annihilationism

annihilationism — noun

1. the view in Christian theology that people who are not saved will be completely

1.nounC2
Definition

the view in Christian theology that people who are not saved will be completely destroyed after death instead of suffering forever.

Example

Rafael wrote a research paper comparing annihilationism with the idea of eternal suffering.

compare a doctrine with its opposite view

The theology professor explained that annihilationism is not the same as universalism.

Common collocations
  • hold annihilationism
  • defend annihilationism
  • reject annihilationism
  • teach annihilationism
  • annihilationism holds that
  • annihilationism is compatible with
Synonyms
Antonyms

Usage Note

This term appears almost exclusively in theological or academic writing about the afterlife. It is often contrasted with 'eternal conscious torment' and should not be confused with 'universalism' (the belief that everyone will eventually be saved).

Common Mistakes

Annihilationism claims that life has no meaning.
Annihilationism claims that the wicked will cease to exist after death.
Annihilationism is a theological view about the afterlife, not a philosophical claim about life's meaning.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Annihilationism, conditional immortality, and destructionism all agree that the wicked do not suffer forever, unlike the doctrine of eternal conscious torment. The key difference is that conditional immortality holds that God gives immortality only to believers, so the wicked simply die — a position very close to annihilationism. Destructionism is an older, less common term for essentially the same view. Mortalism is a broader claim that the soul is not naturally immortal and dies with the body. In modern theological debates, annihilationism and conditional immortality are often used interchangeably, although some writers distinguish them by whether annihilation is an active act of God or the natural result of mortality.

conditional immortalitydestructionism ↗eternal conscious tormentmortalism

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Annihilationism traces back to the Latin verb 'annihilare' (to reduce to nothing), formed from 'ad-' (to) and 'nihil' (nothing). The English word was created by adding '-ism' to 'annihilation' in the 19th century, when Protestant theologians began debating whether the wicked would be destroyed rather than punished forever.

First known use

1847

1847, in the meaning defined above