View source for Adiaphora

{{Short description|Concepts in philosophy and religion}}
'''Adiaphoron''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|d|ɪ|ˈ|æ|f|ə|r|ɒ|n|,_|æ|d|i|ˈ|æ|f|ə|r|ɒ|n}};<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=adiaphoron | encyclopedia=[[Lexico|Oxford Dictionaries]] | url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/adiaphoron | access-date=2018-11-16 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116215947/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/adiaphoron | archive-date=November 16, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Adiaphoron | encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster.com | url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adiaphoron | access-date=2018-11-16}}</ref> plural: '''adiaphora'''; from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|ἀδιάφορον}} (pl. {{lang|grc|ἀδιάφορα}}), meaning 'not different or differentiable')<ref>{{LSJ|dia/foros|διάφορον}}, {{LSJ|a)dia/foros|ἀδιάφορον|ref}}</ref> is the negation of {{lang|grc|διαφορά}} ''diaphora'', 'difference'.

== In Ancient Greek philosophy ==
{{Pyrrhonism sidebar}}
In [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynicism]], adiaphora represents indifference to the [[wikt:vicissitude|vicissitudes]] of life through [[asceticism|ascetic]] practices which help one become free from influences – such as wealth, fame, and power – that have no value in nature.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} Examples include [[Diogenes]]' practice of living in a tub and walking barefoot in winter.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Similarly, the [[Stoicism|Stoics]] distinguish all the objects of human pursuit into three classes: good, bad, and adiaphora (indifferent). [[Virtue]], [[wisdom]], [[justice]], [[Temperance (virtue)|temperance]], and the like, are denominated [[good and evil|good; their opposites were bad]]. Besides these there are many other objects of pursuit such as [[wealth]], [[celebrity|fame]], etc., of themselves neither good nor bad. These are thought therefore in [[ethics]] to occupy neutral territory, and are denominated "adiaphora". This distinction amounts practically to an exclusion of the adiaphora from the field of [[morals]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | editor-last1=Ripley | editor-first1=George | editor-last2=Dana | editor-first2=Charles A. | article=Adiaphora | article-url=https://archive.org/details/newamericancycl23danagoog/page/124 | encyclopedia=[[The New American Cyclopaedia|The American cyclopaedia: A popular dictionary of general knowledge]] | pages=124–125 | year=1859 | volume=1 | publication-place=New York City | publisher=D. Appleton and Company}}.</ref> In the context of Stoicism adiaphora is usually translated as "indifference".{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Unlike in Stoicism and Cynicism, In [[Pyrrhonism]] ''adiaphora'' has no specific connection to morality, but indicates things that cannot be logically differentiated,<ref name="auto">{{Cite encyclopedia | article-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/pyrrho/ | encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] | first=Richard | last=Bett | article=Pyrrho | editor-first=Edward N. | editor-last=Zalta | year=2018 | publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref> while Aristotle uses "adiaphora" to mean "undifferentiated by a logical {{lang|grc|διαφορά}}/[[differentia]]."

== Christianity ==
In [[Christianity]], ''adiaphora'' are matters not regarded as essential to [[Faith in Christianity|faith]], but nevertheless as permissible for Christians or allowed by the church. What is specifically considered adiaphora depends on the specific [[Christian theology|theology]] in view.

=== Lutheranism ===
{{See also|Law and Gospel|Antinomianism#Lutheranism}}
The issue of what constituted ''adiaphora'' became a major dispute during the [[Protestant Reformation]]. In 1548, two years after the death of [[Martin Luther]], the [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman Emperor Charles V]] tried to unite Catholics and Protestants in his realm with a law called the [[Augsburg Interim]]. This was rejected by [[Philipp Melanchthon]], because it did not ensure [[justification by faith]] as a fundamental doctrine. Later, he was persuaded to accept a compromise known as the [[Leipzig Interim]], deciding that doctrinal differences not related to justification by faith were ''adiaphora'' or matters not essential for salvation. Melanchthon's compromise was vehemently opposed by [[Matthias Flacius]] and his followers in [[Magdeburg]], who went to the opposite extreme by claiming that ''adiaphora'' cease to be such in a case of scandal and confession. By 1576, both extremes were rejected by the majority of [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]] led by [[Martin Chemnitz]] and the formulators of the [[Formula of Concord]].

In 1577, the Formula of Concord was crafted to settle the question of the nature of genuine ''adiaphora'', which it defined as church rites that are "neither commanded nor forbidden in the Word of God".<ref name="cycl_Luth">{{Cite web | title=Adiaphora | publisher=Concordia | work=Christian Cyclopedia | date=2000 | access-date=2018-05-09 | url=http://cyclopedia.lcms.org/display.asp?t1=a&word=ADIAPHORA | editor1-first=Erwin L. | editor1-last=Lueker | editor2-first=Luther | editor2-last=Poellot | editor3-first=Paul | editor3-last=Jackson}}</ref> However, the Formula added that believers should not yield even in matters of ''adiaphora''{{Example needed|date=July 2022}} when these are being forced upon them by the "enemies of God's Word".<ref name="book_TheS">{{Cite web | work=The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord | title=X. Church Rites, Commonly Called Adiaphora | access-date=2018-05-09 | url=http://bookofconcord.org/sd-adiaphora.php?setSidebar=min}}</ref>

The Lutheran [[Augsburg Confession]] states that true unity of the church is enough to allow for agreement, concerning the doctrine of the [[Gospel]] and administration of the [[Lutheran sacraments]]. It also posits that merely human traditions, namely extrabiblical rites or ceremonies, need not be the same across all congregations.

=== Puritanism ===
{{Original research|date=September 2007}}

The [[Westminster Confession of Faith]] distinguishes between elements or acts of [[worship]] (worship proper) and the circumstances of worship. The elements of worship must be limited to what has positive warrant in scripture, a doctrine known as the [[regulative principle of worship]]. In this framework, the elements of worship have included praise (the words and manner of music), prayer, preaching and teaching from the [[Christian Bible]], the taking of vows, and the two sacraments of [[baptism]] and the [[Lord's Supper in Reformed theology|Lord's Supper]], while the circumstances of worship have included the building and its necessary furniture and the time of day for worship.

The circumstances of worship are considered adiaphora, although they must be observed for the edification of others and to promote peace and order.<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|14:26–33}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Romans|14:19}}</ref> According to the [[Westminster Confession]] 20.2,<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://www.apuritansmind.com/westminster-standards/chapter-20 | publisher=Reformed.org | title=Westminster Confession of Faith | chapter=Chapter 20: Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience}}</ref> the conscience is left free in general belief and behavior within the realm of whatever is not contrary to the [[Logos (Christianity)|Word]]. However, specifically concerning worship and religious faith, the conscience is free from whatever is "besides" scripture; that is, one is free to worship and believe only according to whatever has positive warrant in scripture.

[[Presbyterian]]s who have subscribed to the Westminster Confession, for instance, sometimes considered the questions of [[musical instruments]] and of the singing of [[hymn]]s (as opposed to [[exclusive psalmody]]) not drawn directly from the Christian Bible as related to the elements of worship, as not optional circumstances. Thus, they rejected musical instruments and hymns because they believed these were neither commanded by scripture nor deduced by good and necessary consequence from it.<ref>{{cite web | last=Schwertley | first=Brian | url=http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/sola.htm | title=Sola Scripture and the Regulative Principles of Worship | website=Reformed Online | access-date=2007-06-23 | archive-date=2013-01-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120005900/http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/sola.htm | url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Schwertley | first=Brian | url=http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/music.htm | title=Musical Instruments in the Public Worship of God | website=Reformed Online | access-date=2007-06-23 | archive-date=2013-01-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120010940/http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/music.htm | url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Schwertley | first=Brian | url=http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/psalm.htm | title=Exclusive Psalmody: A Biblical Defense | website=Reformed Online | access-date=2007-06-23 | archive-date=2013-01-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120011120/http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/psalm.htm | url-status=dead}}.</ref> However, adherence to such a position is rare among modern Presbyterians.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

The Puritan position on worship is thus in line with the common saying regarding adiaphora: "[[In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas|In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity]]."{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

=== Latitudinarianism in Anglicanism ===
[[Latitudinarianism]] was initially a pejorative term applied to a group of 17th-century English theologians who believed in conforming to official [[Church of England]] practices, but who felt that matters of [[doctrine]], [[liturgical]] practice, and [[ecclesiastical]] organization were of relatively little importance. Good examples of the latitudinarian philosophy were found among the [[Cambridge Platonists]]. The latitudinarian Anglicans of that period built on [[Richard Hooker (theologian)|Richard Hooker]]'s position in ''[[Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity]]'', which states God cares about the moral state of the individual soul and that matters such as church leadership are "things indifferent". However, they took the position far beyond Hooker's own and extended it to doctrinal matters.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Philosophy}}
* {{annotated link|Evangelical counsels}}
* {{annotated link|Heterodoxy}}
* {{annotated link|Lex orandi, lex credendi|{{lang|la|cat=no|Lex orandi, lex credendi}}}}
* {{annotated link|Orthodoxy}}
* {{annotated link|Theologoumenon}}

== References ==
{{Reflist |64em}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book | last=Waddell | first=James Alan | title=The Struggle to Reclaim the Liturgy in the Lutheran Church: Adiaphora in Historical, Theological and Practical Perspective | place=Lewiston, NY | publisher=Mellen | year=2005 | isbn=0-7734-5922-7}}.
* {{cite book | last=Waddell | first=James Alan | title=A Simplified Guide to Worshiping As Lutherans | place=Eugene, OR | publisher=Wipf & Stock | year=2009 | url=http://wipfandstock.com/store/A_Simplified_Guide_to_Worshiping_As_Lutherans | author-mask=3 | access-date=2009-07-06 | archive-date=2012-07-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722205624/https://wipfandstock.com/store/A_Simplified_Guide_to_Worshiping_As_Lutherans | url-status=dead}}.

== Further reading ==
* {{cite web | url=http://www.wlsessays.net/subjects/F/fsubind.htm#Freedom,%20Christian | archive-url=https://archive.today/20071015032255/http://www.wlsessays.net/subjects/F/fsubind.htm%23Freedom,%20Christian | url-status=dead | archive-date=2007-10-15 | type=scholarly articles | title=Christian Freedom | publisher=The Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library}}.
* [http://lexcredendilexorandi.wordpress.com/ The Lex Orandi Lex Credendi Question in Lutheranism Today]
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Adiaphorists|volume=1|page=192}} This specifically describes the Lutheran controversy.

{{Stoicism}}
{{Ancient Greek  philosophical concepts}}
{{Early Lutheran Controversies}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Christian ethics]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Concepts in ancient Greek epistemology]]
[[Category:Concepts in ancient Greek ethics]]
[[Category:Concepts in ancient Greek philosophy of mind]]
[[Category:Lutheran theology]]
[[Category:Pyrrhonism]]
[[Category:Stoicism]]
[[Category:Theories in ancient Greek philosophy]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek logic]]