ecclesiolatry · noun — excessive dedication to the church as an institution, rather than to the religion it serves. It carries an Arena rating of 1409, earned across 37 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ecclesiolatry ranks #305 of 17,176 for Most Incisive Words, #820 of 17,130 for Most Ponderous Words, #2,724 of 17,201 for Funniest Words, #3,962 of 17,205 for The Improbable.
Why “ecclesiolatry” is a great word
ECCLESIOLATRY — [Noun] An excessive reverence for or devotion to the institutional church, its forms, and its traditions, often at the expense of the spiritual principles it represents. From the combining form ecclesio- (from Greek ekklēsia, "assembly, church") and -latry (from Greek -latreia, "worship"). Unlike ecclesiology, which is the neutral, academic study of church structure, or piety, which signifies a general, devout reverence for the divine, ecclesiolatry denotes a specific, misplaced devotion. It is the veneration of the cold stone edifice over the warmth of the community it was meant to house, the meticulous polishing of the silver chalice while forgetting the wine it contains, and the precise, sonorous chant of a liturgy performed more for its aesthetic perfection than its sacred invocation—a quiet testament to how readily the human, in its longing for order, will venerate the map and forget the territory.
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Etymology
From ecclesio- + -latry.
noun
- Excessive dedication to the church as an institution, rather than to the religion it serves.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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