Last Updated ：2025/11/20

textualism

Noun

countable uncountable

Strict adherence to a text, especially to the Bible. / (law) A formalist legal theory that interprets based on the ordinary meaning of the legal text. / Textual criticism, especially that of the Bible.

Japanese Meaning

テキストや原文に厳密に従う立場、特に聖書に対してそのままの意味を重視する考え方 / 法文の通常の意味に基づいて解釈を行う形式主義的な法理論 / 聖書などの文献に対する文献批評の手法

What is this buttons?

The pastor's insistence on textualism shaped every sermon he delivered.

Google Translation / DeepL Translation

牧師が聖書の文面に厳格に従うことへのこだわりは、彼の説教のすべてを形作った。

Details

Sense（1）

Strict adherence to a text, especially to the Bible.

First, building on the earlier work of philologists, historians, orientalists, and biblical scholars we have noted already, the late 19th and early 20th centuries witness growth and development of textualism, in which words are seen—no, revered—as the referential embodiment of meaning and truth.

Google Translation / DeepL Translation

Details

Sense（2）

(law) A formalist legal theory that interprets based on the ordinary meaning of the legal text.

And this is the upshot of textualism: textualists do not want judges to make the law. This, at least, is the official doctrine, and it sounds very democratic.

Google Translation / DeepL Translation