Nicodemite

Nicodemite is term that 'generally denotes a secret or timid adherent'.^[1] Most often it is used as a term of disparagement, applied to persons who are suspected of public misrepresentation of their actual religious beliefs by the practice of dissemblance (exhibiting false appearance) and dissimulation (concealing true beliefs).^[2]

Introduced into 16th century religious discourse, its currency persisted into the 18th century and beyond. It was usually applied to persons of publicly conservative religious position and practice who were thought to be secretly humanistic or reformed. Originally employed mostly by Protestants, it was also later used by Catholics as well.^[3]

In England during the 17th and 18th century it was often applied to those suspected of secret Socinian, Arianist, or proto-Deist beliefs.^[4]

Origin

The term was apparently introduced by John Calvin (1509–1564) in 1544 in his Excuse à messieurs les Nicodemites.^[5] Since the French monarchy had increased its persecution of heresy with the Edict of Fontainebleau (1540), it had become increasingly dangerous to profess dissident belief publicly, and refuge was being sought in emulating Nicodemus.

In the Gospel of John John 3:1-2 there appears the character Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin. Although outwardly remaining a pious Jew, he comes to Jesus secretly by night to receive instruction. Although he was eventually made a saint, his dual allegiance was somewhat suspect.

Notable suspected Nicodemites

• Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (c. 1527-1556), courtier of Mary I of England^[6]
• Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556), first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII of England^[7]
• Michelangelo, who sculpted a self-portrait of himself as Nicodemus in his Florentine Pietà ^[8]
• Isaac Newton (1643–1727), eminent scientist and theologian^[9]
• Reginald Cardinal Pole (1500–1558), last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury^[10]

Links

• An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture
• Isaac Newton's religious views
• Taqqiya
• Morisco

References

1. ^ Livingstone 2000
2. ^ Overell 2004, pp. 117-118.
3. ^ Overell 2004 p. 118, notes 4 and 5.
4. ^ Snobelen 1999.
5. ^ Eire 1979.
6. ^ Overell 2008, passim.
7. ^ Overell 2008, p. 207.
8. ^ Shrimplin-Evangelidis 1989.
9. ^ Snobelen 1999.
10. ^ Overell 2008, p. 7.

Bibliography

• Eire, Carlos M. N. "Prelude to Sedition: Calvin's Attack on Nicodemism and Religious Compromise". Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 76:120-45.

• Eire, Carlos M. N. "Calvin and Nicodemism: A Reappraisal". Sixteenth Century Journal X:1, 1979.

• Livingstone, E. A. "Nicodemism". In The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000. Entry available here.

• Overell, M. Anne Italian Reform and English Reformations, c.1535–c.1585. The Open University, UK. 2008. Excerpt available online.

• Overell, Anne. "A Nicodemite in England and Italy: Edward Courtenay, 1548-46". In John Foxe at Home and Abroad. D. M. Loades, ed. Ashgate Publishing, Farnham, Surrey, UK, 2004.

• Pettegree, Andrew. "Nicodemism and the English Reformation" in Marian Protestantism: Six Studies, St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History. Aldershot, 1996, pp. 86–117.

• Shrimplin-Evangelidis, Valerie. Michelangelo and Nicodemism: The Florentine Pietà. College Art Association, 1989.

• Snobelen, Stephen D. "Isaac Newton, heretic: the strategies of a Nicodemite." The British Journal for the History of Science, 32:4:381-419. Cambridge University Press, 1999.