Caesaropapism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The combination of state (originally imperial) power with religious authority; state authority over ecclesiastical matters. countable, uncountable
"Shari'a civil law and Ottoman secular fiscal and administrative practice were all combined with Byzantine Caesaropapism, entrenching the ruler as legislator and inhibiting the transition to the rule of law ultimately made in the Empire."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of caesaropapism. alt-of, uncountable
- 3 the doctrine that the state is supreme over the church in ecclesiastical matters wordnet
Example
More examples"Shari'a civil law and Ottoman secular fiscal and administrative practice were all combined with Byzantine Caesaropapism, entrenching the ruler as legislator and inhibiting the transition to the rule of law ultimately made in the Empire."
Etymology
From caesar + -o- + papism, probably modelled after New Latin caesaro-papia, coined by the German ecclesiastical jurist Justus Henning Böhmer (1674–1749) in his work Jus ecclesiasticum Protestantium (Ecclesiastical Law of the Protestants, 1714–1736).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.