
Second Treatise of the Great Seth
Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
Gospel of Judas
In the Contra epistulam fundamenti, Augustine of Hippo makes reference to the Manichaeans believing that Jesus was Docetic.
Gospel of Peter
Acts of John

References

^ newadvent.org
^ Peter Kreeft, Everything you ever wanted to know about heaven – but never dreamed of asking, p. 25
^ Strong, A.H. Systematic Theology. 1907
^ ^a ^b Paul L. Gavrilyuk (20 May 2004). The suffering of the impassible God: the dialectics of patristic thought. Oxford University Press. pp. 80–. ISBN 9780199269822. Retrieved 31 July 2010. Cite error: The named reference "Gavrilyuk2004" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^ Justo L. González (15 April 2005). Essential theological terms. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 46–. ISBN 9780664228101. Retrieved 31 July 2010.

External links

Docetae in the Catholic Encyclopedia

[1] wadvent.org

[2] Peter Kreeft, Everything you ever wanted to know about heaven – but never dreamed of asking, p. 25

[Strong-3] Strong, A.H. Systematic Theology. 1907

[Gavrilyuk2004-4] Paul L. Gavrilyuk (20 May 2004). The suffering of the impassible God: the dialectics of patristic thought. Oxford University Press. pp. 80–. ISBN 9780199269822. Retrieved 31 July 2010. Cite error: The named reference "Gavrilyuk2004" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

[González2005-5] Justo L. González (15 April 2005). Essential theological terms. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 46–. ISBN 9780664228101. Retrieved 31 July 2010.

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	In [[Christianity]], '''docetism''' (from the [[Greek language\|Greek]] {{polytonic\|δοκέω}} ''dokeō'', "to seem") is the belief that [[Jesus]]' physical body was an illusion, as was his [[crucifixion]]; that is, Jesus only ''seemed'' to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die. This belief treats the sentence "the Word was made Flesh" (''[[Gospel of John\|John]] 1:14'') as merely figurative. Docetism is regarded as [[Christian heresy\|heretical]] by ~~some~~ ~~Christian~~ ~~theologians~~.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05070c.htm newadvent.org]</ref><ref>{{citation \|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qVqJetnPT4QC&pg=PA25 \|page=25 \|title=Everything you ever wanted to know about heaven – but never dreamed of asking \|author= Peter Kreeft}}</ref>		In [[Christianity]], '''docetism''' (from the [[Greek language\|Greek]] {{polytonic\|δοκέω}} ''dokeō'', "to seem") is the belief that [[Jesus]]' physical body was an illusion, as was his [[crucifixion]]; that is, Jesus only ''seemed'' to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die. This belief treats the sentence "the Word was made Flesh" (''[[Gospel of John\|John]] 1:14'') as merely figurative. Docetism is regarded as [[Christian heresy\|heretical]] by by the [[Catholic Church]], [[Orthodox Church]], and many others.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05070c.htm newadvent.org]</ref><ref>{{citation \|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qVqJetnPT4QC&pg=PA25 \|page=25 \|title=Everything you ever wanted to know about heaven – but never dreamed of asking \|author= Peter Kreeft}}</ref>

	==Christology and theological implications==		==Christology and theological implications==