View source for Religion:Nicodemite

{{short description|Person seen as professing orthodoxy to mask actual belief}}
{{wikt | Nicodemite}}
A '''Nicodemite''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|n|ɪ|k|ə|ˈ|d|iː|m|aɪ|t}})<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|Nicodemite|access-date=2021-07-31}}</ref> is a person suspected of publicly misrepresenting their religious faith to conceal their true beliefs.<ref>Overell 2004, pp. 117-118.</ref><ref>Livingstone 2000</ref> The term is sometimes defined as referring to a [[Religion:Protestantism|Protestant Christian]] who lived in a Roman Catholic country and escaped persecution by concealing their Protestantism.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Nicodemite |title = Definition of NICODEMITE | quote =  [...] a secret follower or adherent[;] specifically : a 16th century Protestant Christian who lived in a Roman Catholic country and escaped persecution by concealing his or her Protestantism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100233946|title=Nicodemism | quote = The term Nicodemite, derived from Nicodemus, who visited Jesus by night, generally denotes a secret or timid adherent. J. Calvin applied it to those converts to Protestantism in Catholic France who outwardly continued RC practices. In modern times Nicodemism covers all forms of religious simulation.}}</ref>

The word is normally a term of disparagement. Introduced into 16th-century religious discourse, it persisted in use into the 18th century and beyond. Originally employed mostly by [[Religion:Protestantism|Protestants]], it was usually applied to persons of publicly conservative religious position and practice who were thought to be secretly [[Philosophy:Humanism|humanistic]] or reformed.

In England during the 17th and 18th centuries the term was often applied to those suspected of secret [[Religion:Socinianism|Socinian]], [[Religion:Arianism|Arian]], or [[Philosophy:Deism|Deist]] beliefs.<ref>Snobelen 1999.</ref>

==Origin==
[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 181.png|thumb|Nicodemus meeting Jesus secretly at night]]
The term was apparently introduced by [[Biography:John Calvin|John Calvin]] (1509–1564) in 1544 in his ''Excuse à messieurs les Nicodemites''.<ref>Eire 1979</ref> Since the French [[Social:Monarchy|monarchy]] had increased its prosecution of [[Religion:Heresy|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, [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203:1-2&version=KJV 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 [[Biography:Jesus|Jesus]] secretly by night to receive instruction. Although he was eventually made a [[Religion:Saint|saint]], his dual allegiance was somewhat suspect.  

{{quote|There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.}}

==Notable suspected Nicodemites==
* Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (c.1527–1556), courtier of Mary I of England<ref>Overell 2008, ''passim''.</ref>
* [[Biography:Thomas Cranmer|Thomas Cranmer]] (1489–1556), first Anglican [[Religion:Archbishop of Canterbury|Archbishop of Canterbury]] under [[Biography:Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII of England]]<ref>Overell 2008, p. 207.</ref>
* Michelangelo (1475–1564), who sculpted a portrait of himself as Nicodemus in his Florentine Pietà<ref>Shrimplin-Evangelidis 1989.</ref>
* [[Biography:Isaac Newton|Isaac Newton]] (1643–1727), eminent scientist and theologian<ref>Snobelen 1999.</ref>
* Reginald Cardinal Pole (1500–1558), last Roman Catholic [[Religion:Archbishop of Canterbury|Archbishop of Canterbury]]<ref>Overell 2008, p. 7.</ref>

==See also==
* ''An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture''
* Crypto-Christianity
* Crypto-Islam
* Crypto-Judaism
* Crypto-protestantism
* Crypto-papism
* [[Religion:Marrano|Marrano]]
* Morisco
* [[Unsolved:Religious views of Isaac Newton|Religious views of Isaac Newton]]
* [[Religion:Taqiya|Taqiya]]

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* Ginzburg, Carlo "Il nicodemismo. Simulazione e dissimulazione religiosa nell'Europa del Cinquecento", Einaudi, Torino 1970
* 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 [https://books.google.com/books?id=AMdQCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+term+Nicodemite%2C+derived+from+%2ANicodemus%22&pg=PA395 here].
* Overell, M. Anne ''Italian Reform and English Reformations, c.1535–c.1585''.  The Open University, UK. 2008. [http://www.gowerpublishing.com/pdf/SamplePages/Italian_Reform_and_English_Reformations_1535_1585_Intro.pdf 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.&nbsp;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.
* Anderson Magalhães, ''All’ombra dell’eresia: Bernardo Tasso e le donne della Bibbia in Francia e in Italia'', in ''Le donne della Bibbia, la Bibbia delle donne. Teatro, letteratura e vita'', Atti del XV Convegno Internazionale di Studio organizzato dal Gruppo di Studio sul Cinquecento francese, Verona, 16-19 ottobre 2009, a cura di R. Gorris Camos, Fasano, Schena, 2012, pp.&nbsp;159–218.


[[Category:Christian terminology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Nicodemite}}