Word of the Day – “apostasyâ€
Definition
apostasy \uh-POS-tuh-see\, noun:
Total desertion or departure from one’s faith, principles, or party.
Origin
Apostasy is from the Greek apostasis, “a standing away from, a deflection, a revolt,” from aphistanai, “to stand off or away from, to revolt”, from apo-, “from, away from” + histanai, “to stand.”
Example Sentence
To this purpose it may be worth noticing, that the ill-fated chief, whom God gave to the Jews, as the prophet tells us, in His anger (Hosea xiii. II), and whose disobedience and misery were referred by himself to his ‘fearing the people, and obeying their voice’ (I Sam. xv. 24), whose conduct, therefore, may be fairly taken as a sample of what public opinion was at that time supposed to require,—his first step in apostasy was, perhaps, an intrusion on the sacrificial office (I Sam. xiii. 8-14), certainly an impatient breach of his engagement with Samuel, as the last and greatest of his crimes was persecuting David, whom he well knew to bear God’s special commission.
–From National Apostasy, by John Keble, preached at St. Mary’s, Oxford, on July 14, 1833, http://anglicanhistory.org/keble/keble1.html
Word of the Day courtesy of Dictionary.com.
