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anathema |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Anathema \A*nath"e*ma\, n.; pl {Anathemas}. [L. anath?ma, fr Gr ? anything devoted, esp. to evil, a curse; also L. anath?ma, fr Gr ? a votive offering; all fr ? to set up as a votive gift, dedicate; ? up + ? to set See {Thesis}.] 1. A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by ecclesiastical authority, and accompanied by excommunication. Hence: Denunciation of anything as accursed. [They] denounce anathemas against unbelievers. --Priestley. 2. An imprecation; a curse; a malediction. Finally she fled to London followed by the anathemas of both [families]. --Thackeray. 3. Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by ecclesiastical authority. The Jewish nation were an anathema destined to destruction. St Paul . . . says he could wish, to save them from it to become an anathema, and be destroyed himself. --Locke. {Anathema Maranatha}(see --1 Cor. xvi. 22), an expression commonly considered as a highly intensified form of anathema. Maran atha is now considered as a separate sentence, meaning, ``Our Lord cometh.'' From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: anathema n 1: a detested person; "he is an anathema to me" [syn: {bete noire}] 2: a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Anathema anything laid up or suspended; hence anything laid up in a temple or set apart as sacred. In this sense the form of the word is _anath(ee)ma_, once in plural used in the Greek New Testament, in Luke 21:5, where it is rendered "gifts." In the LXX. the form _anathema_ is generally used as the rendering of the Hebrew word _herem_, derived from a verb which means (1) to consecrate or devote; and (2) to exterminate. Any object so devoted to the Lord could not be redeemed (Num. 18:14; Lev. 27:28, 29); and hence the idea of exterminating connected with the word The Hebrew verb (haram) is frequently used of the extermination of idolatrous nations. It had a wide range of application. The _anathema_ or _herem_ was a person or thing irrevocably devoted to God (Lev. 27:21, 28); and "none devoted shall be ransomed. He shall surely be put to death" (27:29). The word therefore carried the idea of devoted to destruction (Num. 21:2, 3; Josh. 6:17); and hence generally it meant a thing accursed. In Deut. 7:26 an idol is called a _herem_ = _anathema_, a thing accursed. In the New Testament this word always implies execration. In some cases an individual denounces an anathema on himself unless certain conditions are fulfilled (Acts 23:12, 14, 21). "To call Jesus accursed" [anathema] (1 Cor. 12:3) is to pronounce him execrated or accursed. If any one preached another gospel, the apostle says, "let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8, 9); i.e., let his conduct in so doing be accounted accursed. In Rom. 9:3, the expression accursed" (anathema) from Christ, i.e., excluded from fellowship or alliance with Christ, has occasioned much difficulty. The apostle here does not speak of his wish as a possible thing It is simply a vehement expression of feeling, showing how strong was his desire for the salvation of his people. The anathema in 1 Cor. 16:22 denotes simply that they who love not the Lord are rightly objects of loathing and execration to all holy beings; they are guilty of a crime that merits the severest condemnation; they are exposed to the just sentence of "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord." From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]: Anathema, separated; set apart
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