évangélisme

Forms

évangélisme m (plural évangélismes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French évangéliste + -isme, on the stem of the noun.^[2][3][4] In the sense of a Protestant doctrine and church based on the Gospel it is, according to Rey, probably borrowed from English evangelism.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the Dictionnaire de Trévoux of 1740 as the name of a feast of the Greek Church, a sense that has disappeared.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Boiste's dictionary gave it in 1803 the sense “Gospel morality”,^[2][5] and in 1850 Flaubert wrote of un acte de haut évangélisme, an act fully in keeping with the Gospel.^[2][6] Littré still called it a neologism.^[7] From about 1883 (Alphonse Daudet's novel L'Évangéliste) it also names Protestant doctrine and churches founded on the Gospel, probably after English evangelism, which had meant preaching the Gospel since 1626 and the profession of evangelical doctrine since 1812.^[5] In the 20th century it also took the sense of a way of reading the Gospel, as in the évangélisme of Gide or Tolstoy.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1740 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records it as a feast of the Greek Church.^[2]
• 1803 – Boiste gives it the sense “Gospel morality”.^[2][5]
• 1850 – Flaubert uses it for conformity to the Gospel.^[2]
• 1870 – Larousse records it for the doctrine of the evangelical church.^[6]
• 1883 – Daudet's L'Évangéliste reflects the Protestant sense.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The character of the moral and religious teaching of the Gospel, or conformity to it.^[4][2]
2. A particular way of interpreting the Gospel.^[2]
3. (theology) The doctrine of salvation through Christ; the doctrine of the evangelical Protestant churches, evangelicalism.^[4][6][1]

Related words

• évangéliste
• évangélique
• évangile
• English evangelism

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette