Any kind of "ism"

Hey dan,

My major in college was communication. One of the things I learned, which we all pretty much know, but its nice to define, is the two main meaning of words.

One is dennotative. This is the definitional meaning of a word. The second is connotative. You post is in regard to "isms" Here's the definitional:

"a distinctive doctrine, cause, or theory" This definition is Websters regarding the suffix "ism"

A decond dennotative meaning is:

"an oppressive and especially discriminatory attitude or belief" An example would be racism. I thought this was interesting, http://phrontistery.info/isms.html

It's a list of isms as they deal with philosophy or religous thought.

The point is that the suffix "ism" is used to in these manners. So how is Calvin-ism being used? To express a distinctive doctrine. I think other threads have explained how those doctrines came to be called Calvinism in history.

 

It is my understanding that these naming conventions come from the alternate viewpoint in an attempt to discredit folks who hold to a particular view. The same thing was done with the Puritans.

Those who hold to the doctrines of grace were labeled by those who hold to more of a "free-will salvation" as being Calvinists to try and give folks the impression that they followed a man instead of the Bible. "Calvinists" return in kind by calling "free-will salvation" folks "Arminians."