Polemical | TriviaQuestions.online

⭐ Core Definition: Polemical

Polemic (/pəˈlɛmɪk/ pə-LEHM-ick, US also /-ˈlimɪk/ -⁠LEEM-ick) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial topics. A person who writes polemics, or speaks polemically, is called a polemicist. The word derives from Ancient Greek πολεμικός (polemikos) 'warlike, hostile', from πόλεμος (polemos) 'war'.

Polemics often concern questions in religion or politics. A polemical style of writing was common in Ancient Greece, as in the writings of the historian Polybius. Polemic again became common in medieval and early modern times. Since then, famous polemicists have included satirist Jonathan Swift, Italian physicist and mathematician Galileo, French theologian Jean Calvin, French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire, Russian author Leo Tolstoy, socialist philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, novelist George Orwell, playwright George Bernard Shaw, communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, linguist Noam Chomsky, social critics H. L. Mencken, Christopher Hitchens and Peter Hitchens, and existential philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<

👉 Polemical in the context of Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon FRS (/ˈɡɪbən/; 8 May 1737 – 16 January 1794) was a British essayist, historian and politician. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its polemical criticism of organized religion.

↓ Explore More Topics

In this Dossier

⭐ Core Definition: Polemical
👉 Polemical in the context of Edward Gibbon
Polemical in the context of De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio
Polemical in the context of Exsurge Domine

Polemical in the context of De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio

De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio (literally Of free will: Discourses or Comparisons) is the Latin title of a polemical work written by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1524. It is commonly called The Freedom of the Will or On Free Will in English. It was written to call out Martin Luther's revival of John Wycliffe's teaching that "everything happens by absolute necessity".

Erasmus' civil but deliberately provocative book mixes evangelical concerns that God has revealed himself as merciful not arbitrary ("nobody should despair of forgiveness by a God who is by nature most merciful" I.5.) and the conclusion in the Epilogue that where there are scriptures both in favour and against, theologians should moderate their opinions or hold them moderately: dogma is created by the church not theologians. In his view, a gently held synergism mediates the scriptural passages best, and moderates the exaggerations of both Pelagius (humans meriting or not requiring grace for salvation) and Manichaeus (two Gods: one good, one bad).

↑ Return to Menu

Polemical in the context of Exsurge Domine

Exsurge Domine (Latin for 'Arise, O Lord') is a papal bull promulgated on 15 June 1520 by Pope Leo X written in response to Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses, which opposed the views of the Catholic Church. The bull censured forty-one teachings found in Luther's writings Ninety-five theses and other writings. The bull also threatened Luther and his colleagues—one being Andreas Karlstadt—with excommunication unless they recanted their teachings sixty days after the publication of the bull in the Electorate of Saxony—now Saxony, Germany—and its neighboring regions.

Both theologians refused to recant, and Luther responded instead by composing polemical tracts rebuking the papacy and publicly burning a copy of Exsurge Domine on 10 December 1520 at the Elster Gate in Wittenberg. As a result, Pope Leo X promulgated the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem on 3 January 1521, excommunicating both theologians.

↑ Return to Menu

Polemical in the context of "Edward Gibbon"

⭐ In the context of Edward Gibbon’s work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, what characteristic best describes the author’s approach to examining organized religion?

⭐ Core Definition: Polemical

👉 Polemical in the context of Edward Gibbon

Polemical in the context of De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio

Polemical in the context of Exsurge Domine

⭐ In the context of Edward Gibbon’s work, *The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*, what characteristic best describes the author’s approach to examining organized religion?

⭐ Core Definition: Polemical

👉 Polemical in the context of Edward Gibbon

Polemical in the context of De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio

Polemical in the context of Exsurge Domine

⭐ In the context of Edward Gibbon’s work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, what characteristic best describes the author’s approach to examining organized religion?