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Anathema
(917 words)

1. Historical background

Anathema or excommunication indicates the exclusion of a baptized person from the congregation of the faithful, pronounced as part of the Church’s power of the keys, that is, its power to forgive sins or to deny forgiveness (derived from Mt 16:19). In the Early Modern Period, the term anathema was used predominantly in the Protestant churches, while the term excommunication was nor…

Cite this page
Birr, Christiane, “Anathema”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_022157>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160321



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